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This Spicy Orange Sesame Chicken is classic, but made at home for a more wholesome approach…and with a little extra sauce. The chicken is pan-fried in a small amount of avocado oil until crispy, then tossed in a yummy sesame orange sauce with fresh orange juice and chili flakes. It’s a little sweet and a little spicy with such great flavor. This is best served over steamed rice with extra green onions on top. A fun homemade take on a popular takeout dish.
One of my favorite things to do is take our favorite takeout dishes and try my best to recreate them at home. There’s just something so fun about homemade takeout, especially when you live in a little town as we do. Our takeout options are more limited, so sometimes the only option is to just make “takeout” at home!
After I made orange cauliflower a few weeks back, my brothers were all over my case to make a more classic crispy orange chicken. They actually loved the cauliflower variation but said that nothing beats the real orange chicken.
I have a hard time saying no to those guys, so I created this recipe pretty much immediately after they requested it. And geez, you guys, this is so good. Just like your favorite takeout, but made at home, and with more wholesome ingredients too!
Traditionally orange chicken is deep-fried and tossed in a spicy, sweet, and tangy orange sauce. The sauce is usually made with a decent amount of sugar, in addition to orange juice and a bit of soy.
To keep this dish and the cooking simple and easy, I made some simple swaps. I used avocado oil for cooking, honey to sweeten, and tamari for the soy (tamari is just gluten-free soy sauce).
But the flavors are ALL there. Lots of orange, a touch of sweetness, and a kick of spice.
Details
I start with the chicken and toss it simply with an egg white, a splash of soy sauce, a pinch of peppers, plus some fresh orange zest. Then dredge the chicken through cornstarch. The cornstarch gives the chicken just the right amount of breading to crisp it up. It also helps the sauce to thicken.
When you’re dredging the chicken through the cornstarch don’t stress if it starts clumping a little on the chicken. Those clumps will get crispy and be delicious in the sweet orange sauce.
Then the sauce…this really is the heart of the recipe. Start with lots of fresh orange zest and juice. Yes, you can use already squeezed orange juice, but with citrus in-season, I would highly recommend fresh juice. Nothing can compare!
So mix the orange zest and juice with tamari or soy sauce, vinegar, and honey. As I mentioned, the honey replaces the sugar usually found in orange chicken. It works perfectly and I love the small amount of flavor it adds to the sauce.
Cook the chicken in avocado oil, which is awesome for high heat cooking. Once the chicken is crispy, pull it out of the skillet and add lots of garlic and ginger, plus some chili flakes (use to your liking, of course).
Pour in the sauce then add the chicken back. Let the sauce bubble around the chicken until it thickens. Simple and quick!
Serve
Serve the chicken with steamed rice and toasted sesame seeds for a complete meal. The boys all agreed, this dish is “fire”, which in their language means REALLY GOOD.
That should tell you what you need to know right there…you gotta give this dish a try…plus it’s just fun!
Looking for other takeout-style recipes? Here are a few to try:
Lastly, if you make this Spicy Orange Sesame 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!
Spicy Orange Sesame Chicken
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 425 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
- 1 egg white
- 1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- black pepper
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 1/3 cup avocado oil
Orange Sauce
- 1/3 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup fresh orange juice + 2 tablespoons zest
- 1/3 cup tamari or soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 4 cloves garlic, grated
- 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
- 1/2-1 teaspoon chili flakes
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
- green onions and sesame seeds, for serving
Instructions
- 1. In a bowl, combine the chicken, egg white, tamari/soy sauce, orange zest, and pepper. Toss well to coat. In a separate bowl, add the cornstarch.2. Dredge the chicken through the cornstarch to coat. 3. In a glass jar, whisk together the broth, orange juice, tamari/soy sauce, rice vinegar, and honey. 4. Heat the avocado oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken, working in batches, cook until golden all around, about 5 minutes. Remove the chicken from the skillet. 5. To the skillet, add the garlic, ginger, and chili flakes. Cook 1-2 minutes. Pour in the orange sauce. Bring to a boil, boil 3-4 minutes, then add the chicken. Toss with the sauce and cook until the sauce thickens around the chicken, about 5 minutes. 6. Serve the chicken and sauce over steamed rice with sesame seeds and green onions.
This post was originally published on March 2, 2022
Made this for dinner tonight. It was amazing and we have now added it to our favorites. Chicken was moist, sauce was amazing. I did use low sodium soy sauce and Olive oil replaced avocado oil.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much, Janette! Love to hear this recipe turned out well for you. I appreciate you making it! Have a great weekend! xx
Delicious! Way better than any takeout orange chicken! Will definitely be making this again!
Thanks so much, Susie! So glad to hear this recipe turned out nicely for you:) Thanks for making it!
Easy, love the texture of the chicken. Wish I had followed my gut and reduced the sauce a LOT more before throwing chicken back in.
Love to hear this, Autty! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback! Have a great day!
Can you substitute olive oil (or something else) for avocado oil? Making this dish this weekend!
Hi Diane,
Sure, any other neutral oil will work well for you. I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xx
This was amazing! Added broccoli & micro greens with it as well and was SO GOOD.
Hey Hannah,
Happy Sunday! Thanks a bunch for making this recipe, love to hear it turned out nicely for you! xx
My family loves this recipe 🙂 simple but delicious… don’t hold out on the cornstarch for that crispy chicken like at the restaurant. Never have any leftovers when I make this dish!!
Hey Kaya,
Fantastic! Thanks so much for making this recipe and your comment, so glad it turned out nicely for you! Happy Sunday! XxT
This was So So Good! Really did taste like take out!! My husband said put that one in the rotation!
Hi Katie,
Amazing!! Love to hear this recipe was enjoyed, I appreciate you making it! Have the best weekend:) xx
I normally love HBH recipes, but this one was not what I expected. It tasted more like orange zest than traditional orange chicken. Definitely missed a lot of flavor in the sauce.
Hi Sarah,
Thanks so much for trying this dish and sharing your feedback, so sorry to hear it was not enjoyed! Please let me know if there’s anything that I can help with! xT
Made this tonight and it was EXCELLENT! So much better than takeout!
Hi Robin,
Fantastic!! Thanks for trying this recipe and your comment, love to hear it turned out well! Happy New Year! xx
Made this tonight, it was very flavorful and an easy recipe to follow. I generally don’t enjoy cooking chicken since it’s not forgiving , but the cooking instructions for the chicken were very detailed and the chicken was cooked perfectly. I really appreciate you taking the time to add specific time and temperature instructions for the chicken even for stove top cooking as it really helped my confidence in attempting this chicken recipe 🙂 My sauce was more runny, it wasn’t sticky like the pictures look like here so I might try adding a corn starch slurry next time. Not as sweet and sticky as takeout – really felt much more healthy.
Hey there,
Thrilled to hear that you enjoyed this recipe, thanks a lot for making it and your comment:) xx
Fresh and depth of flavour!!! Not as greasy as take out.
Hey Barbara,
Happy Sunday! I appreciate you trying this recipe and your comment, so glad to hear it was a hit! x
I’m surprised no one has mentioned how salty this is. I seriously would cut the soy sauce in half if I made it again. It was almost inedible it was so salty, and we had even added extra orange juice and we ate it with rice. Really great flavors though.
Hi Megan,
Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback, so sorry it was so salty! I would use low sodium soy sauce next time, that should help! xx
I really loved the sauce but I screwed up somewhere lol. My sauce came out chunky so I think I added too much corn starch. But the smells were divine.
Hey Danielle,
Thanks so much for trying this dish!! Sorry to hear the sauce was chunky, how much cornstarch did you use? Glad to hear it still tasted great! xT
Absolutely love this recipe! I’ve made it several times now. I switch out the corn starch for arrowroot starch and it comes out great. Highly recommend!
Hey Sierra,
Love to hear that you have been enjoying this dish, thanks for making it so often and sharing what works well for you! xT
This was delicious!! The chicken was crispy and the sweet, spicy orange sauce was divine! Thank you for this recipe.
Hey Stephanie,
Awesome! Thanks so much for trying this recipe and your feedback, so glad it turned out well! Xx
THIS was an INCREDIBLE recipe Tiegan!!! Genius, really!
I did make some changes. I made mine with ground chicken with Asian spices, seasonings and pork rind crumbs and used rice flour to coat the meatballs. Also made broccoli and tossed it with the meatballs when it was done- had to make it keto friendly…
It was AMAZING!!! THANK YOU!
Thanks so much Deborah:) I’m so glad to hear that this dish was enjoyed, thanks a lot for giving it a try! xT
Every recipe I make of yours is the best. I call them show stoppers because they taste as good as they look. Thank is for being awesome.
Aww, thank you so much, Sara:) This means a lot to me! xT