Air Fryer Orange Chicken

This air fryer orange chicken is better and faster than takeout! You’ll love how easy this recipe is for your weekly dinner rotation!

I don’t know why I never attempted to make orange chicken at home before.  This was delicious and SOOOO easy to make.  Mr. Hungry and I were blown away by how delicious it was.  He literally said, “We never need to get takeout again.” Of course, we will, because hello convenience.  But, still, having the option to make it at home and for it to come out sooooo good is a win!

Also, compared to TJ’s orange chicken, which we barely get two servings out of it, it was way more cost-effective.  Now, obviously, nothing easier than dump and serve.  But I’ve given some tips below if you want to make a freezer meal dupe out of this one! Let me know if you try it! 

How to Make Air Fryer Orange Chicken 

* Note this is a visual how-to section with some additional information; scroll to the bottom for the printable recipe card.  

For step one, you’ll need a sharp knife to slice your chicken into pieces.  Then, you’ll toss your chicken with cornstarch and breadcrumbs.  I opted for panko and went light because I was about to run out, but honestly, the light breading turned out to be my favorite win of this recipe.  Overly breaded orange chicken tastes soggy and heavy.  This was light and crisp, perfectly matching the sauce flavor.  Then, you’ll need to spread it out in the basket of your air fryer.  Most recipes will say not to overcrowd, but the pieces can be touching.  They will shrink as they cook, allowing air to flow around them.  You shouldn’t have so many together that you have multiple layers, but one single layer of chicken is fine.  I make sure to spray them with cooking spray on the basket (because mine is stainless steel) and the top of the chicken to make sure it gets crispy.  

Note – I know many people use parchment paper on the bottom of their air fryers, but be careful!  First of all, if you put something on top of the air holes in the basket, you’re limiting air flow and essentially changing your air fryer from an air fryer to an oven.  Second, parchment paper, if not weighed down, will fly up into the heating unit and cause a fire.  So just be careful!

While the chicken is cooking, make your sauce.  Combine orange juice, coconut aminos/soy sauce, orange zest, brown sugar/coconut sugar, and cornstarch/other starch.  You’ll heat this in a small saucepan on medium-high, stirring frequently until thickened.  If you use something other than corn starch, you may need to keep adjusting the starch.  The second time I made this, I was out of cornstarch, so I used gluten-free 1:1 flour; it took 3 times as much starch to thicken it.  More about that in the swaps section.  I know that making your own sauce seems tedious, but I really cut down the time and ingredient number from other recipes.  This sauce has only five ingredients; you can do it! 

Halfway through cooking, about 10-12 minutes in, flip the chicken pieces.  To ensure extra crispiness, you can spray the chicken with another layer of cooking spray before returning it to the air fryer. Once the chicken is done, pour your sauce on and enjoy immediately!  

Swaps and Substitutions 

This recipe is relatively low-carb.  This recipe can be made gluten-free with the swap suggestions below.  For more swaps and substitutions, see below.  

•  Chicken – I used a mix of boneless skinless chicken breast and chicken thighs, and I highly recommend doing that.  I’ve actually started doing that in a lot of my Asian-themed dishes.  It really enhances the recipe by using a mix.  That way, you don’t have an overwhelming amount of dryer chicken breast pieces or an overwhelming amount of dark meat from thighs, which can also be a turn-off.  However, you could use all chicken thighs or chicken breasts if you wanted to; make sure it’s boneless and skinless.  
• Cornstarch –  If you use something other than cornstarch, you may need to keep adjusting the starch, especially in the sauce.  I needed two tablespoons for the sauce when I made it with cornstarch but ended up needing six when I used gluten-free 1:1 flour (also grain-free.)  You won’t need to adjust any starch substitutes on the chicken, just the sauce.  
• Breadcrumbs – I used a really light amount of panko (which you can buy gluten-free if needed), but you could also use regular breadcrumbs as well.  Or you could do a mix.  We really liked how it came out with just the starch and a light layer of breadcrumbs.  The more breadcrumbs you add, the thicker your breading will be.  If you are grain-free, you could remove them. You obviously won’t have that traditional crust, but it will still be really yummy!
• Pulp-free orange juice – orange juice is what makes orange chicken, orange chicken!  I would not omit anything! 
• Coconut Aminos or Soy Sauce –  do not omit
• Orange Zest – It’s really tempting to skip this, but I promise you that you don’t want to.  I zested about one medium orange.  Using orange zest is why I could get away with omitting a bunch of other ingredients that I saw in other orange chicken recipes.  The orange zest provides powerfully orange flavoring through the oils found in the skin, not to mention it provides that traditional orange chicken smell.  A lot of other recipes that did not use orange zest were trying to make up for the fact that they weren’t using it by throwing 800 other ingredients into it.  Trust me, use the zest.  If you only have mandarin oranges lying around from your kids, you can use those; just use some sort of orange zest!
• Brown Sugar/Coconut Sugar – You don’t want to skip this one or change it to another sweetener.  If you are really watching your carbs, you could swap with monk fruit or another low-calorie sweetener.  Just make sure to follow the bag on ratio of substitution.  I wouldn’t swap for honey or maple syrup, as the taste will be slightly off from traditional.  The recipe will still work. The taste will be a little different from traditional orange chicken sauce.  

How to Freeze and Store Air Fryer Orange Chicken

To store:  Store an airtight container in the fridge and reheat in the microwave to 165F.  Note that it won’t be crispy, but it will still be delicious.  

To freeze:  If I were going to freeze this chicken, I would kind of “meal prep it.”  I would toss the chicken with starch and breadcrumbs and then freeze it in a single layer on a parchment cookie sheet.  Then, place it in a ziplock bag.  I would prep the sauce and let it cool completely, then freeze that, too (in a large container; remember, liquids expand 50% when frozen).  Then, when I was ready to cook it, I would add the chicken to the air fryer frozen (like if you were making pre-made chicken nuggets or tenders).  Then, I would defrost the sauce in the microwave.  And combine! 

Alternatively, you could also freeze the leftovers, but they won’t be crispy and fresh like if you did the meal prep freezer way.  But you couldn’t totally freeze this with some rice and broccoli and have a quick meal whenever you need it too, but the texture will be softer.  

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:  

• Air Fryer Chicken Breast
• Air Fryer Thin Chicken Breast
• Air Fryer Chicken Thighs Bone In 
• Air Fryer Chicken Tender No Breading
• Air Fryer Chicken Fajitas

Serve this With: 

•  How to Steam Broccoli In the Microwave 
•  Easy Roasted Broccoli 
•  5 Minute Air Fryer Asparagus
• Brown or White Rice 

Tag me if you make these! I love to see what you guys make! You can tag me on Insta @hungryhobbyRD and Facebook @hungryhobby!