{April 29, 2013}
Orange chicken

Orange chicken

I really don’t know where I found this recipe from. I searched my history for all orange chicken recipes I’ve looked at, but the only one I found was for Chef John’s spicy orange chicken, but it’s not quite this recipe either…I must have mixed together two recipes. My family and I really like this recipe. This is my second time making it and I found it better with decreased sugar, more ginger, and more orange zest.

Ingredients:

  • 2 lbs chicken (breast or thigh) cubed
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp white sugar
  • 1 pinch black pepper
  • 1 cup cornstarch or flour
  • 3 bunches green onion
  • 1 thumb of ginger grated
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1-2 whole red chile peppers
  • orange zest (2 small oranges)
  • 1/3 cup white sugar
  • 1/4 cup chicken broth
  • 1 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp peanut butter
  • Orange juice
  • Beat egg with salt, sugar, pepper. Mix into chicken. Pour cornstarch or flour over chicken and mix until coated.
  • Fry chicken for 3-5 mins, remove from wok.
  • Heat 2 tbsp oil. Saute green onions, garlic, chiles, zest.
  • Add white sugar, ginger, chicken broth, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, a splash of orange juice, and peanut butter. Cook for 3 min.
  • Add chicken back in and cook until chicken is cooked through and sauce is thickened.

Now I remember to remove the chile peppers after cooking. I thought it was common knowledge not to eat it since it’s clearly a whole pepper and only there to spice up the entire dish, but my brother ate it and said his mouth was on fire. LOL.

Anyway, having all that orange zest really brings out the great orange flavor. It’s a very sweet, spicy, and orange-y dish, but you could easily reduce one ingredient or the other to your liking.