Orange Chicken

I'm going to blame the lady in the food court handing samples for my latest obsession with chinese food! Nothing else can really explain it, so why not share all my Asian experiments with you!

Chinese dishes are usually very easy and quick to make, which is right up my alley. Not to mention I tend to have a lot of the ingredients I use for my sauces on hand all the time, so that could also be a culprit. But anywho, I think this one is my favorite dish so far, it's so citrusy and delicious and ridiculously easy!!

So without further ado, let's get to it..

As with my other chinese recipes, I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into chunks

For a slightly crunchy coating like the orange chicken in the food court, I dipped the chicken pieces in a cornstarch and egg white mixture

I then fried them in batches for about 5 minutes or so and set them aside to get started on the sauce

I'm pretty lazy so I literally squeezed my orange right into the pan (I'm sure OJ from the store works too) and then dumped everything else in

Then to thicken it up I added a bit of cornstarch mixed with water and let that boil for a minute or two 

  Once it was nice and sticky, I added my chicken to the pan and tossed to coat all the pieces

And as a last touch, I sprinkled a little more orange zest on top, because I mean...it's orange chicken, it should scream orange! In all, this maybe took 30 minutes, including making my soon to be famous fried rice that I served with it, but you could do steamed rice and broccoli to save on calories.

Orange Chicken

Serves 2 

Prep: 10 minutes

Cook: 20 minutes 

3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 C vegetable oil

2 egg whites

1 T cornstarch

Orange sauce

Juice of one large orange (~1/3-1/2 C)

2 T soy sauce

1 T honey

1 T brown sugar

1 T rice wine vinegar (or white vinegar)

1/2 T cornstarch dissolved in water

2 t crushed red pepper

1 t minced garlic

1 t sesame oil

~1-2 t grated ginger 

Zest of orange (save some for topping) 

Directions

1. Heat vegetable oil in a pan over med-high heat

2. Cut chicken thighs into bite size chunks

3. In a bowl, whip together 1 T cornstarch and egg whites

4. Dip chicken into egg mixture then fry in batches until all chicken is browned and cooked through. Set aside on paper towel to drain

5. In a pan, add all sauce ingredients, except cornstarch, boil one to two minutes then slowly add cornstarch until thickened

6. Add chicken to sauce and toss to coat

7. Top with additional orange zest