Orange chicken (simplified Chinese: 陈皮鸡; traditional Chinese: 陳皮雞; Mandarin Pinyin: chénpí jī; Wade–Giles: ch'en²-p'i³-chi¹; Jyutping: gan4 pei4 gai1) is an American Chinese dish of Hunan origin. The variety of orange chicken most commonly found at North American fast food restaurants consists of chopped, battered, and fried chicken pieces coated in a sweet orange-flavored chili sauce, which thickens or caramelizes to a glaze. While the dish is very popular in the United States, it is most often found as a variation of General Tso's chicken rather than the authentic dish found in mainland China.
In most countries in the western hemisphere, the names "orange chicken", "orange peel chicken", and "tangerine chicken" are typically used for this particular dish. In Chinese, however, the dish is always known as "陈皮鸡", literally "old peel chicken", referring to dried orange or tangerine peel, which is used in traditional Chinese medicine as well as cooking. For restaurants outside of Asia, fresh orange peel is often used instead, or even no peel at all.
Read more about Orange Chicken: Recipes and Variations
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