Panda Express Orange Chicken Recipe (Copycat) - Alyona’s Cooking (2024)

FAQs

Why does Panda Express orange chicken taste so good? ›

Good orange chicken is mostly defined by its sauce, which is why Panda Express' balanced mix of sweet, tangy, and savory remains unmatched.

Ingredients: dark meat chicken, water, sugar, distilled vinegar, modified food starch, corn starch, potato starch, contains less than 2% of: wheat, orange extract, caramel color, salt, garlic, phosphoric acid, rice wine, sesame oil. *The dish uses a proprietary batter and sauce.

How to make the orange chicken sauce. The orange sauce is made from a mixture of the orange juice and zest, sugar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and rice vinegar. This is bubbled up in the wok until slightly thickened. The chicken is then added back in, and tossed in the sauce until fully coated.

Orange chicken is a popular item at Chinese restaurants. It consists of small cubes of chicken that are breaded, pan-fried, and coated in an orange sauce. The orange sauce is sweet with a little tang and a hint of spice. It's mainly known for its orange flavor (as you can guess from the name).

They have said this was due to the entree being a limited time item, but the popularity should make them change their minds. Now, millions of people will not be able to have a full meal other than sides at Panda Express. The people are outraged as seen in the comments on various social media accounts.

It is a common Chinese cooking technique called velveting the meat. Basically, the meat is marinated in egg whites and cornstarch (other optional seasonings may be added, depending upon what flavor you wish to achieve), then refrigerated for about an hour before cooking.

Panda Express entrees and sides contain zero grams of trans fat per serving and adds no MSG in their food. Panda Express uses only 100% pure soybean oil in the preparation of recipes.

Long Grain Rice – If you're going for fluffy, not sticky, then long grain is the way to go for fried rice like Panda Express! Medium grain or jasmine are okay substitutes to use, but short grain should be avoided.

To give those frozen, dark meat chicken chunks their orange-ish flavor, Panda Express uses pure orange extract, made from “alcohol, water, and oil of orange.”

To thicken the sauce, pour it into a small saucepan on the stove over medium-high heat. In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water to make a cornstarch slurry. Once the sauce starts to bubble in the pan on the stovetop, add the cornstarch slurry and stir to combine.

What is the Chinese version of orange chicken? ›

In Chinese, this dish is known as "陳皮雞", literally "dried citrus peel chicken", referring to dried orange or tangerine peel. However, the taste and recipes of this dish differ due to cultural and geographical factors.

Hoisin is made with sugar, water, soybeans, salt, sweet potato, sesame seeds, cornstarch, garlic, wheat flour, chili pepper and spices.

There is nothing in orange chicken that is poisonous but it is fried and has fat so puts him at risk for pancreatitis. Likely he has an upset stomach from the ingestion.

General Tso's chicken is typically spicier and has a more complex flavor profile, with a sauce that includes soy sauce, vinegar, and chili peppers. Orange chicken, on the other hand, has a sweeter and tangier sauce made with orange juice and zest.

Unfortunately, if it's a nutritious meal you're on the hunt for, this one isn't it. "Panda Express's Orange Chicken and Chow Mein are considered unhealthy due to their high levels of sodium, sugar, and unhealthy fats," says Young.

By the fall of 2022, Panda Express fans had something new to clamor about at all of its 2,300 locations with the national launch of Beyond the Original Orange Orange Chicken (BTOOC), a plant-based take on its most popular dish made together with vegan company Beyond Meat.

QUALITY INGREDIENTS

Panda Express serves chicken raised without antibiotics for select items and uses only liquid eggs in our restaurants globally to uphold the highest standards of food safety, quality and consistency.

In 1987, the chain's chef, Andy Kao, introduced the famous Orange Chicken. The first version was served bone-in but nowadays you will find that the dish is boneless. The combination of its good food quality, financial discipline and the boom in the Asian restaurant category brought Panda Express to new heights.