Panda Express Orange Chicken Recipe (Copycat) - Alyona’s Cooking (2024)

FAQs

What is orange chicken made of at Panda Express? ›

Ingredients: dark meat chicken, water, sugar, distilled vinegar, modified food starch, corn starch, potato starch, contains less than 2% of: wheat, orange extract, caramel color, salt, garlic, phosphoric acid, rice wine, sesame oil. *The dish uses a proprietary batter and sauce.

Panda Express entrees and sides contain zero grams of trans fat per serving and adds no MSG in their food. Panda Express uses only 100% pure soybean oil in the preparation of recipes.

This Chinese Orange Chicken is made with boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces, dredged, and then fried until golden and crispy. The orange sauce is divine! It is a sweet orange sauce made with orange juice, vinegar, garlic, sugar, soy sauce, ginger, red chili flakes, and orange zest.

Fried rice is one of six options as the base for your plate at Panda Express and it is easily the most popular (at least that's what the Panda Express employee I asked told me). It consists of white rice, soy sauce, eggs, carrots, and green onions.

They deep fry what are essentially chicken nuggets and toss them in a wok with the orange-flavored sauce. There's no MSG. Chef Andy Kao is credited with inventing orange chicken in 1987. He was classically trained in French cuisine and worked as Panda Express' executive chef.

How to make the orange chicken sauce. The orange sauce is made from a mixture of the orange juice and zest, sugar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and rice vinegar. This is bubbled up in the wok until slightly thickened. The chicken is then added back in, and tossed in the sauce until fully coated.

No, it is a soybean-based oil. Does Panda Express fry their food in peanut oil? The oil they use is soybean salad oil. They also use sesame oil to top of some entrees, and cooking wine for the spicy stir fried entrees.

Panda Express claims that they do not add extra MSG to their food, but they issued disclaimer that ingredients they use could include MSG. Panda Express is "fast food" and the largest Chinese fast food chain. There are probably many better options for Chinese Food in most metropolitan areas. Helpful?

Yeah, Panda Express says there's "no added MSG." That literally means they don't add it at the restaurant.

The original “Orange Chicken” had no breading around each piece of chicken and the sauce was made of leftover orange or lemon peels cooked with soy sauce, chilis and garlic. The sauce had a citrus element, but it wasn't as pronounced or sweet like you would think of today.

What is the difference between General Tso and orange chicken? ›

What is the difference between orange chicken and General Tso? Orange chicken is crispy fried with a fruity, sweet, and tangy sauce that's caramelized into a glaze. General Tso is stir-fried in a sweet, sour, and spicy umami sauce.

If you have never tried it, it has been called the spicy cousin to Orange Chicken. In the American Chinese takeout versions, they are both deep-fried (except in our version is crunch baked) but General Tso's Chicken is characterized by the sweet and spicy sauce that is kicking with garlic and ginger.

2022 Billionaires Net Worth

Andrew and Peggy Cherng are cofounders of the $3.5 billion (sales) Chinese fast food chain, Panda Express, which has over 2,200 locations. The Cherngs also run famed ramen house, Ippudo, in Berkeley, CA and have investments in chains that sell everything from pizza, salad and cheesecake.

Discard all perishable foods, such as meat, poultry, eggs, side dishes, or casseroles, left at room temperature longer than two hours; one hour in room temperatures above 90 °F. Once leftovers are stored safely, they will remain safe three to four days. For more information please visit Safe Handling of Takeout Food.

Or the nutrition side of things? Fried rice has 570 calories (extra calories are from fat) and 900mg sodium. However, chow mien has fewer calories of 400, but a huge amount of sodium 1,060mg! Another thing that you could look at would be the number of vegetables in each dish perhaps.

"Panda Express's Orange Chicken and Chow Mein are considered unhealthy due to their high levels of sodium, sugar, and unhealthy fats," says Young.

Andrew Cherng, owner and founder of Panda Express, said that orange chicken is just a variation of General Tso's chicken, another dish that is almost unknown in China. Journalist Jennifer 8. Lee says that both "General Tso's chicken and Orange Chicken are Americanized mutations of sweet and sour dishes found in China."

You can use dark or white meat for this dish, but we opted to use chicken breast. Feel free to use boneless skinless chicken thighs if you prefer. As for preparing the chicken, we usually call for a velveting step. Since we're frying the chicken pieces, however, velveting isn't needed.

Orange chicken is a Chinese-American takeout dish made popular by the popular strip mall restaurant, Panda Express. It's deep-fried pieces of chicken, tossed in a sweet and tangy orange citrus sauce.