Baked Orange Chicken made with Panda Express Orange Chicken Copycat Sauce. An easy baked recipe that’s healthier than frying in 30 minutes!
This recipe is healthier because of baking, but has the same sauce as my classic Panda Express Orange Chicken (Copycat) recipe. You should make it immediately and serve it with Easy Chow Mein or Chinese Fried Rice.
Sabrina’s Bake Orange Chicken
Baked Orange Chicken takes the most difficult part of making my crazy popular orange chicken recipe out of the equation (that would be the deep frying). Most people don’t like deep frying because it can be dangerous, messy and it takes a lot of oil. This recipe is so much easier but uses the same delicious sauce you love and easy enough for dinner tonight.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 pounds chicken thighs , boneless, skinless
- 2 large eggs , beaten
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil , divided
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh ginger , minced
- 2 teaspoons garlic , minced
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons rice wine (white wine works too)
- 1/4 cup orange juice , fresh after zesting orange
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 10 tablespoons sugar
- 10 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 orange , zested
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and add the panko to a food processor and pulse until the crumbs are much smaller, like regular breadcrumbs.
- Add the panko to one bowl, the chicken (cut into small chunks) in a second bowl, the eggs in a third bowl, and the flour in a fourth bowl.
- Dip the chicken pieces into the flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs and place on baking sheet, then spray with cooking spray (or brush lightly with vegetable oil).
- Bake for 20-25 minutes. While the chicken is baking, make the sauce.
- Add the remaining tablespoon vegetable oil, ginger, garlic, and crushed red pepper to a saucepan on medium heat and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant.
- Add the rest of the sauce ingredients, bring to a boil until it thickens then turn off the heat and wait for the chicken to finish baking, then toss the chicken with the sauce and serve.
Nutrition
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Chef’s Note
The first time you make this recipe make it with this sauce (because yes, it is as good as the Panda Express original), but next time try making my recipes for General Tso’s Chicken or Easy Sesame Chicken using this method for baking the chicken. When you break down the panko bread crumbs and make them smaller you won’t have the spiky texture most people have when baking with panko, so it will taste and feel more like a classic orange chicken recipe.
Orange Chicken Sauce
Classic orange chicken sauce is made with white sugar but some recipes call for marmalade or brown sugar. Using the Panda Express recipe most of the flavor comes from garlic, ginger, orange juice, orange zest, and sesame oil. To cut down on the time you are working on this orange chicken recipe, make your sauce while your chicken is baking. This way your orange sauce will be ready right when the chicken comes out and is perfectly crispy. Finish the dish with some green onions, sesame seeds or extra crushed red peppers as a garnish.
Ideas to Serve with Baked Orange Chicken
We love to serve this with Chinese Steamed Rice, dim sum favorites like Crab Rangoon, Egg Rolls, Spring Rolls, or Potstickers and something non-chicken like Beef Teriyaki or Coconut Shrimp.
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Can I use breadcrumbs instead of panko?
Yes you can Kate! Let us know how your chicken turns out 🙂
This turned out so good! I was cautious of the vinegar but you really needed all of it to get that tangy flavor. Definitely making again!
Thanks Kierra! So glad you enjoyed the recipe and thanks for the kind review.
I made this a few night ago, it was a little spicy for my girls so I’ll have to probably put even less red chilli flakes in the sauce. I also did not have chicken thighs so I used chicken breasts, and I also over cooked the chicken as well. So most definitely will use chicken thighs next time. Over all I really enjoyed this dish, I will make it again but with chicken thighs next time. Thank you for the recipe, 10/10 would recommend
Looks so yummy. I can’t wait to try it.
Please come back and let us know how it turned out!
Is there a substitute for all the sugar?
Although I haven’t tested this recipe using sugar substitutes, I have heard that any sugar substitute that is a 1:1 ratio may work well. The tastes of course, will vary. Please check back with us on what you decided to use and how your recipe turns out!
Baking the chicken is a great idea, but please please PLEASE do not use this sauce. 10 tbsp of vinegar!?!? I followed the recipe despite my best instincts and I may as well have just floated the chicken in a bowl of vinegar. The sauce was completely inedile. I’ve checked other recipes for orange chicken sauce and they are quite different, most use 4x the amount of orange juice and only 1-2 tbsp vinegar, so these proportions are WAY off.
I encourage you to definitely adjust the vinegar to your liking but remember there is also a lot of sugar so you will want to reduce that too unless you prefer your sauce on the sweeter side.
I was skeptical about baking instead of frying!!!!!! It still came out crispy and the sauce tastes just like Panda Express LOL! Has anyone tried doubling the sauce for extra to drizzle over rice? That’s the only thing I’d change.
The sauce is amazing. Many of our readers have opted to double the sauce because it’s so good!