Trader Joe’s Copycat Crispy Orange Chicken
Trader Joe’s Mandarin Orange Chicken is a crowd favorite, so I knew I had to recreate it at home! This copycat recipe delivers all the amazing things you love about the original: bold flavors, a thick orange sauce, and crispy, juicy chicken. It’s gluten and dairy-free, too! While this recipe takes a little extra prep time, it’s worth every minute. You can even prep it in stages to fit your schedule. Trust me, once you try this homemade version, it’ll become a regular in your dinner rotation!
trader joe’s copy cat crispy orange chicken Ingredient Notes:
Chicken Thighs: Boneless, skinless chicken thighs work best for this recipe because they stay juicy and flavorful. If you prefer, you can substitute chicken breast, but keep an eye on the cooking time to avoid dryness.
Coconut Aminos: A gluten-free alternative to soy sauce that adds a slightly sweet, savory flavor. Low-sodium soy sauce works as a substitute but reduce or omit the added salt. Speaking of, Trader Joe’s has one of my favorite coconut aminos, and on busy filming days I’ve found myself going through an entire bottle in just one day!
Tapioca Flour: This creates a light, crispy coating for the chicken and thickens the sauce. You can substitute arrowroot powder or cornstarch, but results may vary slightly. While being naturally gluten-free, tapioca flour is also easily digestible making it a good alternative for anyone with food sensitivities.
Fresh Oranges: The staple ingredient of orange chicken, I like to use freshly squeezed orange juice for the best flavor. Bottled juice will work in a pinch, but won’t have the same bright taste. You’ll also be using both the juice and zest of the oranges to avoid waste and maximize that orangey goodness.
Sriracha: If you want to keep the sauce sweet, feel free to omit, but I like to add a bit of sriracha for that extra kick. If you really like spice, you can also top off your bowl with an extra drizzle!
Trader Joe’s Copycat Crispy Orange Chicken
4
servings35
minutes20
minutes30
minutesTrader Joe’s Mandarin Orange Chicken is a crowd favorite, so I knew I had to recreate it at home! This copycat recipe delivers all the amazing things you love about the original: bold flavors, a thick orange sauce, and crispy, juicy chicken. It’s gluten and dairy-free, too! While this recipe takes a little extra prep time, it’s worth every minute. You can even prep it in stages to fit your schedule. Trust me, once you try this homemade version, it’ll become a regular in your dinner rotation!
Keep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
- For the Marinade
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2 cup coconut aminos (or reduced-sodium tamari or reduced-sodium soy sauce)
3 tablespoons tapioca flour
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon sriracha
3 garlic cloves, grated or finely minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt (omit if using tamari or soy sauce)
- For the Coating
2 cups tapioca flour
Avocado oil, for frying
- For the Orange sauce
1 teaspoon tapioca flour
Juice of 2 oranges (about 1/2 cup)
Zest of 1 orange
1/4 cup coconut aminos (or reduced-sodium tamari or reduced-sodium soy sauce)
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sriracha (optional)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
3 garlic cloves, grated or finely minced
1 tablespoon minced ginger (can sub 1 teaspoon ground ginger)
- For serving
sesame seeds
green onions, thinly sliced
1 cup dry white rice, cooked
Directions
- Cut the chicken into 1-inch to 1.5-inch cubes using kitchen shears or a knife and place in a mixing bowl.
- Marinate the chicken: Add the marinade ingredients: the coconut aminos, tapioca flour, sesame oil, sriracha, garlic, and salt to the bowl of chicken. Toss coat. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes, or up to 12 hours, covered.
- Add the tapioca flour to a large bowl and remove chicken from the refrigerator. While the chicken marinates, make the orange sauce: add the tapioca flour and 1 tablespoon warm water to a small bowl or jar and stir until the flour is dissolved and the water is milky white. Add the orange juice and zest, coconut aminos, maple syrup, rice vinegar, and sriracha. Mix well and set aside until step 7.
- Coat the chicken: Add the tapioca flour to a large bowl and remove chicken from the refrigerator. Drop 4 to 5 pieces of chicken at a time into the bowl with tapioca flour, shaking off any dripping liquid before dropping into the flour. Fully coat the chicken pieces with tapioca flour and transfer to a clean plate. Continue to work in batches of 4 to 5 pieces of chicken until it is all coated. Discard the remaining marinade and any leftover flour.
- Set the floured chicken in the freezer for at least 15 minutes to allow the tapioca flour to fully adhere to the chicken. Meanwhile, prepare the rice according to package instructions or follow my steamed rice recipe: Place 1 cup of rice in a fine-mesh sieve and run under cold water for about 30 seconds. Let the water drain thoroughly and gently shake the sieve to remove any dripping water. Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a 1½- quart pot. Add the rice, cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook until the rice is fluffy, 15 to 18 minutes. Season to taste with salt.
- Fry the chicken: Fill a large, deep skillet with about an inch avocado oil on medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the chicken in a single layer, being careful not to crowd the pan (work in batches). Fry for 2 to 4 minutes on each side, until browned and crispy, and the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F. Transfer the cooked chicken to a wire rack or paper towel lined plate to drain excess grease.
- Carefully wipe the excess oil from the skillet used for frying and return to medium heat. Add the sesame oil, garlic, and ginger and stir constantly for 30 seconds. Pour in the orange sauce and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring frequently until thickened, remove from heat and add back the chicken. Toss until the chicken is coated in the sauce.
- For best results, serve immediately with the cooked rice and garnish with sesame seeds and sliced green onion.
Notes
- Store it: Refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 3 days.
- Reheat it: Reheat in a skillet over medium heat to retain crispiness.
- Freezing the chicken: Ensures the coating sticks and stays crispy when fried.
- Cooking in batches: Prevents overcrowding, ensuring even frying.
- Adjust the sauce: If the sauce thickens too much, whisk in warm water, one tablespoon at a time.
- To cut down on time, use a pre-made orange sauce like Kevin’s.
Did you make this recipe?
Snap a photo & tag @jenneatsgoood on INSTAGRAM
If you try out this recipe, I want to know!
Leave a comment with a star rating below if you love it.
Can you substitute tapioca flour with potato starch or corn starch?
She says in the video you can sub cornstarch or arrowroot starch for the tapioca flour.
could you make this in an air fryer?
I haven’t tried it myself, but if you followed up to step 4 and then air fried in batches rather than frying in oil, I think it would work! Then continue on by making the sauce the same way. Let me know if you try it!
Not trying to nitpick with this I swear, but when you said “Make the orange sauce”, I mixed all the ingredients together in a bowl. I didn’t realize that there were instructions next telling me HOW to make the orange sauce. Lesson learned – read all directions prior to starting! 😜 A colon after the word “sauce” may have prevented me from making that mistake though. Also – what water? I don’t see water in the list of ingredients.
Hi Christina! I updated those to colons per your request 🙂 Apologies for the confusion, but mixing all those ingredients together shouldn’t impact the sauce all that much so you should be fine. The water is mixed with the tapioca starch! Although if you mixed everything at one time you wouldn’t need it.
I was truly disappointed in this recipe. Once the crispy chicken goes into the sauce it loses all of that crisp. Also leftovers the next day were even worse. So soggy & gel-like I had to throw away the rest of the batch. You can’t really remake the classic Trader Joe’s orange chicken
Hi Beth! I’m sorry to hear the recipe didn’t meet your expectations. While I understand what you’re saying, the method of first frying and then adding the chicken to sauce is the standard method for making a dish like this and some of crisp is inevitably lost when that step occurs. It’s a gluten-free recipe as well so as with all GF recipes, crispiness typically won’t match 100% of a gluten-full recipe. The purpose of the recipe is to give people who can’t have the original recipe due to allergies or intolerances an opportunity to make something similar. I explain a lot of this in the video too. Again, sorry to hear you were upset with it.
Would you be able to leave them coated with flour and in the freezer for a day or two?
I have not tested this, typically I don’t freeze for longer than needed to get the flour to stick only because defrosting them frying can be a little trickier for timing!
I thought this recipe was delicious! Even my gluten-eating sister loved it. Thank you so much!! How would you recommend heating up the leftovers?
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!! I’d reheat it in a saute pan on low heat, or you could air fry on 350F for about 10 minutes or until crispy and warmed through
First let me say this is delicious. It turned out crispy and amazing and the sauce is really good. However read all of the steps before you commit to making it. In my head I was thinking it would be as fast as the TJ orange chicken (obviously I didn’t think this through) so not a quick weeknight dinner. But would be great for a date night or it would be really easy to make a huge batch for a potluck or holiday meal.
Loved this one!! The chicken was perfectly crisp. Can’t wait for more remake recipes!
I made this with what I had, meaning cornstarch ( weirdly no tapioca flour at the store!) canola oil and white wine vinegar, because I thought I had both avocado oil and rice wine vinegar at home. Anyway! This was freaking DELISH. I’m going to try air frying next time just because, but I’d make times again in a second. Another winner, Jenn Lucky! (That’s what I call you in my head since I don’t know how to pronounce your last name.) Thanks!
I tried this and it worked great!
made this tonight and it was a big hit!
This was sooo good! I made it in my air fryer with parchment paper until they were golden. Used cornstarch instead of tapioca flour, served with jasmine rice and veggies. Made extra cooked chicken to put in salads during the week. A new hit in our house!
This was incredible!!!! Wow! My husband doesn’t love Asian food and he loved this!
This is so good. My husband isn’t gluten free and requests it regularly. I have tried several gluten free orange chicken recipes and this one takes more work but it is worth it.
Substitution caution! I used arrowroot for both the orange sauce AND the coating since it was all I had on hand. Not a great idea – the flavor of the final result was amazing, but the final texture was incredibly gelatinous and hard to eat. Just an FYI for anyone else needing to do subs. Can’t wait to try again with tapioca or cornstarch (or maybe regular flour if GF is not needed) for the coating.
12/12/25 4.5 stars
Would make again. I have a chicken allergy so used turkey cutlets. Attempted the air fryer but didn’t like the result so fried the pieces briefly in oil after 10 mins at 350 in the air fryer. So crispy! Better result than frying alone. You also don’t need to freeze the chicken first if you air fry. Freezing the meat just defeats the crunch you want. Hubby loved.
*Note to Jenn- would love to have the recipe rewritten to be less confusing when making sauce. 3 listed ingredients don’t go into the sauce bowl itself.
I’m not a huge chicken fan and I haven’t had “fast food” in years since I had to cut out gluten. This was soooo good and I can’t wait to make it again.