Healthy Orange Chicken (Easy Stir-Fry Recipe) - Kirbie's Cravings (2024)

FAQs

What are the seven common ingredients in a stir fry? ›

The main ingredients to a stir-fry are: Proteins – chicken, beef, pork, seafood, tofu, tempeh, seitan. Aromatics – garlic, green onions, shallots, ginger.

Tangerine is used in traditional Chinese medicine as well as cooking. Tangerine chicken tastes fresh and spicy, but orange chicken tastes sweet and sour. Orange chicken is crispy cooked in a sweet and little spicy orange sauce. The sweetness of orange chicken was introduced to cater to American tastes.

While the orange chicken is one of the most famous Chinese dishes in America, it is a purely American invention, with no authentic Chinese resturants or restaurants in China serving this dish.

Velvet chicken is a Chinese cooking technique where boneless, skinless chicken pieces are coated in a mixture of baking soda, cornstarch, wine, and seasoning, then briefly cooked resulting in tender, velvety chicken that easily absorbs sauces. In some methods, egg white is also included.

The first is to cook your protein and your vegetable separately, and combine them only after both are fully cooked. A second rule of thumb for stir-frying: Choose one vegetable per stir-fry. Finally, always remember to add liquid only after everything is more or less finished cooking.

Takeout orange chicken is not very healthy because it's loaded with sugar and deep-fried as well. But this homemade version is a healthier alternative made from whole food ingredients with no added sugar and no deep frying involved.

Choosing by texture: If you prefer a crispy fried chicken, sesame or orange chicken is your best bet. If you like a stir-fry, go for General Tso.

General Tso's chicken and orange chicken are two popular Chinese-American dishes that are often compared. While both dishes feature crispy fried chicken pieces coated in a sweet and savory sauce, there are some key differences between the two.

Good vegetables for stir-frying include bell peppers, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, yellow or white onions, green onions, pea pods, cabbage, spinach, asparagus, mushrooms, and leafy Asian greens in the “choy” family, such as bok choy and yu choy. In a hurry? You can use a 16-ounce bag of frozen stir-fry vegetables.

What do you put in a stir-fry? ›

While stir fries are really defined by the cooking method, a basic stir-fry recipe will commonly include these components: noodles (like udon, chow mein, rice noodles, or pasta) or rice, a protein (like chicken or beef), veggies (like broccoli or carrots), aromatics (like onion and garlic), and an umami-rich sauce.

Stir frying (Chinese: 炒; pinyin: chǎo; Wade–Giles: ch'ao³; Cantonese Yale: cháau) is a cooking technique in which ingredients are fried in a small amount of very hot oil while being stirred or tossed in a wok. The technique originated in China and in recent centuries has spread into other parts of Asia and the West.