Homemade Orange Chicken vs. Panda Express Orange Chicken

Orange chicken is a staple in our household whether it’s homemade or from Panda Express! We’ve broken down the cost of carryout vs. make it a home for your next helping of orange chicken.

Olivia loves orange chicken. Seriously, it’s her favorite meal. Santa even bought her a gift card to Panda Express for Christmas this year. We have one with a drive through just down the street from our house so it’s definitely a staple in our household.

All that being said, we also are trying to curb our carryout purchases so we decided to whip up our own orange chicken using the exact Panda Express orange chicken sauce.

Ingredients for Orange Chicken

This might be a little obvious but let’s break it down. Here is what you’ll find in an order of orange chicken at Panda Express.

• Steamed White Rice (or fried rice or chow mein!)
• Crispy Chicken in Orange Sauce

Well, that’s it! The ingredients for making it at home are the exact same except you have to sauce the chicken yourself.

Now, let’s break down the cost of buying a bowl of orange chicken at Panda Express vs. making it a home. A few things before we get into the actual prices though.

Size of an Orange Chicken Bowl

First things first, here are the sizes for an orange chicken bowl at Panda Express according to their website and internal recipes.

• Steamed White Rice – 8.1oz
• Orange Chicken – 5.1oz

There are various other sizes you can order but for the sake of this post, we are going to focus on the bowl size. Also because that’s what Olivia orders and really this is about her favorite meal.

Making Orange Chicken at Home

Now, you might be wondering – “where do I get the chicken and the sauce for this meal?” I’m here to tell you!

We couldn’t find the exact chicken from Panda Express but this is the closest we found. They are more boneless chicken wing style and drumroll… can be found at GFS! You could also probably find something similar at your local grocery store but it will most likely be more expensive.

Lucky for all of us, the orange sauce is way easier to find. We bought it at Meijer but they are sold at most large chain grocery stores.

Lastly, you can get white rice at literally any and all grocery stores.

Okay, okay now let’s talk price! I know that’s why you’re actually reading this, right? We all want to know how to make our takeout favorites from the comfort of our own home for a fraction of the price.

Price Breakdown

We did a little math here to determine this pricing breakdown, you are welcome. Reminder that the rice amount is 8.1oz and the chicken is 5.1oz.

• Panda Express Orange Chicken Bowl: $7.90
• Homemade Orange Chicken Bowl: $3.20
  • The chicken is $0.32 per oz.
  • The sauce is $4.29 for a 20.75oz bottle – $0.21 per oz.
  • The rice that we used is $2.75 for a 32 oz bag – $0.09 per oz.

There you have it! If you want to whip up homemade orange chicken instead of heading to Panda Express, it’s over half the price to make at home.

A benefit for us but something that others may not prefer – you will have more than one serving of orange chicken when you opt to make it yourself. If you are making this for your family, it’s definitely a way more cost effective way to get your orange chicken fix!

Plus, you can control the amount of sauce to chicken to rice ratio which is a definite perk too. If you want something a little bit easier but still cheaper than takeout – Costco sells an orange chicken frozen entree that is 66oz. It doesn’t come with rice but is another great alternative!

Now, which Panda Express entree or fast food meal should we break down next?