- If you like Chinese takeout food,
then you're gonna love my homemade orange chicken recipe.
And if you like this video,
don't forget to hit that Like button and subscribe.
Hey, you're watching "Preppy Kitchen," where I, John Kanell,
teach you how to make delicious homemade dishes
to share with your family and friends.
This orange chicken will be ready before you know it,
so let's get started.
First off, we're gonna make the sauce
and get some oranges out.
We're gonna zest them first.
I want the zest of about two oranges,
and it really depends on the size and how juicy they are,
but you'll want a cup of orange juice.
Now it's naked, we're gonna give it a cut.
And get that juice out.
This is where a juicer comes in handy.
Zest one more orange and continue juicing.
The pulp is actually fine in this,
so you can go ahead and toss that in.
I'm just doing this for seeds.
I did some juicing off camera.
We're gonna add three tablespoons of soy sauce right now,
a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil,
just a little bit adds a lot of flavor,
half a cup of sugar,
it gives a little sweetness to the sauce.
I had so much fun developing this recipe,
one, because I love orange chicken,
but two, there aren't really any Chinese restaurants
that deliver or have pickup, so had to do it ourselves,
and this is so much better than takeout.
A quarter cup of rice vinegar.
I'm adding a generous half a teaspoon of red chili flakes,
half a teaspoon of garlic powder,
and half a teaspoon of ground ginger.
Stir the sauce together, and then we're gonna set it aside.
I have a cheat for you.
If you wanna add a ton of orange flavor really quickly,
just add a few spoonfuls of marmalade.
It has the zest, it has the orange flavor,
it's a little bit bitter, and it's great.
Set this aside, and there's one more thing for the sauce.
We want it to be really silky, sticky, and amazing,
so we're gonna make a tiny bit
of corn flour or cornstarch slurry.
All you need is cornstarch
and either water or more orange juice,
it's your choice.
One tablespoon of corn starch, in you go,
and just mix it up to make a slurry.
We're gonna add this in at the very end of the recipe,
but it's nice to have it handy.
Now we're ready to do the chicken.
For the chicken, we're gonna use
four boneless skinless chicken breasts.
You could, of course, use dark meat if you prefer.
And four is kind of a lot of chicken breasts,
however this is so good and so amazing for leftovers
that you're gonna wanna have a lot of it.
When you're cutting the chicken,
just think what bite-sized is to you,
it might be a little bit smaller or a bit bigger.
The only thing you're gonna do
is alter the fry time just a bit.
Growing up, one of my mom's favorite recipes
for dinner parties when she had company
was duck à l'orange, or canard à l'orange,
and this reminds me of the recipe a little bit.
It's just the orange flavor and the deliciousness of it.
If you wanna have me make that recipe,
let me know in the comments.
My chicken's all cut up,
it's time to set up our dredging station.
So, before I wash my hands,
we need two eggs in a medium-sized bowl.
And we're gonna give them a little bit of a whisk.
(bowl clattering)
Now we're gonna dump the chicken into our bowl.
Get all the chicken immersed in your egg,
and give it a mix too.
It's a little messy, but this is the best way.
Now go wash your hands.
Right now, I have about an inch of oil
in a large pan over medium-high heat.
A generous half cup of flour in here.
We're gonna add half a cup of cornstarch.
That's gonna make it really, really crispy
when we fry the chicken.
The sauce has a lot of seasoning,
but you can also add a little salt and pepper to taste.
Well, you're not gonna taste it,
but add a little bit of salt and pepper
for some extra flavor in there too.
Let me know if there are any spices I should try
in the comments.
Give this a good whisk.
And now we're gonna go in batches and start frying it up.
I like to have a clean hand and a dirty hand for this,
to be honest, so I'm gonna have my chicken hand here,
and this'll be for the tongs.
We're gonna add some pieces into the flour.
Then give it a mix.
I always do this in private,
so I feel a bit exposed right now with my messy hands.
But if you've dredged chicken before,
you know it can be quite messy.
My oil is dancing, and I'm on my last batch of chicken,
so shake it up.
Give your hands a wash, and we're gonna go on
to the next step, which is the frying.
My oil's at 350, and I'm gonna grab a big pan
so I can warm the sauce up.
We wanna warm it up as we fry
so everything's ready to go at once.
Now, let's add the chicken in carefully,
and I'm using a spider,
this is a really helpful tool to have
if you do any frying, or even for parboiling vegetables.
Gently add the chicken in.
You'll be making this in batches.
Don't try and crowd the pan too much
because you'll lower the heat
and it'll be soggy and not great.
You want high heat,
which means not that much chicken in here.
Depending on the size of your chicken,
you'll want a couple minutes on either side.
You're looking for it to be a beautiful golden color,
and that's how you know it's done.
I'm gonna transfer the cooked chicken onto a wire rack.
You could put them on paper towels or even on a plate,
it doesn't matter as much.
Once your chicken's golden, we're gonna remove it carefully.
Place that onto a wire rack.
And then it's repeat the process.
While this fries, we can give our sauce a stir.
Oh my gosh, I wish you could smell this, it's so good.
And we're gonna place this
in a skillet over medium-high heat,
bring it to a boil, get it nice and bubbly.
You can stir the sauce occasionally
as you mind the frying chicken.
You can do two things at once, it'll be done so quickly.
Once your sauce warms up and starts to boil,
we're gonna add in all that amazing orange zest.
Stir it in, it'll release so much flavor,
and then add that cornstarch slurry in.
Mix that in, and then you're gonna cook it
until it gets clear and thickens up a bit.
It'll be about four minutes, stirring occasionally.
In the meantime, this chicken can come out.
Bring that big skillet of delicious orange sauce
closer to you, and now we're just gonna
dump all of the chicken in and mix it up.
Depending on when you made the orange sauce,
you could place it on low heat just to warm it back up
if it cooled down a little bit.
It seems a little awkward,
'cause I know the pan is over full.
All the chicken is gonna be
completely coated in orange sauce,
and you're gonna have a ton of leftovers for tomorrow,
unless you have a giant family.
Or you're very hungry.
The last thing to do before serving
is to sprinkle in some chopped green onions.
These are gonna add just a little bit of color,
some bite, and a tiny bit of crunch.
Mix one more time, and you're ready to serve.
If you like this video,
don't forget to check out my Chicken playlist.
Beyond delicious. I'll see you in the next video.