Easy Spicy Orange Chicken Recipe (VIDEO)
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This easy Spicy Orange Chicken recipe is full of the amazing flavor you love, without restaurant-style calories!
Chinese dishes are a favorite when we get take-out. I am so excited to share this lightened-up Chinese food classic…… Spicy Orange Chicken. We have made it four times in the last six weeks, tweaking it a little each time. I didn’t want to share the recipe with you all, until we had it “just right” and I’m happy to say…..we nailed it this time.
It started with a recipe I saw at Whole Foods. The first time we made it, I followed the recipe and found it to be way to spicy for our taste and I had a little trouble getting the sauce to thicken.
Round two, I cut the Sriracha in half, much better! still has a lot of kick, but my tongue did not feel as if it were pierced by tiny hot needles 😉 Now that we had the level of kick under control we felt like it still needed something else.
It finally hit me the other day……it needs some stir-fry vegetable for a little crunch! That was it! I cooked the sauce a bit differently and everything came together perfectly!!
This Spicy Orange Chicken recipe packs all of the amazing sweet and savory orange flavors that you can find in your favorite restaurant. You’ll never miss the crispy fried chicken or the calories and fat that typically come with this dish. We love the sauteed chicken smothered in a delightful orange sauce! Served with white rice (I’m on a lavender rice kick!) and stir-fry vegetables.
When you are making this recipe, you’ll want to use the full recipe at the bottom of the page.
Cut up your your chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces season with salt and pepper and place in a large zip top bag. Then whisk up all of the ingredients for the sauce, and pour 1/3 cup into the bag with the chicken. Place in the refrigerator to marinate, at least one hour. I usually do this early in the day, so it’s all ready to go and I can have dinner on the table in 15-20 minutes!
Table of Contents
Homemade Orange Chicken is a Family Favorite Recipe
- After your chicken has marinated for at least an hour, remove the chicken from the bag and discard the marinade. Saute the chicken in a little olive oil until it’s nice and browned. Then, remove chicken from the skillet and place it on a plate lined with a paper towel.
2. Add a little more oil to your skillet and stir-fry vegetables until crisp. While stir-fry cooks, add cornstarch to the orange sauce and whisk well, and boil to thicken.
3. Once vegetables are crisp, add chicken and thickened sauce back to the pan and stir to combine.
4. Serve over rice, sprinkled with green onions and orange zest, and enjoy!!
This Spicy Orange Chicken has SO much flavor, we have not missed the fried version one bit!
Easy Spicy Orange Chicken Recipe
This easy Spicy Orange Chicken recipe is full of the amazing flavor you love, without restaurant-style calories!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bites
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 3 teaspoons ground ginger
- 3 teaspoons minced garlic
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 tablespoons sriracha
- 1 1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- zest of one orange (save a little for garnish if desired)
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch
- 14 ounce bag frozen stir-fry vegetables
- white rice for serving
- sliced green onions for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper and place in a gallon size zip top bag and set aside. In small sauce pan, combine orange juice, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, 1 tablespoon oil, sriracha, vinegar, brown sugar, honey and orange zest. Whisk mixture well, then measure out 1/3 cup of the mixture and pour it over the chicken, seal bag and marinate* in refrigerator at least one hour.
- Remove chicken from marinade; discard marinade. Heat large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil. Add chicken and saute 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is golden brown and has lost its pink color.
- Remove chicken from pan and place it on a plate lined with a paper towel. Add another tablespoon of oil into the hot skillet.
- Add stir-fry veggies and cook over medium high heat until crisp tender, about 10 minutes.
- While your veggies cook whisk corn starch into sauce, then bring to a boil. Once it boils it should start to thicken, boil another 1-2 minutes stirring constantly.
- Once veggies are crisp, add thickened sauce and chicken into the pan. Stir the mixture to combine.
- Serve over rice sprinkled with green onions.
Notes
*Often I cup up chicken and prepare sauce early in the day and let chicken marinate most of the day - this way I can have dinner on the table in 15-20 minutes.
*I have been in hurry and skipped the marinating, although I do prefer this dish when it has time to marinate at least an hour.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 606Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 145mgSodium: 1565mgCarbohydrates: 44gFiber: 4gSugar: 19gProtein: 59g
Nutrition information is estimated based on the ingredients and cooking instructions as described in each recipe and is intended to be used for informational purposes only. Please note that nutrition details may vary based on methods of preparation, origin, and freshness of ingredients used.
Like This Recipe?
I’d love to hear what you think! Leave a review below and let me know how you liked the recipe!
What’s your favorite Chinese dish?
Hi there, I'm Cheryl!
As a wife, mom, and caffeine enthusiast, my journey has taken me from bustling mornings with my family to sharing delicious recipes, home care tips, and heartfelt decorating insights with wonderful readers like you. My love for baking, photography, and tidiness shines through every post I craft. Dive into my world and discover the art of homemaking, one tidy moment at a time. Read more...
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Simple, healthy and delicious. This is definitely going on my dinner menu this week!
putting this on my menu list too! Happy monday!
This spicy orange chicken sounds perfect! My Hubby loves a little heat in chicken dinners. Pinned!
I almost went to Pei-Wei on Saturday just to get this. Yours sounds awesome. I’d love it if you took this over to What’d You Do This Weekend.
Have a wonderful week,
Linda
Deliciously easy. I love fresh orange zest with hot peppers & tangy sauces.
I’m going to make this for dinner tomorrow night, Cheryl.
Love easy dishes like this, perfect for weeknight meals! Thanks for sharing Cheryl 🙂
why does the chicken have to be cut up? Can’t one use drumsticks and whole breasts with the sauce? It looks great, but with the whole breasts it becomes so much more of a company dish?
For orange chicken and many other asian-style meat dishes, the protein is cut small so that the sauce gets maximum coverage over the individual pieces. There should also be extra sauce to coat the vegetables and soak into the rice that the dish is served on. Preparing this as a bone-in dish would not give the same results.
Mmmmm…sounds delish – I LOVE that fresh orange in this dish!
This looks so good! That sauce!! Yum!
This sounds so delicious, so glad you posted the recipe. 🙂
This looks wonderful. My kids love orange chicken.
I love orange chicken! I’m looking forward to trying this recipe. It sounds delicious!
Loving the sound of this sauce Cheryl!
My husband made something similar back in his bachelor days, so I know he’d love for me to give this recipe a go. Thanks, Cheryl!!
Would like to know calories or WW points…
Love orange chicken- with a little heat to kick it up it goes to the next level. Yum!
We made this for dinner last night. We didn’t have time to marinate the chicken but it still turned out great. My family LOVED it! We will be keeping this recipe ….
I actually made it once when I forgot to marinate too, and it still turned out great!! I think the flavor it just a bit more intense when you have time to do it!! Glad you enjoyed it as much as we have!
Just made this recipe for dinner tonight and it was fabulous!
so glad you enjoyed it! it’s definitely become a regular at our house!
That looks delicious!
Has anyone ever cooked this in the instant pot??
I would appreciateit you could email that recipe I am alone and I don’t have a printed but I do love the orange chickenrecipe and I do love to cook! Thanks for sharing your recipe with Facebook.!
My sauce was tasting good until I added the orange zest – which in turn made the sauce extremely bitter! Is this normal? I am thinking of making it again without the zest. Thanks!
you may have used some of the white part of the orange rind, which can be bitter. You can buy orange rind, or you could just leave it out, there will just be a little less “orange flavor” in the dish, but still delicious!!
Thanks!!
Would like to know calories or WW points…
I’m out of Rice Vinegar, can I substitute another vinegar?
Apple cider vinegar and white wine vinegar are good substitutes