Healthy Orange Chicken Recipe
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Skip takeout and try this Healthy Orange Chicken Recipe instead! Gluten free and high protein – it’s a delicious healthy chicken recipe! Made with just a few ingredients, it’s tasty and easy to make!
This post was originally shared in 2015 but has since been updated.
If you’re looking for a healthy alternative to orange chicken look no further! This Healthy Orange Chicken Recipe is one of our all time favorite meals and one of the most popular recipes on our site with close to 500 5 star reviews!
Made with only a few ingredients, it’s full of flavor, and easy to make. This dish is one I always turn to when I need something easy and healthy.
Why You Should Make This Recipe
- Baked, not fried: Typically orange chicken is battered and fried, then tossed in sauce. This healthy orange chicken recipe is sautéed lightly in oil and then tossed in the sauce making it lower in fat and carbs.
- Lower in sugar: Orange chicken often comes tossed in a very sweet, thick sauce. This healthy sauce recipe tastes just as good with way less sugar and calories!
- Minimal Ingredients: This orange chicken recipe was made to be gluten free, dairy free, grain free, refined sugar free and paleo friendly so that anyone can enjoy it regardless of their diet.
This healthy chicken meal holds a close second to my Healthy Chicken Pad Thai for best ‘takeout fakeout’ recipe… (Chicken Fried Rice is up there too, and so is this Ground Turkey Stir Fry!)
Ingredients
Substitutions:
Toasted Sesame Oil: Toasted sesame oil is pretty essential for flavor. If you don’t have it, you can omit it from the sauce, but it will impact the flavor
Chicken: You can substitute chicken breasts with chicken tenders or boneless skinless chicken thighs.
Veggies: Serve this healthy orange chicken with any vegetables you like. Our favorite veggies to serve it with are steamed green beans or broccoli. You could also serve it with our cauliflower fried rice.
Orange Juice: You can sub regular bottled orange juice with freshly squeezed orange juice but we don’t recommend it. We don’t recommend low calorie or low sugar orange juice in this recipe. It can make the sauce taste bitter. Do not try to cut back on the orange juice used!. The orange juice helps the sauce thicken and is necessary!
Coconut Aminos: Coconut aminos are a gluten free soy sauce alternative. You can sub coconut aminos with soy sauce or bragg’s liquid aminos. If using Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, use HALF the amount – bragg’s is much saltier!
Honey: You can sub honey with maple syrup. We have never tried making this with sweetener substitutes so we’re not sure how it would work. Coconut sugar will not work in place of honey. You need a liquid sweetener.
Vegan/Vegetarian: You can sub chicken with tofu, or try our Vegan Orange Chicken!
Ginger: You can substitute fresh ginger with 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger.
How to make Orange Chicken
- Heat oil in pan and cook chicken until browned then set aside.
- While chicken is cooking, whisk together sauce ingredients.
- Add sauce ingredients to the pot and bring to a boil.
- The sauce should be bubbling and actively boiling for 15 minutes or so until it thickens. Make sure to constantly stir so that it doesn’t burn.
- You’ll know the sauce is thickened when it coats the back of a spoon.
- Once the sauce is thickened, add the chicken back to the pan and toss until coated.
Serving Suggestions
You can serve this healthy orange chicken in so many different ways!
Over rice: Our favorite way to serve this recipe is with cooked white or brown rice. Quinoa or cooked farro is also a good option!
Low Carb/Grain Free: If you’re looking to eat lower carb, skip the rice. You can serve it over cauliflower fried rice, plain steamed cauliflower rice, or just with plained veggies.
Veggies: Broccoli, green beans, or steamed cauliflower are great for veggie side dishes.
Salad: You can also serve this alongside a salad. I love this Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad!
Storage
Storing: Healthy Orange Chicken will stay in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container.
Reheating: You can reheat this healthy orange chicken in a pan on the stove or in the microwave. If reheating in the pan I recommend adding a little bit of water to loosen up the sauce.
Freezing: We have not tried freezing this healthy orange chicken but I think it would work!
Tips for Making this Recipe in the Instant Pot:
- Make sure you pat the chicken breasts dry before you put it in the hot oil so they will brown.
- Brown the chicken breasts whole prior to dicing them. This ensures that maximum surface area makes contact with the pan and the chicken actually browns. Browning the chicken is an important step. This seals the juices in and ensures the chicken doesn’t release too much liquid while being pressure cooked. This additional liquid effects the consistency of the sauce.
- The sauce will seem thin until you add the corn starch slurry and reduce it down. This is normal!
What to do if your sauce doesn’t thicken:
If your sauce isn’t thickening first, make sure that the sauce is boiling. It should be bubbling the entire time it is cooking. Then, give it time! It will take at minimum 15 minutes of boiling for the liquid to evaporate and for the sauce to thicken.
It can take up to 20 minutes for the sauce to thicken. Be patient! Stir the sauce every few minutes to prevent it from burning. When the sauce starts to pull away from the pan as you scrape it back, you’ll know it’s ready!
Healthy Orange Chicken FAQs
Yes! This is totally fine! Your sauce might look a little dark then these photos simply due to the ingredients you use. The color won’t impact the flavor!
You can use honey in place of sugar for orange chicken! Maple syrup would also work well.
Love chicken? If so – here are some of our other favorite healthy chicken recipes! This Chicken Vegetable Soup is my favorite!
Healthy Orange Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut in 1 inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 cups orange juice
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 1/2 tablespoon orange zest
For serving:
- 4 cups steamed broccoli or green beans
- 2 cups cooked rice
Instructions
- Cook green beans and rice according to package directions.
- In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add chicken to the pan and cook for 10 minutes until the edges are brown and slightly crispy.
- While the chicken cooks, stir together all ingredients for the sauce in a bowl.
- Once the chicken is thoroughly cooked remove it from the pan and set aside in a clean bowl.
- Pour the sauce mixture into the same pan you cooked the chicken in.
- Bring the sauce mixture to a boil for 15-20 minutes, stirring every minute or so until it starts to thicken. You will know the sauce has thickened when you scrape the pan with a spatula and the sauce pulls away from the pan. The sauce should be bubbling the entire time.
- Once the sauce has thickened, add the cooked chicken back to the pot. Stir to coat the chicken in the sauce.
- Serve over steamed vegetables and rice.
Instant Pot Instructions
- IMPORTANT: If making this recipe in the instant pot you will need 3 teaspoons of cornstarch or arrowroot powder and 1/4 cup chicken stock. You also must use 1/2 the amount of ingredients in the sauce recipe, except for chicken stock. Ex: Orange Juice: 2 cups = 1 cup
- Cook green beans and rice according to package directions.
- Mix together 1/2 the amount called for in the recipe for the orange juice, coconut aminos, honey, garlic powder, ginger, orange zest and pepper. Set aside.
- Turn the Instant Pot to sauté on the highest heat setting. Drizzle in 2 tablespoons of sesame oil and allow it to heat up. The Instant Pot will display the word “hot” when it’s ready.
- Trim the chicken breasts and dry them off with paper towels. When the Instant Pot is hot place the chicken breasts in the oil. You’ll need to do 2 at a time so you do not crowd the pot. Sear them on each side for 2 minutes then flip just to get a golden color. You’re not trying to cook them through.
- Pull them out and set them on a cutting board. Dice them into 1 inch pieces.
- Put the diced chicken back into the Instant Pot and pour the sauce mixture over. Close the lid and put the vent to sealing. Set it to Manual High Pressure for 3 minutes. Note that pot will take 3-5 minutes to come to pressure before the display starts counting down the 3 minutes you’ve set.
- When it’s finished quick release the steam by setting the valve to venting. Be sure to use a towel or pot holder to do this so you don’t get burned.
- When the Instant Pot releases all the steam the button will lower down and you’ll be able to safely open the lid.
- Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon and place on a plate. Mix together the chicken broth and corn starch.
- Turn the Instant Pot back to sauté choosing the highest heat setting again. Your sauce should begin to bubble. Stream in the corn starch slurry and whisk. Allow the mixture to boil for 7-9 minutes until it’s nice and thick.
- Return the chicken to the sauce and select the “Keep Warm” setting on the Instant Pot. Serve over steamed broccoli or green beans for a paleo option, or rice/quinoa.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Facts
Important Note: This is not an authentic orange chicken recipe. My goal is always to share recipes that are a bit healthier and made with affordable, accessible ingredients so everyone can enjoy them regardless of their food allergies or dietary restrictions. Here’s a link to an authentic Orange Chicken Recipe.
Hands down the best orange chicken recipe I’ve ever tried. Will be making this again!
So glad you liked it!
I love Orange Chicken, but don’t like all the breading. Found this recipe for a healthy alternative and was not disappointed! Loved the ingredients list and the easy to follow instructions. Even added some spice to it! Look forward to exploring more recipes from The Cleaning Eating Couple!
So happy you liked it! Next time try our
Consistently delicious!!
So glad you liked it!
This is so delicious and seriously so easy to make!! A family favorite for sure
Glad you liked it!
This orange chicken was so delicious! I can’t wait to make it again!
Thank you so much!!
This a go to recipe for me! Took me a couple times to get the sauce to thicken up, but that was on me and my impatience. Think it’s done? Wait 5 more minutes. But seriously, it’s SO good!
So glad you like it!
We love this sauce! So easy, even my 12 year old son can make it. I feel it’s much better than plain old soy sauce, which is what I used to use.
So happy you all enjoy it!
My family and I loved this recipe! I doubled the sauce and served it over quinoa and steamed green beans in a bowl. The sauce took a little over 20 minutes to thicken up but then did so nicely. It was so delicious! My kids were a little unsure until they took their first bites and then they happily ate it all and asked for seconds! I’ll definitely be making this again soon! Thanks for another great, healthy recipe!
Thank you so much!
This recipe is on regular rotation in our house, all 7 of us love it! We like ours extra saucy, so I always double the sauce. Thanks for another great recipe, Liz!
Love that! We usually do the same!
I’ve made this more times than I can count and it’s perfect every time! In fact my college freshman is coming home tomorrow and asked me to make it for dinner because she loves it so much!!
This makes me so happy to hear!
This is soooo good! Easy to make and very tasty. The family loved it.
So glad you liked it, Heather!
Amazing!! Never ordering this again, only making it from now on!
Thank you so much, Sarah!
This was really good and easy to make! Great when you want to mix things up or our dying for takeout but trying to make a better choice!
Great flavor!
This recipe is so easy and delicious!! We make it once a week! There is so much flavor and makes great leftovers! Thanks Liz & Tyler for this staple!
SO FREAKING GOOD!!! Could eat this every day.
Really enjoyed this! Currently doing a WHOLE30 so I omitted the honey & dusted the chicken with some arrowroot. Served over steamed haricot verts with red pepper flakes and topped all with sesame seeds. Very simple and quick to put together.
So glad you liked it!
How do I track on WW? Do the points include rice?
Put the ingredients in your app and calculate it. Ever WW plan is different – points are just an estimate.
Tastes great but the sauce was a little bitter. Would you recommend adding more honey?
The sauce shouldn’t be bitter. Did you use all natural orange juice? If you used non-natural orange juice or low calorie orange juice it will reduce the sweetness and the preservatives in it could make it taste bitter
Thanks for the reply! I did use all natural orange juice and orange zest as well. I had to substitute soy sauce and I wonder if there was too much salt.
Yes it could’ve.
So delicious! Really flavorful sauce and so simple! Even my kids liked it and they are super picky about chicken and sauces. I shop exclusively at Aldi and they don’t carry Sesame Oil, so I just used olive oil and it was still really tasty; I’m sure it’s even better with it though.
Thanks, Molly! Glad you liked it!
I made this tonight and it was AMAZING! i followed the directions as written and it came out perfect…. The sauce DOES thicken but you have to boil it for 15-20. My husband who is “picky” when it comes to healthy recipes loved it. He had his with rice, I had mine with air fried cauliflower. This recipe definitely goes in the win column
So happy you both enjoyed it!
I’ve not tried this yet but plan to. Can you also make it with shrimp? Thanks
I haven’t tried this but I think it would work. Shrimp take way less time to cook. You could make the sauce from this recipe and follow the cooking instructions from our
The grocery store was only selling oranges in large bags, so I ended up zesting a few (they were small) and squeezing the rest. It can’t get any more healthy than that, right? I forgot the honey and it was still delicious. I thought it was so cool that the sauce thickened without having to add arrow root or cornstarch. Big hit with the husband and so simple to make on a weekday – great job! Also, I salt & pepper the chicken pieces before cooking; just felt wrong leaving them naked (haha!).
So happy you enjoyed it! We don’t recommend the salt/pepper on the chicken because there is a lot of salt in soy sauce/coconut aminos and pepper in the sauce but I’m glad you liked it!
How many servings are there?
Serves 4 people, it says it right in the recipe.
This is a weekly regular for us! Thanks for another great recipe!
So glad you liked it!