The Homemade Orange Chicken My Family is ADDICTED to

No matter where we get takeout from, my family always orders orange chicken. And while it may not be a classic Chinese recipe, we absolutely love it. I mean, how could you not? Fluffy, battered up fried chicken, coated in a silky sweet orange glaze, yeah, we're all in. It is so easy to make and so good, you're gonna think that you ordered this yourself. Let's start off by knocking out some prep. Sound good? Let's cook. We're going to start off by making that orange chicken sauce. I have one large navel orange. Now, what I'm going to do is use a hand zester to get as much zest off this as possible. Now, I like using this tool because the zest is larger and is more pronounced in the sauce. You could also absolutely use a fine zester like a microplane, or you can do it old school style and using a chef knife, thinly slice away the zest. From the orange. Now you may have some of that white rind in there that is bitter. You're going to want to slice that away and remove it. Then stack up your orange zest and julienne it until it is thinly sliced, just like this. Now it's time to extract some of that juice using the zested orange and one other one. I'm going to quarter it because these are pretty big and I'm not sure they're gonna fit in my orange juicer. Then just squeeze with all of your might to get as much of the juice out as possible. I actually flip it over and give it another squeeze as well. This should equal about three quarters of a cup. Don't believe me? Here we go. I still got it. Next, I'm going to add in a quarter cup of cold water, followed up with three tablespoons of Shaoxing wine. You could substitute in dry sherry. Next, three tablespoons of rice vinegar. You could also substitute with plain white distilled vinegar. Then, a quarter cup of granulated sugar. Now, you could sub this out for light brown sugar or even honey. Next, I'm adding in two Two tablespoons of soy sauce, then two tablespoons of oyster sauce, using a whisk. Mix all of these ingredients until combined. Then I'm just going to grab a spoon really quick and take a quick taste. I want to make sure it's perfectly balanced from the acid in the orange to the sweetness in the sugar and, of course, some of those salty flavors from the soy and oyster sauce. This right here is pretty solid. And there can absolutely be some variation to this sauce. Now, if you like it more sour, just add some more orange juice or some of that rice vinegar if you just happen to like it sweeter. Add a teaspoon, two or more of sugar, or maybe just a hint of honey. That's why I love making this at home, because I can be in charge of what that final flavor tastes like, and you can be too. Now, in addition, you'll see some recipes out there that have a hint of spice, totally optional. If you wanna do it, and I do, you can add in a half teaspoon of red pepper flakes, or you can crush in one small mild chile, which is what I'm going to do. Just using your hands, crush it up, does not need to be perfect, then give it a quick whisk. Once it is combined, we're gonna briefly set this to the side. Now what I'm going to do in a small bowl is finely grate in two whole garlic cloves. Then I have about a one inch piece of peeled fresh ginger. I'm also going to grate that in there. Give it a few knocks once you're done or even scrape off anything that's on the bottom of that fine microplane. Set that to the side. And now thinking down the line, I'm going to want this sauce to be thick. So we're going to need to make a slurry, which is a thickening agent. I have one tablespoon of cornstarch. I'm next going to add in a tablespoon to a tablespoon and a half of cold water and just using a spoon, mix it together until it's combined. You will need to remix this before adding it to the sauce, but for now, let's set it to the side. And for now, it's chicken time. I have two pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast. You could also use boneless, skinless chicken thighs or drums. My family just happens to like chicken breast meat more, so I'm overruled. Breast meat it is. I want to cut these down into about one inch cubes. Now these breasts are pretty thick, so what I'm going to do is slice them in half width wise, pressing down with one hand to make sure it's stable, while carefully slicing through just like this. Then we're going to take 1-inch thick slices, turn it 90 degrees, and then cut those beautiful 1-inch cubes. Repeat the process with the other pieces of chicken, then we're just going to add them right to a large bowl. And of course, I'm going to give my cutting board a quick wash with hot water and soap because, well, raw chicken was on it. And now to make that batter for the chicken. I'm adding in 2 tablespoons of Shaoxing wine. Again, you could substitute with dry sherry. Next, one tablespoon of sesame oil. You could also use a neutral flavored oil like avocado oil if you like. Then, one quarter cup of cold water. I'm adding in two large eggs, one egg at a time. I wanna make sure it's completely mixed in before I add in the next egg. And at this stage, I'm going to add in a half cup of all-purpose flour and then a half cup of cornstarch. You could also substitute with potato starch. Now, whether you use the cornstarch or the potato starch, this is going to help ensure our chicken is extremely fluffy and perfectly coated before frying it. Make sure you're using this. Then we want to season it up with about two teaspoons of coarse salt and a half teaspoon of ground white pepper. Then using your hands or a spatula, mix everything together until it is combined and the batter should almost resemble like a tempura batter. This looks perfect. And believe it or not, orange chicken was actually created back in 1987 by Panda Express's executive chef, Andy Kao. And like I said earlier, not that this is a classic Chinese recipe, but you can certainly see Hunan style of cooking in this dish. And to me, it's a very close cousin to General Tso's chicken. All right, let's fry this up. All right, homies, let's take our chicken over to the cooktop where I have a large seasoned up wok. You could also use a large non-stick skillet. We are going to add in about one cup of neutral flavored oil. I prefer to use avocado oil. Then let's turn the heat up to medium and heat that oil up for about 30 to 45 seconds. I'm just going to push the oil around the pan, make sure it's nice and seasoned up. Then taking about a handful of that battered up chicken, we're going to add in one piece at a time. Now we do this so that it does not stick. And becomes perfectly coated on all sides in that oil. We are going to let it cook untouched for about one minute. Then using a slotted spoon, we're gonna come in and begin to move the chicken around. We're gonna cook it doing this for a further two to three minutes or until it's lightly browned and cooked throughout just like this. It is okay if it's not completely cooked through. It will continue to do so when setting it to the side. Now you will need to do this in batches and it should only take a total of maybe 15 to 18 minutes. Once they are all cooked, we're placing them on a plate that I've lined up with paper towels to remove any excess oil. Next, I'm going to drain off all but about one tablespoon of oil. Then in that same pan over medium heat, we're adding in our finely minced ginger and garlic. And we're going to stir fry this for only 30 to 45 seconds or until it becomes lightly browned and fragrant like this. Now let's add in our sauce. I'm going to use a rubber spatula to scrape off everything because sometimes the sugar gets stuck on the bottom of the bowl. Then we're going to bring it up until it is simmering and a light boil around the outside. And now to thicken it up with some of our slurry. But first, I'm going to give it a quick mix because after sitting for so long, the cornstarch can separate from the water. We're just going to add in a few teaspoons at a time while constantly stirring it or until it becomes a thick, silky sauce just like this. And again, this is why you only add in a few teaspoons at a time to get the consistency right. Make sure there are no clumps anywhere. Now let's add in our fluffy battered fried chicken and toss it together while rocking the pan back and forth using one hand while folding the ingredients together with the spoon using the other hand until they are all coated. And remember, orange chicken isn't an overly saucy dish. It just needs to be coated in that sauce. And this looks pretty dang good. And we usually like to serve this up with two different things. One, plain steamed white jasmine rice or an egg fried rice. My daughter loves that one. Now you can get both of these recipes with step-by-step images, both in metric or in imperial measurements on my website at billyparisi.com. And it always goes back to these fundamental classic cooking techniques. Whether you're stir frying or using a slurry to thicken up a sauce, all of these things when Put into practice, make you a better cook, make better food and ultimately the best memories. My family is going to crush this. All right, let me show you how easy it is to plate this up. So what I like to do is serve it up in a shallow large bowl, just like this. Now you could garnish with some sliced green onions, but for me, I'm gonna serve it up just with some white sesame seeds. The smells, the looks, can't wait to try this. And this is just a fantastic weeknight meal for the family. It's easy to make, it's loaded with flavor, and in fact, you may not miss takeout after you try this. But if you do love Chinese-style cooking, then you definitely have to check out my beef stir fry. It's simple, it's delicious, I think you'll love it. I've got a great recipe video, I'll see you on there. He he he he.