Orange Chicken

Orange chicken is probably one of the most popular Chinese takeout dishes there is! We love it here at my house, but we don't have any great places to get delicious take-out Chinese anywhere close by. So I make Asian dishes pretty often! Last night we decided to have an "Orange Chicken Showdown" to see which version we like best: fried or baked. I was pretty sure how this was going to go. What isn't better when it's fried, right?! But to my surprise, the baked version held its own and Kyle and I both decided that it probably wasn't worth the hassle of frying since the baked version turned out so yummy! Here's the finished product: fried on the left and baked on the right.

I thought baked version even turned out a little bit prettier! Now don't get me wrong, the fried orange chicken was delicious! But I expected it to be WAY better than the baked, and they were just about equal. I'll include the ingredients/instructions for both versions on this post.

I'm usually pretty intimidated by frying, but it's really not bad!! And did you know fry oil can be reused?? Just strain it through a fine mesh strainer to get out all the particles left over and then it can be reused about 3 times! This means doughnuts coming soon! 

Thanks to Kyle for doing so much to take care of our girlies while I was in the kitchen for hours working on this experiment :)

Orange Chicken (Baked)

Ingredients

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces
• 3/4 cup flour
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups Panko crumbs
• salt
• pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with foil and lightly spray with cooking spray.
2. Lightly salt and pepper the chicken pieces.
3. Put the flour into a resealable bag. Add the chicken, seal, then shake until coated.
4. In a small bowl, mix the eggs. 
5. In a separate small bowl, put the Panko crumbs.
6. Cover the chicken in the eggs, then in the Panko crumbs, then place on prepared baking sheet.
7. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cover in Orange Sauce. (Orange Sauce recipe at the bottom of this post.)

Orange Chicken (Fried)

Ingredients

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• salt
• pepper

Instructions

1. Lightly salt and pepper the chicken. 
2. Mix eggs in shallow bowl.
3. Mix flour and cornstarch in a separate small bowl.
4. Dip chicken in eggs, then coat in flour mixture.
5. Fill a heavy pot with enough oil to be about 3 inches high and heat to 350 degrees.
6. Fry chicken in batches about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from oil and let drain on a paper towel lined plate.
7. Cover in Orange sauce. (Below)

Orange Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups orange juice
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
• 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/2-1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (depending on how spicy you like).
• Orange zest from 1/2 an orange (can be omitted if you want less of a citrus flavor).
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Instructions

1. In a small sauce pan, add orange juice, sugar, ginger, sesame oil, garlic, hoisin, rice vinegar, soy sauce and red pepper flakes and whisk all together.  Heat over medium heat for 3-5 minutes.
2. Whisk cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water. Add to orange sauce and whisk together. Then continue to cook for another 3-5 minutes until sauce thickens. 
3. Remove from heat and add orange sauce (if using)
4. Toss over cooked chicken, and serve with white rice, brown rice, or fried rice! (Check out my recipe for Spam Fried Rice. So delicious!)