The Edgy Veg

Vegan Orange Chicken
Homemade vegan orange chicken recipe with soy curls, sitting on a bed of white rice and topped with sesame seeds and green onions.

Vegan Orange Chicken RecipeYou lovely folks have been requesting an Orange Chicken recipe forever! I have finally given in a recreated this Panda Express favourite. This Budget-friendly vegan dinner is much healthier than the Panda Express counterpart and is made in under 30 mins! It’s a quick and easy week day dinner recipe that everyone will enjoy. Making vegan copy-cat recipes of popular Chinese takeout-style recipes has become my new obsession. Once I have perfected the Chinese fried rice- I will be sharing that as well. Yummy!

This crispy, sticky, tangy orange chicken is so much better than Panda because it’s made with soy curls! I’ve been dying to use soy curls in a recipe and figured why not now! The soy curls have such a similar texture to chicken, and take the flavour of whatever you marinate, or cook it with!

To cook the soy curls simply, pour them into a large bowl and cover with vegetable broth or vegan chicken-style broth and set aside to soak for 10 mins. This will soften them and give them flavour.

While you’re waiting for that, you can prepare the delicious orange chicken sauce. Whisk together orange juice, orange zest, coconut sugar, 2 tbsp soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, grated ginger, and if you like it spicy- sriracha. Then transfer half of the sauce into a large bowl or plastic zipper bag.
Drain the soy curls well and press them firmly with paper towels to remove as much moisture as possible. Using your hands is best here. Then add the rehydrated soy curls to the bowl with the sauce and toss to coat them completely. If you are not pressed for time, allow to marinate from 1 hour to overnight- If you are pressed for time, allow to marinate until needed. Like while you cook your rice.

When you’re ready, heat 2 tbsp oil in a large skillet or wok over medium high heat. Add the saucy soy curls to the skillet and cook until heated through and slightly crispy. Or really crispy if you like them that way. Remove soy curls from the skillet and reduce heat to medium-low and add the remaining sauce to the skillet along with a cornstarch slurry. Cook stirring frequently until the mixture thickens about 1-2 minutes. Add the cooked soy curls, green onions and toss to coat. The serve, divide cooked rice between 4 bowls or plates (about 1 cup per dish) and top with cooked soy curls. Garnish with sesame seeds and extra sliced green onions and voila! Dinner is served.

vegan orange chicken recipe

5.0 from 7 reviews
Orange Chicken with Soy Curls | Vegan recipe
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
This tangy vegan orange chicken is so much better than Panda Express and only takes 25 mins to prepare. Perfect for a quick dinner after school or work.
Author:
Recipe type: Dinner
Cuisine: Chinese
Serves: 4
Ingredients

Orange Sauce
Instructions
  1. Rinse rice well in a fine mesh sieve until the water runs almost clear.
  2. Place rice and 1 ¾ cups water in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil.
  3. Once boiling, turn the heat down as low as possible and cover with a lid.
  4. Cook on low for 15 mins, without removing the lid.
  5. Meanwhile, pour soy curls into a large bowl and cover with vegetable broth or vegan chicken-style broth and set aside to soak for 10 mins.
  6. After 15 mins, remove rice from heat and use a fork to fluff up the rice and let it sit for 5 mins to dry out. Cover until ready to use.
  7. Meanwhile, prepare the sauce by whisking together orange juice, orange zest, coconut sugar, 2 tbsp soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, grated ginger, and if you like it spicy- sriracha.
  8. Transfer ½ of the sauce to a large bowl or plastic zipper bag.
  9. Drain the soy curls well and press them firmly with paper towels to remove as much moisture as possible.
  10. Add the rehydrated soy curls to the bowl with the sauce and toss to coat. If you are not pressed for time, allow to marinate from 1 hour to overnight. if you are pressed for time, allow to marinate until needed
  11. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large skillet or wok over medium high heat.
  12. Add the saucy soy curls to the skillet and cook until heated through and slightly crispy.
  13. Remove soy curls from the skillet and reduce heat to medium-low.
  14. Add reserved sauce to the skillet along with cornstarch slurry, and cook stirring frequently until the mixture thickens about 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.
  15. Add cooked soy curls, green onions and toss to coat.
  16. Divide rice between 4 bowl or plate (about 1 cup per dish) and top with cooked soy curls.
  17. Garnish with sesame seeds and extra sliced green onions.

 

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  • Diane Diakakis says:

    When do you add the remaining 2 tablespoons of soy sauce? The recipe calls for 4 tablespoons but directions call out to add 2 tablespoons in with the sauce. Is it supposed to be all of the soy sauce into the sauce all at once?? I like the recipe.!

    • EdgyVeg says:

      Hi Diane,
      You can add the 2tblsp of soy sauce for marinate and add the rest for after. Hope this helps!

  • Elise A Ching says:

    Question about the amount of soy sauce the recipe calls for. The Ingredient list says 4 tablespoons; however the Instructions (Step 7) says to use 2 T for the sauce. Which is it? 2 or 4? Thanks!

  • PLEASE ADD ME TO YOUR LIST

    • Hi Damon, I just checked my list and it says your email was already on my newsletter list. Maybe check your spam folders and whitelist my email 🙂

  • Can’t wait to try this! Just made a Mongolian beef recipe with soy curls that I found online, and I kept telling my husband, “This is just like we ordered Chinese!” One big takeaway from that “beef” recipe was to put the rehydrated curls on a baking sheet (I used a Silpat to avoid oiling the baking sheet) and baking it for 15 to 20 minutes at 375 degrees F before marinating them (or adding them directly to a sauce). This gave the curls a slightly chewier, meatlike feel. Going to do it for your orange chicken version too. Thanks much!

  • First thing I ever made with Soy Curls. I absolutely loved it! Went back for thirds. I tossed the second batch with some cornstarch before I fried it to give it some extra crunch.

  • Caroline says:

    This was fantastic! Made as written, but used coconut aminos instead of soy sauce and added some minced garlic. The fresh orange zest really makes this recipe! Even my meat eating husband gave this a double thumbs up! Thanks!

    • Elise A Ching says:

      Question about the amount of soy sauce the recipe calls for. The Ingredient list says 4 tablespoons; however the Instructions (Step 7) says to use 2 T for the sauce. Which is it? 2 or 4? Thanks!

  • Can we make this recipe without using oil?

  • Cara Greene says:

    My husband and I are transitioning to a primarily vegan diet. I just made this and it is fantastic! I added a few veggies (red and yellow carrots, mushrooms, onions, sugar snap peas as well as water chestnuts) and used brown rice. Has anyone done a nutritional analysis on this? I am going to attempt to, but if anyone has done it already it would be great. This is definitely going to be a regular meal!

  • Made this dish and it was loved by all who ate it. The only thing I did differently was to soak mu soy curls, which I’ve been using for a few years, in water with one tbsp of Bell’s poultry seasoning adding more of the seasoning when I sauteed the soaked soy curls. No one who ate the dish realized it was vegan before I told them.

  • Looks delicious! Can’t wait to try it. 🙂

  • Bethany says:

    Hi do you have to use coconut sugar? I can’t seem to find it anywhere! This recipe looks so amazing! My soy curls are already soaking. 🙂

  • Lovely delicious meal,especially the use of soy curls.

  • Rita Duman says:

    I have a large bag of soy curls 3# and I have about 1 1/2# left. You recipe doesn’t tell how many soy curls to use. Help!

  • Hi Candice, my husband and I have just completely switched to a plant-based vegan diet and therefore, came across your blog and recipes. Soy curls! I love it!! Thank you for the fantastic recipes. ❤️❤️❤️

  • I am vegan and left chicken but after seeing your recipe i have already water in my mouth. BTW, i am writing for vegans at http://www.beegans.com/, check out if love vegan.

  • So delicious! Orange chicken used to be my favorite Chinese takeout dish. I really want to replicate this!

  • Hi Candice, just made your Orange Chicken with Soy Curls and we were blown away! I used vegan ‘chicken’ and dry fried the sesame seeds too but otherwise followed your recipe to a T. Would definitely recommend and can’t wait to receive your cookbook.

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