Love Panda Express? You’re in luck because you can now make your own version of their famous orange chicken at the comforts of your own home!

For this recipe we’ll have two parts: marinating the chicken and the actual cooking. For the marinade, you’ll need the following:

• breading mix
• a medium sized egg
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 3/4 cup water
• 300 g chicken thigh fillet

I used thigh fillet cut-ups. You can also use chicken breasts fillet, but using red meat will lead to a juicier chicken later on.

I also used a breading mix. Alternatively, you can also use flour + cornstarch seasoned with salt and pepper.

Just mix all of the ingredients until you reach this consistency:

The next step is to cut your chicken into bite-sized pieces.

And then mix it into the marinade. After mixing, refrigerate the mixture for at least 30 minutes.

While letting our chicken chill, let’s now prepare the other ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp chili flakes
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 3 tbsp orange juice
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 3 tbsp water

Preheat your pan and oil before dropping your chicken.

Tip: you can use a toothpick to check if the oil is already hot enough. Place a toothpick in the oil, once it bubbles, you’re good to go.

Once the oil is ready, drop your chicken one by one and fry them in batches.

Let the chicken cook for 3-5 minutes while making sure they’re not sticking to the bottom of the pan.

You’ll know your chicken is ready once they have this golden brown color:

Drain the excess oil by placing your chicken on paper towels.

Let’s now make that sauce! First, stir fry your garlic and chili flakes in 1 1/2 tbsp of cooking oil.

And then add 3 tbsp of brown sugar and continue to mix.

We’ll now add all our liquid ingredients: orange juice, soy sauce, vinegar, and water, and continue mixing until sugar is completely dissolved.

Once the sauce has reduced, we can now add the sesame oil, and lastly the chicken. Add the chicken slowly and make sure everything’s covered upwith the sauce.

We now have our Panda Express inspired orange chicken!

This is best served over freshly cooked rice alongside an ice cold drink, yum!

Just look at that glaze!

I was really surprised at how this recipe turned out since it’s my first time doing it. I love the flavor and how the chicken is still very crunchy!

Let me know in the comments section how it turned out for you. You can also share other recipes that I can try, thanks for reading!