This orange chicken sauce is sweet, tangy, and citrusy. It contains fresh, healthy ingredients, and is made on the stovetop in under 10 minutes! Toss it with chicken, beef, shrimp, or roasted cauliflower.
A solid stir fry sauce is a must when it comes to cooking meals at home. This orange chicken sauce recipe goes great with my Healthy Baked Orange Chicken, but it can also be used with other proteins and vegetables. It gives everyday meals new flavor and depth.
In fact, this my favorite stir fry sauce because it’s the perfect balance of sweet, tangy, and savory. The ingredients are easy to find and good for you. You can make it ahead of time and keep it in the fridge for the week. It’s also easy to double if you’ve got a bigger family!.
After making this orange sauce at least 20 times in the last year, I have all the tips for how to make it in bulk and use it in stir fries!.
If you love sweet and sour foods, orange chicken sauce is a great addition to your favorite American-Chinese dish. However, what exactly is in this well-known sauce that makes it so tasty? Let’s take a closer look at what colors orange chicken sauce.
A Brief History of Orange Chicken Sauce
Orange chicken as we know it today was invented in the United States, not China The dish was created by Chinese immigrant Chef Andy Kao in Hawaii in the late 1960s Kao went on to open a restaurant in California in 1987, where his orange chicken became immensely popular.
The dish was further popularized in the 1990s when fast food chain Panda Express began serving their version of orange chicken using Chef Kao’s recipe. Since then, orange chicken doused in the sweet and tangy orange sauce has become a staple menu item at Chinese restaurants across America.
Common Ingredients in Orange Chicken Sauce
Orange chicken sauce recipes can be a little different, but most of them use the same basic ingredients to make the flavor.
Orange Juice
Freshly squeezed orange juice provides the vibrant color and citrusy flavor. Bottled orange juice can also be used with similar results.
Soy Sauce
Soy sauce adds an umami, savory flavor as well as saltiness. Regular soy sauce or low-sodium soy sauce both work well.
Rice Vinegar or White Vinegar
Rice vinegar contributes a mild tanginess and sweetness. White vinegar adds straightforward acidity to brighten up the sauce.
Brown Sugar
The sweet and slightly molasses-like taste of orange chicken sauce comes from brown sugar. White sugar can also be used.
Garlic and Ginger
Minced garlic and grated ginger provide aroma and spice. Garlic and ginger powders make suitable substitutions.
Cornstarch
A slurry of cornstarch mixed with water thickens and binds the sauce so it coats the chicken. Arrowroot powder makes a good gluten-free alternative.
Vegetable Oil
A small amount of vegetable, canola, or peanut oil is used to cook the aromatics and bloom the sauce. Sesame oil is also sometimes used.
Optional Ingredients
Common extras include sesame oil, red chili flakes, orange zest, green onions, and chicken broth.
How Orange Chicken Sauce Is Made
Making homemade orange chicken sauce is simple. Here is a basic overview of the key steps:
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Sauté aromatics: Mince the garlic and ginger and sauté in oil over medium heat until fragrant.
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Simmer sauce ingredients: Add the orange juice, soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, and any other wet ingredients. Let simmer for a few minutes.
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Make slurry: In a separate bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water.
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Thicken sauce: Add slurry to simmering sauce while whisking. Cook until sauce thickens to a syrupy consistency.
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Toss with chicken: Cool sauce slightly and toss with crispy fried chicken pieces until coated.
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Garnish and serve: Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds. Enjoy immediately!
How to Use Orange Chicken Sauce
Beyond tossed with crispy fried chicken, orange chicken sauce has many versatile applications:
- As a dipping sauce for potstickers, egg rolls, or spring rolls
- Tossed with sautéed or baked shrimp, beef, or pork
- As a flavorful stir-fry sauce for meats and vegetables
- Drizzled over rice or cauliflower rice
- As a glaze or marinade for chicken wings or chicken thighs
- Added to a veggie noodle or zoodle stir fry dish
- Thinned with broth for a quick and easy noodle soup
- Swirled into Greek yogurt as a tangy dip or salad dressing
The possibilities are endless with this sweet and zesty sauce! Adjust the ratio of wet to thickening ingredients to make the sauce thinner or thicker as desired.
Tips for the Best Homemade Orange Sauce
Follow these tips for restaurant-quality orange chicken sauce at home:
- Use freshly squeezed orange juice for the brightest flavor
- Add orange zest for extra citrus oomph
- Use chicken or vegetable broth instead of water for deeper flavor
- Simmer sauce uncovered to reduce and concentrate flavors
- Add honey or agave to make the sauce a little sweeter
- Use arrowroot instead of cornstarch for glossy sheen
- Toss the sauce with the chicken right before serving to avoid sogginess
- Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and sliced green onions
Satisfy Your Cravings with Homemade Orange Sauce
When a craving for orange chicken hits, skip the takeout and make a batch of homemade sauce instead. With a few pantry staples, you can whip up a quick and tasty sauce to bring this American-Chinese classic to life. Experiment with ingredients to craft your ideal balance of sweet, sour, and salty flavors. Orange you glad to know the secret behind this irresistible sauce?
How to Make Orange Chicken Sauce
I love how simple this recipe is—just put everything in a pan, cook it, and let it cool! Here are four easy steps to make it:
1. Combine: In a medium saucepan, add the orange juice, water, coconut aminos, coconut sugar, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes. Stir until combined. Start by boiling the sauce. Then turn down the heat and let it cook for two minutes.
2. Thicken: In a separate bowl, whisk the arrowroot and water together. Add the arrowroot mixture to the sauce and stir well. Simmer the sauce until it starts to thicken, about 5-7 minutes.
3. Toss: Remove the pan from the heat and let the sauce cool. Toss immediately with cooked chicken, beef, or roasted vegetables, or store it in a sealable glass container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
- Even though I like to use fresh oranges for the juice, you can get the same result by buying freshly squeezed orange juice in a bottle at the store.
- This recipe can be cooked up in a small 1. 5 quart saucepan.
- If you like your food spicy, add a pinch more red pepper flakes at a time after the first teaspoon.
- This recipe is easy to make twice as much. You’ll get 1 and a half cups of sauce when you do that. If you make half of the recipe, you can freeze the other half for up to three months.
- You can top food with sesame seeds or diced green onion when you use this sauce.
No. Orange sauce is a little sweet and tangy with a hint of savory. It’s my favorite stir fry sauce because the flavors work with so many different foods. Start with ¼ teaspoon of red pepper flakes and add a pinch more at a time until you like the level of heat you want.
If your sauce looks a little brown in the pan, that’s perfectly OK! Coconut sugar tends to darken the sauce slightly. It will still look orange on the chicken once thinned out slightly.
Orange sauce contains the perfect ratios of sweet, sour, and savory, but most people love it because it’s sweetened and has a fresh, orange flavor. It also pairs perfectly with many different foods, including meats, starches, and veggies!
You must add a thickener to the orange sauce, like arrowroot or orange sauce. Make sure to mix the thickener separately in water so it dissolves properly, then add it to your sauce. Once you add the thickener, let it simmer for at least 5 minutes to thicken.
What‘s in Orange Chicken Sauce?
Traditionally, orange sauce is made with fresh orange juice, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, and orange zest. It also includes a thickener like cornstarch or arrowroot. It’s a sauce that is associated with orange chicken, which is and Chinese-American dish created by Panda Express. The dish was actually created in the US, and is rarely found in Chinese restaurants in China.
In this recipe, I’ve made a few simple swaps to make it fresh, easy, and healthy. It’s made with fresh orange juice, unseasoned rice vinegar, coconut aminos (or soy sauce), garlic powder, dried ginger, and sweetened with coconut sugar. You can thicken it with arrowroot or cornstarch—whatever’s in your pantry!
- Fresh orange juice—Either squeeze your own orange juice for the best flavor, or buy freshly squeezed juice at the store.
- Coconut sugar is a natural sugar that you can find in most grocery stores. It’s dark brown and has a nice maple color. Coconut sugar is sourced from the coconut palm tree.
- White rice vinegar—Make sure you get white rice vinegar that hasn’t been flavored or sweetened in any way.
- For extra heat, you can add red pepper flakes, but I leave them out when I make this for my kids.
- The starch in arrowroot flour comes from the root of a tropical plant and is white and powdery. Most grocery stores have this in the baking section. Arrowroot doesn’t come from corn, but it thickens things like cornstarch does.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
If you find yourself short, you can make a few easy swaps to make the recipe fit your needs:
- You can use soy sauce instead of coconut aminos if you want to. Low-sodium soy sauce works best, but either will do.
- Instead of coconut sugar, you can use brown sugar, cane sugar, or any other kind of granulated sugar.
- This can be easily switched out for corn starch when you need to thicken something.
Panda Express Orange Chicken Made Easy!
FAQ
What is orange sauce made of?
Orange sauce, often associated with dishes like orange chicken, typically includes a combination of orange juice, orange zest, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and a thickening agent like cornstarch.
What are the ingredients in orange chicken sauce?
Orange chicken sauce typically includes orange juice and zest, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar (often brown sugar), ginger, and garlic.
Is sweet and sour sauce the same as orange chicken?
There are some ingredients and tastes that are the same in both dishes, but orange chicken usually tastes much sweeter than sweet and sour chicken because it doesn’t have any acid in it. Fruit juice is used in orange chicken, while pineapple juice is often used in sweet and sour chicken.
What is 4 ingredient orange chicken sauce?
How to Make 4-Ingredient Orange Chicken. The recipe starts with cooking up one pound of your favorite chicken nuggets. While the nuggets bake, you warm up a sauce made with orange marmalade, barbecue sauce, and soy sauce. Once the nuggets are fully cooked, you transfer them to a large bowl then drizzle with the sauce.