Orange chicken — battered, fried chicken pieces in a sweet, tangy, orange-flavoured sauce — was created by chef Andy Kao at Panda Express in 1987 and became the most popular dish at the most successful Chinese-American fast-casual chain in the world (2,400+ locations). The dish has no Chinese ancestor — it is an American creation inspired by the Hunanese tradition of orange-peel-flavoured dishes (dried tangerine peel is a common Hunanese and Sichuan ingredient). Orange chicken sells 100+ million pounds annually at Panda Express alone, making it one of the most consumed single dishes in American food service.
Boneless chicken pieces (thigh or breast), battered in a cornstarch-egg mixture, deep-fried until crispy, then tossed in a sweet-tangy glaze of orange juice, orange zest, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes. The sauce should be glossy and clinging — thickened with cornstarch to a glaze consistency. The chicken should retain some crunch under the sauce.
1) Same double-fry technique as General Tso's (AM9-01) for maximum crunch. 2) Orange zest provides the aromatic orange flavour; orange juice provides sweetness and tang. Both are required — zest alone is too bitter; juice alone is too one-note. 3) The sauce is a glaze, not a gravy — it should coat, not pool.
Orange chicken at Panda Express is the fast-food version; homemade with fresh orange juice, real zest, and a properly executed double-fry is a different and dramatically better product. The dish's commercial success does not diminish its potential when made well.
Jennifer 8. Lee — The Fortune Cookie Chronicles