Contessa Orange Chicken : Restaurant Quality

Contessa Orange Chicken Restaurant Quality is like no Orange Chicken I have ever had in any Chinese restaurant and I have eaten in a lot of Chinese restaurants. Of course they say it is Peking-Shantung style and maybe I never had that kind, in fairness.

The product is not bad, it just doesn't taste like Orange Chicken to me. I made mine in the microwave so maybe it would have turned out different on the stove, as I made that stir fry beef yesterday.

It comes with three packages of food plus a sauce packet.

One packet has breaded chicken tender type things in it, one has white rice, the last one has a mixture of baby corn, broccoli florets (very few), carrots, red bell peppers, and water chestnuts.

Then there is an interesting looking sauce which has many ingredient all of which I recognized except for the word spice. It made me wonder what the spice was since it didn't go into details but it did have a slight tangy or hot flavor to it. I suspect it was something like chili powder or cayenne pepper.

You open both the chicken and the vegetables packet and then place in a microwaveable bowl. You cook the chicken first and the vegetables by covering the bowl then heating it for 3 minutes on high. Then you remove it, stir it up and replace it back in the microwave for three more minutes with the cover on it.

Next you cut the rice out of its bag and place it in a microwavable bowl, cover, and cook on high for three minutes. While this is going on you open the sauce packet and stir it into the hot chicken and veggies.

When the rice is done you place the bowl with the chicken, veggies, and sauce, back in the microwave and cover again, cooking for an additional 30 seconds on high.

Place the rice on the plate and top with the meat/vegetable mixture. It is ready to serve.

My husband ate two bite and asked me to cook him a hamburger, which I had already anticipated and done.

The rice was wonderful and fluffy. The vegetable were refreshing to me, especially the tiny corn and water chestnuts. There was very little broccoli in the mix but lots of carrots and red peppers. The chicken left a lot to be desired and while it was edible, I will not spend the money to get this again. Considering it only serves two people I found it pricey and not worth the money. It didn't really taste all that delicious and nothing like any restaurant orange chicken I've ever had and that includes some I've eaten in China.

All in all while it was fair, it didn't not live up to what I was expecting form this product. I certainly would not recommend this product to any of my friends or family.