Orange chicken

September 24, 2025 5:44 PM

Back when I was in middle school, a Panda Express opened in one of the local malls. Sometimes my dad would take me and my sister to this mall, and we'd eat Panda Express every single time. We ate there so often that I recognized the man working there, and he recognized us too. Almost every time, I would order orange chicken. And the times when I didn't order orange chicken, I wished I had. I don't know why I liked it so much, but sometimes I feel nostalgic for it, and every time I see a Panda Express, I think to myself, I could go for some orange chicken.

But honestly? It doesn't really hit the same way now. Every time I've gotten Panda Express in my adult life, I've kind of regretted it afterwards. Maybe my body can't handle Chinese fast food like it used to.

But I still get these desires to have orange chicken! I've been travelling a lot lately, and when I was in the airport I could smell some Chinese food and I almost ordered some, but I settled for some Jimmy John's instead. It was alright. I still wanted Chinese, and I decided that I would just make my own orange chicken when I got home.

I had made this orange chicken from Budget Bytes before, and I remembered it being pretty good! I already had all of the sauces I needed so I only had to buy chicken, ginger, green onions, and an orange.

Now the ingredient list called for "1 large orange", and whatever size orange I bought was definitely not big enough. The more detailed instructions said to squeeze out 1/2 cup of orange juice and I think I barely had 1/4 cup! Squeezing oranges is also super messy. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but it all completely fell apart.

Anyway, I only bought one orange, so this ended up being not-so-orange orange chicken. But it's okay! It still ended up very tasty and definitely way way healthier than anything I could get from takeout.

And just to round out the meal a little more, I also steamed some broccoli and I served it with rice. It was a very good meal.