🍊🍗 My Healthy Orange Chicken Recipe is made with 8 simple ingredients in less than 10 minutes and tastes even better than takeout! Easy and authentic, it’s guaranteed to be an instant family favorite!
Healthy Orange Chicken Recipe
If I’m walking by the food court in the mall and I can snag a free sample of Panda Express orange chicken, I do a little happy dance inside. But I don’t order it because I know it’s greasy and loaded with calories and fat that I don’t need.
Enter: this homemade, healthier, not fried version of orange chicken that’s made in one skillet and ready in 10 minutes. No fuss, hassle-free, and perfect for busy weeknights.
The skinny orange chicken is ridiculously tender, juicy, and full of orange flavor. When I say ridiculously tender, I mean it just melts in your mouth. You’d swear it was fried, but it’s not.
Love takeout-inspired meals?
Try my better-than-takeout sticky chicken, Mongolian chicken, beef with broccoli, and chicken fried rice, too. You’ll never order out again!
Ingredients You’ll Need
To make the healthier orange chicken, you’ll need:
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts: Boneless skinless chicken thighs will likely work as long as you adjust the cooking time, but I haven’t tested it
- Cornstarch: A few readers have asked about using arrowroot powder or another cornstarch alternative in this recipe. I’ve only made this recipe as written, so I can’t say for sure if arrowroot or another substitute will give you the same results
- Toasted sesame oil and olive oil
- Fresh orange juice: Bottled orange juice just does not deliver the same flavor
- Lite soy sauce/low-sodium soy sauce: Substitute coconut aminos or tamari if you need to keep the recipe gluten-free
- Honey: I haven’t tested this recipe with a different sweetener, such as brown sugar or coconut sugar
- Green onions
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Healthy Orange Chicken
This really is such an easy orange chicken recipe! Here’s a quick overview of the cooking process:
- Dredge the chicken pieces in cornstarch. This is my secret to a crispy exterior without the need for heavy breading with eggs, flour, etc.
- To a large skillet, add the sauce ingredients and boneless skinless chicken breast pieces.
- Cook until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165F.
- Enjoy warm over white rice, brown rice, cauliflower rice, or stir-fry veggies. Add a sprinkle of sesame seeds, scallions, or orange zest, too.
Tips for Cooking the Chicken with Cornstarch
Cornstarch thickens any liquids or sauces it comes into contact with. In this recipe, it helps the orange chicken sauce tighten up and cling to the chicken as if it had been fried and then coated in a sugar-laden orange sauce, but we’re not frying anything today.
Cornstarch is a kitchen magician in many regards, but there are some pitfalls. If you’re not careful, you can have a gloppy mess in a hurry.
My tips for avoiding that include:
- Cook over medium heat.
- Flip the chicken and stir the pan sauce that coats the chicken nearly constantly.
- If at any time your sauce is tightening and thickening up faster than you’d like because the chicken isn’t quite cooked through, simply add more orange juice.
My Favorite pairings
Another amazing recipe from you! Thank you! I love Chinese food but hate how it makes me feel after. This gives me that same great taste of orange chicken without the awful food coma. And I know exactly what it is! Thank you!
Ashlee Hoelck
Healthy Orange Chicken
Ingredients
- 1.25 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, diced into bite-sized pieces
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 large oranges, juiced; plus more orange juice if necessary
- ⅓ cup lite soy sauce
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 tablespoon green onions, diced into thin rounds
Instructions
- To a large bowl or ziptop plastic bag, add the chicken, cornstarch, and toss or shake the bag to coat the chicken evenly; set aside.
- To a large skillet, add the oils, orange juice, soy sauce, honey, and the chicken pieces but not any excess cornstarch that’s at the bottom of your bowl or bag.
- Turn the heat to medium, and cook until chicken is done and cooked through; flip chicken and stir pan sauce that’s forming nearly constantly. Tip – If at any time your sauce is tightening or thickening up too much before the chicken has cooked through, simply add additional orange juice to thin it and keep stirring.
- Evenly garnish with green onions and serve immediately.
Notes
- Extra chicken will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Asian Chicken Recipes:
ALL OF MY ASIAN-INSPIRED RECIPES!
Slow Cooker Orange Chicken – The easiest orange chicken ever because your slow cooker does all the work! Super juicy, tender, and coated with a sweet-yet-tangy orange glaze that’s irresistible!
15-Minute Orange Chili Chicken and Broccoli – The orange chili sauce is spicy, tangy, and sweet all in one! The PERFECT sauce to jazz up chicken and broccoli! A FAST and EASY dinner with great Asian FLAVOR!
Chinese Sweet and Sour Chicken — This sweet and sour chicken recipe takes just 15 minutes to make and tastes way better than takeout. Perfect for a weeknight dinner!
Sheet Pan Ginger Orange Chicken and Vegetables – Fast, EASY, HEALTHY, and loaded with great orange ginger flavor! A DELISH one-pan meal with zero cleanup that’s perfect for busy weeknights!
Mandarin Chicken Stir Fry — An EASY Asian stir fry with tender chicken, juicy oranges, and veggies! Skip takeout and make this ONE skillet recipe that’s ready in 15 minutes and perfect for busy weeknights!
Un segundo comentario, no terminé de revisar la cantidad de recetas y no vi alguna, preparada con la fruta yaca, que yo teno disponible en mi huerto. Si la tienen disponible envíenmela por favor, o n esu caso cómo como recomiendan perparar un pollla a la yaca. Gracias
Y una disculpa pero no tengo ninguna receta con yaca. No esta comun en EU porque solamente en un clima mas tropical puede crecer y esta demasiado frio aqui.
Excelentes recetas y ricas para concinar y disfrutar. Son sencillas de concinar, acceso a la mayoría de ingredientes, al menos en mi región, Mazatlán, Sinaloa, México, de economía indiscutible para hogares y de rica variedad. ¡Felicitaciones y muchas gracias¡
Hola Jorge, hablo espanol y aprecio mucho que has visitado mi pagina y que estas cocinando mis recetas! Siempre mi reto es para dar la gente recetas utiles y que son economicas y que son ricos! 😋
This is great recipes
This is great recipes
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I enjoyed the idea of this recipe, but unfortunately feel as though I failed somehow in the execution?
I’ve read back through your step-by-step instructions, reviewed the tips for cooking the chicken in the sauce, and double checked that I correctly measured each sauce ingredient. It seems like coating 1.25lbs of chicken in a whole 1/2C of cornstarch was maybe just TOO much cornstarch? My sauce became thick and gloppy in less than a minute while cooking over medium heat. I had some additional orange juice at the ready, and slowly streamed it in as the chicken cooked. I ended up having to add at least an additional whole cup of OJ, if not a bit more. That threw off the balance of the other sauce ingredients, so I also added about 1/4 C of additional soy sauce to try to both balance the flavor and thin out the sauce. In the end, the sauce was quite pale in color and looked more like a chicken gravy. If I had it to do over, I’d lightly season the chicken cubes – but not coat them in cornstarch – and would then cook them in the sauce. I’d then thicken the sauce right at the end with a small amount of cornstarch slurry. Based on my description, can you tell if I missed any steps or neglected to do something? I really wanted this to work. :-(
I enjoyed the idea of this recipe, but unfortunately feel as though I failed somehow in the execution?
I’ve read back through your step-by-step instructions, reviewed the tips for cooking the chicken in the sauce, and double checked that I correctly measured each sauce ingredient. It seems like coating 1.25lbs of chicken in a whole 1/2C of cornstarch was maybe just TOO much cornstarch? My sauce became thick and gloppy in less than a minute while cooking over medium heat. I had some additional orange juice at the ready, and slowly streamed it in as the chicken cooked. I ended up having to add at least an additional whole cup of OJ, if not a bit more. That threw off the balance of the other sauce ingredients, so I also added about 1/4 C of additional soy sauce to try to both balance the flavor and thin out the sauce. In the end, the sauce was quite pale in color and looked more like a chicken gravy. If I had it to do over, I’d lightly season the chicken cubes – but not coat them in cornstarch – and would then cook them in the sauce. I’d then thicken the sauce right at the end with a small amount of cornstarch slurry. Based on my description, can you tell if I missed any steps or neglected to do something? I really wanted this to work. :-(
Cooking with corn starch can take some practice to avoid things tightening up quickly or overly so.I am thinking that with perhaps a bit less corn starch, stove heat, different pan, hard to say, that this wouldn’t be as prone to happening since it can take a bit of patience and a learning curve. If you just lightly season the chicken and skip the CS, while fine, it lacks that “breaded” and fried-taste that fast food orange chicken recipes tend to have so for me that wouldn’t be a great option IF I wanted to recreate one of those dishes. I would say use 2 to 4 tbsp of cornstarch, try again, keep the heat way down, add a little extra OJ from the get go. Thanks for trying the recipe.
How much OJ would you suggest to sub for juice squeezed from oranges in recipe?
I would say about 3/4 cup, give or take. However because this is such a critical element of the recipe, I would just use real oranges/OJ.
Another amazing recipe from you! Thank you! I love Chinese food but hate how it makes me feel after. This gives me that same great taste of orange chicken without the awful food coma. And I know exactly what’s it! Thank you!
Do you think I could substitute lemons for oranges to make lemon chicken?
Another amazing recipe from you! Thank you! I love Chinese food but hate how it makes me feel after. This gives me that same great taste of orange chicken without the awful food coma. And I know exactly what’s it! Thank you!
Do you think I could substitute lemons for oranges to make lemon chicken?
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you loved this! I agree about the food coma, I feel the same many times if I don’t make it myself.
Yes you could definitely do this as lemon chicken – I think it would be a great! Because lemon is naturally more tart you may want to do a percentage of the lemon juice as orange juice to just cut that back a bit.