Orange chicken is an American Chinese dish of fried chicken in a sweet orange-flavoured chili sauce glaze.
Origin
left|thumb|Ala Moana Center Panda Express
The variety of orange chicken most commonly found at North American Chinese restaurants consists of chopped, battered and fried chicken pieces coated in a sweet orange-flavored chili sauce, which thickens or caramelizes to a glaze. Chef Andy Kao claims to have developed the original Chinese-American orange chicken recipe around the time a Panda Express opened at Ala Moana Center in Hawaiʻi in 1987, the first location outside of California. Since Panda Express is closely associated with this dish, Panda Express uses orange chicken as a promotion tool by having a dedicated food truck tour the country distributing samples of orange chicken.
Orange chicken is called Chinese food in North America, but orange chicken is rarely found in Chinese restaurants in China. 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." and in military bases' chow halls, and also found in the supermarket frozen meal aisle.
Jimmy Wang, executive director of culinary innovation at Panda Express, claims orange chicken is one of the most creative dishes in the past thirty years. In most countries in the Western Hemisphere, the names "orange chicken", "orange peel chicken", "orange-flavored chicken", and "tangerine chicken" are typically used for this particular dish.
This dish may have originally come from the "tangerine chicken" dish from Hunan, China. In Chinese, this dish is known as "陳皮雞", literally "dried citrus peel chicken", referring to dried orange or tangerine peel. However, the taste and recipes of this dish differ due to cultural and geographical factors. The American Chinese dish is claimed to be inspired by mochiko chicken and similar dishes from Hawaiʻi, being initially similar to a chicken wing before being modified. The sweetness of orange chicken was introduced to cater to American tastes.
Chinese names
This dish may be known as the following in Sinitic languages:
- chen pi ji (), which is inaccurate as it actually refers to the Hunan dish with orange peel
- cheng zi ji (), a calque.
Popularity
Orange chicken is the signature dish of the American fast food chain Panda Express, which sells over 100 million pounds of it every year.
See also
Similar Chinese chicken dishes:
- Crispy fried chicken
- General Tso's chicken
- Kung Pao chicken
- Lemon chicken
- List of chicken dishes
- Pineapple chicken
- Sesame chicken
- Sweet and sour chicken
- White cut chicken