Does anyone remember the days of Leeann Chin? During my high school years, my mom often took me there because it was connected to one of our favorite local Minnesota grocery stores (Lund’s & Byerly’s, baby!). We’d get a quick meal to go, and my go-to was the lemon or orange chicken.
Fast forward to adulthood (and motherhood), where life is vastly different. These days, I’m all about healthier takes on my favorite childhood meals, and today I’m here to prove that you can still enjoy those nostalgic meals with better-for-you ingredients. This healthy orange chicken stir fry is just one of those meals!
I lightened up this homemade orange chicken stir fry by stir-frying it with tons of veggies and a fresh orange sauce. You’re going to love it!
Orange chicken lightened up to perfection
Traditional orange chicken recipes call for coating your chicken in a thicker batter, deep-frying it, and then tossing it in an orange sauce with granulated sugar. While I LOVE classic orange chicken, I wanted to create a simple, lightened-up stir fry version that anyone can easily cook right at home using fresh orange juice and honey for the sauce.
The result? Juicy chicken and crunchy veggies coated in a lightly sweetened, zesty orange sauce. This version is also gluten-free, grain-free, and paleo-friendly!
Ingredients in this healthy orange chicken stir fry
We’re using up plenty of pantry staples to make this stir fry, which is really all you need to get super flavorful dish. Here’s everything you’ll need to make this recipe:
- Chicken: I like to cut up boneless, skinless chicken breast to use in this recipe. You’ll toss it with salt, pepper, and cornstarch to season and give it a lovely texture.
- Veggies: we’re stir frying the chicken with onion, garlic, a red bell pepper, and fresh green beans. You’ll need some sesame oil for cooking.
- Cashews: we’ll also be cooking cashews right into the stir fry. YUM.
- For the sauce: the super flavorful orange sauce is made with fresh orange juice and zest, honey, soy sauce, freshly grated ginger, sriracha, and a little more cornstarch to thicken.
- To garnish: I like to top this stir fry with fresh green onions and some toasted sesame seeds.
Customize your stir fry
This weeknight staple is super easy to customize with what you have on hand. We love switching up the veggies according to what’s seasonal! Here are more ways to make it your own:
- Swap your veggies. I also love this recipe with broccoli and asparagus, but mushrooms, snow peas, and even brussels sprouts would be great.
- Go vegetarian. Feel free to swap the chicken for a can of rinsed, drained chickpeas or cubed tofu!
- For the sauce: feel free to swap the soy sauce for tamari or coconut aminos, and the cornstarch for arrowroot starch. Some soy sauces are not naturally gluten-free, so either of those swaps will keep the dish gluten-free.
Our favorite sides
Looking to make this dish a little heartier? This recipe is so versatile and delicious with:
- Cauliflower Rice for a gluten and grain-free option
- White or brown rice (try my coconut rice!)
- Fluffy quinoa
- Rice or ramen noodles
Delicious orange chicken stir fry in 6 simple steps
- Make the sauce. Whisk together all of the sauce ingredients in a bowl until the cornstarch is dissolved. Set this aside until you’re ready to use it.
- Prep the chicken. Add your cubed chicken to a separate bowl and toss with salt, pepper, and cornstarch.
- Cook the chicken. Cook the chicken in a skillet with the sesame oil, then transfer to a clean bowl and keep the heat in the pan.
- Cook the veggies. Add a little more sesame oil to your pan and saute the onion, then add in the rest of the veggies and cashews. Be sure not to overcook — we want the veggies to still have a little crunch!
- Add the sauce. Pour the orange sauce into the pan with your veggies and stir while the sauce thickens up. Add the chicken back in, reduce the heat, and let the sauce thicken for a few minutes.
- Garnish & serve. Garnish with sesame seeds, green onion, and cilantro, then serve with rice or your fav side!
Storing & freezing tips
- To store: this easy orange chicken stir fry is perfect for your weekly meal prep! Store any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days. Simply reheat in intervals in the microwave.
- To freeze: let the stir fry cool completely, then transfer everything to an airtight glass container or reusable silicone bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to enjoy, thaw the meal in the fridge and then reheat everything on the stovetop. I recommend waiting to cook your rice (if using) until you’re ready to eat.
More delicious dinners you’ll love
- One Pan Sazon Skillet Chicken
- Spiced Mediterranean Chicken Bowls
- Sweet and Sour Pineapple Broccoli Chicken Stir Fry
- Crispy Broccoli Sweet and Spicy Sesame Tahini Noodles
- Sweet and Spicy Gochujang Chicken Bowls
Get all of my dinner recipes here!
You’re going to love healthy orange chicken! If you make it, be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Healthy Orange Chicken Stir Fry
Ingredients
- Sauce
- zest from 1 large orange
- ¾ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce (or sub coconut aminos)
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot starch
- 1 teaspoon sriracha (or sub ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes)
- Chicken
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes
- Kosher salt and freshly ground salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- Veggies
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- ½ medium white onion, cut into chunks
- 1 large red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
- 8 ounces fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces
- ½ cup raw cashews
- Garnish
- Green onion, for garnish
- Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
Instructions
- Make your sauce: In a medium bowl, whisk together the orange zest and juice, honey, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, cornstarch/arrowroot starch, and sriracha until the cornstarch is dissolved. Set aside.
- Coat the chicken: Place chicken in a large bowl, season with salt and pepper and add in the cornstarch. Toss to evenly coat the chicken.
- Cook the chicken: Place a large skillet over medium-high heat and add in the sesame oil. Add in chicken and cook for 5-6 minutes or until fully cooked, golden brown and no longer pink. Once chicken is cooked, transfer to a bowl and set aside. Reduce the heat to medium in the pan.
- Add in another tablespoon of sesame oil to the pan and then add in onion and saute until they become slightly translucent, about 2 minutes. Next add in the bell pepper, green beans and cashews and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 to 7 minutes total. You want the green beans to still have a little bit of crunch!
- Once veggies are just slightly tender, pour the orange sauce into the pan. Stir frequently as the sauce will start to thicken up, 1 to 2 minutes. Add in chicken and stir again so the sauce coats the chicken. Reduce heat to medium low and let the sauce simmer and thicken some more, about 2 minutes.
- Serve immediately over rice. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds, green onion and cilantro if desired. Serves 4.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on May 9th, 2019, the recipe was updated on February 19th, 2026, and the post was republished with new photos & a video on March 22nd, 2026.
Love everything about this!! Can’t wait to try 🙂
Such a great dinner. Hope you love it!
This is SO good and so easy/quick! I also loved Leann Chinn’s orange chicken growing up, and this has much better real orange flavor with a spicy kick.
Isn’t it good? I’m obsessed! Glad you enjoyed it, Ashley!
YES it was so good growing up. Glad you found this healthy alternative 🙂
This was amazing. I used sugar snap peas and broccoli instead of green beans. I also added some thinly sliced carrots. The sauce is so good. Thanks for a great recipe!
Hi Melanie! So happy you liked this recipe, it’s one of our go to easy weeknight meals!
Delicious. Marinaded chicken and tofu. I added jalapeño to the sauce – it’s a nice lil kick. 👌👌👌
Perfect!! All about an extra kick of heat 🙂
This is so good! Doubled the whole recipe….next time will add snap peas and broccoli like someone else suggested.
Perfect! This would be delicious with those add-ins, too 🙂
Love your recipes! Thanks for sharing! Is your print button working….I can air print from other web sites but for some reason it doesn’t hold the print page…might just be me. Thanks, can’t wait to try this!
Hi Gayle! So glad you’re loving the recipes here! Are you printing from your computer? The print button should be working correctly, but I will definitely look into it. Hope you get a chance to make this one!
This recipe was delicious! Have you thought about making a cookbook? I’ve only tried a few of your recipes but they’ve all been delicious! Thanks so much for sharing!
So happy you liked it! Hopefully a cookbook in the future 🙂 thanks for your note!
Love this easy recipe!
such a good way to use up orange juice!
everything look delious
I was surprised at how good this was. I thought it would be just “meh” but using the fresh oranges really made it so good!
Absolutely! It adds such a delicious brightness.
This was a crowd pleaser. I have three growing boys and they all dug right in and asked for seconds. I doubled the chicken and added additional veggies including carrots & mushrooms and I used frozen riced cauliflower. I will definitely use this in my regular rotation. So so good! Thank you for the recipe!! Happy Mom here!!
Amazing! So happy to hear that. Love the idea of some extra veggies + mushrooms!
Such a great recipe to make when I’m craving take out, but I want something a little lighter. I used orange juice from the carton for this and it turned out great. One of my favorite AK recipes. The red paper flakes give it such a good kick.
Absolutely! Love that.
Soooo delicious!! Will definitely be making again soon.
Glad you enjoyed!
This recipe is awesome! Using fresh orange juice makes it so much less sugary and fake tasting than when using marmalade. I served this with regular jasmine rice, used less chicken, and added more veggies.
Absolutely. Glad you loved it!
Move over Chinese takeout! Guilt free meal with great flavor.
Absolutely!
Very tasty! Next time I will add more veggies like others suggested. I’d probbly double the sauce as well. I had to serve with white rice because my son loves it. He also loved this and ate it up! Thank you!
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed and that you son loved it, too!
I’ve made this before but want to skip using the red pepper flakes so my 3 year old will eat it. Has anyone tried that before? I’m worried it will be too sweet.
Leaving out the red pepper flakes should be fine!
Hit the spot for Chinese cravings!
YUM! another winner! This was REALLY flavorful and delicious. Just enough orange flavor to be interesting without overpowering the other ingredients. I made a few quarantine-time substitutions, most notably I used pork instead of chicken and sugar snap peas instead of beans. I didn’t have quite enough orange juice so I added a tablespoon of orange marmalade and coconut water to make up the volume. Lastly, I threw in some sliced shiitake because I love them. I feel a little bad leaving a review when I made so many modifications, but the spirit of the recipe was absolutely in mind, even if I didn’t have all the ingredients at hand. I’ll definitely be making it again.
Perfect! This one’s great for customizing 🙂 glad you enjoyed!
I’ve made this a few times now, it’s amazing, better than takeout and I love that you can surprise it with any veggies you want! Amazing recipe!
This dish is SO flavorful! To cut down my preparation time, I used H‑E‑B’s prepared cauliflower rice as well as their fresh-squeezed orange juice. I think I could’ve used half the amount of honey, as it was pretty sweet. Still SO delicious! I’ll definitely be making this again.
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed!
Excellent!!!!!! Regular meal for us!
So happy to hear that!
I made this tonight with my 7 year old son. We are a family of 6 and everyone loved it! The flavor was delicious! Simple and family pleasing….thank you for a great option!
Prettt solid. Very orangey so be prepared for that
Glad you enjoyed!
This was so great! I doubled the recipe and cooked the chicken in a cast iron in the oven 400f for 15 min after searing on the stovetop for 5 min on med high. I’ll definitely make this again, but might try bottled oj next time. Juicing all those oranges took a long time 😂 served over jasmine rice. Will probably 1.5x the sauce on the next try as well, it was so good! Would’ve loved to have more to drizzle on the rice.
I always love your recipes Monique! Everything is so darn good! I’ve made this several times. My teenage son LOVES it… I double it because I know better now! This is so flavorful and an easy meal to make. It’s one of our go to dinners!
We will definitely make this again. My son, normally a picky eater, loved it. Healthy, flavorful, and satisfying, this will be in our normal dinner rotation.
Amazing! So happy to hear that.
Loved this recipe! Only used one orange for juice- very delicious, thicker sauce, very flavourful!
love this recipe! it’s become my go to for a quick, healthy weeknight meal
My husband and I really liked this recipe. The kids were surprised they liked the cauliflower rice! I used liquid aminos instead of soy sauce and I didn’t use fresh squeezed orange juice. I also left out the cashews because we didn’t have any! Very tasty and healthy.
Perfect! Glad it was a hit!
This dish not only tastes delicious, it is beautiful as well! I was tired of my usual stir fry flavor and this was just what I was looking for. The orange flavor is DELICIOUS and made my kitchen smell delicious too. We are trying to eat more vegetables and eat very healthy and this was all that. The only thing I changed was that I did 1 whole red pepper and added a whole yellow as well. My husband’s only request was that I cut the green beans smaller next time. I used honey instead of agave. I will definitely make again.
Love that! So glad you enjoyed 🙂
Honestly, hands down the BEST stir-fry sauce!! Furious I am only discovering it now!! Will definitely make again and wouldn’t change a thing!
Note: I didn’t have any coconut oil so I simply added some unsweetened desiccated coconut into my olive oil for the cauliflower rice and I worked perfectly!
So happy to hear that!!
Made this last night because we’ve been eating entirely too much takeout and were in the mood for something healthier. Oh my, the sauce was SO GOOD. Even my veggie-averse boyfriend gobbled it up. I modified it by using plain white rice, added thinly sliced carrots and used pre-cooked shredded chicken. Oh, and I doubled the red pepper flakes because we’re spice whores. #noregrets. This was so fast (especially with pre-cooked chicken) and flavorful and used things I always keep on hand. A keeper!
Amazing! So happy you both loved it 🙂 I’m all about that extra spice!
Will add a bit more zest next time to really bump up the orange flavor, but the consistency of the sauce was spot on! And loved the coconut cauliflower rice.
Sounds great! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Delicious! I love how easy and light this is! I got a little lazy with the cauliflower rice and just microwaved it, and it worked! Thank you for the recipe!
Glad to hear!! Thanks for the review, Rebecca!
Yummy! I only had one orange which yielded ~1/3 cup of juice but still tasted great. Next time would add more veggies since there was plenty of sauce.
So glad you enjoyed it! And yes you can definitely add more veggies — good call 🙂
Deliciousness! I’ve made this twice for my family and both times have been a big hit. My 2.5yo even loves it. I will continue to make!
The orange chicken portion was delish, but THE COCONUT CAULIFLOWER RICE. I did not know such flavor was possible for what I usually consider a sad substitute for rice. I used frozen bagged cauliflower rice which made it so easy.
Was looking for a new recipe to try for lunch and I’m so glad I found this one– so easy and delicious! The only changes were that I added some broccoli and used basmati rice instead of cauliflower. Definitely recommend!
I made the sauce, only, and took to a Chinese restaurant because I get sick from soy. I knew AK would have something delicious, gluten-free, and naturally sweetened. It was delicious and so much better than the restaurant’s sauce—thanks again!!
Glad you loved this one!
Made these a few days ago and it turned out SO GOOD! I used chicken thighs and served with Trader Joe’s veggie fried rice. Will definitely make again!
So happy to hear that!
This is such an easy recipe it is perfect for a weeknight! I added a bit more orange zest and juice to really give it the orange flavor.
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
I only made the chicken and veggies (no rice) and this was delicious!! I added a 1/2 TBSP on Sambal Olek to the sauce which added a nice subtle kick. I also didn’t have green beans, but used carrots instead and it was delicious. Super easy recipe to make and will definitely be making again!
Love that! Glad you enjoyed!
Love this meal so much!! Will definitely be making again. A healthy version of a classic favorite.
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed!
Hello there.
I was reading the reviews and saw this one that I pasted below.
Several people have also mentioned the cauliflower rice.
Just wondering if the things she mentions are part of an older version of the recipe?
Do you find this one better?
Thanks for your info.
Cheers.
Catherine says:
March 13, 2021
Note:” I didn’t have any coconut oil so I simply added some unsweetened desiccated coconut into my olive oil for the cauliflower rice” and I worked perfectly!
Hi Lynda! Yes, I recently updated this recipe to make it even better. The older version included coconut rice, which you’re still welcome to make! I prefer it with regular rice or my coconut rice recipe.
Made this tonight for dinner and it was delicious! Definitely a keeper. Served it with the coconut rice, switched veggies to broccoli and bokchoy. Great gluten free option.
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
Delicious Monique! We love stir-fries and this recipe will be in our regular rotation. Thanks for another great recipe!
So happy to hear that!
My favorite orange chicken recipe that I have made to date. I already want to make this again!
I’m so glad! Perfect weeknight dinner 🙂
LOVE this recipe! I’ve made it many times since purchasing the AK cookbook and made it again when I saw this published. The sauce wasn’t thick enough for me so I added a slurry and it immediately thickened up. The recipe is always a hit with kids and I sub in whatever veggies we have on hand. Thanks Monique!
So happy to hear that! Perfect meal prep dinner 🙂 I hope you’re loving the cookbook recipes, too!
This came out amazing! Used it for meal prep and froze the leftovers. Thank you for your great recipes!
I look forward to trying this! I’m wondering about cooking with sesame oil though. I always thought that sesame oil was more for finishing flavor, not cooking with (unless at very low heat). Can you please clarify? Thanks!
Wow! This recipe is absolutely delicious and has amazing orange flavor- much better than take out!!!