Description
Sweet, savory and absolutely delicious, you’ll want to make this recipe over and over again. It will quickly become a favorite!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
To prepare the chicken, orange marinade and sauce:
- 1–2 lbs boneless chicken, cut into 3 inch pieces
- Juice and zest from 3-4 large oranges, or 2 cups fresh juice
- 2 1/2 tsp garlic paste
- 2 tsp ginger paste
- 1 cup chicken broth or stock
- 1/3 cup distilled white vinegar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 tsp sriracha
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground white pepper
To coat and fry the chicken:
- 1/2–1 gallon peanut oil (measurement depends on how deep your stock pot is)
- 3/4 cup cornstarch
For the rice:
- 4 cups water
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 2 tsp salt, divided
To garnish (optional):
- 2–3 scallions, diced on the bias (diagonally)
- sesame seeds
Instructions
- To prep the chicken and make the marinade, add the chicken pieces to a gallon zip top bag and leave the top open. Set bag aside.
- Combine the orange juice, zest, garlic paste, ginger paste, chicken broth, vinegar, soy sauce, sriracha, sugar and white pepper in a mixing bowl. Whisk until the sugar has dissolved, about 2 minutes.
- Remove 1 cup of the orange marinade and pour it into the gallon zip top bag with the chicken. Do your best to press all the air out of the bag and seal the top. Refrigerate for as long as it takes you to make the sauce and heat the oil for frying.
- Pour the remaining orange mixture (about 3 cups) into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Once the sauce boils, reduce the heat to medium and continue to gently boil until reduced by a little more than half and thickened. This should take about 40 minutes. Stir occasionally, especially towards the end of the cook time so that nothing burns to the bottom of the pan.
- Add the thickened orange sauce to a large mixing bowl and set aside while you fry the chicken.
- To fry the chicken, add the peanut oil to a large (8-10 quart) stock pot and clip a candy/deep fry thermometer on the side of the pot. The probe should be 2 inches down into the oil and should never touch the bottom. Set the pot of oil over medium-medium/high heat, and wait for it to reach 360F/182C.
- While the oil is heating, remove the chicken from the fridge and drain the excess marinade. Blot the pieces with a paper towel (or several) until the chicken is just damp. Add the 3/4 cup of cornstarch and toss to coat all the pieces evenly, and set aside while the oil finishes heating up.
- Once the oil is at temperature, fry the chicken pieces in batches. Don’t add more than 5 pieces at a time, otherwise the oil temperature will drop too much. It is normal for the oil to cool down by 5-6 degrees when you add each batch of chicken. Allow each batch to fry for about 5 minutes, until the outside coating is golden brown and the oil has rebounded back to 360F/182C. Use a heatproof slotted spoon or skimmer to remove the finished chicken from the oil. Repeat in batches of 5 pieces until all the chicken is done. Remove the oil from the heat immediately and allow to cool to room temperature before storing or disposing. (See notes)
- To make the rice, add the 4 cups of water to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Add the rice, oil and 1 tsp of the salt and stir gently before letting everything come back up to a rolling boil. Keep the pot at a boil and cook for 10 minutes, only stirring once or twice.
- After 10 minutes, remove the saucepan from the heat and drain the rice into a fine mesh sieve. Rinse the drained rice with hot water while it’s still in the sieve, stirring a few times. Tap the sieve a few times to get rid of as much water as possible, then add to a serving bowl. Stir the remaining 1 tsp salt into the cooked rice.
- Serve. Toss the fried chicken pieces in the orange sauce, and add the desired amount of rice to a plate or bowl. Add the sauced chicken on top of the rice and garnish with the diced scallions and sesame seeds.
Notes
Leftover orange chicken and rice can be stored separately or together, although we prefer to divide the leftovers into servings and store the rice + chicken + sauce all together in meal portions! Heat in the microwave for 45 seconds and stir, then another 30 seconds. The chicken won’t be crisp anymore, but the orange flavor will be even better.
Leftover frying oil can be strained of the large food particles and reused! Just keep the bottle you bought it in, and use a small funnel to add the cooled oil back. Store in a cool, dark place. I have reused oil 10+ times this way. Always smell the oil before using, and discard if you aren’t sure if it’s still good.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: Approx. 1 1/2 cups chicken & rice
- Calories: 742
- Sugar: 28.5 g
- Sodium: 699.9 mg
- Fat: 34.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Trans Fat: 0.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 88.1 g
- Fiber: 9.6 g
- Protein: 27.2 g
- Cholesterol: 42.6 mg