My recipe for Oven-Fried Orange Chicken is so simple to make and just as good as take-out from your favorite panda restaurant. Just a few ingredients and you’re eating a delicious homemade orange chicken.

Why You’ll Love this Recipe
One of the best parts of summer is spending extra quality time with the little people around my house. When we have time together, it really cements our relationships and makes for a happy house and lots of unprovoked hugs.
One of the faves is Panda Express. My kids would live there if I’d let them. Orange chicken is all they ever order. So when I get the request to eat out, the first thing that comes to mind is “I can make that”. So I do. Sometimes the kids are stoked with the homemade version and other timesโฆwell, you get the picture. One of the main things they love about the Orange Chicken at Panda Express is the crispy fried coating.
Being that I went on a 12 day California adventure and that I came home feeling like I swallowed a watermelon, I have been trying to be good about my food choices and fried breadingโฆnot on the list. So in an effort to please the troops, I breaded the chicken pieces with panko and flour and baked them instead. Guess whatโฆit was just as good and far less chub-inducing. Love it. If you like orange chicken and want a healthier version, give this one a shot.
Ingredients You’ll Need to Make Oven-Fried Orange Chicken
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts or Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs – either will work for this recipe. Cut into small bite-sized pieces that are uniform so it will cook at the same rate.
- Eggs – to help the panko stick to the chicken pieces
- Panko Bread Crumbs – I find these to be essential to the light crispy coating on this orange chicken and will get the closest result to the restaurant version.
- All-Purpose Flour – to get that crispy texture
- Cooking Spray – or use avocado oil in a spray bottle. This will help the chicken not stick to the pan and also adds in crispy chicken pieces
- Orange Juice & Orange Zest- fresh orange juice or store bought orange juice. The orange zest adds extra orange flavor
- Soy Sauce – regular soy sauce or tamari soy sauce
- Brown Sugar – light or dark brown sugar
- Mirin – is a Japanese cooking rice wine that will give the sauce a bit of tang necessary for that piquant orange sauce.
- Rice Vinegar – or apple cider vinegar which adds a bit of acid and flavor
- Sriracha – adds the spice but can be omitted if you don’t like spicy food
- Garlic – fresh garlic minced
- Ginger – fresh ginger grated or chopped very fine
- Corn Starch – to thicken the tangy orange sauce
- Toasted Sesame Seeds – is only for garnish, so if you don’t have any…don’t sweat it.
- Green Onions – for garnish
- Red Pepper Flakes – optional but a great addition if you like it a little spicier
- Cooked White Rice – or brown rice, for serving
Find the printable recipe card with exact measurements and step-by-step instructions below.
Substitutions & Variations
- Serving: serve with lo mein or other chinese foodside dish recipes
- Orange Marmalade: in a pinch, you could add 1/4 cup orange marmalade for the fresh orange juice and orange zest. Lower the brown sugar by 1/2 if you make this swap
- Sriracha: substitute crushed red pepper chili flakes for sriracha
- Chicken: use dark meat chicken thighs in place of chicken breast pieces for a juicier chicken
- Air Fryer Orange Chicken: add coated chicken pieces to an air fryer basket sprayed with cooking spray and air fry for 10 minutes at 400 to 425ยบ F. Turn once and cook another 10 minutes. Test for donesness and proceed with the recipe as stated below.
How to Make this Recipe
You can make this easy orange chicken recipe on a weeknight because it comes together really fast and the delicious sauce is made while the chicken bakes:
- Preheat oven to 425ยบ F. Spray a large sheet pan with cooking spray and set aside.
- Using 2 pie plates, add the beaten eggs to one and mix the panko and flour in the other. Dredge each chicken piece in the egg mixture and then in the panko-flour mixture and add to the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining chicken. Spray with cooking spray and bake for 10 minutes. Turn the pieces, then continue to cook for another 10 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink the center, or to your liking.
- While the chicken cooks, add the orange juice, orange zest, soy sauce, brown sugar, mirin, sriracha, garlic and ginger to a medium saucepan. Bring to a low boil over medium heat, stir occasionally, turn heat down to low to simmer. When the chicken is just about done, add the corn starch to the orange juice mixture and bring to a boil. Heat orange sauce ingredients until thickened enough to coat a spoon. Remove from the heat.
- In a large serving bowl add the cooked chicken and top with the orange chicken sauce, toss lightly to coat. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onions and serve with steamed white rice.
What to Serve with this Baked Orange Chicken Recipe
- Roasted Broccoli
- Steamed or Air Fried Green Beans
- โLo Mein
- Homemade Crab Rangoons
More Recipes We Love
- Chinese Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- Tater Tot Casserole
- Slow Cooker Sticky Drumsticks
- Sticky Korean Meatball Bowls
- Cinnamon Raisin Scones
Oven-Fried Orange Chicken
Ingredients
- 5 chicken breasts, or boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite sized pieces
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 2 cups Panko breadcrumbs
- ยฝ cup all-purpose flour
Orange Chicken Sauce
- 1 ยฝ cups orange juice, fresh squeezed
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- ยผ cup soy sauce, low sodium
- 3 tbsp light brown sugar, packed
- 3 tbsp Mirin
- 1 tsp rice vinegar
- 1 ยฝ tbsp Sriracha
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 ยฝ tsp fresh ginger, grated fine
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- Toasted Sesame Seeds
- Green Onions, snipped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425ยบ F. Spray a largeย sheet panย withย cooking sprayย and set aside.
- Using 2 pie plates, add the beaten eggs to one and mix the panko and flour in the other. Dredge each chicken piece in the egg and then in the panko-flour mixture and add to theย prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining chicken. Spray withย cooking sprayย and bake for 10 minutes. Turn the pieces, then continue to cook for another 10 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink the center, or to your liking.
- Meanwhile, add the orange juice,ย orange zest,ย soy sauce,ย brown sugar, mirin, rice vinegar, sriracha, garlic and ginger to a medium saucepan. Bring to a low boil overย medium heat, stir occasionally, turn heat down to low to simmer. When the chicken is just about done, add theย corn starchย to the orange juice mixture and bring to a boil. Heat until thickened enough to coat a spoon. Remove from the heat.
- In a large serving bowl add the cooked chicken and top with theย orange chicken sauce, toss lightly to coat. Sprinkle withย sesame seedsย andย green onionsย and serve with steamedย white rice.
Recipe By:
Co-Founder at Spiceology | More About Heather…

Heather is a recipe developer and content creator living in Vancouver, Washington. She started Farmgirl Gourmet in 2006, almost 20 years ago, as a way to share recipes with friends and family. Heather is also the co-founder of Spiceology , a unique spice company, which she started in 2013. She shares family friendly recipes for easy everyday meals with a gourmet twist.
Really enjoyed this recipe! I’ve never had much success breading and frying (starts out fine, but I have burnt bits in the oil by the last batch). This baking technique was much easier. And once the sauce is added, it is indistinguishable from restaurant orange chicken. Better, even.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Paul. My kids still request this almost weekly! Such an easy way to get restaurant style without the price or deep frying.
Thanks for sub for siracha &mirin was a little puzzled,now I can try this dish tonight.Do you have recipe for Jamaican jerk chicken?
I realize this is years old now, but I am on the hunt for *the* perfect orange chicken recipe, and though I haven’t tried it yet, this one looks like a contender to me! Just curious, have you ever tried this one with chicken thigh meat instead of breast? I find that it has so much more flavor, and doesn’t tend to dry out in cooking like the breast meat does. And even if all you can find are bone-in, skin-on thighs, it’s really simple to pull off the skin and fat, and flip it over and cut slits along that bone and pull it out of there. The bone-in, skin-on are usually cheaper, too, and you can put the skin and bone in your “soup makings” bag in the freezer. ๐
I haven’t tried it with thigh meat before. Sounds juicy and delish though. Any chicken pieces will work. Give it a shot and let me know how it turns out. ~heather
Hi, I made it yesterday and everyone liked it very much. I squeezed about 6 or 8 oranges to get the orange juice I needed – do you think I could buy orange juice and use that just as well?
Yumm. This is what’s for dinner tonight. Thank you.
I’ll be making this tomorrow for the husband & my lunch… The only changes I’ll be making is using whole wheat pano, whole wheat white flour and Splenda brown sugar blend (only 3 teaspoons) to keep the counts down… Thank you for the base recipe…
I’m gonna try make this tomorrow. I visited America on holiday and I tried orange chicken at panda express and I really liked the taste. Can’t wait to try this out tomorrow! I’ll post pics of how it went
As a diabetic I have to be keenly aware of both carbs and sodium levels, however I don’t see a link to the nutritional information. Any way to obtain such?
Will be sriracha make this recipe spicy? My kids love orange chicken but they dont like spicy so I am not sure if its a good idea to add that. However, I am afraid that the flavor might be affected if I eliminate that.
You do not have to add the sriracha sauce. If u just add the smallest dab….it won’t come out spicy though.
Just made it! It is delicious!!
I’m heading to the grocery tomorrow. Thanks for the recipe.
Do you think I could make extra sauce and refrigerate it?
you bet. I’m guessing it would last 4-5 days in the fridge. You could also freeze it for ease of use later.
What did you sub the vinegar for? The mirin? I looked it up and it’s like a sweet wine. The suggestions for subs were a dry sherry or a sweet marsala. Certainly not apple cider vinegar. It was totally change the taste.
You really don’t want to sub mirin for anything, to be honest. I do a LOT of asian cooking. It’s very easy to find and will be at most any grocery store in the asian foods section. Look for a yellow bottle. It’s cheap too. ๐
I used Pink Pino Grigio, because I had it. Turned out great! Clean plates all around!
What is mirin and sriracha ?
I’ve never heard of Mirin or Sriracha where can I buy it????
Mirin is a specific cooking rice wine and most grocery store will have the stuff, even walmart. Look for a yellow bottle in the asian food section. It’s used in a LOT of asian cooking and a staple ingredient as much as soy sauce. You’ll fine sriracha there as well. Red bottle, has a rooster on it. Sriracha is an asian hot sauce that is their version of frank’s red hot. Good stuff. Not SUPER hot, but has a nice kick.
no.
This sounds delish. Making it tonight. Do you have a Crispy lemon chicken recipe ?That’s my fave.
No crispy lemon chicken, but you could make it similarly by swapping lemon for the orange juice.
Made this tonight and it is so delicious. I used apple cider vinegar and it was fine. It tastes nothing like Panda Express, it is much much better. Fresh tasting. I had some leftover put it in fridge and can’t leave it alone.
So glad you liked it. It’s a staple recipe in our house. So easy to make and way better for you than driving to the Panda place. ๐ Thanks for commenting!! ~heather
This is a very good recipe and will be greeted with high praise from your family and friends.
OMG! I will have to try this is it is one of my favorite!
Love the crispy part without frying. Do you have a similar recipe for lemon chicken?
I will be making this tonight. I have been wanting to make this for a while. Marnely R-Murray is my best friend and she told me all about you. Love your blog! Hope to meet you one day!
Made this for dinner tonight – was delicious!! I used apple cider vinegar in place of the Mirin. Next time, I will put less Sriracha. It was too spicy for my 6 year old. Will definitely make again…and again…
Yuuum!! Made this for dinner and the flavor was delicious!! It was a bit tooo spicy for my lil ones and I had only added 1/2 the sirracha so next time I will add even less but either way it’s yuuuum!
Made this earlier in the week, and oh my goodness, soo good!! So thankful I live alone so I get all the leftovers ๐
Great recipe!
So happy you enjoyed it Maggie. My kids beg for it…that’s usually how I gauge success. ๐
Awesome
We dont buy wine. any other substitute for the mirin?
You could sub distilled.ehite vinegar, apple vinegar.or even Kombucha. The mirin adds acid, which is what gives the sauce some zing. of the 3 I would definitely try the apple.cider vinegar. Let me know how it goes.
Heather
This recipe looks so delicious….I will be making this….used to go to Panda Express when I lived in MICH. and now they do not have one here where I live now….
BTW, would you have a recipe for chicken fried rice…..this is my favorite chinese food….I have made it several times, using different recipes and it is just NO good !!!! I am hoping you have a recipe that I can try…..still looking for that special one….sure hope you have it…
Just found your blog, and already I am loving it….the picture of this Orange Chicken is great and really makes me want to make it, which I will…..thanks for posting this…..
I wish I did Mona!! I love a good chicken fried rice. I will look into creating that recipe. Thanks for popping in and commenting on the Orange Chicken. ๐
You can youtube recipies allso, esp for things that are difficult to do like fried rice and eggdrop soup.. i learned how to make pot stickeres on youtube..soso easy!
We made this dish for my culinary class and everyone loved it.we served it as a tappas.thanks
Thank you Robin!! So glad everyone enjoyed it. I’ve been craving it lately for sure.
This is the second time I have made the dish and it has become a family favorite. My 2 yr old gobbles it up without a fuss! Thanks for a great recipe and I am now a new follower
I’m so glad you like it Kristina! I need to make it again soon too. My kids love Panda Express orange chicken, so this is a great (healthier) compromise to eating out. Thanks for your comment and making my day!! ๐ ~Heather
This was one of the best meals I’ve made in a while. I made it last night and husband already asked for it again next week. Perfectly spicy (i.e., he didn’t need extra Sriracha for once!) and delicious.
I’d recommend making the splurge and buying Mirin, since I have found that I use it quite frequently now.
Thank you so much for coming back to leave a review and I’m elated that you enjoyed this recipe. I love hearing successes and appreciate your comment very much. Actually you made my day!! Thank you! Heather
The two ingredients below the brown sugar..mirin and sirachan………could something be substituted for those? It’s hard to buy something you rarely use and then it goes bad before you use it again
thank you
you could use white wine and a little white vinegar instead of mirin and for the Sriracha and type of hot sauce like Tabasco would work. I hope that helps. ๐ Thanks for stopping by. ~Heather
Thank you for the suggested substitutions. Had no idea what Sriracha and Mirin were. I’m sure this is delicious!!! Janet
I used crushed red pepper instead of Sriaracha and it was perfect! Thank you for a fabulous recipe!!!
Try the siracha you can put it on almost anything especially asian foods or tacos/mexican food before you know it you’ll use it like ketchup