Chinese Orange Chicken (Baked, Paleo, Whole30)
by Healthy Paleo Orange Chicken with crispy baked chicken coated in a Chinese orange sauce with a perfect sweet-and-tart balance. Pair the baked Chinese orange chicken with baby Bok Choy for a healthy and well balanced dinner!
Oven baked Paleo Orange Chicken
Orange chicken is a Chinese American dish. The reason it became so popular in the West is because it ticks all the marks that people love – crispy golden chicken that are almost like nuggets in a sweet and slightly tart orange-flavored sauce. I figured why not share my take on this popular orange chicken dish and make it healthier, easier, and use all real natural ingredients with no added sugar.
How to make baked crispy chicken
If you recall the Oven Baked Crispy Potato Recipe, I use similar techniques here to make the chicken golden crispy without deep-frying. This method is different from most of my Paleo chicken stir-fry recipes.
Preheating the sheet pan in a cold oven until the oven reaches the desired temperature will make the sheet pan extra hot – almost like a hot plate. The chicken pieces will crisp up quickly once they hit the hot surface thus sear the juice immediately.
How To Make Healthy Orange Chicken Sauce Paleo Whole30 friendly
To make healthy orange sauce, we’ll need fresh squeezed orange juice, orange zest, and grated ginger to highlight the orange sauce flavor. In my healthy Paleo orange chicken recipe I use apple cider vinegar instead of rice vinegar. It gives the orange sauce a nice balance between sweet and tart flavor.
Unlike most Chinese American dishes that taste pretty much the same, check out my sesame chicken, sweet and sour chicken, chicken Napa cabbage stir-fry, and Kung Pao chicken. I guarantee each of them tastes different from one another and will wow your taste buds!
Make ahead tips
Dice and season the chicken and prepare the orange sauce in advance. Store the sauce in the fridge and store the chicken flat in a ziplock bag in the freezer if you will not cook the chicken the next day. If you have time, I recommend you chop the aromatics and blanch the baby bok choy on the serving day. If you can’t, I recommend preparing them 1 day in advance and use them the next day for best flavor and freshness.
So my friends, this Paleo Orange Chicken is healthy, oven baked, with no added sugar, and uses all real ingredients. If you give this dish a try, please rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’ll help me and my blog tremendously. Thanks so much in advance!
Want to make 10 Paleo meals ready in under 10 minutes each? Subscriber to my blog I Heart Umami and receive my 3-part video tutorial guide. You’ll also learn how to organize your shopping lists, how to get in-and-out the store fast, and my must-have items in my pantry to make healthy delicious food easily!
Also check out my Citrus Roasted Whole Chicken with Oranges, Mandarin Orange Chicken Salad, Whole30 Asian Peanut Sauce, and easy Instant Pot Strawberry Compote!
Paleo Orange Chicken (Whole30, Oven Baked, Healthy)
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 1.5 lbs. chicken breasts, , cut to bite size cubes
- ¼ tsp coarse salt
- ⅛ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp arrowroot flour or sweet potato starch/flour
Aromatics:
- 3-4 cloves large garlic , , finely chopped
- 2 thin slices ginger, , finely chopped
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes, (optional)
Whole30 Paleo Orange Chicken sauce:
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- ⅓ cup orange juice
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- ½ tsp arrowroot powder
Other/Garnish:
- Avocado or olive oil
- Half one whole Orange, , sliced into bite sized pieces
- 1-2 bulbs scallions, , finely chopped
- Baby bok choy, , quartered and blanched, as much as you like
Instructions
- Place a large rimmed sheet pan, unlined, in the bottom rack of the oven. Preheat the oven with the sheet pan inside to 425F (400F convection oven). In the meantime, dice and lightly coat the chicken with salt, pepper, baking soda, and arrowroot flour. Set the chicken aside in the fridge.
- Once the oven reaches the temperature. Carefully remove sheet from oven and grease with 2 tbsp avocado or olive oil. Place chicken pieces one-by-one over the sheet pan. Try not to overlap each other much. Bake at lower rack for 10 minutes. Use this time to prepare aromatics and make the orange sauce. Set them aside ready to use.
- Remove sheet from oven, using a metal spatula and tongs, loosen chickens from sheet and carefully flip each piece. Continue to bake until second side is golden and crispy, about 8-10 minutes longer.
- Right before chicken is done baking (about 5 minutes prior). Preheat a large skillet with 1 tbsp oil. When hot, lower the heat to medium, add garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes. Season with a pinch of salt and saute until fragrant (about 10-15 seconds).
- Stir the orange sauce one more time then add it to the skillet. The sauce should become thicker pretty quickly, stir-often. Add baked chicken. Toss and coat the sauce over for about 30 seconds. Off heat, garnish with extra orange slices, scallions, and blanched bok choy.
This was delicious! I give it 5 STARS! I’m allergic to regular oranges though I can eat tangerines. I used tangerines and juiced 4 of them for the sauce. My husband and I both loved it! A little hint for others about the rimmed pan though; I used a light weight pan and the pan cooled as I was putting the chicken on it for the oven. So, the chicken didn’t sear well and dried out and was tough. Thank you for telling us the reason to heat the pan! Next time I’ll use a heavier pan and I’m sure that the chicken will be moist and tender like yours is.
Thank you! Love the tangerines touch.
Quick, easy, and delicious!
This sauce is soooo good! My 13 year old stepson loved it and he is in the unless it’s deep fried it’s not orange chicken camp but he ate all of it! The chicken got a little over cooked but that was most likely user error.
Next time I’m making a double batch of sauce to drizzle over some broccoli as well!
Just made this for a diverse crowd that included everything from paleo eaters to super picky eaters (children), and it was a HUGE hit, like an everyone-asking-for-the-recipe kind of hit! Thanks for another incredible recipe! I’ll be making this again!
That’s wonderful, Lindsay! Happy New Year!
This is such a great recipe! Every time I make it, I wonder why I don’t make it more often- delicious, easy, and healthy too.
Chihyu, this was yet another great recipe from you! Super flavorful but not too sweet. My family loved eating it, but my favorite part was learning the method—it feels really adaptable.
That’s great! Thank you so much for sharing!
Let me start by saying I’m not the best cook – however, this actually came out quite good, to my surprise. The only thing was that it was a bit dry whereas the picture looks like the sauce is more of a glaze. I did use coconut flour instead of tapioca, not sure if that made a difference? Any suggestions to make it more “wet” would be great! Thank you!
HI Marcie, thank you! Coconut flour is very different from tapioca or arrowroot starch written in my recipe so I wouldn’t use flour to substitute starch. Out of all flours, coconut is the most dry one – it has the most fiber and therefore drinks all the moisture. It also has the strongest flavor. I rarely use coconut flour in cooking. I’d say if you want, try it again with a starch ingredient and please follow the recipe.
Also, most Chinese American style takeout dishes in the west come with heavy sauce. This is not a common thing in Chinese dishes made in Asia. It is true that some dishes are naturally more saucy (we called those Wet dishes) and most of them emphasize crisp and concentrated flavor (i.e. Drier and more crisp) texture. Hope this helps!
This was so delicious! I can’t wait to make it again. It’s going on the regular rotation!
I made this tonight and the family loved it. Is there a spice we can add to this dish to bring out the flavours? Thanks 🙂
Hey Nathalie, not sure what you meant by more flavors – meaning more sweet or more tart, or saltier? If you prefer extra tart (and the fresh squeezed orange juice doesn’t work for you), try a tiny drop of orange concentrate. If it’s not sweet enough, then try using Keto brown sugar. If not salty enough, always season as you go or use more coconut aminos 🙂
This came out amazing!!! I used chicken thighs instead and loved it. Sauce is perfect and not overly sweet. Thank you!
Lovely!
This was really nice…my boys enjoyed it. Adults had cauliflower rice with broccoli while the little ones had rice with broccoli. My husband can’t believe it’s paleo! thanks for the recipe
So happy to hear!
This dish was incredible! We used thighs because that’s what I had defrosted. Also, my kitchen overheats quite quickly on warm days with the oven so I cooked the chicken in two batches in the air fryer! Truly amazing flavors!
I can’t wait to try them in air fryer! Chicken thighs are a great choice!
I didn’t like this one. I thought it was going to be a sweeter dish but it turned out more on the savoury side. I drizzled my own sauce over it afterwards. I don’t know if it was supposed to turn out this way?
Hi Agnes, this is a Whole30 friendly recipe and we use no added sugar and only the natural sweet flavor from fresh oranges so it tastes less sweet than most takeout version. Be that as it may, feel free to add some sugar to the sauce (if you aren’t following any specific diet), it should taste bright, refreshing, and little tart…just like fresh squeezed orange citrus flavor!
I love this recipe! It was also a hit for the whole family. I was able to prepare the chicken in the air fryer and it turned out great.
Thank you so much!
This is one of our favorites! We have an orange tree in our backyard, so it’s a great way to use oranges in our dinner. I love how the chicken gets crispy in the oven (no splattering!). We highly recommend this recipe!
Thank you, Carlie!
I found the chicken has a bitter after taste. I don’t know what caused it…I made sure there was no pith.
Hi Hinna, when you grate the orange, please be sure to only zest the colored part. If you zest the white colored part the flavor will turn bitter. Hope this helps! 🙂
The flavor is right on. Thank you. Love your recipes. I wanted more sauce so I added a cup of broth and 2 Tablespoons of arrowroot. Yum.
Thank you, Gail!