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This 20 Minute Crispy Orange Garlic Chicken is inspired by everyone’s favorite restaurant-style orange chicken. It’s made quicker and with a few tweaks that make it slightly unique and even more delicious. The chicken (or use ground beef or pork) and broccoli are cooked in a golden buttery, sweet-spicy sauce until caramelized around the edges. Then served simply with steamed rice and plenty of green onions. The addition of butter and ginger (pickled sushi ginger) are the secrets. This dish is saucy, salty, tangy-sweet, and has just the right amount of spice. This dish is sure to become a favorite takeout-style staple!
It’s that time of the year when the weather is finally nice, and literally all you want to do is be outside. It may not be this way in the Colorado mountains just yet (where winter/spring tends to run late into June), but in places like New York, the weather is perfect. I’m writing from my hotel where the sun is out and it’s around 60 degrees.
A little chillier than I prefer, but it’s the sunshine – it gives me so much energy, I really do crave it. As you might guess, when it comes to cooking at this time of year, I’m just like you all, keep it simple, fast, and effortless.
This is when the 20-30 minute dinners come into play.
This chicken is the easiest to prepare, but beyond the ease, I also love the colors and, even more importantly, the taste! Inspired by our favorite takeout style orange chicken, but made very easily at home with ground chicken and zero frying!
The ground chicken is the key. There’s no cutting up of raw chicken, and it cooks so quickly. That’s something we can all love.
These are the Details
Step 1: let’s mix the sauce
Keeping things basic, I use fresh squeezed orange juice, tamari, a small amount of honey, pickled ginger and ginger juice from the ginger jar, chili paste (use either Thai red curry paste or gochujang; I prefer gochujang), toasted sesame oil, black pepper, and chili flakes.
Give this a good mix before starting the chicken.
Step 2: cook the chicken
To keep the recipe quick-cooking and avoid frying pieces of chicken, I love to use ground chicken. I toss the chicken with cornstarch and black pepper. The cornstarch helps the chicken get crispy and gives it a slight “breading”.
Pan-cook the chicken, then toss in butter and garlic. Add the broccoli and let the butter caramelize and brown around the chicken pieces.
Step 3: add the sauce
Now, add the orange sauce and let it thicken around the chicken and broccoli. This should only take a few minutes, after which you can pull the pan off the heat.
If you enjoy fresh herbs mixed in you can add fresh Thai, sweet basil, and cilantro. If I have any of these on hand, I do like to add fresh herbs!
Step 4: serve over rice
Now, you really do need a side of rice with this dish. Spoon the chicken, broccoli, and sauce over a plate of rice.
Green onions and toasted sesame seeds on top are my favorite.
All the right flavors and they all hit so well together.
Plus, I really appreciate all the fresh colors – the best kind of recipe! Great for spring and summer!
Looking for other quick weeknight dinners? Here are some favorites:
20 Minute Thai Basil Beef Rolls
Chili Crisp Chicken Mango Cucumber Rice Bowl
30 Minute Sticky Thai Meatballs with Sesame Noodles
Better Than Takeout Sweet Thai Basil Chicken
Thai Basil Beef and Lemongrass Rice Bowls
Lastly, if you make this 20 Minute Crispy Orange Garlic Chicken, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And, of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
20 Minute Crispy Orange Garlic Chicken
Servings: 4
Calories Per Serving: 553 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Watch the How-To Reel
Ingredients
Sauce
- 1/3 cup orange juice
- 1/3 cup tamari or soy sauce
- 1-2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon chopped pickled ginger, plus 1 tablespoon ginger juice
- 3-4 tablespoons chili paste (gochjang) (gochujang)
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- black pepper and chili flakes
Chicken
- 3 tablespoons sesame oil (or olive oil)
- 1 1/2 pounds ground chicken
- 1 teaspoon arrowroot powder or cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons salted butter
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 1/2 cups chopped broccoli
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame/peanuts
- 4 green onions, chopped
Instructions
- 1. To make the sauce. Combine all ingredients in a glass jar.2. In a large skillet, combine the oil, chicken, cornstarch, pepper, and chili flakes. Cook over medium heat, breaking up the meat as it cooks until browned, about 5 minutes. Add the butter and garlic. Cook 2 minutes, until the butter browns and the chicken gets crispy.3. Pour over the sauce. Cook until the sauce thickens slightly. Then, add the broccoli. Cook another 2-5 minutes. Remove from the heat.4. Serve the chicken, broccoli, and remaining sauce over bowls of rice. Top with sesame seeds and green onion. Enjoy!
This post was originally published on May 6, 2024
Made this last night. Delicious. Added strips of red bell peppers and thinly sliced celery. The chicken did crisp, but had to cook until the butter was very brown. Will definitely make again.
Thank you so much Michele:) Love to hear that this recipe turned out well for you and I appreciate you making it! xT
Hi Tieghan,
We made this recipe for dinner tonight and OMG was it spicy hot! We used 3 1/2 tblsps of Fried Red Chili paste as called for. That’s what we could find locally. Is it possible that it’s hotter than gochjang? The overall idea was good but it was so spicy hot I couldn’t enjoy the other flavors in it. We will make it again and only use 1 tblsp of the Fried Red Chili paste and see how it comes out. The other question is: we cooked the ground chicken for approximately 7 minutes but it never got crispy. Should we have cooked it longer?? The texture seemed to be fine to us but just curious.
I do love your recipes and I realize everyone has a different threshold for spicy food but Whoa.
Hey Cherrie,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback! So sorry this was so spicy for you! I used gochujang for this recipe, so maybe what you used was hotter? What kind of pan did you use? I like to use cast iron to get a nice crisp on my meat, you may have just needed to cook longer as well. I hope this helps! xT
Just made this tonight but used ground turkey instead of chicken and a few drops of Cholula hot sauce instead of the chili paste because I can’t do spicy. Recipe on the whole was delish! Nice flavors. Would make again. However, like others have mentioned, the meat doesn’t get browned and crispy. Not sure how you got yours to do that, Tieghan!
Also, you have the black pepper and chili flakes listed under the sauce ingredients, but it’s supposed to go under the chicken ingredients. I hope you can fix this!
Hey Melanie,
Wonderful!! Thank you so much for making this dish and sharing what worked well for you, so glad it was enjoyed!! I think I am able to get the crisp by using my cast iron skillet, it really helps here! Yes, I can fix those ingredients, thanks for the reminder:) xx
The instructions say to add the sauce to the pan, but then you say “4. Serve the chicken, broccoli, and remaining sauce over bowls” what remaining sauce???? The instructions don’t say to hold any sauce back. Your 20 Minute Garlic Butter Cashew Chicken recipe (similar ingredients and amounts) say to only use 2/3 of the sauce in cooking the dish leaving the remaining 1/3 to sauce over individual bowls. What sauce are we adding to individual bowls in this recipe?
Hi Rachel,
Sorry for any confusion here! You do not need to save any sauce, I just meant any sauce that is in the pan you will serve with the chicken:) Let me know if there is anything else that I can clarify! Have a great day! xx
This recipe only has 1 tsp. of cornstarch while your 20 Minute Garlic Butter Cashew Chicken recipe (which has very similar ingredients and amounts) has 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch. Perhaps that’s why there are so many comments that the chicken isn’t getting crispy and the sauce is liquidy.
Hi Rachel,
Thanks for sharing your feedback! I just used 1 teaspoon of cornstarch for this recipe, but you could absolutely use 1 tablespoon if that works better for you! I hope this helps:) xx
I followed the recipe exactly. It tasted delicious but the chicken did not get crispy or sticky which was disappointing. And the broccoli was wet even though it was completely dry prior to baking.
Hi Kathleen,
Happy Monday! Thanks so much for trying this recipe, sorry to hear it was not crispy or sticky. I think it really just needed to cook a bit longer for you! I hope this helps! xT
Not crispy, very liquidy
Hi Holly,
Thanks for giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback, sorry to hear it was so liquidy for you. Sounds like it just needed to be cooked down longer. Please let me know if I can help in any other way! xT
I didn’t have any problems with the liquid. (But did with the meat not getting crispy. ) Did you simmer the mixture in the meat long enough to reduce and thicken a bit?
Made this last night for dinner, very tasty but I couldn’t get my chicken to brown.
Hey Joan,
Thanks so much for giving this dish a try! Glad to hear it was enjoyed, sorry to hear you had some issues browning your chicken! I would cook it longer next time or try using a cast iron skillet, I think that works best. I hope this helps! xT
Yummy recipe and the entire family liked it, which is a bonus. My chicken didn’t get crispy – when cooking there seemed to be a lot of liquid so I drained it and it still didn’t crisp so I’m not sure what I could’ve done. I cooked in a stainless steel pan. I did get comments from others that it was a bit salty so next time I’ll try cutting down on the soy sauce. I will definitely make again and again!
Hey Karen,
Happy Friday!! Thanks so much for making this dish and your feedback, so glad it was delish! xT
Question – for the sauce do you recommend a chili paste like Sambal olek? Or gochujang like it says in brackets? The chili paste links to red Thai curry paste which is also different so unsure what to use. Thanks!
Hey Heather,
I like to use gochujang for this recipe! Please let me know if you have any other questions, I hope you love this dish! xT
Based on the instructions, I think the black pepper and chili flakes are in the wrong section of ingredients?
Hey John,
Thanks for pointing this out! I will move them to go under the chicken ingredients:) Let me know if you give this dish a try! xT
This recipe is so delicious. My whole family loved it. We’ll definitely be adding it into our regular rotation!
I do have one quick question! For the nutritional info, are the calories including the rice, or just the serving of chicken? Just wanted to double check!
Hey Laurie,
Happy Thursday! Thanks so much for trying this recipe, I’m so glad to hear it was enjoyed! The nutritional info is just for the chicken:) Xx
Absolutely delicious!
Thanks so much, Lisa! Love to hear that this dish was enjoyed! xT
Hi, your recipe at the bottom with the ingredients is different than the step-by-step instructions with the pics up top. Do you think this is why my chicken didn’t brown?
Hi Nadine,
So sorry, I am not sure what is different? Was there anything you may have adjusted in the recipe? What kind of pan did you use? Let me know how I can help! xx
In the top step by step with the pictures the broccoli is added before the sauce. In the bottom it’s added after the sauce. I wouldn’t think that would affect the browning. Unless the broccoli is dispersing the heat and adding moisture requiring more time for the meat to crisp…?
It’s added after the sauce in both the photos and instructions, you can follow everything as written:)
I think what they are talking about is if you look above where the pictures are where you have instructions in between the photos Step 2 says add the broccoli and Step 3 says add the sauce however in the actual recipe directions & the photos the broccoli is added after the sauce.
Actually in step 2 with the pictures the broccoli is added after the butter and garlic. The sauce is added in step 3. Please clarify.
You can follow the recipe exactly as it is written:)
We’re not huge fans of ground chicken or ground turkey and I don’t want to use ground beef. Can I use chicken breast cutlets cook them and then add everything
Hey Diane,
Sure, I would just cook them with the sauce though, no need to cook them first. I hope you love this recipe! xT