This baked orange chicken is tastes better than any Chinese take-out you'll get at a restaurant. Crispy coating of egg & cornstarch and then it's baked in a sweet and delicious orange sauce. This is a dish that you will want to make over and over again.
Ingredients
crispy chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups cornstarch
4 large eggs
1 cup canole oil
orange sauce
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup orange juice
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinager
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon cornstarch
zest of one orange
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.
Heat the canola oil in a large skillet pan over medium-high heat.
Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and sprinkle salt and pepper over the chicken pieces. Add chicken pieces to a gallon-sized Ziploc bag (or you can do this in a bowl) and add the cornstarch. Close the Ziploc bag and shake to mix it together and coat the chicken pieces in cornstarch.
Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat with a fork.
Take a handful of cornstarch coated chicken pieces out of the bag and place in the egg. Coat both sides of each piece and then place in the hot oil. Let cook for 2-3 minutes per side. You just want a nice crispy crust, you do not have to cook them all the way through. Repeat with the remining chicken pieces in several batches. It takes me about 4 batches to cook them.
** Once chicken pieces are done place them on a plate lined with paper towels so they can drain.
Add the crispy chicken pieces to the prepared 9x13 baking pan.
Combine all the ingredietns for the orange sauce into a small bowl and stir with a whisk until mixed together. Pour over the chicken and stir to coat all the chicken pieces in the sauce.
Bake, uncovered for 1 hour. Turning and mixing the chicken every 15 minutes to make sure it stays coated in the sauce.
Serve over rice and garnish with green onions.
Recipe Notes
I just use prepared orange juice, I do not try to fresh squeeze it from oranges. You can do that if you want to.
An easy way to test if your oil is hot enough to use : grab a small pinch of flour and drop it into the oil, if it sizzles and bubbles then the oil is hot enough to fry and you're good to go.
source: togetherasfamily.com