Orange Chicken
I am part of a group of ladies that meets for lunch out once a month to talk ladies ministries stuff. I don’t know about you, but when I eat out (which isn’t too often) I want to eat something that I don’t normally make at home. We rotate our meeting area between a handful of restaurants, and on that list of restaurants is Panda Express. So whenever we go, it’s Orange Chicken for me with veggies and rice.
Have you ever tried to make orange chicken? When I first attempted crispy orange chicken I used this recipe. Talk about a serious endeavor. Both major time and effort expended with less than desired results. I burned the chicken. Burn baby burn…but not in a good way. And E-VER-Y TIME, too. So I gave up…for a while at least. But honestly I’m not a real giver-upper at heart, so when I found this crispy orange beef recipe from Dr. Axe I was inspired to get on the horse again.
No need to marinade with this recipe. No need to toss away marinade. No need to use egg. No need to double dip. This recipe is a tasty time saver if you are in the market for a crispy orange chicken recipe. This recipe is so tasty in fact that my kids all LOVE it, and they are eating a ton of vegetables when doing so.
For the vegetables, I always scrounge through the fridge and use whichever vegetables I have on hand that seem to enhance the dish. Some of our faves are cauliflower, cabbage, bell pepper, green onions, broccoli, and carrots-a rainbow of beauty.
I love Dr. Axe’s recipe, but we needed more sauce. So I doubled the recipe. And we don’t keep coconut aminos around, so it’s soy sauce or liquid aminos for us. And in place of arrowroot powder we are bringing on the GMO-free cornstarch. And these days the only beef I keep handy is ground, so chicken breasts or thighs it is.
I hope you love this recipe as much as we do. Here’s to healthier eating!
This recipe was inspired by Dr. Axe’s Crispy Orange Beef.
Orange Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 –1/2 lbs. chicken breasts or thighs thinly sliced
- 2/3 cup coconut sugar or granulated sugar of choice
- 2/3 cup rice wine or apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoons GMO-free soy sauce
- 1/4 cup+ coconut or avocado oil enough to keep the skillet well oiled
- 1/4 cup GMO-free cornstarch or arrowroot powder or enough to coat the chicken
- 2 teaspoon orange zest
- 3 tablespoon ginger
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2-3 cups of fresh chopped vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, bell pepper, and green onions
- optional rice to serve
Instructions
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In a small bowl mix sugar, vinegar, salt and soy sauce.
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Heat oil in a large cast iron skillet or wok over medium high heat. Toss chicken in cornstarch to coat.
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Fry all chicken in skillet/wok until crispy then remove from the pan and set aside. Add additional oil as needed.
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Drain all but 1 tablespoon of oil from skillet.
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Add orange zest, ginger, and garlic to oil and cook for 2–3 minutes.
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Add soy sauce mixture to skillet and bring to a boil. Cook about 5 minutes or until mixture thickens.
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Serve chicken over a bed of vegetables and/or rice topped with soy sauce mixture. We serve raw vegetables, but you can soften them a bit in the soy sauce mixture before serving.
This looks AMAZING Sonja! Orange Chickens my fav!
So good! Mine too!