Last night, our kitchen magically morphed into healthy Panda Express:
I remember the exact day Panda Express showed up at our local shopping mall. I was in 7th grade—the age where girls ditch their parents, get glammed up in more makeup than kabuki performers, and hang out at the mall every single weekend, feeling incredibly cool and grown up.
After Panda Express moved in, you suddenly couldn’t set foot in the building without being hit by the addictive aroma of their orange sesame sauce. It called to us as we perused the displays of glitter eyeliner at Sephora. (Why did I ever think sparkly neon green eyeliner was a good look for me?) It beckoned to us while we debated the pink pleather pants from Wet Seal. (Sadly, I did end up buying a pair.) And then, as we purchased our much-too-short shorts at Abercrombie and Fitch, the orange sesame aroma practically screamed to us. (Perhaps it was simply trying to be heard over A&F’s ridiculously-loud music.)
Finally, we’d give in to temptation, devouring every sweet orange bite.
Last night we thought it’d be fun to make a Panda-inspired dinner, complete with chopsticks and Chinese takeout containers from Michaels. At first I thought to make tofu. But… cauliflower just seemed way more fun! For the cauliflower, I used: this cauliflower recipe.
(If you’d prefer, you can make “popcorn cauliflower” by combining 1/2 cup any type of flour with 1/2 cup water, dipping cauliflower florets into this mixture, baking 20 minutes at 425F, then pouring the sauce on top and baking another few minutes.)
To recreate Panda Express’s “secret” sauce, I first looked at the ingredients in their bottled sauce and many copycat recipes online. Then I gathered some basic ingredients common in all of the recipes (vinegar, garlic, ginger…) and played around with the proportions until the sauce tasted just as good as better than the one from Panda Express. What follows is some really, really good sauce.
You’ll want to put it on everything!
Healthy Panda Express Orange Sauce
- 1/2 cup vegetable broth (120g)
- 2 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot (30g)
- 3-4 tbsp orange marmalade (45-60g)
- 2 tbsp minced garlic (30g)
- 1/2 tsp powdered ginger
- 2 tbsp + 2 tsp rice vinegar (45g)
- 2 stevia packets, or 2 tbsp sugar (Liquid sweetener will work; just use a bit more cornstarch for thickening.)
- 2 tbsp soy sauce or gf tamari (30g)
- optional: 1 tsp sesame oil
- optional: green onions for garnish, crushed red chilis for a spicy variation
Whisk broth and cornstarch or arrowroot until dissolved. Now turn on the heat to low-medium and add all other ingredients. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Once it’s thickened, remove from heat. Makes 300g (about 1 1/4 cup). Serve over whatever you wish: rice, veggies, soba, tofu, etc. As noted above, here are the directions if you wish to make chicken-style cauliflower (it works with tofu as well): combine 1/2 cup any type of flour with 1/2 cup water, dip florets of one head cauliflower into this mixture, bake 20 minutes at 425F, then pour the sauce on top and bake another few minutes.
View Orange Sauce Nutrition Facts
LINK OF THE DAY:
I love your web site and especially love when you post something savory. It is a rarity to see your savory dishes so I know it is going to be great. One question – Would frozen cauliflower work? Defrosted then broiled to get it crispy? It could save a bunch of prep time. I am kinda lazy :).
I haven’t tried it, but I don’t see why not!
I love your recipes! I just made this for dinner and it worked perfectly. It tastes exactly like restaurant orange chicken. I made a whole wheat ginger batter and coated cauliflower and zucchini. Then, I baked it as you sad. Crispy and perfect! 🙂 We ate it over bulgur and it was amazing! 🙂
Thank you for another genius recipe!
Katie, I just made this and it’s awesome! Thank you so much for creating this recipe. I used sugar-free orange marmalade, and added in a bit of orange peel zest as well. I even cut back a little on the cornstarch, and it was plenty thick! My brother who loves Chinese food thought it was yummy too!
You’re a genius 🙂
Thanks for a great recipe! Please post a picture of the neon green eyeliner!
Yummy!! This looks amazing! I love Panda Express but I don’t eat it because it’s not healthy, now I can make it at home! Thank you!!
Had this for dinner tonight. It was delicious! Will be in our regular rotation! Thanks.
Looks great! Will definitely try this soon! 😀
You lived in China? When? How long? How well do you speak Chinese? (Sorry if you answered this already somewhere)
A little over a year, when I was in high school :).
I speak a little… but I definitely can’t follow a conversation or anything!
Oh I see! I finally got around to making this today and my whole family thought it was amazing! Even my grumpy teenage brother gave his seal of approval!
Really great! Tastes just like the real thing, and now I don’t have to run to the mall to get it! 😉
You’re so brilliant at putting recipes together! I wish I could do it- but I’d end up the size of a house eating all the fail recipes 😉
Katie, I want to HUG you! This was dinner just now, and it was AWESOME!! I used garbanzo bean flour on the cauliflower, and totally forgot to add water to it, and it still turned out good and crispy. I also added a little crushed red pepper to the sauce. 😀 YUM! Oh, and hubby was pretty hungry, so I tossed in some Trader Joe’s Teriyaki Baked Tofu. Pretty sure I’ll be making this every week now, just like I make at least one of your dessert recipes a week! 😀 Thank you- you ROCK!!
Thank you for trying it! 🙂
Delish! I am trying to think of a healthier option than regular whole-wheat flour. I could try garbanzo bean flour (I have done this to replicate a dish from Bertucci’s I like)—but I’d love an even healthier option.
I did this and used agar-agar (did not have any cornstarch or arrowroot—plus, I feel more comfortable using agar). A suggestion for those avoiding corn and such!