No fuss orange chicken!
Ya know, before moving to Round Top if we wanted Chinese food we would have many places to choose from and I would always say why eat out when I can do better at home. Well, now that we are in Round Top and there’s not a Chinese restaurant nearby, I’m back to making my own Asian flavored dishes.
I remember the first time I had chicken chow mien and it was at my mother-in-law’s house and I was dating my husband (in high school) and he told me I was really going to like her chow mien; and I did. I don’t remember my mother ever making Chinese dishes; a little bit of everything else but no Chinese.
There are quite a few of those dishes on this blog I’ve made over the last 53 years of marriage; my egg rolls, shrimp foo young, lo main, and fried rice to name a few. I have always loved the flavors of sesame oil in any dressing or sauce so I tend to use that quite often. If you ever want to try your hand at egg rolls, let me know and we could give it a go.
There are a couple of other recipes I’ve posted for Orange Chicken; one with veggies and one where the chicken is coated with Panko bread crumbs and baked. I love the sauce on this one too and also like the frying of the chicken better than baking. I’ll probably try a few other recipes for Orange Chicken until I settle on one that will be my go to for my Chinese food craving.
BLAST FROM THE PAST: This Nutty Cole Slaw has sesame oil and peanuts which is a combo that makes a very tasty salad.
Get the sauce ingredients ready.
Sauce thickens quickly; I decided to add in a few dried onion flakes to the sauce.
I also decided to add a couple extra ingredients. I love the flavor of sesame oil and the Sweet Chili Sauce.
Fry the batter dipped chicken pieces in several batches so you don’t over crowd the skillet.
Add the sauce to the skillet after you have fried all the chicken and drained the oil. Stir to coat.
Now add in the sesame seeds and sprinkle with green onions before serving.
Serve on top of white fluffy rice. I also sprinted with a few black sesame seeds.
Orange Chicken with White Rice
Ingredients
- Sauce:
- 1 c. orange juice
- 1/2 c. sugar
- 1/8 c. sweet chili sauce
- 2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
- 2 T. soy sauce
- 1 tsp. sesame oil
- 1/4 tsp. ginger powder
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2-1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
- 2 Tbsp. water
- Chicken
- 1 1/2-2 lbs. chicken thighs cut in 1" pieces*
- 1 tsp. Kosher salt
- 1/3 c. cornstarch
- 1/3 c. flour
- 2 large eggs beaten
- 1-2 " vegetable oil
Instructions
- Mix the juice, sugar, sweet chili sauce, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil and spices together in a small saucepan. Heat 2-3 minutes until the sugar has dissolved. Mix the 1 tablespoon cornstarch with the 2 tablespoons of water and stir until the cornstarch has dissolved. Slowly add this to the sauce and stir until thickened. Remove from heat.
- After cutting the chicken into small pieces, mix with the Kosher salt and refrigerate for about an hour (or you can go on and prepare the batter and fry the chicken.) Mix the 1/3 cup cornstarch and the 1/3 cup flour and add in the 2 beaten eggs. Pour this over the chicken pieces to coat and fry until crisp and brown. Drain on paper towel or use small cooling rack to drain the chicken. After you have fried all your checken pour as much sauce as you want over the chicken and stir to coat.
- To plate top some fluffy white rice with the orange chicken and garnish with sliced green onions and some sesame seeds.
- Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Note: I used 2 boneless chicken Bresat and thigh meat.
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