Get ready for this mouth-watering, sweet and tangy, easy Gluten Free Orange Chicken from scratch. Make your favorite Chinese Take-Out with this easy-to-follow, quick, homemade recipe. Using cornstarch and orange juice, this sticky glaze sauce is made to perfection and pairs perfectly with our crispy chicken.
Why This Recipe is the Best
This is a perfect dairy-free and egg-free back-to-school meal for busy weekdays or lazy weekends. Serve on a bed of rice or quinoa! Make your favorite Panda Express copycat meal at home with this easy recipe.
This is a family favorite meal. I wanted to make a homemade version of a childhood favorite meal, but I needed to make it for a gluten-free guest. I tried using the cornmeal for the coating and loved the crispy texture that it had. It paired great with the Orange Sauce.
Be sure to check out our Gluten Free Chicken Nuggets. For more great asian inspired meals, check out our Korean Cucumber Salad.
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Key Ingredients
This orange chicken recipe is so tasty and uses cornmeal and gluten-free soy sauce. You don't want to miss these easy ingredients.
- Yellow Cornmeal- This is the coating for the chicken, which is usually a bread-based coating. The cornmeal makes this meal gluten-free.
- Gluten Free Soy sauce-Mixed with the orange juice to make a sweet and salty flavor. You can also use normal soy sauce if you don't need this recipe to be gluten-free.
- Orange juice- Make sure to get pulp-free. Soy sauce is not usually gluten-free, so make sure to get gluten-free soy sauce. Tamari Sauce is another word for gluten-free soy sauce.
- White vinegar, or rice vinegar- Rice vinegar is the preferred vinegar because of the added taste, but white vinegar works just as well.
- Brown sugar- Use this sugar instead of white sugar to give it a better consistency.
- Red pepper flakes- Optional, but a great way to add a little extra kick to the seasoning.
How to make Homemade Orange Chicken
- Combine cornmeal, salt, and pepper in a dish. Mix. Coat each piece of chicken completely.
- Heat olive oil in a medium-sized skillet on medium heat. Add chicken in a single layer. That can touch, be do not overlap. After 3-4 minutes, or when the side is golden brown, flip each piece of chicken and cook until done.
- While the chicken is cooking, combine the orange juice, gluten-free soy sauce, white vinegar, ginger, brown sugar, cornstarch, minced garlic, ground ginger, and red pepper flakes in a small mixing bowl. Whisk until the liquid is smooth.
- Keeping the stovetop at medium heat, pour the orange sauce over the chicken in the skillet, and when the chicken all the way through.
- Stir constantly until the sauce begins to bubble and thicken to a glaze. Remove from heat.
- Serve over rice, quinoa, or eat plain.
Hint: Make sure to keep stirring while the sauce bubbles so it gets the desired thickness and doesn't burn. This keeps the chicken from burning as well.
Common Mistakes
I had trouble with the sauce becoming too gelatinous when I left it on the heat too long. Make sure to watch as the sauce begins to thicken and then remove from the heat as soon as it reaches the desired thickness.
Top tip
Don't forget to keep stirring when you pour the orange sauce onto the chicken so it doesn't burn and the chicken doesn't stick to the skillet, and you lose the coating!
Recipe
Easy Gluten Free Orange Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
Gluten Free Coated Chicken
- 1 pound chicken
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ⅓ cup cornmeal
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
Sweet and Tangy Orange Sauce
- ¼ cup Gluten Free Soy Sauce
- ¼ cup Orange juice
- ¼ cup white vinegar or rice vinegar
- ¼ cup Brown sugar
- 2 tablespoon Cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Mix cornmeal, ground pepper, and table salt in a small dish. Coat the chicken pieces in the cornmeal mixture.
- Heat olive oil in a medium skillet on medium heat. Add the coated chicken and cook each side for 3-4 minutes or until all the way cooked through and golden brown on each side. You may need to flip the chicken more than once.
- While the chicken is cooking, mix together the gluten free soy sauce, orange juice, white vinegar (or rice vinegar), brown sugar, cornstarch, minced garlic, ground ginger and crushed red pepper flakes. Mix until the liquid is smooth.
- Once the chicken is cooked all the way through, pour the orange sauce mixture on top of the chicken, staying at medium heat. Stir and cook until sauce begins to boil and thicken about five minutes. Stir so the sauce and chicken doesn't burn. See photos above for a great visual on these steps.
- Once sauce is desired thickness, serve over rice, quinoa or plain.
Notes
- Make sure to remove from the heat quickly when the sauce begins to thicken. You don't want the sauce to get too thick.
- Soy Sauce is not naturally gluten free, you need to purchase gluten free soy sauce called Tamari.
Nutrition
Substitutions
- Almond Flour - instead of cornmeal, use almond flour at 1:1. The coating may vary from the original recipe.
- Vegetarian - to make this vegetarian, use zucchini chunks instead of chicken and cook as directed.
Variations
- Spicy - add extra red pepper flakes to give it a stronger kick.
- Zesty- Add orange zest to give it a zestier flavor.
Method
Thaw the chicken the night before. If using a frozen chicken breast, make sure to thaw the chicken the night before in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Don't thaw on the counter.
- Air Fryer-Cook the cornmeal-coated chicken in the air fryer for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, or until all the way cooked through.
- Bake- On a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, bake the cornmeal chicken at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until cooked all the way through.
Storing Gluten-Free Orange Chicken
Store gluten-free orange chicken in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 2-3 days. To reheat, heat in a microwave-safe dish in the microwave.
This meal does not freeze well when combined. You can freeze the sauce to make with an extra meal later on.
Andrea says
This orange chicken has the perfect flavor and I love that I can make my favorite Panda express dish at home and gluten free. It's so easy and better than take-out!
Dana says
So good! Made this when we had friends over for dinner, one being GF, and it was a hit for all of us!
Beth says
This is perfect! I recently went gluten free and was very sad to see some of my favorite dishes had to go, so I am super glad to have this easy, tasty dish still on my menu! And to make it even quicker, I was glad to see it works in the air fryer too!