Vegan Orange Chicken Recipe (soy curls)
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Seriously the best vegan orange chicken and rice made with soy curls and served with sautéed bok choy. A whole foods plant based, gluten free and oil free recipe that is sure to become a new family favorite.
Vegan Orange Chicken
A riff on our vegan chicken with broccoli recipe, this homemade version of a fast food favorite is not to be missed. You have air fried or baked soy curls with crispy edges swimming in a luscious homemade orange sauce. What’s not to love, right ?!
100% better than any takeout! Panda Express has nothing on this!
The Orange Sauce
- It’s a classic sticky sweet and sour sauce made with simple ingredients: orange juice, tamari, rice vinegar, sweetener, garlic and ginger with an optional pinch of chili flakes or hot sauce for heat.
- You can adapt sweetness and tanginess to your taste and use a compliant sweetener for WFPB and Plantricious guidelines compliance. Remember that maple syrup is allowed on WFPB diets but only date paste is Plantricious compliant.
- You’ll notice that my sauce doesn’t call for a slurry of cornstarch because it isn’t needed. The soy curls are already lightly coated in tapioca and as soon as you’ll add them to the sauce it will thicken it into a perfect glaze.
Recipe Variations
- Cauliflower. Simply replace the soy curls with cauliflower florets, bake at 450”F for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden around the edges then toss in the orange sauce. Alternatively you could make a batter of equal parts plant milk and whole wheat pastry flour to dip the cauliflower then toss them in some panko bread crumbs before baking for extra crispness.
- Tofu. Use one block (14 oz) of drained and pressed tofu torn or cut into pieces, coated in tapioca and air fried (or baked at 400”F for 25 minutes or so) before dipping it in the sauce. Easy peasy!
- Tempeh. A plain block of tempeh cut into strips or bite size pieces could also be used here if desired using the same recipe below.
what to serve with:
roasted broccoli
coconut spinach rice
vegan fried rice
ramen noodles or chow mein
inside lettuce wraps
peanut noodles
even mashed potatoes.
P.S. If you made this recipe don’t forget to come back here to rate it, snap a photo and tag me with #VeggieSociety on Instagram, it always makes my day ~ Florentina Xo’s
how to make vegan orange chicken
Vegan Orange Chicken Recipe (soy curls)
Seriously the best vegan orange chicken and rice made with soy curls and served with sautéed bok choy. A whole foods plant based, gluten free and oil free recipe that is sure to become a new family favorite.
Print Recipe
Ingredients
Orange Sauce
- 1 cup orange juice freshly squeezed
- 6 Tablespoons tamari
- 5 Tablespoons maple syrup or sugar (replace with date paste for Plantricious compliance)
- 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar (+ more to taste)
- 1 inch ginger root (peelt + grated)
- 2-3 cloves garlic grated
- zest from 1 orange
- 1 pinch red chili flakes optional to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your air fryer or oven to 375 “F.
- Soak the soy curls in hot water for 20 minutes then use your hands to squeeze out as much of the moisture as you can. (Feel free to break them into smaller bite size pieces if desired).
- Transfer to a mixing bowl and sprinkle with the tapioca (or cornstarch). Toss to coat well.
- Place your soy curls in the air fryer basket making sure to shake off any tapioca excess. (If using the oven method place on a parchment lined baking sheet preferably without touching each other).
- Air fry for 13 to 15 minutes until just crips around the edges.
Make the Orange Sauce
- Combine all of the sauce ingredients and add the sauce to a medium size skillet. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 20 seconds or so to tame the garlic.
- Add the air fried ( or baked) soy curls and toss everything until nicely coated all over. Cook an additional minute until the sauce thickens a bit and glazes the soy curls to your liking.
- Serve over rice and sautéed bok choy garnished with sesame seeds, scallions or cilantro.
- To make this sauce Plantricious compliant make sure to sweeten it with date paste + water instead of sugar or maple syrup.
Notes
- The recipe makes enough sauce to coat twice the amount of soy curls in my honest opinion. However, many people prefer extra sauce on the side when serving their orange “ chick’n with rice so you’ll have to decide for yourself what you prefer.
- The bok choy in the photos is simply sautéed in a splash of water and tamari sauce until wilted. You can dress it with a drizzle of sesame oil if desired.
- You can rehydrate the soy curls and mix the sauce in advance. It is recommended you cook them just before eating for the best texture, that being said they still make really great leftovers.
- Resist the temptation to add any thickener / slurry to the sauce. The light dusting of tapioca on the soy curls will thicken it perfectly, i promise! Only if you plan to use this sauce on its own or in another recipe would you want to add cornstarch, tapioca or agar agar to thicken it.
- Depending on the type of sweetener used (maple syrup, date paste, coconut nectar or sugar, white or brown sugar), your sauce might be lighter or darker in color.
Nutrition
Calories: 227kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 17g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 1514mg | Potassium: 237mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 24g | Vitamin A: 124IU | Vitamin C: 31mg | Calcium: 130mg | Iron: 4mg
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 227kcal
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This is an amazing recipe, it’s a perfect replacement for orange chicken and I love that the leftovers reheat well so I can pack them in my lunch box.
I found this recipe while looking for a way to use up some fresh squeezed orange juice (we have orange trees!), a large bunch of boy choy I got from my CSA, and a half bag of soy curls. Perfect! And it was absolutely outstanding! I stuck to the recipe other than cutting down the maple syrup by about 1.5 tbsp as I don’t like anything too sweet, and omitting the orange zest (due to laziness :). I used the baking method for the soy curls and they turned out perfectly. Chopped and stir fried the bok choy with garlic and ginger, and some sesame oil and soy sauce with asian crushed red pepper. Served it all with Calrose rice. My spouse and I both loved this dish! Thanks for a great recipe Florentina.
Just made this dish last night and it turned out great! I didn’t have Bok Choy, so I roasted some cabbage, mushrooms and squash and it was delicious!
Just made this tonight and it was absolutely fantastic! I baked the soy curls in the oven and replaced some of the maple syrup with sugar-free syrup. I was also out of fresh ginger so used a big teaspoon of ground ginger instead, and it did the trick. Since the recipe makes more sauce than is needed for the curls, I stir fried some veg (carrots, celery, and broccoli), then tossed the sauce and soy curls in with them and stirred it all together. The sauce coated everything beautifully! My husband and I ate it on top of rice noodles and we were both seriously impressed. This definitely going into our regular dinner rotation!
Absolutely amazing! Hands down one of the best recipes I’ve made since going vegan in March 2021!
I wish I could add more stars my first time try soy curls this is the best and definitely a keeper thank you for sharing
That’s so exciting, I’m so happy you loved them! ~ Florentina
This was an excellent dish! Loved the flavours!
How long do you put it in the oven for? You have the time for the air fryer, just not the oven 🙁
Hi Rebecca, the timing is the same, an air fryer is just a convection oven. Keep an eye on them as oven temps can vary from home to home and adjust timing to your liking. Enjoy! ~ Florentina