Costco Orange Chicken - Flavor Hack + Crispy Tips
Crazy Cuisine Mandarin Orange Chicken at Costco
Costco sells a 66 ounce of Crazy Cuisine Orange Chicken for $14.49. The orange chicken can be found in Costco’s frozen food area near other items such as the Korean fried chicken, egg rolls, and the spring rolls.
The 4 Pounds 2 Ounce package of Orange Chicken from Costco includes 3 pounds of battered chicken breast with rib meat & 1 pound of mandarin orange sauce packets.
Crazy Cuisine only uses chicken that are antibiotic free and raised with no antibiotics ever.
What is Orange Chicken? (And The History)
Orange chicken is a dish primarily found in Chinese restaurants in North America. It consists of battered and fried chicken pieces that are covered in a sweet orange chili sauce.
Orange chicken is believed to have been invented by Chef Andy Kao while working at Panda Express in 1987. Chef Kao modified an already popular dish creating orange chicken in the process.
Orange chicken is now the signature dish of Panda Express and they sell over 100 million pounds of sweet and tasty chicken every year.
This is not a dish that is traditionally eaten in China.
Costco Cost Comparison - Orange Chicken
How Much Does Orange Chicken from Costco Cost?
Costco’s Crazy Cuisine Orange Chicken sells for $14.49. This breaks down to $3.62 for the battered chicken and the orange sauce.
This is not a bad price by any means, and much better than what you would pay per pound at a restaurant for Orange chicken. With the current rate of inflation and the rising prices across the board, I am very happy to see some foods keep their pricing down.
Costco vs The Competition
Sam’s club sells their 3 Lb Package of Member’s Mark Tempura Orange Chicken for $10.98 or $3.66 a pound. This is just a touch more expensive on a per pound basis than Costco’s orange chicken.
Target sells a 36 ounce box of Innovasian Cuisine Orange Chicken for $10.99 or $4.88 a pound. This is quite a bit more expensive than Crazy Cuisine’s Orange Chicken.
Costco again offers the best value on orange chicken, and if I’m in the market for frozen orange chicken, I won’t be buying it anywhere except Costco.
Costco Orange Chicken Taste Test
Great In The Air Fryer
I made the breaded chicken in the air fryer and the chicken pieces looked amazing. I am very pleased with how they turned out and they had a nice golden brown color and were sufficiently crispy.
The air fryer is my recommended method for cooking Crazy Cuisine’s Mandarin Orange Chicken.
Right Amount of Sauce
The orange sauce was easy to apply to the chicken and I would say there was the perfect amount. Sometimes companies like to give a little extra sauce to increase the weight of the package and decrease the price per pound on the Costco price label.
This wasn’t the case with Crazy Cuisine’s orange chicken.
Sweet, But Lacking In Flavor
After saucing, the finished orange chicken was just mediocre in taste. I didn’t enjoy the chicken as much as I thought I would as I found the sauce to be a little lacking.
The orange sauce was bland and failed to wow me. The intensity needs to be upped on the flavor as it was just dull.
Thick Breading
I also thought the chicken had a little too much breading, but the sauce does help mitigate some of the thickness.
I didn’t think the inner chicken itself wasn’t necessarily juicy nor was it exactly dry. It was just mediocre but doesn’t detract too much from the overall finished orange chicken product.
I did make some modifications to help out the dish by adding in some garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and sesame seeds.
I really enjoyed my modified version of the orange chicken and it made the meal much more tasty. I highly recommend sprucing up the orange chicken to your liking.
Orange Chicken Taste Hacks
Spicy Garlic Orange Chicken
Of course, you can always eat the Costco orange chicken as is, but you can significantly improve the flavor with a few easy tricks/hacks.
I consider the orange chicken to be on the bland side but with just using a few simple seasonings/spices that may already be in your pantry you can really customize and enhance the dish.
My favorite modification is the spicy garlic orange chicken. It needs only 3 simple ingredients:
- Garlic Powder
- Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
- Sesame Seeds
After I covered the breaded chicken pieces with orange chicken sauce, I sprinkled the aforementioned ingredients on, and it completely changed the dynamic of the chicken. I could immediately tell the difference as there was now a complexity and depth of flavor.
The flavor difference is insane, and the chicken is much more delicious.
Orange Chicken Recipe Ideas & Serving Suggestions
The first thing that came to my mind and will probably be the most common meal using this chicken will be orange chicken and rice.
It’s quite easy to do, and that’s probably what most people think of when they think of Panda Express’ orange chicken.
Unique Orange Chicken Uses
Crazy Cuisine’s website list a few other ways to use the mandarin orange chicken. They suggest an orange chicken salad with orange dijon sauce, orange chicken dippers, and even orange chicken nachos.
I love that there are non-traditional ideas and the most appealing to me seems to be the orange chicken salad. I feel the orange sauce can go great with vegetables and really provide a unique salad that you can create at home.
Orange Dippers
I’m not so crazy about the idea of orange chicken dippers. I don’t consider the orange chicken to be fancy enough or tasty enough to serve with a toothpick. This one seems kind of like a stretch to me.
Orange Chicken Nachos
The orange chicken nacho serving idea is interesting. It wouldn’t be something that I think of, but I can see how it might actually work. If anybody does try the orange chicken nachos, let me know how it turns out.
Additional Side Dish Options
If you are interested in more side dish ideas. Slimming Violet has a great list of 13 orange chicken side dishes. My favorite side dishes are fried rice, french fries, and egg noodles.
Crazy Cuisine Mandarin Orange Chicken Cooking Instructions
How To Cook Orange Chicken from Costco
Crazy Cuisine offers 3 methods for cooking their orange chicken. You can use the oven, stovetop, or the air fryer, and with all 3 options, the chicken is best cooked from frozen. Thawing or defrosting the chicken is not necessary.
I think the air fryer is the best option when cooking these as its super simple and only takes about 10 minutes to cook.
Oven Instructions(Crazy Cuisine Preferred Method)
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Thaw unopened sauce packet in warm water until completely thawed. Set Aside
- Place the contents of one bag of chicken on a baking sheet and heat for 15 to 19 minutes or until crispy and/or golden brown.
- Place chicken in a bowl and pour thawed sauce over chicken.
- Using a spatula, mix chicken with sauce until even coated
- Let stand for 2 to 3 minutes before serving.
Stovetop Cooking Instructions
- Thaw unopened sauce packet in warm water until completely thawed. Set Aside
- Heat 1/4 cup of oil in a large skillet and add the contents of one bag of chicken.
- Heat chicken for 15 to 18 minutes over medium heat.
- Turn chicken pieces regularly to heat evenly until crisp and/or golden brown.
- Place chicken in a bowl and pour thawed sauce over chicken.
- Using a spatula, mix chicken with sauce until even coated
- Let stand for 2 to 3 minutes before serving.
Air Fryer Cooking Instructions (CFDB Recommended Method) - Crispiest Method
- Thaw unopened sauce packet in warm water until completely thawed. Set Aside
- Preheat air fryer at 400°F
- Place the contents of one bag of chicken in the air fryer basket and heat for 14 to 17 minutes or until crisp and/or golden brown.
- Spritz with cooking spray halfway through cook.
- Place chicken in a bowl and pour thawed sauce over chicken.
- Using a spatula, mix chicken with sauce until even coated
- Let stand for 2 to 3 minutes before serving.
Crispy Pro Tip: Spray the breaded chicken pieces with cooking spray before and during cook.
Orange Chicken Nutritional Profile
How Many Calories in Crazy Cuisine Mandarin Orange Chicken?
Each serving of Orange Chicken from Costco is going to be 1 cup or 5 ounces of chicken and sauce.
One serving will contain 260 calories with 7 grams of fat, 35 grams of carbs, and 13 grams of protein.
This nutritional profile doesn’t surprise me too much, but I did expect there to be more fat than there actually is. The carbs are going to be high and the protein will be on the lower end, as expected.
Crazy Cuisine does highlight their 13 grams of protein per serving, but that is more middle of the road than anything to really brag about.
I don’t have any issues with this nutritional label, and this doesn’t encourage or stop me from eating the orange chicken.
Respectable Sodium Content
Each 5 ounce serving of chicken is going to contain 500 mg of sodium or 21% of the recommended daily value. This is something to note, but it isn’t an atrocious amount of sodium for a frozen food product like this.
I would have expected 750 mg of sodium or even more. So consider this a win.
Final Thoughts
The Orange Chicken from Costco is a letdown, but can be salvaged. I found the flavors to be land, but with a couple of common home seasonings, the orange chicken can be drastically improved.
The price is rather fair for the item, and the nutritional profile isn’t the worse. There isn’t a lot to like nor is there a lot to hate.
It’s an ok frozen food product that I won’t buy often, but I’m glad Costco carries it.