This website may contain affiliate links and advertising so that we can provide recipes to you. Read my disclosure policy.
Baked orange chicken is sweet, tangy, and coated in the best sticky orange sauce. It has all the flavor of your favorite takeout, but it’s made right at home and baked until the chicken is perfectly tender.
Skip the Takeout, Make This Instead
- Better Than Takeout: The orange sauce is bright, sweet, tangy, and clings to every bite of chicken.
- Pan Fried First: A quick pan fry gives the chicken that golden, crispy coating before it bakes in the sticky orange sauce.
- Family Dinner Win: Serve it over rice with broccoli or steamed veggies, and dinner is done!
A Reader’s Review
OMG this was delicious!!! My husband couldn’t stop thanking me for making this dish! So THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! I also made the Kung Pao chicken – AMAZING as well!!!!
Lauran
Baked Orange Chicken Ingredients
- Chicken: Use boneless skinless chicken thighs if you prefer.
- Oil: Canola or vegetable oil will work!
- Eggs: Whisk the eggs well before dipping the coated chicken.
- Orange Juice and Zest: The combination is a must for maximum orange flavor!
- Sriracha Sauce: This is optional, and it doesn’t make the chicken spicy.
- Cornstarch: Helps to thicken the sauce as it bakes!
How to Make Baked Orange Chicken
This baked orange chicken recipe is the perfect way to get that sweet, sticky, restaurant style flavor right at home. The fresh orange sauce really shines, and every bite tastes like your favorite takeout made even better.
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 325°F and grease a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish. Cut chicken breasts into bite sized pieces and season with saltand pepper.
- Coat in Cornstarch: Add cornstarch to a large Ziploc bag, along with the cut chicken pieces, then toss and shake to coat the chicken well.
- Dip in Egg: In a small bowl, whisk together 3 eggs. Dip each coated chicken piece into the beaten eggs to coat the chicken, then shake off any excess egg. Set aside on a plate while you coat the remaining chicken.
- Pan Fry: Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook the chicken until browned. Place the chicken in the prepared baking dish.
- Sauce Ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk brown sugar, orange juice, low sodium soy sauce, sriracha, white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, garlic salt, grated orange peel, and cornstarch.
- Bake: Pour the sauce over the chicken and bake for 1 hour, stirring the chicken every 15 minutes to coat it in the sauce. Serve baked orange chicken over rice and enjoy!
Must Have Tools For This Recipe
- 9×13 – inch Baking Dish: Gives the chicken room to bake evenly in the sticky orange sauce.
- Mircoplane Zester: Makes it easy to get fresh, bright orange zest.
- Ziplock Bag Storage Holder: Holds the bag open so coating the chicken is cleaner and easier.
Pin this now to find it later
Pin It
Baked Orange Chicken
This baked orange chicken is crispy, tender, and coated in a sticky sweet orange sauce that tastes even better than takeout.
Ingredients
Chicken
- 3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts about 2 pounds
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1¼ cups cornstarch
- 3 eggs beaten
- ¼ cup canola oil
Orange Sauce
- ⅔ cup brown sugar
- ⅔ cup orange juice
- ¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sriracha optional
- 3 tablespoons white vinegar
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish. Cut 3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and season with salt and pepper.
- Add 1¼ cups cornstarch to a large Ziploc bag, along with the cut chicken pieces. Close the bag and shake to coat the chicken well.
- In a small bowl, whisk together 3 eggs. Dip each coated chicken piece into the beaten eggs to coat the chicken, then shake off any excess egg. Set aside on a plate while you coat the remaining chicken.
- Heat ¼ cup canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken until browned. Place the chicken in the prepared baking dish.
- In a medium bowl, whisk ⅔ cup brown sugar, ⅔ cup orange juice, ¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce, 2 teaspoons sriracha, 3 tablespoons white vinegar, 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, 1 teaspoon garlic salt, 1 tablespoon grated orange peel, and 1 tablespoon cornstarch.
- Pour the sauce over the chicken and bake for 1 hour, stirring the chicken every 15 minutes to coat the chicken in the sauce. Serve over rice and enjoy!
Notes
Leftover Instructions
- Fridge: Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Freezer: Store the baked and cooled orange chicken in a freezer-safe airtight container. Freeze up to 3 months! Thaw in the fridge overnight before rewarming.
- Reheat: Reheat portions in the microwave for 1-2 minutes until warm.
Nutrition
Calories: 401kcalCarbohydrates: 53gProtein: 16gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 118mgSodium: 912mgPotassium: 375mgFiber: 0.5gSugar: 26gVitamin A: 197IUVitamin C: 17mgCalcium: 45mgIron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Tried this recipe?Mention @alyssa_therecipecritic or tag #therecipecritic!
I have been wanting to try homemade Orange chicken because my kids love it. Trying to get away from outside type foods. This was a big hit!! I did not need to cook it for an hour in my convection oven. It was probably close to 30-40 min. And it was perfect!! I also used less brown sugar (tasted the liquid sauce as I added the sugar to the sweetness I wanted).
Thank you for a great recipe!!
I made this and it tasted great! My only problem is that when I cooked the chicken I the pan, a lot of the egg came off and stuck in the pan. What did I do wrong?? I use stainless steel pans.
I just have to say that your chinese recipes are OUTSTANDING!! Chinese food is my boyfriends all time favorite food. This guy could eat it everyday if I’d let him. Now with this healthier recipe, I wouldn’t mind eating it close to everyday as well! Although this does take a good amount of time, it is WAY worth it. Not only for the amazing taste, but the awesome brownie points you get for serving such an awesome dinner that they can’t believe YOU made. These recipes will definitely be a regular in our house! 🙂 Thanks!
I have made orange chicken before, and although I deep fried the first time that ended up being a lot easier than this. I pan fried it all together this time but the coating came mostly off all the pieces, and left me with a lot of scrambled eggs in the pan. I would actually recommend just using 4 egg whites instead of 3 whole eggs. Also it is difficult to cook the chicken as you coat it, so I would recommend having a helper to coat the chicken while you do the cooking/browning so you may add the pieces as they are coated and remove them once they are browned. Other than that it still turned out well! The sauce is much better than the other one I made.
I have a question on the orange peel do u literAly peel a orange peel
Just use a grater and finely grate the outside of an orange to get your orange peel shavings.
Thank u very much
This was very good! However, I would double or triple the sauce. Thanks for the recipe!
My family loves this recipe! I made it last week and had no leftovers. Am making it again tonight per their request.
And the fried rice is amazing, too.
Thank you,
your newest fan.
I made this tonight along with the fried rice recipe you posted last year. My family absolutely loved it. Mind you I am not someone whi can just cook. I really need to follow a recipe and this was easy to follow and quite superb! Thanks for sharing!!!
Do you think you could substitute coconut oil for canola oil to make it healthier?
I just made this and your easy fried rice for dinner…what a success!!!!
Instead of corn starch, I used arrowroot powder and it turned out great.
Thank you so much for sharing your delicious recipes! My family really enjoyed their dinner tonight!!
Hi can i ask that is Sriracha and there i can buy it?
At any grocery store in the chinese food section by the soy sauce.
Oh my… looking for OJ right now.. got to make this NOW! Yum!
This looks great- going to make it tonight for dinner. Do I just brown the chicken in the pan and finish it while it bakes? I don’t cook it all the way through in the pan, right?
No you don’t need to cook them all of the way through. Just lightly brown the outside.
Baking for one hour results in overcooked, dry chicken – had to throw it out…whole chicken breasts don’t even take one hour to cook!…. must have been a bad typo
It is baked at a low enough temperature. If it is cooking faster because oven temps vary, take it out sooner.
I think what happened also was that it all depends how long you brown it on the pan too! I wanted it extra crispy so kept it on the pan longer, cooked for 30 minutes at the recommended temperature, took out one of the pieces to taste (tasted and felt ready), transferred the chicken pieces to another pan (to leave the sauce behind since I made extra), and broiled in high for 5 minutes and then broiled it in low for another 10. I served the extra sauce on the side and the chicken was nice and crispy and had dipping sauce to add more sauce to taste:) AMAZING! I also cooed the chicken in coconut oil since it is the oil I use.
Sorry, so what I meant to say is that maybe you cooked the chicken longer in the pan like I did? So it should have been ready by 30 minutes or so:)
I love making Chinese food at home, it’s way easier than it appears to be! This looks great, can’t wait to try it 🙂
I love Chinese food, but almost every single time I order it out, I get sick afterwards. I’m going to try making this because it would be so much better for me than the stuff they serve in the restaurants.
You and your chinese food! It’s all so amazing looking! My roommate in college made something similar to this, and I still dream of it. I will definitely need to make this ASAP— we LOVE chinese take out, but that stuff comes with a heaping side of guilt that I don’t like so much! 😉 This is way better.
Made for first time tonite..followed the recipe..partner couldnt rave enough about the chicken..made your fried rice too. Teased i could get a job in a chinese restaraunt it was soooooo good. Thank you!