Sure, you can make this Asian dish from scratch and you should if you are feeling creative. To create Orange Chicken from scratch, check out this easy recipe. But if you have been at work all day, snowshoeing and leading holiday vacation goers on the most scenic snowshoe hike in the Big Bear Valley, then you might not w
ant to slave over the stove and make a fancy recipe. You may want to just throw some Trader Joe’s Orange Chicken nuggets in the air fryer and call it good. Or if you are anything like me, you may want to get a bit boujie with your Orange Chicken delight.
Orange Chicken for Dummies
The Jewish side of my family loves nothing more than good-quality Chinese food around Christmas time. However, living in a ski town with no ethnic restaurant choices means if you are thinking about Asian food, you damn well better know how to create Orange Chicken in your home kitchen.
What the hell is the home cook to do?
I have tried many different types of frozen Orange Chicken and the Trader Joe’s brand is by far the best. Plus, you can always have it stocked in your freezer! Feel free to deep fry your chicken pellets. However, if you don’t feel like being a bad hombre, you can simply refurbish this Orange chicken in the air fryer.
Veggies galore!
You can add so many different Chinese veggies to this delicious stir fry in lieu of the cabbage! Bok choy, green cabbage, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, chopped bell peppers, celery, bean sprouts… Basically, any leftover Asian veggies you have left over in the fridge can be thrown into this dish. And I love this Orange Chicken w
ith extra veggies stir-fried in!
The Easiest and Spiciest Air Fryer Orange Chicken
1 bag of Trader Joe’s Orange Chicken
4 cloves fresh garlic, grated
1 quarter-sized nob of fresh ginger, grated
1 orange, cut into thin slivers
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 red onion, sliced thin
4-8 red Chinese chiles, broken in half
1/2 a red cabbage, sliced thin
6 kumquats, sliced
1/4cup of fresh basil, sliced, for garnish
Cook your frozen Orange Chicken in the air fryer at 380 for twelve minutes.
In the sesame oil, cook the red onion slices and red chiles for at least five minutes until well-fried. The chiles should be almost black when cooked. Add in the garlic and ginger and stir-fry. Stir fry in the orange slices. Stir fry the red cabbage. Mix in your Orange Chicken pieces
and also the sauce that comes with the frozen chicken.
Feel free to dress your orange chicken with green onion slices, sliced kumquats, basil, sesame seeds or Candied Gochujang Nuts.
This is the easiest Orange Chicken! It’s also chock full of veggies and spices. You will never want to go back to Panda Express!
