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The Orange Chicken My Dad's Made 100,000 Times

鮮橙雞柳
Prep: 15 minCook: 30 minTotal: 45 minServes: 4

Ingredients

12 ozchicken breast
2 largeorange
Seasoning
1 tspsalt
1 tbspcornstarch
1 tbspwater
0.50 beaten egg
1.3 tbspsugar
1 tbspwhite vinegar
0.50 tspsalt
1 tbspoyster sauce
1 tbspcornstarch
3 tbspwater
Batter
3 tbspflour
1 tbspcornstarch
1 tspbaking powder
5 tbspwater
0.25 beaten egg
1 tspoil
Other
1 lboil
0.50 tbspoil
1 tbspoil
1 tspoil
1 pinchsesame seeds

Instructions

1
Prepare chicken

Because chicken breast is usually thicker on one end and thinner on the other, take the chicken breast (12 oz) and cut it in half horizontally to even out the thickness. Then cut it into roughly 1/2 inch thick strips.

Put the chicken into a medium-sized bowl and push it to the side, so that you have room to mix together salt (1 tsp), cornstarch (1 tbsp), and water (1 tbsp). Dissolving the dry ingredients into the water first will make the marinade easier to distribute evenly. Then mix it all together.

Then, add and mix in the beaten egg, which will help the batter adhere to the chicken later on.

2
Prepare orange sauce

Slice orange (1 large) into 1/8ths, and then squeeze out the juice into a small bowl. Put the juiced slices aside for later.

If your juice has debris in it, you can strain it.

Add sugar (1.3 tbsp) and white vinegar (1 tbsp). You can adjust the amounts now, or later on, to your liking.

Add salt (0.50 tsp) and oyster sauce (1 tbsp). to enhance the orange sauce.

3
Create slurry

Mix together cornstarch (1 tbsp) and water (3 tbsp) in a small bowl. When we add this cornstarch slurry to the cooking process later, it will thicken the sauce and make it really cling to the chicken.

4
Prepare orange slices & peel

For presentation (and a refreshing snack between bites of chicken), we'll cut up the orange (1 large) for garnish. Cut the orange in half, and then into 1/4 inch slices.

We also want to use the peel from the orange slices that we juiced earlier, although this is optional. Turn your knife horizontal and carefully cut off leftover orange flesh and as much of the white pith as you safely can, until you are left with only the orange part of the peel. The pith tastes bitter and can really affect the flavor of your dish.

Then, slice the orange peel into very thin strips. You'll probably only want to use about half of it, because too much of the peel will make the dish taste bitter. Again, it's optional to use the peel at all.

5
Prepare frying batter

Mix together flour (3 tbsp), cornstarch (1 tbsp), and baking powder (1 tsp). Then, mix in water (5 tbsp). You may need to add more water to get the correct consistency, but you can wait to see what it looks like after adding the other liquid ingredients.

Pour in beaten egg and oil (1 tsp), and mix until thoroughly combined. The resulting batter should resemble pancake batter, giving some minor resistance when you stir it, with thin ribbons that fall and melt quickly into the batter. It'll be smooth and just thick enough so that it can coat the chicken well and become a crispy crust.

6
Deep-fry chicken

Turn up your fan, because we're going to deep-fry this chicken! In a deep pot, pour in enough oil (1 lb) so that the chicken will be submerged completely. Heat up the oil to 300°F.

While the oil heats up, mix the batter in with the chicken. Then, they're ready for the first fry.

Carefully place individual pieces of chicken into the oil, keeping them separate so they don't stick together. Fry the pieces until they're slightly golden, which takes about 2.5-3 minutes, and then scoop them carefully out of the pot and into a bowl or dish.

We recommend doing this initial fry in two or more batches, because it'll be easier to keep them from sticking together, and because bigger batches of chicken will make the temperature of the oil fall more rapidly, which may result in greasier, soggier chicken.

When all of the chicken has gone through the first fry, heat up the oil to 400°F. This is the fry that gets us the much-coveted crunch. Put all of the chicken back in (if it fits, there's no need to split this into batches), and fry for another 2.5-3 minutes, until they're golden brown.

Take the chicken out, and also reserve the oil for cooking with later. We'll use some of it in the next step.

7
Stir-fry everything together

We're going to cook the sauce first, and then toss in the fried chicken.

Turn the stove on high, and add oil (0.50 tbsp) to the wok. You can use the oil that you reserved from frying the chicken in the previous step. Add the thinly sliced orange peel and give it a quick stir.

Then, pour in the orange sauce. Let it come to a boil.

Meanwhile, begin garnishing the serving dish by arranging the orange slices in a tidy pattern around the outside edge of the plate.

Once the sauce has come to a boil, lower the heat and slowly drizzle in the cornstarch slurry. Be sure to stir constantly so that you don't end up with a big lump of cornstarch in your wok. Add more oil (1 tbsp).

If you want to cook off more of the water for a thicker sauce, keep the sauce cooking for a bit longer before adding the chicken.

When you're ready to add the chicken, turn the heat back up and add the chicken pieces back in. Toss the chicken around in the sauce for 15-20 seconds, and then turn off the heat. Drizzle oil (1 tsp) for added shine, mix quickly, and plate.

8
Plate

Arrange the sauced-up chicken onto the plate with your neatly-arranged orange slices, and if you have sesame seeds (1 pinch), sprinkle them on top.

Recipe by Daddy Lau · 2× James Beard Award Winner · madewithlau.com
Orange Chicken (鮮橙雞柳)

The Orange Chicken My Dad's Made 100,000 Times

鮮橙雞柳
▶ 965.1K views on YouTube
👍 21.4K likes
Prep
15 min
Cook
30 min
Total
45 min
Serves
4
Daddy Lau
By Daddy Lau · 2x James Beard Awards · 60+ years
Published Feb 2022 · Updated Nov 2024

Why this recipe

The story
Orange Chicken (鮮橙雞柳) — Daddy Lau
Daddy Lau

Most orange chicken recipes online are tested only a handful of times. My dad used to make this dish multiple times a day, every day, for 60+ years and can make this in his sleep.

I know you'll love it as much as our community does! This recipe has over 965.1K views, 21.4K likes on YouTube.

Where does orange chicken come from?

We can thank Panda Express Executive Chef, Andy Kao, for inventing this amazing dish in 1987 in Hawaii.

He drew inspiration from the Hunan province of China, a region whose food is known for bold flavors and bright colors. Now, his sweet-and-sour creation is a signature item on countless Chinese American menus.

What can you eat with orange chicken?

Steam up some fluffy rice and make some other take-out classics like Hot & Sour Soup or Egg Drop Soup, Honey Walnut Shrimp and Beef & Broccoli. If you'd rather skip the rice, orange chicken also goes great with Vegetable Lo Mein.

Pairs well with

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Scrambled Eggs (炒雞蛋)
6 min

Scrambled Eggs (炒雞蛋)

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Easy Pan Fried Chicken Breast (煎雞胸)
20 min

Easy Pan Fried Chicken Breast (煎雞胸)

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Dad's 10-Minute Weeknight Broccoli (平日西蘭花)
10 min

Dad's 10-Minute Weeknight Broccoli (平日西蘭花)

View recipe →

Ingredients

Serves4
Understanding Flavor
FUNDAMENTALS
Understanding Flavor
Dive Deeper →
Main Ingredients
12 ozchicken breast
2 largeorange
Seasoning
1 tspsalt
1 tbspcornstarch
1 tbspwater
0.50 beaten egg
1.3 tbspsugar
1 tbspwhite vinegar
0.50 tspsalt
1 tbspoyster sauce
1 tbspcornstarch
3 tbspwater
Batter
3 tbspflour
1 tbspcornstarch
1 tspbaking powder
5 tbspwater
0.25 beaten egg
1 tspoil
Other
1 lboil
0.50 tbspoil
1 tbspoil
1 tspoil
1 pinchsesame seeds

The perfect batter for frying chicken

Daddy Lau emphasizes a 3:1 flour to cornstarch ratio for our batter, because using only flour wouldn't give us enough crunch, while using only cornstarch would turn out rock-hard. A small amount of baking powder contributes to the delicacy of the crunch.

This batter will give you perfectly crispy chicken pieces that can hold up a loving layer of sticky orange chicken sauce.

Sweetening it up

One of the most defining features of orange chicken is its striking color: bright orange sauce on bright white chicken. That's why our recipe uses white, granulated sugar and chicken breast.

You could definitely use other sweeteners like honey, and other parts of chicken like drumsticks. Just be aware that the final look of the dish turn out different, though it'll still taste delicious!

Oranges and lemons, too

Have you heard of orange chicken's lesser-known cousin, lemon chicken? It's nearly the same recipe, but with lemons instead of oranges, of course.

Since you're already learning to adjust the amounts of sugar and vinegar to suit your taste, try making this recipe with a lemony twist! You'll have to add some more sugar to account for the sourness of the lemons.

Instructions

8 steps · click any step to scrub ↑
1

Prepare chicken

scroll to play this step

Because chicken breast is usually thicker on one end and thinner on the other, take the chicken breast (12 oz) and cut it in half horizontally to even out the thickness. Then cut it into roughly 1/2 inch thick strips.

Put the chicken into a medium-sized bowl and push it to the side, so that you have room to mix together salt (1 tsp), cornstarch (1 tbsp), and water (1 tbsp). Dissolving the dry ingredients into the water first will make the marinade easier to distribute evenly. Then mix it all together.

Then, add and mix in the beaten egg, which will help the batter adhere to the chicken later on.

The 10 Essential Cutting Techniques
LESSON 3.3
The 10 Essential Cutting Techniques
Dive Deeper →
2

Prepare orange sauce

scroll to play this step

Slice orange (1 large) into 1/8ths, and then squeeze out the juice into a small bowl. Put the juiced slices aside for later.

If your juice has debris in it, you can strain it.

Add sugar (1.3 tbsp) and white vinegar (1 tbsp). You can adjust the amounts now, or later on, to your liking.

Add salt (0.50 tsp) and oyster sauce (1 tbsp). to enhance the orange sauce.

3

Create slurry

scroll to play this step

Mix together cornstarch (1 tbsp) and water (3 tbsp) in a small bowl. When we add this cornstarch slurry to the cooking process later, it will thicken the sauce and make it really cling to the chicken.

4

Prepare orange slices & peel

scroll to play this step

For presentation (and a refreshing snack between bites of chicken), we'll cut up the orange (1 large) for garnish. Cut the orange in half, and then into 1/4 inch slices.

We also want to use the peel from the orange slices that we juiced earlier, although this is optional. Turn your knife horizontal and carefully cut off leftover orange flesh and as much of the white pith as you safely can, until you are left with only the orange part of the peel. The pith tastes bitter and can really affect the flavor of your dish.

Then, slice the orange peel into very thin strips. You'll probably only want to use about half of it, because too much of the peel will make the dish taste bitter. Again, it's optional to use the peel at all.

5

Prepare frying batter

scroll to play this step

Mix together flour (3 tbsp), cornstarch (1 tbsp), and baking powder (1 tsp). Then, mix in water (5 tbsp). You may need to add more water to get the correct consistency, but you can wait to see what it looks like after adding the other liquid ingredients.

Pour in beaten egg and oil (1 tsp), and mix until thoroughly combined. The resulting batter should resemble pancake batter, giving some minor resistance when you stir it, with thin ribbons that fall and melt quickly into the batter. It'll be smooth and just thick enough so that it can coat the chicken well and become a crispy crust.

6

Deep-fry chicken

scroll to play this step

Turn up your fan, because we're going to deep-fry this chicken! In a deep pot, pour in enough oil (1 lb) so that the chicken will be submerged completely. Heat up the oil to 300°F.

While the oil heats up, mix the batter in with the chicken. Then, they're ready for the first fry.

Carefully place individual pieces of chicken into the oil, keeping them separate so they don't stick together. Fry the pieces until they're slightly golden, which takes about 2.5-3 minutes, and then scoop them carefully out of the pot and into a bowl or dish.

We recommend doing this initial fry in two or more batches, because it'll be easier to keep them from sticking together, and because bigger batches of chicken will make the temperature of the oil fall more rapidly, which may result in greasier, soggier chicken.

When all of the chicken has gone through the first fry, heat up the oil to 400°F. This is the fry that gets us the much-coveted crunch. Put all of the chicken back in (if it fits, there's no need to split this into batches), and fry for another 2.5-3 minutes, until they're golden brown.

Take the chicken out, and also reserve the oil for cooking with later. We'll use some of it in the next step.

7

Stir-fry everything together

scroll to play this step

We're going to cook the sauce first, and then toss in the fried chicken.

Turn the stove on high, and add oil (0.50 tbsp) to the wok. You can use the oil that you reserved from frying the chicken in the previous step. Add the thinly sliced orange peel and give it a quick stir.

Then, pour in the orange sauce. Let it come to a boil.

Meanwhile, begin garnishing the serving dish by arranging the orange slices in a tidy pattern around the outside edge of the plate.

Once the sauce has come to a boil, lower the heat and slowly drizzle in the cornstarch slurry. Be sure to stir constantly so that you don't end up with a big lump of cornstarch in your wok. Add more oil (1 tbsp).

If you want to cook off more of the water for a thicker sauce, keep the sauce cooking for a bit longer before adding the chicken.

When you're ready to add the chicken, turn the heat back up and add the chicken pieces back in. Toss the chicken around in the sauce for 15-20 seconds, and then turn off the heat. Drizzle oil (1 tsp) for added shine, mix quickly, and plate.

8

Plate

scroll to play this step

Arrange the sauced-up chicken onto the plate with your neatly-arranged orange slices, and if you have sesame seeds (1 pinch), sprinkle them on top.

Frequently Asked Questions

Made with love ❤️

The Lau Family

We started Made With Lau to celebrate Cantonese culture and honor the legacy of our wonderful parents, Jenny and Chung Sun Lau.

Our hope is that these recipes and stories help you spread the joy, love, and nostalgia that I felt growing up.

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A family-run Cantonese cooking project from Daddy Lau, Randy Lau, and a small team in the Bay Area.

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