Air Fryer Orange Chicken Frozen

Easy air fryer orange chicken frozen recipe. How to cook frozen Trader Joes or PF Changs to tender meat on the inside with a crispy breading. Smothered with sauce it is one of our favorite family friendly dinners. Faster than our easy Crockpot orange chicken pieces and crunchy!

What is the best way to cook frozen orange chicken?

In the past we made a homemade version of our Instant Pot orange chicken recipe, but it doesn’t come out crispy at all. If you want to brings this bag from Trader Joe’s to the next level of YUM you should try air frying it, right out of the bag. NO defrosting required, just set the heat to cook, toss with sauce and enjoy!

We have made TONS of different air fryer dinner recipes, but this may be a favorite. It is easy whether you choose the store brand in the bag or a box or PF Changs in the freezer section of your grocery store. it is the crunchy outside and tender meat in the center texture you want right?? You’ll get it right with our step by step directions below.

Trader Joe’s Air Fryer Frozen Orange Chicken

This and PF Changs is the brand that was use, but there are several out there. Most frozen brands are of a similar weight so they’d use the same timing. You may need to adjust by 2 or so minutes to get it just the way you want it.

1. Bag from your favorite brand with orange sauce packets included
2. Air fryer basket and that is it!

If you want to make it a bit more homemade you can make your own sauce and use a bag of frozen popcorn chicken instead. Then toss together and serve on a bed of Ninja Foodi rice. If you need a gluten free version this might be safer than bagged. Then you can adjust everything to your own needs, and make as spicy as you’d like too.

These are the ingredients you will need if you want to make this separately and then add it to your own protein. It is like a copycat Panda Express sweet and sour sauce in case your bag does not have enough to your liking. You will need:

Homemade Orange Chicken Sauce Ingredients

• 1 c. orange juice
• 1/2 c granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1/4 tsp minced ginger and minced garlic
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• red pepper flakes are optional for a bit of heat

Bring ingredients to a slow rolling boiling over medium heat in a pot on the stovetop. Then whisk in 1 tbsp of corn starch and allow that to thicken.

Add in some zest from 1 orange to enhance orange flavor to your liking. Then make homemade popcorn chicken bites. Toss when the meat is cooked and crisped nicely. OR just use the 3 ingredients for the sauce in our other versions made in different pots with marmelade.

This way is a lot easier because it already has the sauce and diced vegetables inside the bag. Choose which direction you want to go, both are great.

How to cook frozen orange chicken in air fryer

1. Preheat air fryer to 350 degrees F for 5 minutes.
2. Spray basket with non stick spray.
3. Add the chicken and other contents of bag into basket (in a single layer) and close.
4. Then cook for 10 minutes or until heated through to your liking.
   • it is best to shake 1-2 times during this time
5. Toss with sauce when done
6. Serve topped with sesame seeds and/or green onions with orange zest on top.

in Ninja Foodi

With this machine you just need to use the lid that is attached for the right function, and the air crisp button. If you wanted to make your own sauce you could make air fryer frozen chicken nuggets first and then use that as a dip or toss to coat so they are sticky sweet and perfect. Kinda’ a cheater version of sorts. 😉

How long does it take to cook frozen food in an air fryer?

That depends on what you are making. With this breaded and frozen meat the overall cook time is 9-12 minutes depending on the size of your pieces. As you well know there is quite a variety when you used bagged. Smaller bits will get crispier while those big ones may take a bit longer. Just take the “bitties” out earlier and add another minute or two so they’re all perfect.

How can you make orange chicken healthy?

You don’t have to make this breaded. Instead if you buy bottled sauce you can make a batch of our air fryer chicken tenders no breading and brush sauce on the last minute so it sort of caramelizes and browns. And/or you can dip in it to coat well and enjoy that way!!

When you cook the chicken this way you’ll get that deep fried texture but without all the extra calories and fat. We have lots of other Ninja air fryer recipes we love and make often, but here are a few you should try next:

How do you reheat leftovers?

I would use this same machine! A microwave will warm it faster but the texture will be quite soft especially after sitting in a container in the fridge overnight. Instead preheat to 380F and spray basket. Pour in pieces and shake after 1 minute, cook for another minute and that should do it!

Other easy dinner ideas you’ll love

• Frozen chicken wings in air fryer are to die for, we’ve made air fryer frozen chicken breast too.
• Homemade air fryer french fries are easier to make than you might think.
• If you want to use the sauce recipe in this post but use larger pieces, cook frozen chicken tenders in air fryer and brush that on as another idea.
• You can follow our air fryer sesame chicken directions for an all over homemade recipe. Print recipe below and enjoy.

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