Fusia Asian Inspirations Mandarin Orange Chicken

EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated for 2025. 

Orange chicken is a popular dish in American Chinese restaurants. The dish did not originate in China, though. Instead, Panda Express, the Chinese-American fast food chain that first gained popularity in mall food courts, claims that one of its own chefs invented orange chicken in 1987 in Hawaii. Orange chicken has a mix of sweet and sour, with a combination of flavors such as brown sugar and honey along with vinegar and soy sauce, and one of Panda Express’ co-founders says orange chicken is a variation on another popular Chinese-American dish — General Tso’s chicken.

If you want to try orange chicken or General Tso’s chicken but you don’t live near a Panda Express, don’t worry. You can find both dishes year round in the freezer section at Aldi.

In this post, we’re looking at the orange chicken Aldi sells. Aldi seems to have made adjustments to this in the past year, including minor calorie and nutrition fact changes as well as new and different cooking instructions for various appliances. This also now comes with two smaller sauce pouches instead of one large sauce pouch, which might be convenient if you only want to cook half the package. Once prepared, it pretty much looks and tastes as it always has. Let’s take a closer look below.

Fusia Asian Inspirations Mandarin Orange Chicken cost $7.29 for a 26-ounce bag in 2025. That’s up from $5.49 for a 26-ounce bag when we first reviewed this in 2021. The package describes it as “tempura white meat chicken with mandarin orange sauce.”

It’s got a fairly lengthy ingredients list, with a lot of sodium and added sugar. In fact, the sugar content is comparable to some desserts.

If you’re avoiding allergens, this contains egg, soy, and wheat.

The package says there are about five 1-cup servings per bag (but don’t expect to feed a crowd with this — more on that shortly).

Aldi has tweaked this since we last put it through a full review in 2021, making small changes to the amount of calories, sodium, carbs, and added sugars. As of 2025, one serving has 280 calories, 10 grams of total fat (13% DV), 1 gram of saturated fat (5% DV), 790 mg of sodium (34% DV), 38 grams of total carbohydrates (14% DV), no dietary fiber, 17 grams of total sugars, 16 grams of added sugars (32% DV), and 13 grams of protein.

The package has instructions for heating this chicken in an air fryer, a conventional oven, a skillet, or the microwave. (I feel like the air fryer directions are relatively new for this.)

To air fry, preheat the fryer to 350 degrees. Thaw the unopened sauce in warm water and set aside. Place half of the frozen chicken in the air fryer basket in a single layer and cook for 10 minutes or until heated through. Place the heated chicken in a large bowl, and pour the sauce over the chicken and mix until completely coated.

To bake in a conventional oven, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Thaw the unopened sauce in warm water and set aside. Place the frozen chicken onto a baking sheet. Separate pieces for more even heating. Bake on the center oven rack for 10-12 minutes or until heated through. Placed the heated chicken in a large bowl, and pour the sauce over the chicken and mix until completely coated. (Note: the oven directions for this have changed significantly. Until recently, it used to bake at around 400 degrees for 18-21 minutes, so the new baking directions are much faster.)

To heat in a skillet, heat 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and frozen chicken in a large nonstick skillet. Heat on medium for 10-12 minutes, turning the chicken frequently. Thaw the unopened sauce in warm water and set aside. Pour the sauce over the chicken in the skillet and mix until completely coated. Heat an additional 1-2 minutes or until hot.

To microwave, thaw the unopened sauce in warm water and set aside. Place frozen chicken onto a microwave-safe plate. Separate pieces for more even heating. For 1/4 of the bag, microwave uncovered on high for 30 seconds. Flip the chicken and cook an additional 30 seconds or until heated through. For half the bag, microwave uncovered on high for 1 minute. Flip the chicken and cook for an additional 1 minute or until heated through. Pour the sauce over the chicken and mix until completely coated. Let it stand 1 minute before serving.

I usually bake this. I typically like air frying food when that option is available, but it’s faster to cook this in my conventional oven since I can’t fit it all in my air fryer at once. This chicken always comes out of my oven crispy. I usually drizzle the sauce directly over the cooked chicken on the baking sheet, and it warms up nicely.

This is a staple in my deep freezer for nights when I want something easy for dinner, and while it’s not as good as what we might get from a takeout restaurant or a place like Panda Express, my family likes it on its own merits. It has a nice sweet and sour taste.

There are four of us, though, and if I only prepare one bag, we have to conscientiously portion out this chicken because there’s not a lot of it if you’re feeding more than a couple of people. The solution is to either make two bags of chicken, or serve it alongside other things such as Aldi egg rolls, lo mein or chicken fried rice, pot stickers or crab rangoon. My family likes to make homemade fried rice using Bachan’s-style sauce from Aldi.

The Verdict:

Fusia Asian Inspirations Mandarin Orange Chicken is Aldi’s take on a dish whose origins trace back — not so distantly — to the Chinese-American fast food chain Panda Express. While it’s not the same as what you’d get from a takeout restaurant, this is decent on its own merits.