Panda Express Orange Chicken (Copycat)

Panda Express Orange Chicken with tender chicken thighs fried crisp and tossed in a magical perfect-copycat sauce!

Panda Express Orange Chicken with tender chicken thighs fried crisp and tossed in a magical perfect-copycat sauce!

Panda Express Orange Chicken is the most popular recipe on the Panda Express menu and I’m sure you all know why! This recipe will make you dance a little in your chair as you eat it because it is just right on the money!

This recipe is different than the orange chicken recipe with orange marmalade that is SUPER popular online because the sauce in that recipe is based on a mixture of barbecue sauce and orange marmalade. While some of the pictures may look slightly similar, this Panda Express Orange Chicken is going to taste a lot different.

Looking for the ENTIRE Panda Express Recipe List? I have recreated the entire menu on the blog and have a Panda Express Recipe Index so you can easily access them! I have an entire section of the site dedicated to your favorite copycat recipes too!

Want some of the most popular Panda Express recipes?

This Panda Express Orange Chicken Copycat is spot on and is SO EASY. PLUS theres a video!

It may seem like there are a lot of ingredients at play here and a lot of dishes to dirty, but it really does come together pretty quickly and at the end of the cooking when you have a plate of this chicken waiting to be eaten you’ll forget all about that pile of dishes left behind!

If you would like to kick up the heat a little bit and make this a spicy orange chicken, I suggest about 1/2 tablespoon of Sriracha mixed into the sauce. Any additional heat you can add with crushed red peppers.

If you’re looking to make your Orange Chicken healthy I have THE EXACT SAME Panda Express Orange Chicken recipe on the blog adapted for a much healthier meal. Look at Ground Orange Chicken (1 Pan!) and I even make it into a burrito (which was AMAZING) —> Orange Chicken Burrito. Most people make a version of baked orange chicken to lighten the calories, I do it instead with ground chicken which is browned really well first to give the crispy texture without the breading.

Panda Express Orange Chicken with tender chicken thighs fried crisp and tossed in a magical perfect-copycat sauce!

You all have loved this recipe so much since I posted it originally in 2015, I made a Q&A section of the most popular questions I was asked:

Orange Chicken Recipe for Crockpot/Slow Cooker?

I used to actually make this recipe in the slow cooker when Tyson made raw chicken tenders. I’d just put the tenders in the slow cooker with the sauce, cook on low for 3 hours, then add in a bit of cornstarch/water slurry and cook an additional hour. Now, I make small nuggets, bread them in panko then freeze them and cook them the same way. This recipe is coming soon on the blog.

 

What is in General Tso’s chicken?

General Tso’s Chicken (you can find it here on the blog) is probably the closest tasting dish to Orange Chicken. Though it doesn’t contain any orange, it does have many similar ingredients including soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, cornstarch as well as dried red chili peppers and garlic. It is tossed with deep fried chicken pieces as well.
Tools used in the making of this Panda Express Orange Chicken:
Wok: The best way to cook quickly and over high heat for Asian dishes, this wok is the perfect stir fry pan.
Sriracha: Quite possibly the king of all pre-made hot sauces as far as I’m concerned. Adds heat without overwhelming you and can be used in almost every cuisine. Try mixing with mayo to make a perfect spicy mayo!
Citrus Zester: This zests your citrus perfectly without getting any of the pith in the recipe.
Soy Sauce: Nothing much to say here except Kikkoman has the best flavor overall and I always recommend reduced sodium.
Panda Express Orange Chicken with tender chicken thighs fried crisp and tossed in a magical perfect-copycat sauce!
4.94 from 116 votes
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Panda Express Orange Chicken

Panda Express Orange Chicken with tender chicken thighs fried crisp and tossed in a magical perfect-copycat sauce!
Course Main Course
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword Panda Express Orange Chicken (Copycat)
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 6 servings
Calories 419 kcal
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients

FOR THE CHICKEN:

  • 2 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1" pieces
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 pinch black pepper
  • 2 tbsp oil divided, plus more for frying
  • 1/2 cup cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup flour

FOR THE SAUCE:

TO FINISH:

  • 1 1/2 tablespoons ginger root minced
  • 2 teaspoons garlic minced
  • 1/2 tsp hot red chili pepper crushed

Instructions

  1. To make the sauce combine the 1 tablespoon cornstarch, rice wine, water, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar, white vinegar and orange zest.
  2. To coat the chicken add the egg, salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon oil into a bowl and whisk together in a large bowl.
  3. In a separate bowl, add 1/2 cup corn starch and flour and mix well.
  4. In a large frying pan or a wok, heat oil in a wok 375 degrees.
  5. Dip chicken pieces in the egg mixture, then dredge in the flour mixture.
  6. Fry the chicken for 3 to 4 minutes or until golden and crisp.

  7. Transfer to a cooling rack and repeat with remaining chicken.
  8. When you are done with the chicken, drain most of the oil from the pan (leave about a tablespoon).
  9. Add the ginger, garlic and crushed red peppers, cooking for about 10 seconds.

  10. Add the orange sauce and bring to boil.

  11. Turn off the heat, and add cooked chicken and stir until well mixed.

Recipe Video

Nutrition Facts
Panda Express Orange Chicken
Amount Per Serving
Calories 419 Calories from Fat 108
% Daily Value*
Fat 12g18%
Saturated Fat 2g13%
Cholesterol 122mg41%
Sodium 1171mg51%
Potassium 601mg17%
Carbohydrates 36g12%
Sugar 20g22%
Protein 36g72%
Vitamin A 40IU1%
Vitamin C 0.3mg0%
Calcium 15mg2%
Iron 1.5mg8%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

The pictures above are from a newly photographed, but here were the originals from 2015:Panda Express Orange Chicken with tender chicken thighs fried crisp and tossed in a magical perfect-copycat sauce!

Panda Express Orange Chicken with tender chicken thighs fried crisp and tossed in a magical perfect-copycat sauce!

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. Last night was my 2nd time making this recipe!
    And it’s so good.
    I do a couple of things different–using the juice of the orange instead of water as the base…and then I had to add water to the cooked sauce because it thickened up too much.
    And only did 4 tbsps of sugar versus 10…
    Absolutely a family favorite!
    thanks! Eva

  2. Excellent!!! Just had it for dinner 15 min ago and everyone loved it. I’ve been a fan of Panda Express Orange chicken for 20 years and this is as close as it gets!
    Thanks Sabrina.

  3. The recipe is good, however, there is something not quite right with the sauce. Too much of everything – orange, ginger, and vinegar.

  4. I tried it’s amazing! I love the sweetness to it! I’m almost 14, I made all by myself to try and made it gf! Super good will make again!

  5. Does not taste like Panda Express at all, texture is off too.

    I would not repeat this recipe either.

    Also would suggest cutting down on soy sauce, and making it more of a glaze.

  6. Not my favorite. There was a lot of vinegar and it was pretty overwhelming by the end of the dish. I’ll go back to my old standby.

  7. This looks good but I have a question. Ten tablespoons is almost 2/3 cup. Is that really the amount of vinegar to use, or is it a typo? Maybe ten teaspoons??

  8. Hi, your recipe calls for rice wine, but the link for it takes you to Holland White Wine on Amazon. So is this supposed to use white wine and not rice wine?

    1. They might have changed the amazon link since this recipe was first posted. Sorry about that. You’ll want to use rice wine.

  9. Hey Sabrina!
    I am interested in trying you recipe but I was wondering if I could add orange juice instead of orange zest? If so how much could I add?

    1. Yes, you can use around 1/4 to 1/2 cup of orange juice if you’d like. Just make sure to cook the sauce longer for it to thicken up. Make sure to take the chicken out of the pan so it doesn’t get soggy.

        1. The zest really is plenty orange for this dish but you can play around with it and use whatever you prefer. Have fun!

  10. I can’t believe how good this is!!! This is amazing!!! Definitely a great recipe!
    So easy and delicious, will definitely make this again!

    PS:
    I am 13 and I made this recipe all by myself! And if I can do it, so can you!!!

  11. I came here from Julien Solomita’s Youtube video and am glad I did!

    Made some changes: 1) made a half batch but with 14 oz of gently torn up pieces of firm tofu instead of chicken (I’m not vegan but I like tofu), 2) increased the garlic per household preference (probably 1.5 T), 3) used the full batch quantity of ginger (again per preference), 4) used a couple of teaspoons of chicken boullion powder to the flour mixture instead of the salt in the egg/oil to give the tofu a bit of savory flavor and seasoning, 5) rice vinegar instead of white, and 6) orange juice instead of water.

    Even though that looks like a lot of changes, the core recipe remained very much the same. It was so good, I will definitely make it again! Thanks!

  12. Awesome!! we made it to try as my son can’t eat it from panda express because of the additives and he said this was perfect! Taste just like Panda Express

  13. Oh my gosh!!!
    I was very skeptical with this recipie, but after I saw the youtuber Julien Solomita make this recipe – in vegan form – I was VERY interested.
    I followed the recipe to a T and it was amazing. After I did the initial taste, I personally thought I could use some more orange, so I sliced up the orange used for zest and squeezed 1/4 of it on top and mixed it togather while it was still on the stove.
    I will be making this again and again!!

  14. 10 tablespoons of white vinegar made this recipe almost inedible although I knew it was on the right track. Made it again with just 2 tablespoons of white vinegar and it’s spot on. We don’t have Panda Express in Australia so I am grateful to be able to recreate this dish that I enjoyed while in the US.

  15. This looks amazing and I want to make it with white rice, what’s your perfect white rice recipe? I don’t have a rice cooker

  16. This is an amazing recipe!! It’s doesn’t really taste like the Panda version, but a delicious recipe non the less! I did LESS than a quarter of the orange zest though, not sure if I was using bigger oranges or what, but the orange was extremely overpowering. Delicious recipe with that alteration. Thank you, great job!

  17. This recipe was the bomb.com! My kids thought I bought it from Panda Express. I will be looking for more from you. The only change I made was using orange juice (1 cup) because I didn’t have the orange zest. Superb!

  18. Decent recipe, very tasty but if you’re not a big fan of orange you won’t like this. My dish turned out to be super orange tasting, overpowering orange tasting. I followed the recipe to a T, didn’t use any substitutes and didn’t leave anything out. I am going to try this again in a few weeks and only use half of the orange zest. I’m also going to guess the size of the orange may dictate how much zest to use, which totally flew out of my head while cooking. (I did use a pretty large navel orange. Is there another type of orange that isn’t as strong, maybe? I figured orange zest is orange zest no matter the type, and that I could have a snack later lol. Navels are great eating oranges.)

    1. I usually grab naval oranges too. It is a sweet, orange-y dish. You can definitely adjust to fit more to your liking.

  19. This Recipe Was The Best. It was even better than Panda Express. Everyone loved it. Thanks?????

  20. Delicious, and fun to make! To make it gluten free, we substitute all-purpose GF flour and coconut aminos (for the soy sauce) 1:1. Turns out great, every time!

  21. I made this..with several substitutions, because I didn’t have everything handy but, it turned out DELICIOUS! I used orange juice instead of water and orange zest, I made my own sesame oil and I didn’t have rice wine so I used gin! All substitutions were suggested on Pinterest. It was even better as a leftover!

  22. I have tried other orange chicken recipes. This one is by far the best and easy to follow.
    My daughter loves the orange chicken from Panda Express and she loved this recipe. The whole family did.
    I will definitely make it again. Thank you for a full proof recipe!

  23. I made this recipe a few days ago and we’re still talking about how DELICIOUS it was! I can’t believe how perfect it came out. Thank you sharing! We’ll never go out and buy it again.

  24. Hi Sabrina
    I just wanted to thank you for sharing this recipe, my wife and I live in Australia and we first got to taste Panda Express back in 2009 on one of our trips to the USA, we make Panda Express one of our must haves when we visit the USA as it does not exist in Australia.
    Now with your help we can have this delicious meal when ever we want at home. The Orange Chicken is my wife’s favourite dish and mine in Beijing Beef which we also cook very regularly. These recipes are so tasty and better than anything from a restaurant.
    Once again thank you for sharing these recipes. We will look forward to trying many more in the future.

    Thank you
    Paul

    1. I’m so happy to have helped with satisfying the craving! Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know, Paul.

  25. Omg. Me and hubby is making this right now and the chicken is good even before the orange sauce and maybe it’s just me but this taste better than said restaurant. I’m going to make this again definitely.

  26. The family loved this dish. Didn’t have oranges so I used clementines and red wine vinegar instead of rice wine.

    Its definitely going in to the recipe book

  27. Very impressed with this recipe. Very, very good and delicious. Hit my orange chicken craving better than takeout. Make it, it’s worth it. Thanks for a great recipe!

    1. Doubled the recipe and would cut back on vinegar and orange zest if doubled again.. Great flavor just too much vinegar.

      1. Can you do this without frying the chicken? Grilled chicken then adding the sauce at the end to coat with the chicken?

  28. I subbed apple cider vinegar for rice wine and it was excellent. Many steps but did not find it difficult. I used breasts also.

  29. Thank you for this recipe Sabrina! I have just discovered your page and this recipe was SO GOOD! Loved it exactly as written (except using chicken breast since that’s what I had!). Thank goodness I only made a small portion, since I 100% would have eaten the entire batch no matter how big! Yum 🙂

  30. My 12 year old son just made this by following the directions. The only thing is we didn’t have rice wine so we used white cooking wine. Everything else was the same. It had a GREAT flavour!! I only wished it was more crunchy but the flavor is very good. The whole thing was good actually, I’m just being picky. My son said he wouldn’t do it again because it was “too much work.” Welcome to cooking from scratch!!! Haha

  31. What kind of oil is the best for frying the chicken in this recipe. Lately I’ve been reading that Canola oil is not good for frying (what I’ve always used) Also, one time I made this the cornstarch mixture came off on the oil and it was still good, but I had a big mess. Thank you.

  32. I have never left a review for a Pinterest recipe before but this causes for a review because it deserves it! This is literally the BEST recipe I have ever tried from Pinterest. It is amazing. Tastes exactly like real Chinese. The ONLY thing I did different is I used white grape fruit juice vs rice wine because I didn’t have any. Everything else I followed exactly like the recipe. 5 stars!!!

  33. Thanks for sharing! Made it tonight and it was a big sucess ? shared this to some of friends who are fans of panda express orange chicken.
    I didn’t use the vinegar at all. Instead, I used lemon juice and lemon zest and mixed them with everything listed in the sauce ingredients into a measuring cup.

  34. I just made this and it taste EXACTLY like the Panda Express orange chicken! I’m so excited because I live in Amsterdam and craved Panda Express. Thank you so much for this recipe! I followed the recipe except used 6 tablespoon white vinegar and 7 tablespoons of sugar.

  35. This is a great alternative and the best copycat recipe I’ve found for orange chicken so far. I found the sauce to be a bit too zesty – too vinegary – so I would cut that down a bit if making again. Further, I would use mandarins instead of orange and use the juice of the fruit to reduce the water amount (dislike having wasted ingredients). The time to prepare and cook are grossly underestimated – not a quick weeknight meal. Estimate altogether a 2 hour prep/cook time – perhaps even a bit longer to prepare side dishes to accompany. I needed to triple the egg wash and starch/flour mixtures to coat 2.32lbs of chicken thighs. Oh, I doubled the sauce mixture as I tend to like things a bit saucy and I added a couple dashes of sriracha as well as a pinch of red pepper flakes and it was the perfect amount. Perhaps I’d also saute in a shallot with the garlic and ginger and then use an immersion blender to blend then add the orange sauce to simmer. Thanks for sharing.

  36. Made this as the main dish with the ragoons as the appetizer. Both recipes are perfect. Spot on in flavor to those from Panda. My son who loves eating out says this was the best chicken he has ever tasted. I used 3 chicken breasts instead of thighs. Thanks!

  37. This recipe is fantastic and instructions easy to follow. Thank you so much for supplying – we don’t have Panda Express is Australia and this recipe is a great reminder of the Orange Chicken we fell in love with on vacation.

  38. Okay, this is phenomenal. Takes just a bit of time and SO worth it. Easy to make in a small college apartment kitchen. This will be one of those recipes that is committed to memory and a staple in my repertoire in no time!

  39. Tried this recipe because my son wanted orange chicken and I didn’t feel like eating at this crappy Chinese fast food chain down the street from our place. I followed this recipe except I decreased the white vinegar to half and I chopped the ginger root instead on mincing it. It turned out amazing. Better than the restaurant. My husband is a huge critic of my cooking and he loved it. The most important critic of mine is my son. After one bite he tells me I am the best cook. Even better than dads. Aww…

  40. My kids and husband LOVE it! Second time I am making it in a week. So glad I found a chicken recipe the whole family enjoys

  41. The high marks is what made me choose this recipe, and now I know why! This recipe and all of Sabrina’s Panda Express Copycat Recipes will be my go-to recipes to satisfy my family’s PE cravings. I only purchased the chicken thighs and I had all the other ingredients in my home, so it made for a very inexpensive dinner. We didn’t have an orange at the house, but we used the zest from a couple of mandarins (Cuties) instead. The orange flavor is more intense in these mandarins which I loved! The sauce was PERFECT and the coating on the chicken held up under the glaze. There wasn’t anything left. The next recipes I want to try are the Beijing Beef and the Honey Sesame Chicken because those are my personal favorites. Thanks so much for such amazing, spot-on recipes!

  42. Very tasty. Especially love the corn starch / flower breading. My only changes were: half the sugar and double the chicken.

    1. Hey thanks for posting Dave! I was totally put off by the amt of sugar it calls for, so I’ll give it a try your way! (Jeez, no wonder it’s so good at Panda! ?)

  43. Thanks so much for this! I love orange chicken but I’ve been eating low carb so finding a recipe I could alter was fantastic. It didn’t even need much changing – I just swapped out the sugar for erythritol and liquid stevia, and switched out corn starch with xantham gum. The sauce came out tasting exactly as I remember! tossed over freshly baked chicken wings, it was so perfect!

  44. I love Panda Express´ orange chicken and I wanted to try making it by myself. Great recipe but I wonder if there’s been a mistake in the ingredients list. 10 tablespoons of vinegar left my chicken tasting horrible! I cut the vinegar flavor with even more sugar, and it worked but it wasn’t what I hoped for. I will definitely try it again, but not with all that vinegar!
    Also it took me way longer than 30 mins.

  45. Excellent! My family loved it. Very Panda Express flavor – but better. We had it with white rice and a side of sauteed Gai Choy which is similar to Bok Choy only with a spicy mustard taste. Very good with the sweet and tangy orange chicken.

  46. Omg it was sooooo good. I couldn’t stop eating it. I was scared at first because of the amount of vinegar but I didn’t even taste it. Panda Express will no longer see me in their restaurant.

  47. I’ve been looking for a good Orange Chicken recipe cause in Germany we don’t have a lot places who offer it. This is absolutely amazing. I brought my parents a plate and my mom loved it so much she asked me to make it for her birthday next year 😀
    Thanks for this, really appreciate it!

  48. This was really easy to put together and very tasty! My whole family loved it. The only change I made was subsituting 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper for the red pepper flakes, because I didn’t have those. Will definitely make this again.

    1. You could substitute orange juice for the water in the sauce. That isn’t tested so I can’t speak to if it will give you the exact same flavors, but I bet it will still be pretty delicious. Just don’t add both the water and the orange juice or you’ll thin the sauce too much.

      1. I subbed Orange juice for the wine and it was so good. Also I used rice vinegar instead of white. Both worked great.

  49. Hey, me and my mom were going to make this for dinner tonight, I was wondering, can we replace the rice wine with Orange Juice or Apple Juice? Preferably orange juice cause that’s what we have, and if so, do we have to give more of it or less of it? Thank’s best regards, Nathaniel

    1. If you want non-alcoholic, you can use white grape juice or apple juice. Keep in mind it will be slightly sweeter but it will still be good 🙂

    1. It won’t be a copycat of the original as they use thighs but yes you can. Be aware of how long you’re frying because breast meat will dry out faster than thigh meat.

  50. Thank you so much for this recipe. I made it for my boys today and they loved it. I usually ask them when I try something new. Is this a keeper recipe? They both shouted yes! It’s so good! Thank you Sabrina for sharing and making this Dad Look like a great Chef.

      1. Was there a particular reason why you went with chicken thighs as opposed to, lets say, chicken breasts? Are chicken thighs softer, do they taste better, cheaper at the supermarket? I’m new to cooking so I’m clueless 🙂

        1. Chicken thighs have a lot more flavor, have higher fat content (meaning the stay moist better) and they are budget friendly. Always my top choice unless I’m cooking breasts with something that will keep moisture in and/or adds a lot of flavor like wrapping them in bacon. 🙂

          Feel free to ask as many questions as you need – I love helping those that are new to cooking 🙂

  51. Excellent recipe! I’ve tried other orange chicken recipes that had orange marmalade and orange juice in them but this is far superior to those. Sweet, tangy, slightly spicy sauce but I did put in a little bit more red pepper flakes because we like a little more heat in it, but we really enjoyed this!

    1. So sorry it didn’t turn out! In the video, the only real difference is that I make the orange sauce in the pan instead of ahead of time like the recipe card instructions, but that shouldn’t change the meal. If you try again, I’d follow the recipe card, same ingredients but you don’t have to rush making the sauce in the pan and risk burning or wasting food. 🙂

      1. You video also showed the addition of something green in the sauce (looks like sliced green onions/scallions, perhaps?) which isn’t mentioned in the recipe. It also shows what looks to be like a slurry for the corn starch…is that added to the 1/4 cup water?

        1. Green onions were added. It’s optional. At the end, a slurry was made to thicken the sauce but again, not necessary if you bring the sauce to a boil. It just helps the process along. The slurry is water and cornstarch.

  52. Excellent recipe!! I used only 8 tablespoons of vinegar and sugar , I left the rest of the ingredients as they are and the recipe was perfect. Similar but better than Panda Express recipe! Thanks so much for your recipe. It was delicious, I was truly surprised by how good it was.

  53. Hello Sabrina. Would you please send me the exact recipe for Panda Express Sesame Chicken? I love their Orange Chicken, but I love, love, love their Sesame Chicken.

    Thank You

  54. As a shortcut, I bought Chicken Tenders from my local Wal-Mart Deli, cut them up and then made the sauce recipe as written! It was wonderful !!!! Thank you !!!
    I am not much for cooking, but I can definitely throw together a sauce recipe with store-bought tenders! So simple and YummY!!!!

  55. Love your recipes (at least the one’s I’ve tried), but would really like to see a good color photo of the finished dish on your printable recipes…

      1. I’ve never thought pandas orange lacked an orange flavor, I made orange chicken with orange juice and was way better than pandas.

  56. I guess my comment didn’t post, so I will try again. I would love to make these for a family reunion, but I was hoping to do some of the steps ahead of time. You told another commentor that if they were fried and then put in the freezer to use later, they would lose some of the crispiness. What if one were to just bread them and then freeze them, but not fry them yet. Could that work? So just coat the chicken with the cornstarch and flour and then freeze to be pulled out to fry the night of consumption.

    1. I’ve not tested it so I’m not comfortable giving a recommendation. If you decide to try, I’d love to know how it turns out. Good luck!

      1. We made it before going to the reunion. We didn’t bread the chicken ahead of time for dinner, but we will for the reunion.

        We liked it a lot. We didn’t have any rice wine though. The link that you have in your recipe takes you to an Amazon product for white wine, not rice wine. I found some Eden foods Mirin Rice Wine. Is that what I should use?

        We liked the meal a lot; we just thought the orange chicken was too strong, and when we made it we didn’t have rice wine and my hubby only did 9 TBS of sugar and 9 TBS of vinegar because he was scared 10 would be too sweet. Will the rice wine make it have less of a punch and dull the flavors a bit? Or maybe it was because we used bone-in chicken thighs on accident, so 2 pounds wasn’t really 2 pounds once you took the bone away. SO maybe it was just too strong because we had too much sauce for the amount of chicken.

        Anyway it was AMAZING; we just want to make it less strong for the reunion.

        1. I’m so glad everyone loved it! Eden foods mirin rice wine would work perfectly for this recipe. I think it does help marry the flavors.

  57. So in an earlier comment you indicated it would cause the chicken to lose its crispiness if one were to make ahead and freeze, but what if you just cut and bread the chicken (not fry it yet), and then freeze?

    I ask because I want to make this at my family reunion, but it would help if I could have some of it done already. My mom has instructed us to make sure our dinner doesn’t take forever to cook. haha. So I was thinking I could cut and bread the chicken the night before and freeze, and then take it a cooler as we make the 6 hour drive. Then fry and add the sauce once its time for dinner. Would that be OK? If not, my mom will just have to deal with me making a dinner that takes a bit. 😀

    1. Yes, I think that would work. The flour might end up a bit pasty from freezing so it’ll absorb more oil while cooking and make it a little heavier. You also might need to use more oil during frying. Enjoy!

    1. Love it! Anytime I can get the little ones to enjoy something I feel like I have won the lottery!

  58. The flavours are very nice, but ten tablespoons of sugar in the sauce is way too much and it overwhelms everything else. I have had desserts less sweet than this.

  59. My family loved this recipe! Thank you for sharing it. I used to have a hard time making this until I found your recipe. It’s definitely one I’ll be keeping on my Pinterest ??

    1. I’ve not tested it using one. If you decide to try, I’d love to know how they turned out. Thanks!

  60. We made this for dinner last night and it was honestly BETTER than Panda Express! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. My soon-to-be husband begged me to start making this at least once a month!

  61. I want to try this without frying the chicken, using grilled chicken instead. How does the sauce come out when not mixed with breaded chicken?

    1. As long as you cook it together until it thickens, you should be fine. It’ll have a different texture from not being fried but it’ll still taste good. Enjoy!

  62. We love Panda Express orange chicken at my house so I was excited to try this so I could make it at home since it can expensive eating out with a family of 4. While it does taste really good, it is nothing like Panda orange chicken. And it took me almost an hour to make it and uses a lot of dishes for the preparation as well. Asian food tend some to me more labor intensive though. I do really love the mushroom chicken and noodle copycat recipes though.

  63. Absolutely wonderful recipe for the chicken! I tried it before adding the sauce and it was a big win! I will definitely be keeping this recipe for future use! =)

  64. This is a delicious recipe. My husband made it for me this afternoon and it was the best I have had. He increased the orange zest because he knows I love orange zest especially in deserts. We always use chicken breast in our recipes but he knows I prefer the thighs. So this was a nice surprise and so tender. Thank you for a great flavorful recipe that I know I will have him make for me often. 🙂

  65. In your ingredient list you ask for 2 tbsp oil divided, plus more for frying. I only see you using 1 tbsp of oil in your directions … where do you use the second tbsp?
    Also, there is no mention of how deep the oil should be in the skillet or wok. As I have never made a deep fried recipe before I don’t know what that amount should be ?

    1. If you want your chicken to be light and crispy, you’ll want your chicken to be floating in oil usually around 3 inches deep. Enjoy!

  66. Little sweeter than I like but still very good! Next time I’ll probably cut down on the amount of sugar. Still enjoyed very much!

  67. Made this last night but cheated and bought Panda Express sauce! Yes! They make their sauce for sale at grocery store near you, it’s a great short cut for a week night meal!
    Thanks !

  68. Quite simple recipe. I was worried there wouldn’t be enough sauce for the chicken, but there was the perfect amount. The orange flavor was not too strong neither was it too weak. Definitely a keeper!

  69. This recipe is so good! My coworkers loved it and family did too and it was really easy to make… Now it’s my 4th time making it, my co-workers and family are always requesting this orange chicken! I love it!!!

      1. Hi. Would LOVE to try this recipe since I just had orange chicken at Panda Express at the airport in Houston and we don’t have Panda Express here in Denmark unfortunately. However, am I the only one who can’t see the orange sauce mentioned in the list of ingredients but only in the recipe itself? Is it just sauce from squeezed fresh oranges and how much (metric measurements)? Thanks!

        1. I’m so glad you found this recipe! Step 1 in the instructions explains what ingredients to use to make the orange sauce. Those ingredients are included in the ingredient list. Hope this helps! Enjoy.

  70. Made this tonight for the fam and all agreed it’s even better than Panda Express! Thanks so much for sharing this amazing recipe!

    1. I haven’t tested it using one so I’m not comfortable giving a recommendation. You might be able to find a recipe online using similar ingredients and follow that as a guideline. Sorry.

  71. You mentioned using sriracha in the “tools used in making this orange chicken”, but I don’t see sriracha in the ingredient list. Where does it come in?

  72. This is a great recipe! I made this today and I didn’t have any rice wine, but the sauce came out fine! I have to say the orange flavor is VERY strong but I like it (I used the zest of a whole orange – maybe my orange skin was very flavorful). I also used a little bit over a pound of chicken and then added steamed broccoli and sauteed mushrooms which I tossed in the sauce. It tastes AMAZING!

  73. I made this recipe for my first daughter and her husband after their baby was born and they raved about it. When my second daughter came home with her new baby, she and her husband requested this recipe. I make it just as it’s written. Everyone loves it!
    It is a keeper!

  74. Sorry I’m not sure if I forget to click on the stars so I’m sending another posting I give it 5 stars all the way. Even if I had made it without substitutes I’m sure it would be the best. Thank you again. Yes I made this recipe

  75. I usually don’t rate the recipes I make but I just had to rate this one
    because it was so simple to make and was ABSOLUTE the best. I
    wanted you to know just how much my family and I enjoyed your
    recipe it was so tasty I didn’t have an orange so I use OJ and added a little to the egg mixture also I used agave THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH. All the best to you and yours.
    Now I’m going to try some of your other recipes.

  76. Made this last night and it was wonderful! The only thing I changed was I added the juice of the orange as well. Had a great orange flavor that’s even better than what Panda Express offers! ?

  77. 95% of the ratings are from people who haven’t even made the recipe; they just mostly say it LOOKS good and they can’t wait to try it. it really throws off the ratings, and because i’m looking for copycat recipes, i’d like a comparison to the original recipe. there was only one person that stated it was very close to Panda Express.

  78. Unfortunately, I followed a comment and added orange juice. Way way way too citrusy. Makes me sad because this recipe took quite some time – that’s what I get for changing it up before even trying it! Will have to try again lol

  79. Recipe was delicious! My son is a picky eater and he asked for seconds and thirds! I didn’t have all the ingredients on hand so I had to substitute the orange zest for 2teaspoons of Orange juice and less white wine vinegar since I added OJ instead of Zest. I also added less sesame oil and ginger because I find it too overpowering and less crushed chili pepper since my son doesn’t really like spicy food.
    I will definitely be making this recipe again .

  80. I agree I saw how much sugar was required and I decided to only add three and a half tablespoons and liked it but still found it very sweet. I bet the ten tablespoons tasted just like Panda’s though because their orange chicken is extremely sweet. Thanks for sharing the recipe is great and altering it to my taste was so easy!

  81. Can you make the orange sauce a day before? I’m going on a trip and if i can make it/bottle it up the day before then I won’t have to bring all the little ingredients!

    1. Yes, you can make it up before hand but you’ll want to keep it refrigerated so if you’re going on a trip I would keep it cool in an insulated cooler bag.

  82. This was amazing. Made it without the sugar but it was still so tasty , in my opinion there was no need for the sugar anyway. Paired with home made fried rice.

  83. This recipe was AMAZING! Enough so that I’m stealing it and calling it my own. (My family will never know). But in all seriousness, this recipe actually impressed one of the pickiest eaters I’ve ever met. My wife!

  84. Delicious! I served it over jasmine rice. Just the smallest amount of sauce gave the rice a wonderful zing. I thought the orange zest provided the right amount of flavor. I would definitely make this again. Can’t wait to try your other recipes, especially if they are as good as this one is. Thank you, Sabrina.

  85. My 11 year old daughter decided she wanted to make dinner last night, and she made this recipe. I’m not a huge fan of Panda Express. But I thought this was better than Panda Express!

  86. Loved it! tried yesterday, was missing one or two ingredients, but came out perfectly. I also used blender on the sauce ingredients to mix those really well. thanks a TON!

  87. Now I know how to deal with the leftover chicken and oranges in my fridge. Thank you for this recipe.

  88. Absolutely love your site. So glad I found it. I get to make orange chicken at least once every two weeks. My family is crazy about it. Thank you 

  89. Made this tonight with your Panda Express yakisoba recipe and my husband LOVED it. Said it’s my best meal yet, so you can take credit for that. 🙂

    It’s pretty close to Panda Express’s orange chicken. Whenever I get a craving, I’ll save money and make it at home from now on. So yummy!!

    1. I love to hear stories like these from my readers! My hope is that everyone can learn that it can be easy to make delicious food at home!

  90. I made this following the recipe and I will never eat out Chinese again! Boy it was good.  I fixed a jasmine fried rice to eat the orange chicken on.  Thanks for the recipe.

  91. I made the Orange Chicken with fried rice for dinner. It turned out great. Our place smelled like Panda Express. Thank you again for sharing.

  92. This was good, but definitely doesn’t taste like Panda Express unfortunately. It tastes like every other orange chicken recipe I’ve tried… Very orangey, very vinegary. Even with all that sugar it’s very pungent, my husband said it tastes like orange peel (bingo!), a little bitter or something. Used one average sized orange for the zest as written. A little disappointed because the chicken came out wonderful and tasted amazing before I put it in the sauce! We all liked it, but were pretty bummed at the same time. Followed the recipe exactly as written. Gonna try some of the other Panda Express recipes on here though. Made this with the fried rice and it was delicious.

  93. I just made this tonight and loved it! My 2 toddlers did, too! I thought the recipe called for too much sugar so I omitted 2 of the 10 tablespoons. The sauce was still very sticky, which I love. Also, I didn’t see rice wine at the store so I omitted that. I added orange juice instead. (Sidenote: I’ve never understood why people leave comments when they hadn’t made the dish)

  94. Hi. You mentioned you were working on slow cooker recipe for orange chicken. I’d like to give it a try–any advice? Thanks.

  95. This was a really easy recipe. It was absolutely delicious. For The past month I have been using Pinterest recipes for Sunday dinner and everything has turned out great!

  96. I’ve made this 4 times, always gluten free with the Pillsbury GF all purpose flour blend and GF soy sauce. The adjustments I made were due to not wanting to go to the store for just 1 or 2 things as well as my Celiac disease requirements. Instead of rice wine I’ve been using plain unspiced Mead and have been using toasted chipotle pepper flakes instead of the chili pepper listed. I also prefer to use raw sugar instead of refined, but that may not change the recipe at all. So far I’m loving it every time and am about to make it again.

  97. I made this recipe tonight, I’m obsessed with Panda Express orange chicken but unfortunately it’s an hour away from me and I can now say I no longer have to wait to have it and it might even be better!! Thank you for the recipe it’s amazing!

  98. Hi – Am planning to make this tonight and am wondering how far ahead of time I might be able to fry up chicken and have it stay crispy (ish?) before tossing into sauce? Would 30min or so be too long?
    Am trying to time things so that all I have to do when everyone gets home is throw chicken and veg into warmed sauce, give it a bit of a twirl, then onto rice:)
    Thanks so much

    1. I’d say if you put it on a cookie sheet you can toss with heated sauce about 30-45 mins ahead? Let it stay in the pan for 30-45 seconds to warm through though. 🙂

  99. i havent made this yet, but i will. and ill tell you why. you say its not like the crock pot one made with BBQ sauce. i made that version of orange chicken (which i love) earlier this week and it was absolutely DISGUSTING. so the fact you say this is not that…. well, it certainly cant be worse LMAO!

    1. Sure! It will be a little dry if you fry too much as white meat is less forgiving but it would still be delicious!

  100. We fell in love with dish whilst visiting the States but as we live in the UK there are no Panda Express here and all our Chinese takeaways sell lemon chicken not orange. This is now a firm favourite in our house and I’m making it weekly so thank you so much for this recipe.

    1. It’s such a great copycat and I’m so happy you’re now able to enjoy it at home! Thank you for the 5 stars Sharon!

  101. Hi I just have a little questions. In the video shown after the soy sauce what next putted, is it the vinegar or water? If its the vinegar should be dissolve the 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to the 1/4 cup of water or its dissolve separately? 🙂

    1. You can just put it all in together, no need to dissolve the cornstarch first. I hope this helps clear up any confusion. I hope you enjoy! It’s one of my favorites!!

  102. I absolutely love this recipe, as do everyone I’ve made it for. I’ve always loved panda express’ version and can’t thank you enough for figuring it out for all of us! But, I do have one question, is there any reason for adding the rice wine separate from the orange sauce, after sautéing the garlic, ginger etc..? Wouldn’t it be easier just to add the rice wine to the sauce when you add everything else?

    1. Thank you so much! I’m so glad you all are enjoying it!! It’s so funny that you mention this because I was just looking at this recipe today and was thinking the same thing. It definitely would be easier so go right ahead!

  103. Sabrina, this was perfection. Everything in the recipe is perfectly balanced and tastes just like panda express. I made the orange chicken and the chow mien. I absolutely loved it. I can’t wait to try more of your recipes. Thank you so much.

    1. Yes, you can use breasts instead 🙂 It just won’t be as authentic tasting but definitely a smidge healthier.

  104. this was so good! You can really taste the orange and I added more red flakes to add more spice. I had to double up the recipe for 2 large chicken breast, but it was a major hit and everyone enjoyed it.

  105. holy. crap. friggin’ delicious!

    our kids (16 and 17-yrs-old) are Panda junkies; especially the orange chicken.

    I doubled the recipe because the kids were having friends over for Halloween. I was nervous making something for the first time for a bunch of people; especially a dish they would all measure up to what they regularly get from Panda.

    daughter and her three friends ALL gave it 10-out-of-10

    when I asked my son what he thought, he told me to shut up and serve him some more

    we had a couple of groups of trick-or-treaters come to the door and they IMMEDIATELY yelled, “you’re making orange chicken!?!”

    the only addition I made was 1/2 teaspoon of orange extract ONLY because I bought some oranges that didn’t want to cooperate with the zesting process — 1/4 teaspoon per regular recipe, 1/2 teaspoon for doubling like we did.

    so delicious, Sabrina — thanks so much — definitely will be making this multiple times and my son is dying to see how the honey walnut shrimp comes out!

  106. Just Made Orange Chicken. My Son Loves this Dish. I was Missing two ingredients. 1). The Wine, And 2). The Green Onions. Also In the ingredients where you say to use 10 Table Spoons of white vinegar, I Utilized my oranges and juiced them. It produced about 5 Table Spoons of Juice, I then used the other 5 Table Spoons of Vinegar to keep the Total volume to equal 10 Table Spoons to the Sauce. Besides all that……I Followed it to the “T” …..This Recipe came out DELICIOUS…. 🙂 Thank you. And I will make it again in the Future. By the Way about 1 week ago I made your fried Rice with EGG copy cat recipe.. And it also came out Great. Every one Loved it. I Did make it again for this Orange Chicken Dinner. Thanks Again

  107. Hi Sabrina,

    Greetings from Denmark. :o)

    Just wanted to tell you that I made some of your copycat Panda Express dishes, and they are absolutely spot on! Everybody in my Family loved it. I had to translate your recipes to kilograms instead of cups and ounces, but that worked out fine.
    I made the Orange Chicken, Kung Pao and the Chow Mein, and it was like sitting at Panda Express again. I made the extra effort and went to a Chinese Grocery here in Copenhagen to get some of the more specific ingredients, but that was worth it.
    We travel a lot in The States, and sure have our favorite food from there and have made a lot of other copycat recoipes, and I am always glad when the recipe is spot on, or if I can see how I can change something to make it absolutely right. Didn´t have to change anything here. :o)

    Thank you very much.

    I will follow your blog in the future.

    Thanks, Flemming

  108. Just finished doing this. I used avocado oil and only 7 table spoons of sugar, and instead I added the orange juice to make it sweeter. Couldn’t find any rice wine so I used apple juice and the results were incredible. Really good recipe! My whole family loved it. I’m thinking maybe next time I will just do the chicken without dipping it in flour, because the taste of the sauce on its own is amazing.

    Thanks for sharing this incredible recipe!

  109. This was a lot of work. The chicken was great, the sauce was great but WAY TOO STRONG with orange flavor. Next time I make this, I would actually use lemon zest instead (probably just personal preference). I added a little brown sugar to the sauce, as well.
    Will definitely try again, with a few minor tweaks…

    1. I bet it would be amazing with lemon! I am testing it currently on the amount of orange zest. A current Panda employee told me “orange” quantity used (although they use extract) and mathematically I feel like this should be spot on but I find some oranges are just so much more flavorful in their zest it may need a bit of tweaking. Still working on it while trying to avoid the extract because I’d rather whole ingredients be used. Thanks for the review though, it is a huge help!

  110. Hi,
    I’m going to try this recipe. Please give me a substitute for rice wine. What would you use if you really really had to use something else? I can’t use rice wine 🙁

  111. I just came across these recipes and it looks good! I fell in love with Panda Express when in the States but sadly there aren’t any in South Africa so I’ll have to try and duplicate these recipes here?

  112. I can’t thank you enough. I love Chinese food very much. The problem is we eat Kosher meat, so at Panda Express I have no choice, but to eat veggies, shrimp and chow mein. Orange Chicken looks really good. Now with this recipe, I can try at home. I also need the recipe of Hot and Sour Soup, that’s my favorite as well.

    1. One of my best friends is Kosher, so she was really excited to see this recipe too! I’m working on the hot and sour soup, but it’s hard to do recipe testing now that it’s not on the menu anymore!

  113. We made your king pao chicken and it was awesome!! Trying this one next for the kiddos and can’t wait. No Panda Express where I live now, so we love these recipes 🙂

  114. I made it!!!my girls love panda express,so I thought I should at least try to make it. I put a little spin on it. I marinaded the chicken the the mixture first then fried it. I didn’t even get to make the sauce. They devoured it before I got the chance.lol. I will definitely follow the recipe next time.lol

  115. Unfortunately this recipe just didn’t work for us. When making the orange sauce I thought there was way too much sugar but didn’t trust my inner “cooking force” and went with the recipe. We found this was too sweet for our taste. Thank you for sharing though! You have given me a great starting point to find the right blend of flavors for our family. It’s a fabulous recipe it just needs some tweaking for our personal taste. We are all looking forward to trying your other recipes.

    1. Did you find it to be sweeter than Panda’s? Doing a side by side test I thought they were both equally sweet…which is to say like chicken candy, haha. There is a lot of sugar in the recipe, that is no lie! Thanks for the kind words, I’m glad you’re going to work with the recipe and make them again!

  116. Question, there are three bowls set up in the mixing station but you only mention putting the chicken in the egg mixture and the flour mixture… when do I use the third bowl?!?! Help!

    1. Yikes, I see what you mean, that was written in a confusing manner. That third bowl is the cornstarch mixture that comes into the pan at the very end, it isn’t part of the dredging station. Sorry for the confusion! The station is bowl of chicken, bowl of egg mixture and bowl of flour mixture.

  117. This was good but it had way too much orange zest in it. I used 2 oranges as the directions state and it was overpowering. Perhaps you could make it more clear what size oranges you used or change the measurement to state how many teaspoons or tablespoons to use.

    1. Thats a really good idea Casey. I did use two normal bagged oranges but I will reduce to 1 orange in the recipe and test it again for a specific measurement. Thanks!

  118. Just want to make sure it’s right that the sauce has 10 TABLESPOONS of sugar? That’s a lot of sugar! I’ve never had Panda Express before but my daughter loves it and wants me to try this recipe.

    1. Mindy, I wish I was kidding or wrong about that! Yes, 10 tbsp. This sauce is very sweet. I’ve experimented with less sugar and the flavor is completely off from the original, so to stay true to the copycat, I kept the sugar in. It is a similar sort of thing with the PF Changs Orange Peel Chicken recipe I have on here too. Lots of sugar. A much healthier option I also made were the kung pao and mushroom chicken copycats from Panda Express too. Those are 95% healthier, haha.

  119. Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!! When I can get my 3 year old, 6 year old, husband and myself to all agree that we love a meal, it’s a definite winner!! My 3 year old hugged my arm and said, “Mommy, I love this chicken” 🙂 Thank you so much for the recipe. Hubs says to start putting this in the meal rotation!

  120. How do you read my mind every post I click? I love a great cheesesteak, it’s a weakness in our house. Still new here, any chance a cheesesteak recipe will Surface in the future? ????

    1. Yes!! It is on the short list for ingredient shopping in the next couple of weeks actually! Right now the closest I have is the Cheesesteak Egg Rolls on the blog 🙂

  121. The directions say to add the rice wine and orange sauce, but the ingredient list doesn’t have orange sauce listed. How much orange sauce is needed for this recipe?

    1. The orange sauce is the mixture of the wet ingredients in the first line of the directions: “To make the sauce combine the soy sauce, 3 tablespoons water, sesame oil, sugar, white vinegar, and orange zest.” Sorry for the confusion 🙁

  122. This is great because this way you’ll know that there’s actually chicken in the recipe. I just had the orange chicken from Panda Express tonight and as I bit into every single piece I saw NO chicken. It was clumps of dough! The next time anyone orders the orange chicken cut each piece in half and see if you see any chicken.

  123. What about the type of noodles you use? I can not seem to find the right ones that taste as good as the restauranst serve! Cannot wait to try this recipe !! Thanks so much for all that you do.

    1. I use the dried Yakisoba noodles that you would find near the Cup o Noodles in the grocery store. I have it detailed here: //dev.dinnerthendessert.com/panda-express-chow-mein-perfect-copycat/ and they taste spot on! 🙂 Hope that helps

  124. I’ve never had the pleasure of trying Panda Express, given that they can’t be found in my part of the world. And now that I’m vegan I’ll never get to try them!!!! Still, this copycat recipe looks FANTASTIC!! Very happy to have paid a visit. Thanks for sharing!

    1. I have totally made this with tofu, tofu puffs (not sure if you’ve ever seen those, they look like giant light brown marshmallows) and the vegan chikn at Trader Joes!

  125. I love to try to make copy cat recipes at home. This sounds amazing and I love that you can control what you are putting in it.

    1. It is SO hard to resist it!! Now I try and settle for the sample they almost always offer and get the lower fat options to eat, haha.

  126. I love trying copycat recipes. This looks so delicious i will have to make it this week. I am sure my family will love it.

  127. What?! 36 WW points?! Glad you found a way to enjoy this w/out so many points 🙂 This looks so amazing! And I’m a huge Rubio’s fan, too 🙂

  128. I used to have a Panda Express near my home and loved their Orange Chicken. I will have to give this a try tomorrow as I can’t wait for the weekend to make it! Looks amazing! You did a wonderful job! 🙂

  129. This looks so good! I love Chinese food and I love Panda Express too! I’ll have to make this recipe very soon. Chinese is one of my favorite foods. Yum!

  130. Sabrina I always get the orange chickened from panda express. I literally live one block walking distance from a huge mall (its a blessing and a curse lol) and I get it all the time I go. My gallbladder hurts as crazy after, probably from all the processed ingredients, thats why I am going to try your homemade version!

  131. Oh my goodness, this is one of my favorite recipes… and I have never made it. I am totally going to try this recipe. thanks for sharing. It sounds delicious.

  132. This orange chicken is one of my favorites. Can’t wait to make this in the comfort of my own home! Thanks for the recipe!

  133. I am all about orange chicken! In fact it is my son’s favorite dish, but I had no idea how to make it! This is an awesome recipe that I need to try out with my family!

  134. i am starving now after reading this!! I love panda express and now that I can make it at home, I probably will be wayyyy too often! Thank you for sharing!

  135. I think you just saved me from standing in a few lines – I’m such a sucker for orange chicken! Looking forward to making it at home 😀

  136. I’m just now tackling how to cook, and I will admit I am a little intimidated, but I absolutely love Panda’s orange chicken! I’m pinning this and gunna try it… someday 😉

  137. Yum, I think I’d eat this every day if I had the ingredients on hand! Their Kung Pao is also one of my favorites- you’re making me hungry over here with your delicious photos!

    1. Aww thanks Jenna! I would totally eat this every day too, haha. I will say I am totally guilty of making this dish too often!

  138. Wow does this look really amazing! I am a sucker for Orange Chicken so this recipe is going to have to be recreated in my kitchen!

  139. This looks delicious! I better not tell my husband I found this recipe or else he will be asking for it all the time! He loves orange chicken. But I like how you can choose your serving size when making it at home vs. served a huge serving at the restaurant!

    1. Yup! That is another awesome thing about it, I load up 80% of my plate with healthy options and take a small portion of the more decadent options.

    1. This is more American Chinese. Orange chicken is not real Chinese Food. If you want real Chinese food, take a trip to china

      1. Well, I think “American Chinese” is what many of us here in America actually enjoy. I like authentic and I like the Americanized versions. Variety is the spice of life!

      2. I have been to China, and the food there is not at all what we have in America, and quite frankly, I’ll admit that “Chinese” food in America is geared towards American tastes, and not at all Chinese, thank God! I was at a buffet in Guangzhou and of 30+ items, I could not identify a single one except chicken feet. Lot’s of chicken feet. Yay for Panda Express and copycat recipes!!

        1. No, the rice wine adds a sweet flavor, which you’re not going to get from a vinegar. If you’re having trouble finding it, you can use Mirin, which is a kind of rice wine.

  140. Panda Express is so good, but we always spend so much money there. I can’t wait to try this at home so that we don’t have to go broke eating there! LOL

  141. We don’t have Panda Expresses around here, so this is the only way I will get to try it 🙂 Sounds awesome.

    1. Part of me wishes I didn’t leave near one! It is so addicting! But then again you guys have Wahlburgers so that makes me pretty jealous!

  142. Oh yum! This looks so good! I love Panda express myself! I am pinning this recipe and can’t wait to try it later! Thanks for sharing!

      1. to achive the maximum orange flavor. intead of orange zest. use orange extract. trust me i worked at panda. 2tbs of it would flavor 8qts of the sauce they use.

        1. oh interesting! I will have to give this another shot and test out orange extract instead! Thank you so much for the info 🙂

          1. I made it just as you said and we loved it – and I would use orange zest over extract every time! Won over my restaurant preferring food son. Thanks!

            Next up, I’m going to try this sauce as a base for sweet and sour, using pineapple instead of orange, as I’ve yet to like a sweet and sour recipe I’ve tried.

          1. I would suggest about 1/4 teaspoon to start and add more to taste from there. Honestly though, I didn’t feel like the flavor lived up to this recipe using the extract so I would recommend sticking with using the zest.

        2. Hey Sal, is there any secret ingredient that is used in the orange chicken at Panda Express? and do you know who their supplier is for their food or what company supplies their food thanks

          1. Instead of soy sauce at Panda we use a “secret sauce” It’s basically soy sauce with other ingredients, it’s what gives it a signature flavor we add it into everything, chicken, rice, etc…can’t really tell you what’s in it though because I don’t know.

        3. I used an orange infused oil.. ( purchased a lemon and orange oils)
          A little bit goes a long way.. it’s very potent.
          I think it came out awesome. I didn’t have all the ingredients so I asked GOOGLE HOME ™ lol .. and it gave me substitutes for the ingredients I didn’t have. and I improvised on the oil using my orange infused oil.

    1. I just tried this recipe tonight and it was AMAZING!! I have never had Panda Express’ Orange Chicken but, I don’t have to now. My hubby loved it and will be taking leftovers to work tomorrow. This is totally new territory for me and I will be trying more of your wonderful recipes. Thanks again.

  143. My son was recently diagnosed with Celiac disease. He gets depressed as one by one he realizes the foods he can’t eat anymore, so I was looking specifically to see if I could find a recipe I could adapt to make a gluten-free version of Panda Express Orange Chicken for him. It looks like the only substitutions I need to make are to have gluten-free soy sauce and flour. The rest looks like it will totally work! So excited… can’t wait to make it for him!

  144. Hi! I haven’t been diagnosed as celiac, but I have big problems if I eat even trace amounts of wheat. Would this work if I just skipped the flour and used straight corn starch? Thanks so much!

  145. Sorry this comment took so long to get to, it ended up in my spam filter somehow! Sorry I just found a huge number of comments over the last three months that was snared in the spam filter and I am trying to follow up with each one now even though in your case I am way too late to help. Yes cornstarch would work just fine.