Orange chicken was invented by Chef Andy Kao in 1987 at a Panda Express location in Hawaii. Kao, a Taiwanese-born and French-trained chef, created the dish by adapting a traditional Hunan citrus chicken recipe into a boneless, battered, and deep-fried chicken dish coated in a sweet and tangy orange- flavored sauce. This dish is an American Chinese invention popularized by Panda Express but is not commonly found in traditional Chinese cuisine in China.
