Panda Express Orange Chicken Menu Prices 2026
Panda Express Orange Chicken prices for 2026 across every size and format — A La Carte, Panda Cub Meal, Family Meal and catering trays — plus the spicier Hot Orange Chicken, all from the same three-city menu research behind this guide.
Panda Express Orange Chicken A La Carte prices for 2026 run from $5.40 (Small) to $14.90 (Large), based on the same three-city menu research (Los Angeles, Dallas, New York) captured on 8 Sep 2026 behind this whole guide. A Medium order runs $8.70-$10.50 and 510 calories. Orange Chicken also shows up in the Panda Cub Meal, the 5 Person Family Meal and on the catering menu — including a spicier Hot Orange Chicken variant sold only for catering. For every other item on the menu, see our complete Panda Express Menu Prices guide.
What Does Panda Express Orange Chicken Taste Like?
Panda Express’s own official description of Orange Chicken is “crispy chicken wok-tossed in an irresistible sweet and semi-spicy orange sauce” — battered chicken breast pieces fried until crispy, then tossed in a citrus-forward orange sauce with a mild kick of heat rather than a fully spicy flavor. The company’s own marketing sums up the flavor as “sweet and crispy with a touch of heat.” This isn’t a recipe or ingredient breakdown — Panda Express doesn’t publish a detailed public ingredient list for the dish — just the chain’s own description of what it tastes like.
There’s real history behind that flavor: Panda Express introduced Orange Chicken in 1987, created by former executive chef Andy Kao in Hawaii, blending Hunan Province-style flavors with local Hawaiian citrus. It’s since become the chain’s signature dish — Panda Express says Orange Chicken now accounts for roughly one-third of all entrees the company sells, with 148 million pounds served in 2025 alone.
For calorie and allergen information beyond this taste description, see our Panda Express Nutrition & Calories guide or Panda Express’s own official nutrition page.
Panda Express Orange Chicken Ingredients & Recipe
This is a menu-price guide, not a recipe site, so we’re not publishing a copycat recipe or an ingredient-quantity breakdown for Panda Express Orange Chicken. Here’s the honest state of what Panda Express itself publishes: the company’s own description names chicken, an orange sauce, and the crispy wok-tossed preparation as the core of the dish (see the taste section above), but Panda Express does not publish a detailed public ingredient list or sauce recipe with exact quantities for Orange Chicken on its official site.
If you’re looking for a copycat recipe, that content exists across many independent recipe sites and video creators online — we’re not the source for that here, since we only report what Panda Express itself confirms about pricing, calories and its own official taste description, not third-party recipe attempts.
Orange Chicken A La Carte Prices
Panda Express Orange Chicken A La Carte prices cover The Original Orange Chicken sold in three sizes at all three restaurants we checked. Calories were only captured at Medium size in our three-city research — Small and Large weren’t captured, so this guide doesn’t show a Small/Large calorie figure rather than estimate one from the Medium count.A La Carte sizes
| The Original Orange Chicken (Small)Los Angeles $5.40 · Dallas $5.40 · New York $5.80 | $5.40–$5.80 |
| The Original Orange Chicken (Medium)Los Angeles $9.50 · Dallas $8.70 · New York $10.50 · 510 Cal | $8.70–$10.50 |
| The Original Orange Chicken (Large)Los Angeles $13.60 · Dallas $12.15 · New York $14.90 | $12.15–$14.90 |
Hot Orange Chicken: The Spicier Version
Panda Express also sells a spicier Hot Orange Chicken, made with the same signature orange sauce as the Original but with, per Panda Express’s own description, “six times more crushed chili” plus scorched dried chilies borrowed from Kung Pao Chicken — the company calls the result a “dialed-up” version of the same sweet-and-spicy balance the Original is known for, part of what it markets as a “swicy” (sweet + spicy) flavor profile. In our three-city research it only showed up in the Catering and Catering Party Bundles categories — it was not offered as a standalone A La Carte item at any of the three restaurants we checked. Hot Orange Chicken runs 580 calories, heavier than the Original’s 510, and is priced the same as a Catering tray of the Original: $44.00-$50.00 (see the Catering section below).
If you’re ordering for yourself rather than a group, The Original Orange Chicken A La Carte above is the version you’ll actually be able to order at these restaurants — Hot Orange Chicken is a catering-menu-only option based on what we observed.
Panda Express Orange Chicken in Panda Cub Meal & Family Meal
Panda Express Orange Chicken also comes as its own Panda Cub Meal (kids’ meal), priced separately below. It’s also one of the free entree choices in the 5 Person Family Meal (510 Cal at every store we checked), included in that meal’s flat price rather than priced on its own — see our Family Meal Menu guide for the full Family Meal pricing.Panda Cub Meal
| Orange Chicken Panda Cub Meal™Los Angeles $7.80 · Dallas $6.80 · New York $9.00 · 580 Cal | $6.80–$9.00 |
Orange Chicken for Catering
Both the Original and Hot Orange Chicken are available as full catering trays, priced the same as each other at all three restaurants we checked.Catering trays
| Hot Orange ChickenLos Angeles $49.00 · Dallas $44.00 · New York $50.00 · 580 Cal | $44.00–$50.00 |
| The Original Orange ChickenLos Angeles $49.00 · Dallas $44.00 · New York $50.00 · 510 Cal | $44.00–$50.00 |
Availability in Plate Builds
Orange Chicken can also be picked as a free entree choice inside Bigger Plate, Balanced Protein Plates and Panda Bundles builds — but in our three-city research, which restaurant offered it as a build choice varied more than for almost any other entree on the menu, so this guide reports the real per-store differences rather than assuming it’s available everywhere:
- Bigger Plate: offered at Dallas only — Los Angeles and New York both showed “Not offered at this store” for Orange Chicken in this build at the time we checked.
- Balanced Protein Plates: offered at Dallas and New York — Los Angeles showed “Not offered at this store.”
- Panda Bundles: offered at New York only — Los Angeles and Dallas both showed “Not offered at this store.”
These are all free entree choices with no separate price when they are offered, so this isn’t a data gap in our pricing research — it’s a genuine, store-by-store menu-builder difference we observed directly. If you’re building a plate rather than ordering Orange Chicken A La Carte, confirm it’s offered as a choice at your specific restaurant before counting on it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Panda Express Orange Chicken taste like?
Panda Express describes it as crispy chicken wok-tossed in a sweet and semi-spicy orange sauce — “sweet and crispy with a touch of heat,” per the company’s own description, not a heavily spicy dish.
How much is Panda Express Orange Chicken?
Panda Express Orange Chicken A La Carte runs $5.40-$5.80 for Small, $8.70-$10.50 for Medium, and $12.15-$14.90 for Large, based on the three restaurants we checked on 8 Sep 2026.
How many calories are in Panda Express Orange Chicken?
510 calories for a Medium A La Carte order, matched exactly at all three restaurants we checked. Small and Large calorie counts weren’t captured in our research.
What is Hot Orange Chicken at Panda Express?
A spicier version of the Original Orange Chicken, at 580 calories. In our three-city research it was only available on the catering menu, not as a standalone A La Carte item.
Is Orange Chicken included free in Panda Express plate meals?
Yes, as one of the free entree choices in Bigger Plate, Balanced Protein Plates and Panda Bundles builds, and in the 5 Person Family Meal — but which restaurants offer it as a choice varies; see the Availability in Plate Builds section above.
How much does an Orange Chicken catering tray cost?
$44.00-$50.00, the same price whether you order the Original or the spicier Hot Orange Chicken, based on the three restaurants we checked.
Does Panda Express have Orange Chicken?
Yes — The Original Orange Chicken is Panda Express’s signature dish, sold A La Carte in three sizes, as a Panda Cub Meal, in the Family Meal, and on the catering menu, at all three restaurants we checked.
What are the ingredients in Panda Express Orange Chicken?
Panda Express’s own official description names chicken and an orange sauce as the core of the dish, but the company does not publish a detailed public ingredient list or exact sauce recipe — we report what’s officially confirmed, not a guessed ingredient breakdown.
Is there an official Panda Express Orange Chicken recipe?
No — Panda Express hasn’t published an official recipe or exact ingredient quantities. This guide focuses on real prices, calories and the company’s own taste description rather than a copycat recipe.
Our Methodology
Prices and calories in this Panda Express Orange Chicken Menu Prices guide were captured directly from each restaurant’s live official online-ordering menu at pandaexpress.com on 8 Sep 2026, the same three-city dataset (Los Angeles, Dallas, New York) used across this cluster.
The Bigger Plate / Balanced Protein Plates / Panda Bundles availability differences above are reported exactly as observed at each store at capture time — not averaged, assumed, or filled in for a store where Orange Chicken wasn’t shown as an available build choice.
A La Carte Small and Large calorie figures weren’t captured in our three-city research — only Medium (510 Cal) was — and this guide discloses that gap rather than estimating a Small/Large figure from it.