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–+ servings

Easy & Kid-Friendly Orange Chicken

5 from 3 votes
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Prep Time:20 minutes
Cook Time:30 minutes
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Chinese
Keyword: Easy Dinners, Kid Friendly Recipes, Panda Express Orange Chicken
Servings: 4
Author: Bora Park

Equipment

  • 1 Air Fryer

Ingredients

Chicken Marinade 

  • 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 5 chicken thighs) cut into 2.5" pieces, each thigh should yield about 6 pieces
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine substitute options: sake, mirin, sherry
  • 1 tsp grated ginger
  • 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper

Orange Sauce

  • 1 large naval orange zested and juiced
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar substitute option: white vinegar
  • 1 tsp Shaoxing wine
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch (for cornstarch slurry) dissolved in 2 tbsp of water
  • 1 tbsp grated garlic
  • 1 tsp grated ginger

Chicken Dredge

  • 2 eggs whisked
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup corn starch substitute option: potato starch
  • Avocado Oil Spray bottle label should say "Pure Avocado Oil" Please do not use the ones that are labeled "non-stick spray"

Instructions

Marinate the Chicken

  • In a medium bowl, add the soy sauce, ginger, salt, black pepper, and Shaoxing wine and whisk together. Add the chicken to the marinade and mix together. Cover the bowl and store in the fridge for about 20 minutes. If you can marinate it overnight, even better! 

Orange Sauce

  • In a medium saucepan, add the orange juice, orange zest, honey, brown sugar, granulated sugar, soy sauce, water, apple cider vinegar and Shaoxing wine. Whisk all the ingredients together and bring to a boil over high heat.  When the sauce starts boiling, reduce to low heat and let the sauce simmer for about 8 minutes.
  • Then add the cornstarch slurry and whisk it into the sauce for an additional minute. Then immediately add the grated garlic and ginger and let the sauce steep for another minute. When the sauce is a thick gooey consistency, the sauce is ready. TIP: Make sure your heat setting is on low so that the sauce doesn't burn. Make sure to whisk every 2 minutes as well during the first 8 minutes.

Dredge the Chicken

  • In a medium bowl, mix the corn starch and all-purpose flour together. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs together.
  • Then dredge the chicken in the flour starch mixture, then egg and do a final dredge back in the flour starch mixture.
  • Transfer to a wire rack or baking sheet.

Air Fry the Chicken

  • Generously spray the tops of the dredged chicken with avocado oil. Then spray the basket liner of the air fryer. Transfer the chicken to the air fry basket with the sprayed side down. Make sure not too overcrowd the basket and give each piece of chicken enough room. Then spray the tops of the chicken as well. You want to spray enough so that you don’t see any dry white parts of the flour starch on the chicken. This will ensure that all parts of each piece of chicken will have a crispy texture.
  • Air fry the chicken for 8 minutes at 400°F on one side. Then flip the chicken and spray the tops of the opposite side of the chicken with avocado oil. Then air fry for another 8 minutes until chicken is cooked through (reach an internal temperature of 165°F) and shows a golden crispy texture. Then transfer the cooked chicken to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes. TIPS: Each air fryer is different so adjust your time accordingly! You will also need to air fry the chicken in batches. It took me about 3 batches to air fry all the chicken.

Mix With Orange Sauce

  • In a large bowl, add the orange sauce and air fried chicken and mix well until each piece of chicken is coated thoroughly with the sauce. Serve immediately with rice and your favorite veggies. Enjoy!

Video

@chasingcravings

My 4 year old said Orange Chicken is superior than Sesame Chicken. True? 🍊🍊🍊#orangechicken #chasingcravings #simplerecipes

♬ Hypnotize (Instrumental) [2014 Remaster] - The Notorious B.I.G.

Notes

Reheating Instructions: There are 2 ways you can reheat the chicken. First method is by air frying the chicken and storing it in the fridge without the orange sauce added to it. When it's time to reheat the chicken, air fry the leftover chicken for about 3-4 minutes and then add the sauce to the chicken. The 2nd method is to reheat the orange chicken in the microwave. I've tried both methods and the orange chicken reheats well in both the air fryer and microwave.