Healthy Orange Chicken lets you satisfy your craving for Chinese takeout, but with a healthier spin! This healthier orange chicken preps in only 10 minutes and can even be prepped to marinade the day before.
For a simple meal, I love to serve the chicken with cooked white or brown rice and some steamed veggies. Some other great side options to serve with it is this Vegetarian Kimchi Fried Rice, 15 Minute Sesame Noodles, or Garlic Sesame Ramen.
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⭐Why I Love It:
- Only 10 Minutes of Prep - Just chop up the chicken and toss in the easy marinade.
- Healthier than Take Out - Satisfy your craving for Orange Chicken, but with a healthier option! For other takeout inspired recipes, try this Korean Ground Beef Bowls, Easy Sesame Chicken, or Beef Bulgogi Bowl.
- Perfect for Meal Prep - I love to pack the healthy orange chicken with rice for lunches or dinners throughout the week.
🥘Ingredients
- Soy Sauce - I use Low Sodium Soy Sauce
- Fresh Orange - For both the Orange Juice and Orange Zest. If you have extra orange juice, try this Ninja Creami Orange Julius copycat recipe or Mango Orange Smoothie.
- Minced Garlic - freshly minced is best, but you can use jarred as well.
- Toasted Sesame Oil
- Red Pepper Flakes - You can adjust the level of spice easily.
- Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs
- Canola Oil - or other cooking oil like avocado oil
- Salt & Pepper
- For Serving - Rice and steamed veggies, Sesame Seeds and Green Onions for a garnish
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
📖Variations
- Chicken Thighs instead of Breasts - You can use boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead. The recipe steps stay the same, but the chicken make take slightly longer to cook.
- Air Fryer Orange Chicken - You can also make an air fryer version using this recipe for Air Fryer Orange Chicken!
🔪Step by Step instructions
It only takes 10 minutes to prep and the chicken cooks in less than 15 minutes! You can even marinate the chicken the day before making dinner time easy!
- Marinate Chicken - In a medium-large bowl, whisk together marinade ingredients and toss in the chicken chunks. Marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
- Cook Chicken - Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and marinade. Cook, stirring occasionally until chicken is golden brown, cooked through, and marinade has reduced and thickened.
- Deglaze Pan - Stir in a little water so you can scrape up any brown bits from the bottom. Season with salt and pepper to taste and remove from heat.
- Serve - Spoon cooked rice into a bowl with steamed veggies (if using). Spoon over some orange chicken and sprinkle with sesame seeds, green onions, and a pinch of orange zest. Enjoy!
🍽Leftovers and Storage
Leftover orange chicken can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can also freeze the leftovers for up to 3 months. I like to reheat leftovers either in the microwave or in a pan on the stove until warmed through.
💭Recipe Tips
- Deglaze Pan - After cooking the chicken, there were likely be some stuck bits to the bottom of the pan. Adding a little water not only deglazes all of that flavor, but it also helps form the sauce.
- Cut Chicken into Even Sized Pieces - So the chicken cooks evenly, you want to cut the chicken into pieces that are a similar size.
👩🍳Recipe FAQs
Traditional orange chicken is battered and then fried. But this recipe give you that same orange sauce flavor, without the frying.
Orange chicken is a crowd favorite because the sauce is the perfect combination of slightly sweet with a little spicy kick. I love to use both orange juice and orange zest to give it fresh citrus flavor.
🍗Related Chicken Recipes...
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PrintRecipe
Healthy Orange Chicken
Healthy Orange Chicken lets you satisfy your craving for Chinese takeout, but with a healthier spin! This healthier orange chicken preps in only 10 minutes and can even be prepped to marinade the day before.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stove
- Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients
Orange Marinade
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey
- ¼ cup orange juice
- 2 tablespoons orange zest, loosely packed
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- ¼-½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Chicken and for Serving
- 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- salt and ground black pepper
- For Serving - Cooked rice, steamed veggies, and sesame seeds or thinly sliced green onions
Instructions
- Marinate Chicken - In a medium-large bowl, whisk together marinade ingredients and toss in the chicken chunks. Marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
- Cook Chicken - Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and marinade. Saute, stirring occasionally until chicken is golden brown, cooked through, and marinade has reduced and thickened. About 12-15 minutes.
- Deglaze Pan - Stir in 1-2 tablespoons of water so you can scrape up any brown bits from the bottom. Season with salt and pepper to taste and remove from heat.
- Serve - Spoon cooked rice into a bowl with steamed veggies (if using). Spoon over some orange chicken and sprinkle with sesame seeds, green onions, and a pinch of orange zest. Enjoy!
Notes
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ¼ of recipe
- Calories: 382
- Sugar: 10.5 g
- Sodium: 379.5 mg
- Fat: 14.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 26.8 g
- Fiber: 0.7 g
- Protein: 35.6 g
- Cholesterol: 159.8 mg
Lukas Hansen says
I made this and I loved it!!
Kathleen says
Yay! I'm glad you liked it. Thank you for your comment 🙂