Skillet Baked Orange Chicken is crispy, juicy and bursting with orange fruity-flavor! If you’re looking for an easy weeknight dinner, this chicken recipe is the perfect choice. Bake and bread these chicken thighs in less than an hour!
So I’ve realized we eat a lot of chicken in my house. I honestly try and mix it up but I always come back to chicken. Tenders, shredded, salad, soup, on a bun, breasts, pasta-ed, casserolled…I mean there’s chicken everywhere round here.
I heard that they say pork is the “other white meat”. I really need to get on board with that, because I think we all might start growing feathers any day now. Weird.
Oven-Baked Orange Chicken Recipe
Anyhow, I’m always looking for new chicken recipes. And in this case it’s a new recipe for me, but it’s actually an old old one from a cookbook the PTA put together for a fundraiser when I was in Elementary school. My mom saved it and I have to say it’s one of my most favorite cookbooks to cook from. Everything is gloriously filled with condensed soup and imitation crab and called “Glorious” and “Surprise”. I lover love it.
But then there buried within the microwave recipes and jello molds are little treasures like this Orange Chicken. At first glance of the title I assumed it would be an Asian-type dish, but it isn’t! It’s a baked chicken with tons of flavor that tastes like it’s been fried, when it’s only been baked. Of course I switched it up a bit and added some spice, as well as baking it in cast iron skillet. You guys are gonna love this!
How to Make Orange Chicken in a Skillet:
Again, I used my skillet for this one. It’s a 10-incher. I use it so so much… But if you don’t have a skillet, the original recipe was made using a baking dish. I think a 9×13 would be fine.
First go ahead and juice some oranges. For sure you don’t HAVE to use fresh OJ…but really it’s a simple step and it’s just better. Plus, the citrus right now is ridicky.
Then zest some of your oranges to add into your breadcrumb mixture.
I used (bone-in) chicken thighs in this recipe, because I love thighs, but I know you could do this with breasts, legs or even boneless thighs or breasts…you’ll just have to adjust the bake time a bit.
Dip your thighs in a mixture of your fresh OJ and lightly beaten eggs and then into a breadcrumb mixture that I amped up with the zest, thyme, smoked paprika and cayenne!
Melt some butter your skillet and then place your breaded thighs in the skillet, turning them to coat them in the butter. I threw in my orange rinds to add a bit of extra flavor and also because it’s pretty.
Pop them in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Flip the thighs over and bake for another 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
They will be crispy and super flavorful!
They taste like they’ve been deep fried…but WAY less work and tons more flavor!
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Orange Chicken
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
- Total Time: 55 mins
- Yield: serves 6-8 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
Skillet Baked Orange Chicken is crispy, juicy and bursting with orange fruity-flavor! If you’re looking for an easy weeknight dinner, this chicken recipe is the perfect choice. Bake and bread these chicken thighs in less than an hour!
Ingredients
- 8 chicken thighs, bone-in (skin removed)
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup fresh squeezed orange juice, save orange rinds
- 1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp dried thyme (or 1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme
- 1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
- 2 tsp orange zest
- 8 Tbsp butter
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F
- Remove skin from chicken thighs. Season with salt and pepper.
- In a shallow bowl whisk eggs and stir in orange juice. Set aside.
- Combine breadcrumbs, thyme, smoked paprika and orange zest in another shallow bowl.
- Dip your chicken thighs in the egg mixture and then coat in the breadcrumbs.
- In a large oven safe skillet melt the butter. Place chicken evenly in the skillet once butter is melted, turn to coat the chicken in the butter. Place reserved orange rinds in the pan.
- Bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes remove pan from the oven and turn the chicken over and continue to cook for 20 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 thigh
- Calories: 324
- Sugar: 1.3 g
- Sodium: 193.5 mg
- Fat: 19.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 4.9 g
- Protein: 31.7 g
- Cholesterol: 217.1 mg
You gotta love those old classic cookbooks! I am drooling over your dish…great photos 😀
I have everything to make this. But concerned about the butter burning. Is it a problem at all?
Nope, because the breadcrumbs absorb most of the butter, which helps make them crispy 🙂
My mom also saved a cookbook for me that was put together by the PTA when I was in school. So thoughtful of her! Like you, I have found a lot of gems in there.
Delicious! It’s always fun to discover a new recipe!
Hey, Shelly, I love your orange zester. Do you mind telling me where you purchased it?
It’s a microplane and I can’t remember, it’s been so long, but I am sure I got it on amazon 🙂
Wow, yum! I am surprised it’s not an Asian recipe, like you said. But what a fun change of pace! Those old school cookbooks are the best! I have one from my when my dad was young. My Grandma submitted a recipe called War Cake and one of the first ingredients is … lard! Yuma-numa 😉
HA! That cake is going to war on your arteries 🙂 love it!
Going to try this, looks so good!!
I defiantly want to try this with fresh oranges but I bet it would be good with lemons too (especially if you have those already on hand). Yum!
I’m going to try this tonight! It looks so good.
Those kinds of “homemade” cookbooks are the most fun, I love them. Recipe looks wonderful. Thank you so much!