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This Baked Orange Chicken tastes better than any Chinese take-out you’ll get at a restaurant. Crispy coated chunks of chicken fry in oil and then get baked in a homemade sweet orange sauce. Serve over rice for a delicious dinner.
BAKED ORANGE CHICKEN BREAST RECIPE
When it comes to dinner recipes I like to keep it simple with easy, 30-minute recipes. But on those activity-free weeknights or weekends I love making this crispy baked orange chicken.
Orange chicken is a restaurant favorite and now you can make it at home. Not only will it be healthier, but it’s so much better and tastes fresh!
HOW TO MAKE BAKED ORANGE CHICKEN
- Cut up 4 chicken breasts into small, bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle some salt and pepper over the chicken and mix it together to make sure that the pieces get coated.
- Place the chicken into a gallon-sized Ziploc bag and add the cornstarch. Close the bag and shake to coat the chicken in the cornstarch.
- Crack 4 eggs into a bowl and in several batches coat the chicken pieces in the egg and then place in the pan of hot oil and let it cook.
- You do not need to let it cook all the way through. Only about 2 minutes on each side. You’re looking to get a nice crust on the chicken not to have it cook through.
- Let drain on a plate lined with a paper towel and do another batch.
- Place all the crispy chicken pieces into a 9×13 baking dish. Mix up the simple orange sauce and pour over the chicken pieces.
- Bake for 1 hour, stirring and re-coating the pieces every 15 minutes.
- Serve over rice and garnish with green onions and orange slices.
MY TIPS FOR THIS RECIPE
-Be sure and cut the chicken into small pieces. You don’t want them too large or else they will take forever to get that crispy coating. I aim for small, bite-sized pieces.
-I use prepared orange juice. I do not juice my own orange for the juice. But, you could do that if you wanted to.
-The recipe will not have tons of extra sauce so if you want it really saucy then maybe make 1 1/2 of the orange sauce recipe and reserve some for drizzling on the chicken when you serve it over rice. We like it as is so I just make the recipe as directed.
-People always comment on the 1 hour cook time. Yes, it is correct. And no the chicken does not get tough and dry. When you fry the small chicken pieces you are just wanting to get a nice crispy coating. You do not need to cook it to temperature.
TRY THESE OTHER BETTER THAN TAKEOUT RECIPES
- crispy honey chicken
- baked sweet n’ sour chicken
- pineapple teriyaki chicken meatballs
- best fried egg rolls
- skillet cashew chicken
Baked Orange Chicken
Ingredients
crispy chicken
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 ½ cups cornstarch
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup canola oil
orange sauce
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 2/3 cup orange juice
- 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- zest of one orange
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.
- Heat the canola oil in a large skillet pan over medium-high heat.
- Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and sprinkle salt and pepper over the chicken pieces. Add chicken pieces to a gallon-sized Ziploc bag (or you can do this in a bowl) and add the cornstarch. Close the Ziploc bag and shake to mix it together and coat the chicken pieces in cornstarch.
- Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat with a fork.
- Take a handful of cornstarch coated chicken pieces out of the bag and place in the egg. Coat both sides of each piece and then place in the hot oil. Let cook for 2-3 minutes per side. You just want a nice crispy crust, you do not have to cook them all the way through. Repeat with the remining chicken pieces in several batches. It takes me about 4 batches to cook them. * Once chicken pieces are done place them on a plate lined with paper towels so they can drain.
- Add the crispy chicken pieces to the prepared 9x13 baking pan.
- Combine all the ingredients for the orange sauce into a small bowl and stir with a whisk until mixed together. Pour over the chicken and stir to coat all the chicken pieces in the sauce.
- Bake, uncovered, for 1 hour. Turning and mixing the chicken every 15 minutes to make sure it stays coated in the sauce.
- Serve over rice and garnish with green onions.
Notes
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
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i love orange chicken! I haven’t had it in a while, I’m going to have to figure out how to do this one egg free for my daughter. I love the idea of baking it, the last time I did make it, it took forever!
I wish it didn’t take so long, which is exactly why I don’t make it often 😉 But, the results are worth it. Egg-free?? I wish I could help…. My kids don’t have any allergies so I’m clueless.
I’m not sure how it would effect it but you could potentially try buttermilk!! Good luck!!
We just did some coated in just corn starch and fried with out the egg for our son with allergies. Worked just fine 🙂
Oh my gosh, this is AMAZING!! Definitely a winner with my whole family; even my girls (they are extremely picky). Even though it takes a long time to make, I will most certainly add this to my monthly menu! I also toasted some sesame seeds and sprinkled those over the chicken. YUM! Thanks Jessica.
YAY!! I’m so happy you all loved it Bridget! It is a favorite in our house for sure. I agree, it takes more time to make but it is so worth it 🙂 Thank you for coming back and leaving your feedback.
Excellent and definitely worth a little more work to make it. Thanks for sharing!!
So happy to hear. Yes, it is a bit more work but it’s totally worth it. Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
YES! I am quite sure people get tired of me endlessly talking about great recipes. But after picking out the best ingredients, destroying the kitchen (even without the help of a 2-year-old) to make the recipe, and getting it on the table is no small feat! Don’t let anyone steal your bragging rights. I love to cook. I love to cook for someone that enjoys the food. I just pinned two chicken recipes from you and if they turn out for me you had better believe they will hear all about it! Sticky fingers and ALL. Thanks for the recipes AND helpful tips. Keep celebrating! Barb
Thanks Barbara. I love to cook too. Messy kitchen and kids running around and all!
Yes, very good point about the flour for testing the oil. I meant to add that but I guess I forgot. For some reason, the chicken does not get over baked and tough. Hopefully you can actually try it for yourself and then you might think differently 🙂 Thanks for your comment.
I haven’t made this yet, but what about just using an actual bottle of just orange sauce from the store?
I think so?? But I can’t say for sure as I have never done that. I think the store bought sauce would be much thicker, so you may need more of it so it does not turn into a thick burnt texture in the oven.
This was delicious!!! Even with a little less brown sugar. Do you think this can freeze well? I doubled the recipe and have so much chicken that I don’t think we will get through it fast enough. Thanks for a yummy dinner recipe!
I would guess that it would not freeze well just because of the coating on the chicken but I am no expert when it comes to freezing so it may be just fine. If I have leftovers I like to make wraps with them (lettuce, tomato, and whatever else you want) or use them for salads.
I totally thought the same thing but am willing to give it a try as suggested with the hour oven cook time! I like to try recipes as written and then modify, if needed, the next time I make them. This blog is usually spot on though. 🙂
So sweet of you. Thank you 🙂 Yes the 1 hour cook time seems extreme but somehow it just works!
My family loved it.
Hello!! The chicken was a hit, but my sauce turned out very liquidy, which wasn’t what I expected. Is it supposed to be liquidy??
It is liquidy but once you add into the baking dish and let it bake for an hour with the chicken, it thickens up really nicely.
I am super excited to try this! I plan to serve it this weekend for a dinner party. Can you tell me how many this serves?
It makes a 9×13 baking pan and I would safely say it feeds 6 adult sized portions. But that also could vary depending on if there are side dishes, rice, etc. As a main course with nothing else, it will feed 6 adult portions. Serve it with some rice and maybe egg rolls and it’s a hearty meal for sure 🙂 Hope that helps.
Do you think it will make a big difference if I use vegetable oil instead of canola oil?
Do you think it will make a big difference if I use vegetable oil instead of canola oil?
No it won’t. Vegetable or canola will work just fine.
I’ve made this several times for my husband and grown boys. We all LOVE it. I’m going to the store to get the ingredients I don’t have to make it again tonight! It is SO GOOD!
I rarely feel compelled to leave a review, but this one is worth coming back to. My kids both loved it and that’s saying a LOT. My husband and I worked together to prep. I popped it in the oven, played soccer with my kids, practiced piano, kids did homework, fed the chinchilla, kids showered, and dinner was ready. They were starving and had two helpings with a side of broccoli and stir fry rice. Ah-MAZING and so much better than take-out.
I wonder if I can crisp the chicken one day, then pop them in the oven with sauce the next day. Thoughts?
So happy to hear this is a hit! And thank you for your review 🙂 As far as crisping the chicken before, I don’t think it would work because it would have to be stored in the fridge and doing that would make the crispy chicken soggy. But then again I’ve never tried it so I can’t say for sure, but my best guess is that it would not be as crispy if you fried the chicken one day and cooked it in the next.
Hi, can’t this be made using a different type of vinegar? If yes, what would you recommend?
Thank you!
Any vinegar would work in this recipe. I would stay away from balsamic vinegar as that’s a completely different flavor profile. Regular white vinegar, apple cider, rice wine vinegar would all work just fine.
This was amazing! I have to admit I was skeptical of the one hour baking time so I creeped a few comments first to see what others had done, and I followed the directions as written, turned out FABULOUSLY! I’m trying to stay a bit healthy so I just served it with brown rice and a green salad, it was fantastic. Also if anyone was wondering about how it freezes, I did freeze some to test it out and if you’ve ever bought trader joe’s frozen orange chicken, that’s kinda how it is after but it’s more dry. Not the best from frozen, but also not the worst. Thank you for such a great recipe!
Thanks so much for your comment and your freezing experience. So happy to hear you loved this recipe!
How many calories does this dish have per serving? Looks delicious!
I don’t do calorie counts for this type of dish. It’s just way to hard to “accurately” say the calorie count because of the frying the chicken pieces in the oil. I am no dietitian so I don’t want to share false information. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
This is well worth the time and effort! Despite a few goofs on my part ( added granulated sugar and didn’t realize it should have been brown sugar until too late and oopsie I forgot the vinegar lol) this turned out delicious! Next time though – and yes there WILL be a next time I’ll only bake it for 45 minutes or so. When I stirred it at 30 minutes the sauce was starting to thicken and it was looking and smelling good – at the 45 minute mark the sauce was already burning around the edges of the pan. And though I only used 2 chicken breasts….one meal and leftover for just me…I made the full amount of sauce and there still wasn’t much left. Next time i’ll do a larger batch of sauce to be able to pour some over my rice. Thanks for a great recipe!
Wow! This turned out so delicious! It was definitely worth the effort and waiting an hour for it to cook in oven. It was so tender and flavorful. I do recommend doubling the sauce., that is what I did and it was perfect! This will be in our meal rotation from now on. Thank you so much!
This was so good!
Enjoyed making this orange chicken today, doubled recipe and doubled juice. Family gave thumbs up so its going on my “make again” recipe book. I made the recipe exactly as written and it was great!
It’s a winner! My family devoured it! The only I wish, I did was save sauce on the side, because as the sauce thickens in the oven, it costs chicken. I wanted more sauce. Mmmmm… Thanks for the recipe! Worth the waiting time!
This turned out amazing! Next time I would try one 1 1/2-ing the recipe for just a little more sauce but it was great the way it was. Will be making again
This recipe was more labor intensive than I was ready for, but that being said it turned out amazing. I used tapioca flour instead of cornstarch that worked just fine. The chicken was super juicy and tender. I used one pack of chicken breasts and one pack of chicken thighs. Highly recommend this, just be ready for a little mess!
Yes, a mess and more prep time. I agree, I can only make this on a weekend when my husband is at the house. During the weekdays there is no way! haha 🙂 Thanks so much for your comment.
Wow this is a great recipe!
I just substituted apple cider vinegar.
I also brined the chicken breast beforehand to keep it tender while I was deciding what recipe to make… may not have been necessary.
The chicken was tender and perfectly cooked and I appreciated not needing breadcrumbs as they are hard to find where I live. Everyone in my family approved and I will make again for sure. Thank you!
Chicken was overbaked, 30 minutes would have been plenty of time. Should have used by better judgement. The sauce was outstanding. Will make again but will not bake as long and will use
only have as much orange zest.
I made sure to baste the chicken every 15 minutes in the sauce and mine turned out crispy and delicious, not dry at all. I was worried about the long length of cooking time, but I think it needs it to develop the rich, gooey sauce.
YES! Exactly this. As long as you are basting the chicken and stirring it around every 15 minutes, then it should not come out dry. I am always skeptical of the long cook time but every time it comes out just fine! Thanks so much for your comment and rating. I appreciate it.
Made this for the second time tonight! Great recipe
I love your crispy honey chicken recipe- could I use that recipe with this sauce? Essentially making 2 batches and then tossing in 2 sauces – one honey chicken and one orange chicken??
Yes I think that would work just fine. Now I am curious too so you’ll have to let me know! 🙂
This was easy and delicious. I am going to cook for my guests tonight again as it was so tasty. The only ingredient I did not have was the garlic salt which I substituted for fresh garlic and a little more salt.
Fresh garlic is a great substitution! I hope your guests loved it.
Love this recipe!
The nutrition info, is it based off portions size or as the whole dish?
It is for one serving. The top of the recipe card says how many serving the recipe as a whole makes. So happy you loved the recipe and thanks for letting me know.
I’ve made this too many times to count! It’s one of our favorite dinners!! 🙂 But I’m wondering, my sauce is so much darker than yours. Even after baking, it looks more like sesame chicken than orange chicken. It’s still delicious, but I was just wondering if I’m doing something wrong.
You did not do anything wrong. My sauce is pretty dark too… the pictures are lightened up which might be why the sauce looks lighter. I don’t edit the pictures, I just lighten them up slightly because they present better on social media that way.
I made this today for lunch. I didnt have the rice wine vinegar so left it out. I did make a half recipe more of the sauce and zested 2 oranges for the sauce because we love the orange flavor. This is a keeper. So moist and delicious! Thamks for a great recipe
Here’s my honest opinion: This is far better than any restaurant orange chicken! I’ve tried several homemade recipes before but nothings compared. Thus why I was hesitant about the sauce up until it came out of the oven. I taste tested the sauce a few times before adding it to the chicken because I’ve ruined meals before when I didn’t. I will admit my family and I aren’t huge fans of anything vinegar, so I added more brown sugar and a tbsp of honey as well to lighten that taste but it ultimately didn’t need it. This did thicken it some. Do you have any tips for thickening the sauce other than that? Either way though, this was an easy and absolutely delicious meal!! Oh, and I highly recommend squeezing your own orange juice! It only took me two large oranges. This way the additional brown sugar and honey weren’t too big of a deal if anyone wants to be mindful of their sugar intake. Again, I love this recipe and will certainly be making it again.
Thank you for sharing your experience! To thicken the sauce, the best would be to separate the sauce and chicken when it’s done baking and place the sauce in a pan on the stove at about medium heat. Once small bubbles start to burst at the top add a cornstarch slurry (1:1 water and cornstarch, about 2tbsp each) and allow to bubble until it has thickened. Hopefully that helps!!
Made this with fried rice tonight. Excellent! Will definitely be making it again.
The only thing I would suggest is that if you want leftovers is to double the recipe 🙂
Thank you for your suggestion! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe!