Air Fryer Orange Chicken

Easy Air Fryer Orange Chicken is about to be your new favorite dinner recipe! It comes together quickly with simple ingredients. Serve it with rice for a satisfying dinner.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Asian

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 25

Total Time 40

Servings servings

Calories 367kcal

Author John Kanell

Ingredients

For the Chicken:

1 large egg beaten
¼ teaspoon salt
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs cut into 1” cubes (450g)
1 cup cornstarch or potato starch (112g)
Non-aerosolized cooking spray (avocado or olive oil spray is great!)

For the Orange Sauce:

½ cup fresh orange juice (120mL) (about 2 oranges)
¼ cup soy sauce (60mL)
¼ cup packed light brown sugar (55g)
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon orange zest about 2 oranges
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 garlic cloves minced
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Sesame seeds and sliced green onions for serving

Instructions

For the Chicken:

In a medium bowl, lightly beat the egg and salt together. Add the cubed chicken and stir to coat the chicken well.
In a shallow bowl, add the cornstarch and stir to break up any large clumps. Work with a few pieces at a time, transfer the chicken pieces to the cornstarch and toss until well coated. (Coat only what will fit in your basket at one time.)
Preheat the air fryer to 400°F.
Place the dredged chicken pieces in a single layer in the air fryer basket. Spray the chicken generously with cooking spray.
Air fry for 6 minutes. Flip the chicken pieces and spray them with cooking spray again. Continue to air fry until golden and crispy, about 6 minutes more. Transfer the cooked chicken to a large bowl, and continue dredging and cooking the remaining pieces.

For the Orange Sauce:

While the last batch of chicken cooks, combine the orange juice, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, zest, ginger, oil, pepper, and garlic in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and cook until the sugar is dissolved.
Dissolve the cornstarch in the water in a small bowl, and whisk it into the saucepan. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until thickened and translucent, about 1 minute.
Pour the sauce over the chicken and toss to coat. Serve immediately, topped with sesame seeds and green onions.

Video

Notes

Try not to leave any dry spots on the coated chicken. Those areas will turn sticky, not crispy, so coat the chicken well with the spray oil. Spray the chicken pieces with oil again after flipping them to coat the other side.
Keep the cooked chicken warm while you finish each batch. If you have to cook in several smaller batches based on the size of your air fryer, heat your main oven or toaster oven to 200F. Place a wire rack on a sheet pan in the oven, and put the air fried chicken pieces on the wire rack. This will keep the pieces warm and crispy while the others finish cooking.

Nutrition