Orange Chicken Parm From The Mythical Cookbook
Finally tasting a legendary dish.
Orange. Chicken. Parm. Those who are familiar with Good Mythical Morning know this is a legendary dish. It was first featured on Chinese Italian Food vs. Italian Chinese Food in November 2021, and Rhett had this to say after his first bite:
"You know, there are things that happen in life, and you're like, 'I wanna be present for this." I wanna be completely present for this.
People loved this mashup—so much so that the Mythical Kitchen released a video about how to make it a month later. I would bet that Orange Chicken Parm is one of the reasons why The Mythical Cookbook exists at all. Needless to say, I was excited to finally make it for myself.
Surprisingly, there's not a trace of orange in Orange Chicken Parm. Tomato essentially takes the place of orange, which makes sense, but I was convinced there was an error when I first read through the ingredient list.
Orange or lack thereof aside, I feel like this is one of the simpler recipes in the cookbook. I had everything on hand except tomato juice and cherry tomatoes. Like every great Seinfeld episode, there are a few separate things to do, then it all comes together in the end.
- Marinate the chicken.
- Make the tomato sauce.
- Deep fry the chicken.
- Combine all the components and bake.
The weird thing about this recipe is it still somehow tastes a bit like there's oranges in it. I never thought about it before, but the flavor profiles of oranges and tomatoes aren't wildly different. Maybe it's just my brain playing tricks on me, though. Regardless, this is an incredibly delicious dish.
It's sweet, sticky, cheesy, and a bit crunchy—I loved every bite. My wife had the idea to put the leftovers on rice, and that was great, too. I do feel like a little orange juice in the sauce would be a nice bonus, but it's totally amazing without it. They say you should never meet your heroes, but that clearly doesn't include food.
