I Tried And Ranked 6 Frozen Orange Chicken Meals

If you like sweet and savory foods — and you're generally a fan of Chinese-American food — then orange chicken is probably right up your alley. You get that succulent, salty, and juicy chicken, served in a sticky orange sauce that delivers just the right amount of sweetness. It's generally served over rice with vegetables. Although you can always head to your favorite local Chinese-American takeout spot (or your favorite Chinese chain restaurant) in town whenever you're craving orange chicken, it can be more budget-friendly to opt for a frozen version at the grocery store instead. No, frozen orange chicken doesn't taste quite as fresh as the restaurant variety, but it can help you beat those cravings when you're pinched for time or money.

I picked up six frozen orange chicken meals from my local grocery store and tasted all of them so I can deliver the 411 on which are best and which you may want to skip entirely. I ranked these meals according to overall flavor, flavor balance, and texture of the cooked chicken. Some were pretty solid, while others left a lot to be desired. Read about these different options before you go pick up a frozen orange chicken meal of your own.

Kevin's Natural Foods is all about making ostensibly healthier versions of the dishes you already know and love. I get it, so it only makes sense that the company would make an orange chicken bowl. But honestly, I wish it hadn't, because this Orange Chicken Bowl was not very good. First of all, the chicken wasn't breaded or fried at all. Sure, that makes sense if you're trying to eat healthy, but honestly, you should pick a different dish if that's your goal. Orange chicken is supposed to have that breading and a slight crispness, and you totally miss that here.

To make matters worse, the brown rice in this dish is soggy. I'm grateful for the amount of veg that's included in the bowl, but considering that it's pretty light on the chicken, it feels like the company did so to save itself a few bucks. Try making orange chicken at home if you're trying to eat lighter. You might be better off as long as you don't make these common mistakes.

I wanted to like Tai Pei's Orange Chicken partially because I love the packaging. You don't see many frozen meals served in this sort of oblong container, and it immediately caught my eye in the grocery store's frozen section. But just because a frozen meal is packaged well doesn't mean that it will taste good, unfortunately. I was disappointed to discover that this frozen meal was far less delicious than I imagined.

I appreciate that you get a good mix of veggies, rice, and chicken in this dish — they all feel proportional to one another. The real issue is mostly about the sauce: There's way, way too much of it. It makes the chicken super soggy despite the fact that it's breaded, and it gives the whole dish an overly sweet flavor that almost drowns out the savory notes entirely. Unless you're looking for frozen orange chicken that's unbearably sweet, skip this product.

You know those nights when you get home from work, and you're too exhausted to cook, but you still need to feed your family? Both takeout and picking up fast food can often be pricey, which is why I appreciate options like Signature Select's Orange Chicken. This family-sized meal makes it easy to get dinner on the table with essentially no prep work — you just heat it all in the oven and serve. That being said, it's not the tastiest orange chicken I've ever had.

The chicken in this dish is okay, but the main issue is that it gets soggy. The instructions on the box tell you to take the top off the baking tray and then put the dish back in the oven for five minutes before serving, but you still don't get that crisp bite I'm looking for in orange chicken. However, the sauce in this recipe is pretty well-balanced, with plenty of sweetness but a nice amount of acidity to balance it out.

The rice isn't particularly good in this dish, either, but at least it's packed with veggies, so you know you're getting a somewhat healthier meal. This dish certainly isn't as good as fresh orange chicken, but its low price point makes it a decent option when you want to prioritize convenience and price over taste.

While taste-testing for this ranking, I discovered that the texture of frozen orange chicken is much better when it's been air-fried rather than microwaved or cooked in the oven. That's why InnovAsian's Orange Chicken lands in the top half of this list. I cooked this chicken in the air fryer, then added the sauce to finish the dish. Blessedly, this resulted in the signature crispiness that orange chicken is known for. Although the sauce is still a bit too sweet for my taste, you can control the amount of sauce you end up using with this product, so it's not all bad. That being said, the chicken is pretty bland all on its own, so you may want to add some other sort of flavoring agent if you're not going to use the whole sauce packet.

You also don't get any rice or side dishes with InnovAsian's orange chicken, which may be a problem if you're looking for a whole frozen meal. However, I like that this product only focuses on the chicken — that means that you can make your own fresh rice and veg to serve on the side, and honestly, your meal will likely taste better that way.

Stouffer's is a brand that's known for its frozen meals, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that Stouffer's Air Fryer Meals Orange Chicken landed in the No. 2 spot in this ranking. This is another dish that you can cook in the air fryer, which achieves that craveable orange chicken crisp. The only issue here is that you also have to cook the accompanying broccoli with the chicken. I found that the small pieces of broccoli were somewhat burnt by the time the chicken was finished cooking.

However, the flavorful chicken (even before you add the sauce) is a major selling point for me. It has a bold, peppery flavor that helps the dish retain its savory flavor even after adding the sweet sauce. Plus, the sauce features some nicely balanced acidity that really brings it all together. It's still far from the best orange chicken I've ever had, but it definitely does the trick when you're looking for an easy freezer meal.

When you're craving orange chicken and need a convenient meal, Marie Callender's Orange Chicken Bowl may be your best bet. This dish comes complete with rice, so you can heat it up even when you don't have access to a full kitchen. Although I wish there were more chicken here, there's enough that you feel like you're getting a substantial meal. The actual meat is firm, and even though the breading isn't as crispy as I would've liked, it's not downright soggy either. Plus, this orange chicken dish definitely has the best sauce out of all of them — it's much less intensely sweet than any of the others.

This dish is also unfortunately lacking in veggies. Compared to the picture on the box, you're barely getting any at all, so I'd probably add some vegetables to this dish if I were planning on enjoying it as a meal. Overall, it's not a standout meal (although none of the frozen orange chicken dishes listed here really are), but it scratches that Chinese-American takeout itch.

These frozen orange chicken dishes were selected based on availability in my local area. I cooked each one according to the package instructions. I microwaved the Kevin's Orange Chicken Bowl, the Tai Pei Orange Chicken, and the Marie Callender's Orange Chicken Bowl while I cooked the Signature Select Orange Chicken in the oven. I used an air fryer for the Stouffer's Orange Chicken and InnovAsian Orange Chicken. The criteria I used for this ranking were overall flavor, balance of sweetness and acidity, and texture of the chicken and breading. Orange chicken dishes that tasted good overall, weren't too sweet, and that had crispier chicken were ranked higher on the list than others that didn't fit those descriptions.