11 Frozen Orange Chicken Brands Ranked Worst To Best
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There are many ways to have chicken for dinner. You can have it grilled, fried, as a wing, shredded on a sandwich, or even cold cut in a salad. Another option is to have orange chicken, a bright, orange colored chicken dish that originates from southern central China. To make orange chicken, you marinate diced chicken in an orange sauce, bread and fry it, add more orange sauce, and then presto — you have yourself some quality orange chicken, perfect to be served alongside some sliced up scallions, and some rice of your choosing.
That is, of course, if you have the time to spend all that time marinating and preparing a home-cooked meal. For some people, time is a luxury, and when you don't have a lot of time to spend cooking in a kitchen, the ability to quickly heat up a ready-prepared meal in the microwave or oven is a blessing in disguise. As the popularity of frozen foods has risen, so has the number of meal options. This is the same for frozen orange chicken meals, and there are numerous orange chicken meals to select from these days.
We want to help you figure out which orange chicken brand will give you an authentic, delicious taste, and leave you wanting more. To do this, we have compiled a list of different frozen orange chickens that are commonly found in stores, and ranked them from worst to best.
11. Smart Ones Flavorful Asian Inspirations Orange Sesame Chicken
Orange chicken is not the healthiest way to eat your chicken — it's fried chicken with orange sauce, after all. If you want some healthy chicken, you're best going for something that is grilled. However, having a healthier choice when it comes to frozen chicken allows people who may have underlying health issues to still enjoy some variety in their dishes. With this, healthier options for frozen orange chicken meals have sprung up, and they are highly beneficial to those who are trying to watch their weight, but still also want a taste of some Chinese orange chicken.
Even if you are trying to pay attention to your health, we wouldn't suggest trying Smart Ones Flavorful Asian Inspirations Orange Sesame Chicken. While this boxed dish sports 11 grams of protein, and brightly colored vegetables paired with brown rice and orange chicken, this product was severely lacking in the taste department. Reviews for this product aren't all that great either, with Amazon buyers comparing it to soup, or saying that the chicken "is moderately flavorless and has a spongy texture." We did get something out of this, though: now, we can tell you that if you're looking for frozen orange chicken meals that are also healthy, there are better options on this list.
10. Schwan's Mandarin Orange Chicken
The first thing that springs to mind when you think of food delivery is likely something like a pizza, or some other take-out food. Frozen food delivery is likely not even the second option that springs to mind, but believe us: it exists. Frozen food delivery services such as Schwan's Home Delivery have been around since 1952, and have delivered frozen meals options to homes for almost 70 years now. They have numerous frozen foods to choose from, one being Schwan's Mandarin Orange Chicken.
This frozen orange chicken is listed as not having any preservatives or artificial coloring, and ready to eat after being placed in an oven for less than a half hour. This sauce is also described as being made out of real mandarin oranges, suggesting the sauce should have a citrus-y taste to it. However, Orange chicken lovers who have tried this product are majorly disappointed by this chicken, with many reviews on Schwan's website having multiple things to complain about regarding the chicken. From an overbearing ginger taste in the sauce to chicken pieces that are too little to properly enjoy, we won't be trying orange chicken from Schwan's again.
9. P.F. Chang's Sichuan Style Orange Chicken
If you're familiar with Asian take-out and cuisine, then it's almost impossible for you not to have heard of P.F. Chang's. This Asian chain restaurant took the country by storm, opening in 1993. Aside from its 210+ stores across America, it also has over 95 restaurants across the globe. With its popularity only on the rise, there should be no surprise that P.F. Chang's would expand to offer frozen meals in stores, and have an entry on this list, that being P.F. Chang's Sichuan Style Orange Chicken Bowl.
This Orange Chicken Bowl comes with chicken, bell peppers, kale, spinach, black and white rice, scallions, all in a Sichuan-style orange sauce. The box also claims that it isn't all that processed, with no artificial ingredients included. Despite the amazing taste you can find inside a P.F. Chang's restaurant, we found that their frozen orange chicken bowl had an off-coloring, and tasted average for a microwaveable meal. While we would have liked to have ranked this higher, there were other frozen orange chickens that would suffice. If you want P.F. Chang's, we recommend going to the actual restaurant.
8. Fusia Asian Inspirations Mandarin Orange (Aldi's)
We could talk about Aldi's all day. This German originating grocery store chain opened its first U.S. location in Iowa around 1976, and has been offering the public low-priced, quality goods ever since. Aldi's does its best to keep some of the most commonly bought store items in stock, and has a wide variety of dairy, bread, meats, and other food products for customers to choose from. It should come as no surprise that Aldi's carried two different Chinese frozen chicken bags, one being Fusia Asian Inspirations Mandarin Orange.
While we love the low prices we can find at Aldi's, we didn't entirely love this frozen orange chicken. The amount of chicken in a single bag could probably feed about two people at best, being a bag of about 26 ounces. Despite having a bit more chicken, we found that it didn't taste as citrus-y as orange chicken dishes we could get at restaurants, and while it was on the crispier side, we had to pay close attention to make sure this chicken didn't burn. (And if you prefer crispier orange chicken, then this is great for you.) While this particular frozen orange chicken offering wasn't bad by any means, we were hoping for a little bit more out of Aldi's.
7. Crazy Cuizine Mandarin Orange Chicken
"Crazy Quick! Crazy Good!" That's one of the mottos of the Crazy Cuisine brand. Through the Crazy Cuisine Brand, Day-Lee Foods offers a variety of frozen Asian entrees, including another frozen Mandarin Orange Chicken pack to combine with vegetables, as well as rice or noodles. This frozen meat is branded in a box with a large pile of juicy-looking, delicious orange chicken, and can either be bought as 22 ounces or 42-66 ounces at Costco. This was a decent tasting frozen chicken, and it definitely looked the part. It was a golden-orange color, and covered in a bread coating, yet still tender.
When added to some rice and cooked vegetables, it definitely gave us something resembling a good home-cooked meal. However, one aspect that we felt this mandarin frozen chicken lacked was the taste of mandarin orange. This chicken tasted like a basic orange chicken, despite being labeled as having that citrus hint in the sauce. To our displeasure, the mandarin was almost non-existent, which would have been fine if it wasn't labeled as a mandarin orange chicken. But because it was, we felt like we were missing something out of this meat.
6. Tai Pei Frozen Orange Chicken Bowl
If you're constantly browsing the frozen meal aisles of grocery stores, you likely recognize the shelves and the meals on them like the back of your hands. If this is you, then you've likely laid your eyes on Tai Pei's Frozen Orange Chicken Bowl. Unlike other Orange Chicken options on this list, this is a single-serving of chicken, but includes sliced vegetables including broccoli, red peppers, and carrots. There is also pre-fried rice that, with the chicken and vegetables, is all covered in orange sauce. This bowl just needs to go in a microwave for about five minutes before being ready to enjoy.
We really liked that the rice, vegetables, and chicken were in a single bowl, all ready to go, and easy to prepare. The red peppers added a nice kick to the meal as a whole, and the fried rice was full of flavor. The chicken itself was rather small, but what was there was pretty great. If you're looking for an orange chicken bowl that's quick and easy to prepare, then we suggest this as your go-to brand, and you pick some up from Giant or Walmart today.
5. Gardein Mandarin Orange Crispy Plant-Based Chick'n, Vegan
We applaud anyone trying to live a healthy vegan lifestyle. It is extremely difficult to find satisfying meals that contain no animal products, but in doing so, vegans have the ability to lose weight through their diet, attain lower levels of blood sugar, and decrease chances of heart disease, among several other health benefits. It may come as a shock that there is a vegan option of frozen orange chicken on this list, but Gardein Mandarin Orange Crispy Plant-Based Chick'n can fit into any aspiring or current vegan's weekly meals. Going vegan is admirable, and what is equally as amazing is the taste of this plant-based chicken. Going into this, we assumed that because it wasn't actual orange chicken, this wouldn't taste like orange chicken.
Fortunately, we were wrong, and this was one of the better vegan products we have tried. While there wasn't a microwave option, we were able to easily pop this into an oven, and the small orange chicken pieces came out juicy and flavorful! While it doesn't taste exactly like orange chicken, it is extremely close and a favorite to many. Amazon reviews go as far to say that meat-eaters who have tried it were fooled as well, and that this was their "FAV vegan meal." The only thing that disappointed us was the small amount of orange "chicken" that was in each bag — we wished there had been more.
4. Yangs 5th Taste Mandarin Orange Chicken
Yangs 5th Taste Mandarin Orange Chicken will have you yearning for more after you take a bite of this oven-baked orange chicken. Yangs 5th Taste is a Southern California-based brand that seeks to offer authentic Chinese dishes and foods to "commercial and non-commercial settings," such as school campuses and grocery stores. The bags of Mandarin Orange Chicken sport a fiery colored covering, and are branded as juicy, crispy, and doused in a mandarin orange sauce. Yang's Mandarin Orange Chicken did not disappoint and was just as crisp, juicy, and tangy as we hoped.
The beautifully orange-brown chicken blended the citrus of the mandarin and the tenderness of the chicken meat incredibly, garnering quite the following for this brand. Reviews for this product on Alison's Pantry are overly positive, with people comparing it to Panda Express's orange chicken, and claiming that the flavor of the chicken "is to die for and everyone just loves it," and we agree. If you're looking for a good orange mandarin chicken, Yangs 5th Taste will satisfy your taste buds.
3. InnovAsian Orange Chicken
If you want an innovative frozen orange chicken, easy to microwave, with enough chicken to feed a family of four, then InnovAsian has you covered. InnovAsian was established in the '90s, and since then, has wanted to give more cuisine options to people eating frozen meals. Specifically, they wanted to give people more Asian-based food options so their only exposure to it wouldn't be through dining out, or trying to make it at home. InnovAsian's Orange Chicken is a 36-ounce box of juicy tempura chicken glazed in a sweet-tasting orange sauce. This orange and white box of chicken is easy to find in your local grocery stores, and easy to make.
This meat can be prepared at home in a microwave, in an oven, and even pan-fried. Microwaving the chicken gets the job done the quickest (7 minutes), while baking it in the oven (24 minutes) will give you a more crispy result. Whether it was baked, fried, or microwaved, this chicken wasn't messing around. It was just as good as what you could get at an authentic Asian cuisine restaurant, and there was enough to feed multiple people, or treat oneself to seconds. Tasty, tender, and affordable, we highly recommend you try this product out.
2. Lean Cuisine Bowls Orange Chicken
When we said there were other options for a healthier, better, and tastier frozen orange chicken brand, we weren't lying. Lean Cuisine Bowls Orange Chicken is a delicious, but health-friendly dish that offers the prospect of a delicious bowl of orange chicken, rice, peppers, and a sweet-spicy orange sauce — all in a single bowl, for just 350 calories. Preparation is easy as well, and it just needs to be popped into a microwave for five minutes total. With 16 grams of protein inside a box, you might be wondering if this product is too good to be true.
We are happy to let you know that this dish manages to capture the essence of good Chinese orange chicken while managing to keep a balanced, sensible meal. The chicken, rice, and vegetables are all flavorful, and are perfect as a weight management meal. This product is easy to find as well, and can be located in most frozen aisles of grocery stores, such as Target or Kroger. If you're looking for a good Asian chicken, but also want to be conscious of what you eat, then this bowl is perfect for you.
1. Trader Ming's Mandarin Orange Chicken
Aldi's and Costco aren't the only grocery stores that feature frozen orange chicken. Another location that has heads turning over its delicious products is none other than Trader Joe's, which offers its own mandarin orange chicken, branded as Trader Ming's Mandarin Orange Chicken. This orange and yellow bag of frozen chicken is about 22 ounces, and has been a competitor for Trader Joe's Customer Choice awards for several years, being hyped as one of the greatest items the store has offered. So there is no doubt that this orange chicken is a favorite to many, and one of the many reasons why this frozen chicken is at our #1 spot.
This Mandarin Orange Chicken certainly lives up to much of the hype as a delicious orange chicken, doused in a tangy-sweet mandarin sauce. We could definitely pick up the hints of citrus in the sauce, as well as a fresh balance of green onions, ginger, soy sauce, and garlic. Taste-wise, it's difficult to criticize this chicken. The biggest critique we have is that if you don't live close to a Trader Joe's, then you can only really purchase this product on Amazon for $48 per 2 packs. Regardless, this was an incredible frozen orange chicken meal, and we'd recommend purchasing this the next time you're at Trader Joe's.