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Orange chicken

Orange chicken

A popular Chinese-American dish, orange chicken is fried battered cubes of chicken fillet tossed in a sticky syrup made with caramelized sugar, orange zest, rice vinegar, ginger and salt.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Fusion
Keyword Chicken fillet, Fried chicken
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Marinating 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  • 500 grams chicken thigh fillets (1.1 pounds)
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons rice wine
  • 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper
  • ½ teaspoon sesame seed oil
  • 1 orange

Orange sauce

  • zest from ½ orange
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon grated ginger
  • 2 tablespoons orange juice

To cook orange chicken

  • ¼ cup potato starch or cornstarch
  • cooking oil

To garnish

  • orange wedges
  • thinly sliced scallions

Instructions

Marinate the chicken

  • Pat the chicken fillets dry and cut into two-inch cubes.
  • Place the chicken and all the ingredients for the marinade, except the orange, in a bowl and mix well.
    Coating chicken in starch
  • Cut the orange into halves; reserve one portion.
  • Finely grate the zest of half an orange and mix into the chicken.
    Adding orange zest to chicken marinade
  • Cover the bowl and marinate the chicken in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Make the sauce

  • Using a paring knife or a vegetable peeler, cut off the zest of the reserved orange half.
  • Put the orange zest and all the ingredients for the sauce in a small sauce pan.
  • Cook the sauce over medium heat, occasionally swirling the pan, until syrupy. Set aside.
    Adding zest to orange sauce

Fry the chicken

  • In a wok or frying pan, heat enough cooking oil to reach a depth of at least three inches.
  • Take the chicken out of the fridge and stir.
  • Take the half orange (from which the zest used in the marinade was taken) and cut into wedges.
  • Add the tapioca starch to the chicken and toss to distribute evenly.
  • Fry the battered chicken until browned and lightly crisp. Scoop out the chicken and move to a strainer or rack.
    Frying chicken fillets

Assemble the orange chicken

  • Pour off the oil (you may reuse it) from the pan.
  • Strain the orange sauce directly into the pan.
  • Heat the sauce until bubbly.
  • Add the cooked chicken to the sauce and toss them around until each piece is generously coated with the syrupy sauce.
    Orange chicken
  • Stir in the orange wedges.
  • Transfer the cooked orange chicken to a shallow bowl, sprinkle with sliced scallions and serve at once.
    Orange chicken