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P.F. Chang’s Orange Peel Chicken is crispy, spicy and sweet, with notes of orange flavor and even healthier than the restaurant version!
P.F. Chang’s Orange Peel Chicken is one of the dishes we always order at P.F. Chang’s because like most people orange flavored stir fried Chinese American food is pretty much always going to be a winner! In close second would be Orange Peel Beef because well… yeah.
This was one of my first posts on the blog back in 2015. It was a recipe I couldn’t wait to post and since then I’ve gotten better at taking photos. So there is a fun new set of photos for the recipe. Same delicious flavors though!
This dish is the first I ever tried there, and as I am sure you know about me (or will learn soon enough) when I love a dish, it becomes my go-to. At PF Chang’s it is this Orange Peel Chicken, at The Cheesecake Factory it is the Spicy Cashew Chicken (with no cashews). 
I am a loyal fan, only deviating from my favorites to taste a bite of my husband’s dish. He is, luckily for me, the opposite of me when we go out to eat and loves to try new things. So I end up with the best of both worlds.
Now if only I could convince him not to eat from my plate as I am eating from his…
The one change I made to this recipe is that I skipped the breading and deep frying process and used cornstarch in place of flour to keep the chicken as crispy as possible. 
You can definitely add that back in if you would like, but with just a coat of cornstarch (or flour if you prefer), you will still have a completely delicious dish. I made it both ways at home for the same meal so we could compare, this version won by unanimous decision.
We normally serve this P.F. Chang’s Orange Peel Chicken with Perfect Brown Rice, Every Time and Roasted Garlic and Ginger Carrots. 
If you’d like to try out another P.F. Chang’s favorite you should also head over to Peas and Peonies and check out Catalina’s Mongolian Beef copycat recipe!
P.S. Did you know I’ve recreated every Panda Express recipe on the menu? Head over and check out all the copycat recipes now!
Tools Used in the making of P.F. Chang’s Orange Peel Chicken:
Wok: The best way to cook quickly and over high heat for Asian dishes, this wok is the perfect stir fry pan.
Sriracha: Quite possibly the king of all pre-made hot sauces as far as I’m concerned. Adds heat without overwhelming you and can be used in almost every cuisine. Try mixing with mayo to make a perfect spicy mayo!
Citrus Zester: This zests your citrus perfectly without getting any of the pith in the recipe.
- 2 lb. chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 4 tablespoons minced garlic
- 4 green onions, sliced
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- peel from 1 orange, half zested and half julienned
- Perfect Brown Rice, Every Time
- Cut the chicken into 1 inch chunks. Put in a bowl and coat with cornstarch.
- Add two tablespoons of oil to your wok.
- Heat oil on medium high and add the chicken.
- Cook until browned on both sides.
- Remove chicken from pan. If you have about a tablespoon of oil in the pan go ahead and use it without wiping your pan clean. If not, add a tablespoon of oil, minced garlic and green onions and let cook for about 1 minute, but don't let your garlic burn.
- Add tomato sauce, water, sugar, Sriracha and soy sauce.
- Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
- Remove from heat and set aside.
- Add the chicken back into the pan with the sauce.
- Top with the orange zest and orange strips and mix until all coated, letting it cook for another 20-30 seconds for the chicken to heat back up.
- Serve with Perfect Brown Rice, Every Time and some Roasted Garlic and Ginger Carrots.
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I am always looking for ways to eat healthier. This sounds delicious.
My nephews LOVE the orange chicken from Panda Express … and this looks to be pretty darn close! And I love that it’s not fried … food can still be delicious without being drenched in oil!
Making this for dinner soon … thanks!
Yes! I love that it isn’t fried! The flavors are really kid friendly too!
Love the cornstarch trick for crispy meats. So much easier and lighter. I have to admit this is one of my favorite take-out meals, too.
yes! Cornstarch is my favorite way to not batter things 🙂
My mom always makes her sauce with ketchup, haha. My kids are addicted to orange chicken, so I’ll certainly be making this one.
My first sweet and sour sauce I ever made had a ketchup base! this one is still tomato-ey and sweet!
I have never cooked with any fruit peels, but I keep seeing them as ingredients in so many delicious looking recipes. I need to give this one a try!
Yes! I love using fruit with savory foods. The natural oils inside make for the best flavors.
I love orange peel chicken – this is definitely on my must try list!
Wonderful! I hope you love it!
That looks fantastic! Orange chicken is one of my favorite dishes. I can’t wait to give this a try.
Hope you love it 🙂
I can’t wait to give this a try. I’ve always wanted to try my hand at Asian style food, and this looks like the perfect recipe for it.
This would be a great recipe to start with, all of the ingredients are totally approachable and easy to find 🙂
Well done! This looks waaaaay healthier than the usual.
Thank you!
Oh my word. That looks amazing. I would love to try this, I am pretty sure I will now have to. I love chicken and orange chicken, yes please!
You’d be surprised how easy it is! 🙂 a kid favorite!
I love Chinese food. I need to make this soon!
I am always a fan of orange chicken but can not stand when it tastes artificially orange. Love the ingredients you used in this version!
You’ll love this! When you’re eating it you can smell the fresh orange from the peel. It is amazing.
This sounds so good! I really need to try making this the next time we’re in the mood for Chinese food.
Yay! And if you do, please let me know what you think 🙂
Oh those pics are awesome! The orange peel chicken looks delicious! I can’t wait to try it!
Thank you! I hope you love it 🙂
I love Orange Peel Chicken, almost as much as my husband 🙂 Your recipe looks perfect!
Thank you! I hope you love it if you make it!
Now this looks really tasty and I know that my family would love it! I printed the recipe out to try at home!
YAY! That makes me so happy! I hope you love it!
I am pinning this one! It looks delicious!
Thank you for the pin! Hope you love it!
This looks like a delicious meal idea. I’m confident it would be a huge hit in my home. Thank you for sharing this recipe idea with us.
Anytime! I’m loving sharing all my favorite recipes 🙂
This sounds delicious. Will have to add it to our meal calendar soon… as we are always looking for new things to try.
I hope you love it!
I love learning new chicken dishes. This one sounds so good!
Thank you!
This sounds delicious! I am going to add it to our meal rotation!
Awesome! I hope you love it!
That looks awesome. I will be making that.
I hope you love it! Thanks for the compliment 🙂
I also have an unhealthy obsession with Chinese food! I will have to try this recipe out.
Hahaha, I’m not alone!
I haven’t had Orange Peel Chicken in ages, and I have never tried making it, I will have to try this recipe out, but I definitely want mine WITH Cashews! 🙂
It is so easy to make! I promise!
This looks SO good! I’m pinning this now. Orange peel chicken is my favorite take out!!
Thank you for the pin!! It is my favorite too!
That looks amazing and I love that you opted to share a healthier version! On the menu at my house for next week 🙂
Wonderful! I hope you love them!
That is my daughter’s absolute favorite food. I need to make your recipe and win some serious cool mom points.
I got some amazing mom points thanks to you today too! I made the dinosaur ice eggs and my oldest LOVED them!
Thats my favorite PF Changs dish! I’ll have to give this a go!!
I hope you love it! It is my favorite too! We also always order the mongolian beef and the chicken in lettuce wraps 🙂
Orange chicken is my “sin food” lol. I could eat it every day!!!
Haha! I love that! At least this version isn’t breaded?
We are obsessed with making our own Chinese food at home too! This definitely looks like one the entire family would enjoy!
Yay! I hope you guys love this one!
I need to try this! Anything that use sriracha in it is an automatic winner for me.
I hope you love it! Sriracha is the best!
Unfortunately, this dish isn’t quite for me. That being said, I know plenty of family members who would practically drool at the sight of this!
Oooh is there another Chinese takeout dish you like? I love making new dishes! Open to requests!
The glaze on this chicken looks divine! I have a thing for orange chicken, great twist
Thank you! We are total suckers for orange chicken!
I had no idea that this type of dish has a tomato base. Orange peel chicken is my favorite frozen-dinner Chinese food; I’d love to make this!
Yes! It is my favorite too!
This looks so delicious. I will be trying this recipe for sure. I will have to make it this weekend.
I hope you love it! If you can, please let me know what you thought of it!
My husband is a huge fan of Asian dishes. He is going to love this when I show it to him. We are on a big health kick right now.
Awesome, hope you enjoy this dish!
This looks delicious! I love Chinese food, too.
Thanks!
I love Orange Chicken, but I had no idea it’s so easy to do. I will make this for the fam bam.
Yes! SO easy!
Oh my, orange peel chicken is my favorite dish from PF Changs! This looks and sounds delish, and love that it’s a healthier version!
Thanks! You won’t even miss the breading!
This looks delicious and I have to try it. I’m always looking for something new with chikcen since we eat so much of it
Thanks, hope you enjoy it! I know chicken can be boring sometimes!
Oh this looks absolutely delicious! Great photos- thank you for linking up to #MyFavouritePost Kaz x
I’ll definitely link up again, thank you for hosting it!
I think this would make a great family meal! Thanks for linking up with #MyFavouritePost
Thanks for making the link up! I will definitely add recipes again!
Made it tonight, and everyone loved it! Only question — I didn’t end up using the flour listed on the ingredients, just the cornstarch — everything turned out fine, but I just want to make sure I didn’t miss a step! I couldn’t see where to add flour in to any part of it, but I also am notoriously bad at following recipes. (I also added string beans in to the sauce and chicken at the end, just to get some veggies into the dish, which fortunately worked out great.) Overall, a winner, and Otis loved making it with me 🙂 Thanks for such a great recipe!
Yeah that flour in the recipe baffles me! I don’t know how it got in there. I am so glad it was enjoyed by everyone and that Otis got in the mix! I love that you added a veggie in there, I have tried adding lightly sauteed zuchinni before too. Usually we serve it with roasted carrots or broccoli 🙂 If I have extra sauce I also toss the veggies in the sauce after serving the chicken on each plate.
So am I correct this recipe got 5 star reviews from 9 people none of who have actually made the dish? lol
I think so, haha. People get enthusiastic. But 1 commenter made and reviewed the recipe 🙂 That being said I didn’t get any dinner invites, so I can’t be 100% sure, lol.
It does look great, but what scares me about making it is that of all the orange chicken recipes ive seen online this is the only one that uses tomato sauce for the base, Most use orange juice.
The flavor a are a bit different than say a Panda Express orange chicken. It is an almost exact copy of the PF Chang’s version. You would never guess the tomato base, promise!
The garlic and the orange peel completely transform it 🙂
ok you convinced me! Im going to try it. Thanks 🙂
Awesome! Let me know how it turns out for you 🙂
I FINALLY got around to making this tonight and you were right. It was AWESOME! Could not at all tell it was tomato sauce based. Im from NY and a total chinese food snob and this was GREAT. Tasted very orangy, not too sweet, and had just the right kick to it from the sriracha. I added sugar snap peas to mine and served it over sticky white rice for a wonderfull dinner. Thanks so much for the recipe. This one is going to be made often.
I’m so glad to hear it!! I was hoping you would end up trying it. It is totally deceiving because it looks like so MUCH tomato, but somehow it completely transforms. Thank you for coming back and telling me what you thought of it!
I hate to do this, because usually I put your recipes in my ‘guaranteed win!’ category. But this one absolutely did not work for me. I followed it to the letter, and am a confident cook, but somehow the final flavor was overwhelmed by the tomato sauce. Yuck =/
I’m going to give it another try because this recipe seems to have great potential, and some of your positive reviewers seem like folks who would agree that they don’t want a heavy tomato sauce note in this sauce. So maybe I messed up in some way I just didn’t catch.
Did you really give it a good five minutes until the sauce thickened? That, combined with the garlic, really does mute the tomato flavor (and it is a whole quarter cup of garlic!) If you try it again and have the same issue, I would be happy to try and troubleshoot with you if you send me an email at contact @ dinnerthendessert.com. I’ve made this for numerous people and no one has guessed that there was tomato in the recipe!
Thank you for the tip. I am going to try it again and be scrupulous with the timing. I’ve had such good results with all of your recipes that I’m convinced I had to have done something wrong.
I also wonder if I used Stevia in this one instead of regular granulated sugar. I just don’t remember for sure, as sometimes I make that substitution and sometimes I don’t – but it could have contributed to the issue. I’ll use regular sugar for sure next time, and will give the sauce the full five minutes to combine flavors. Thanks again for your help!
No problem, I hope the second try is a much happier experience and thank you for the kind words, you totally made my day!
I’ve made this twice now and EVERYONE LOVES IT. This is an absolute PERFECT recipe, especially if you like a little kick in your meal! I’ve printed this out and have added it to my successful dinners recipe book! Thank you!
I’m so happy to have shared a recipe that’s become a family staple! 🙂
Okay, LOOOVE this! Such a great alternative to fried takeout food. My kids are going to be so pumped when they see this on the dinner table. #MomWin
Thank you! Anytime the kids are happy to eat, that’s definitely a #momwin!