Where do I begin? First - this is a solid recipe and the flavors are all there but need to be intensified. I would suggest using Grape Seed oil that can withstand higher heat, has a neutral flavor and is healthy like OO. I mixed up the 'sauce' ingredients and decided to up the garlic and ginger - the orange was really subdued so I added orange zest (would use marmalade the OJ concentrate next time) Put some of the sauce on the chicken to marinate with the cornstarch instead of adding it later. I used Sambal chili paste instead of chili flakes. Additional vegetables like pepper and onions add a lot to this recipe. Thanks for an inspiring recipe - all the right flavors it just needs more of them.
I’m hit or miss when it comes to Thai food, but this was awesome! I made a few changes, but mostly to the cooking process, not the ingredients. I felt that adding the crushed red pepper flakes at the end of the cooking process would not give it the kind of spicy kick it deserves, so I started by sauteing the crushed red pepper along with the garlic in the olive oil for about 3 minutes before adding the carrots and ginger. This infuses the oil with flavor and gives the dish an even and consistent spice. It also brings out the heat in the red pepper. After the carrots started to soften, I pushed them to the side and added the chicken, omitting the second dose of olive oil. I’m not big on oily dishes and have found that I can cut it or even eliminate it most of the time. As the chicken browned, I stirred it with the carrots and added the rest of the ingredients except the orange juice. I used the orange juice to whisk the cornstarch in and added it last. Serve over noodles and you will have a sweet orange dish that ends with a spicy kick.
Great dish with lots of flavor. If you are someone reading this who does not like tweaks - STOP reading right now! My DH and I loved this recipe. It was every bit as good as take out. As I stated above, I read the other reviews and made some changes. I had 2 small chicken breast, so I added red, orange and green pepper and sliced a small onion to the mix. This added a lot more bulk, but all with fresh veggies. I did double the sauce as I was serving this over sushi rice and I wanted it saucy. Rather than add water, I replaced it with more orange juice and mixed the cornstarch with it. That worked great and thickened up the sauce nicely. I also added a heaping tablespoon of orange marmalade, because I had an opened jar. I added peanuts to mine after I dished it up as DH does not like nuts in his Asian food. I also zested a fresh orange before serving. I did use all the ingredients listed, just more of them and added a few extras. Really very happy with how this dish turned out. Definitely a keeper!!
I thank you for such a wonderful recipe, I will never again grab take out food. I used a fresh orange and the zest, doubled the ginger and garlic and added a yellow pepper. Zipped it up with szechuan chili sauce. Next time I am going to add snap peas. This is absolutely one of our new favorites! Thank you again! The whole family loved this dish!
We really enjoyed this. As others have said, the orange flavor is quite subtle and if I had had some marmalade, I probably would have thrown a tablespoon or so in. Nonetheless, it's fine as is. My only changes were to sauté the red peppers with the garlic and ginger (as someone else suggested) and I did dust the chicken with cornstarch prior to frying. Oh - and I only used 1T or cornstarch at end to thicken sauce. Will definitely make again - thanks so much for the recipe!
Based on some of the reviews, and my own personal experience, I made some slight modifications to this dish. I replaced the 1/2 cup water with 1/2 cup OJ, that's in addition to the 1/3 of OJ already called for; I zested one whole navel orange and also squeezed the juice from the orange and added that to the OJ; I sliced half of a medium yellow onion into wedges, and sliced 1/2 a red bell pepper into thin strips and sautéed that with the carrots, garlic and ginger; instead of olive oil, I used canola oil and a couple of splashes of toasted sesame oil for more asian flavor; I coarse chopped the peanuts. Served with jasmine rice and let me tell you, this was far superior to restaurant quality orange chicken! It's a very adaptable recipe, you can leave the nuts out if you have allergy issues, you can sprinkle in some toasted sesame seeds, you could even turn this into orange beef and throw in some steamed broccoli. This is a FAVE!
This was SO good. Nice thick sauce and very tasty. Could definitely kick it up a notch but was very good like it was following the recipe.
HUGE hit here! My first time using peanuts in a chicken dish. Wow. Unbelievably good! It could use a bit more heat(did I just say that?!) but really a very good kid friendly meal.
Loved this dish! Perfect crunch with the carrots and peanuts. Just the right amount of orange for us. I will try to cut down on the sugar next time not so sure if we need it so sweet. Everyone at the table raved about it. Thanks COOKINGQUEEN!
I found the original recipe (to be blunt and rigorously honest) rather blah I actually live in Thailand no self respecting street food vendor would serve this. I do admit it is a nice "Euro-Chinese" style dish it is really easy to make especially in my wok. I made the following changes first used vegetable (or Soy oil) instead of expensive olive oil (here a cup of olive oil goes for about 3.00 where Soy Oil is about 0.95 for a quart) I eliminated the water & replaced it with more orange juice I substituted 2 tbsp smooth peanut butter for the peanuts added a little more crushed red peppers (but still not close to what Thai cooks would use) I added a chopped scallion and some tomato chunks I needed to get rid of. I also added some sliced water chestnuts in the last 5 minutes of cooking to give a little crunch. Another possible additive for the spicy palette could be some Panang curry paste/sauce Available at your local (real) Asian market. one or two tablespoons will be plenty as you saute the chicken meat. I can't wait to try some of this ladies other recipes They look yummy. I would actually give this 3 1/2 stars.
