A delicious chicken recipe with the flavors of orange, and caramelized soy sauce that, I kid you not, is better than your favorite takeout orange chicken!
My husband loves takeout, and always begs me to get Chinese food. This was one of the one cuisines that I told my husband he’d never get me to like. I remember visiting him at his first military station freshly after becoming an engaged couple. He asked me what I wanted for dinner, and I wanted to be polite and let him have the first choice. He of course said Chinese food and that was the first time we realized we disagreed on something as a couple.
Ultimately, I ended up letting him have his Chinese, and I ordered orange chicken. It was good, but I still felt like garbage afterwards because of how fried everything tasted. It could also have been the fact that in addition to the orange chicken I ate spring rolls, pot stickers, and whatever dish he ordered too!
Regardless, Chinese takeout never became a favorite of mine because of how heavy I felt after eating it. So instead of take out, we opted to make it at home. What I do love about different types of Asian food is that it seems a bit healthier than American style dishes because I always see a healthy serving of some sort of vegetable on the plate. So when we make Asian food at home, we try to incorporate a lot of vegetables in it. The reason why I think this is better than takeout orange chicken is because it’s not overly fried so you won’t feel extra heavy after eating it. The addition of broccoli doesn’t hurt either. 😉
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Before cooking cut broccoli off the stem and add to a bowl with a little bit of water. Microwave broccoli for 1 minute. You want the broccoli to still be firm, but bright green in color. Set aside for later use.
Whisk one egg in a bowl and add a splash of water. Cube chicken and dip into egg bath. Place cubed chicken in a zip lock bag filled with 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup corn starch, and 1 tsp salt, and a dash of black pepper. Close zip lock and shake to coat chicken.
Pour 1 tbl 
Once all chicken is done cooking, transfer to a plate to cool. Prepare your orange sauce mixing 1 tbl cornstarch, rice wine, water, sesame oil, *
Pour orange sauce over the garlic, ginger, and crushed red peppers. Bring to a boil. Add chicken and broccoli. Toss to coat.
Seriously guys, you’ll thank me later because this recipe is better than takeout orange chicken! I’ll be updating this post soon with a link to fried rice to go with it so stay tuned!
*Wondering what coconut aminos is? Check out this blog post for 7 benefits of coconut aminos. Our family made the switch a little over a year ago and we love it!
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Better than takeout Orange Chicken
A delicious chicken recipe with the flavors of orange, and caramelized soy sauce that I kid you not is better than takeout Orange chicken.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast cubed
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp salt
- dash pepper
- 1/2 cup corn starch
- 1 tbl avocado oil or another high heat oil
- 1 head of broccoli
Orange Sauce
- 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
- 10 Tbl sugar
- 3 Tbl coconut aminos or soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tbl rice vinegar
- 1 tbl cornstarch
- zest of one orange
- 1 tbl minced ginger
- 2 tsp garlic
- 1 tsp crushed red chili pepper flakes
Instructions
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Cut the stem off the broccoli and microwave till still firm, but bright green; set aside.
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Cube chicken breast. Dredge chicken in an egg bath. In a Zip lock bag add flour, cornstarch, salt and pepper. Add chicken and shake until coated.
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Add avocado oil to the wok. Fry chicken in stages until slightly golden brown. Set aside on a plate while sauce cooks
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In a medium sized bowl mix together vinegar's, sugar, coconut amino, sesame oil, cornstarch, and orange zest.
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Add ginger paste, minced garlic, and red chili flakes to the remaining oil, slightly fry until fragrant. Pour Orange sauce over the spices and bring to a boil.
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Add chicken and broccoli to the orange sauce, and toss to coat. Serve with noodles, rice, or fried rice.
This looks really good and easy to make. Which is great because take out is very pricey where I live, so we rarely get it!
You’ll love it, and it’s so easy to make. Enjoy!
I don’t usually like Chinese takeout, but this sounds amazing.
I’m usually the same as you. it tastes so much better fresh. This is definitely a recipe you should try if you’re not a fan of Chinese takeout.
Great recipe for non veg lovers! I am a pure vegan so can’t try it.
I’ve never cooked vegan food. would Tofu work in its place, and a swap in some of the ingredients? The flavor is on point for take out, if you substitute a couple things I’m sure you could enjoy it as a vegan meal and it will taste like take out still. 🙂
I’ll have to try this! I love getting orange chicken when we go out. I’ll be looking for the fried rice recipe too.
Thank you! I hope you enjoy it. 🙂 Fried rice should be coming out in a week or two. 😉