Orange Pepper Chicken
- Debney
- Apr 10
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 15
This post may contain affiliate links.
This Orange Pepper Chicken is a sticky, citrusy, grilled chicken coated in a homemade orange and black pepper pan sauce.

The chicken in this can be cooked any way you like, but we prefer the grill. Once cooked, combine the sauce ingredients in the pan and then coat the chicken in it.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED (scroll to full ingredient list)
Chicken thighs, boneless
Garlic
Oranges
Soy sauce, low-sodium
Rice vinegar
Kosher salt
Olive oil
Whole black peppercorns
Sesame oil
Butter, unsalted
Fresh ginger
Honey
DIRECTIONS
STEP 1: MARINADE
Combine the marinade ingredients in a bowl or large Ziploc bag and fully coat the chicken.
Allow to marinate in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours, or at least 30 mins.
STEP 2: COOK
Grill the chicken over medium heat for 12-15 minutes, flipping occasionally.
Alternatively, the chicken can be cooked at 400°F in the air fryer for 25 minutes or the oven for about 30 minutes with a flip halfway through. The chicken is done when the internal temperature reaches 170°F.
STEP 3: SAUCE
When the chicken is finished cooking, preheat a skillet or saucepan over medium heat.
Sauté the crushed peppercorns and garlic in olive oil until the garlic just begins to brown and get fragrant, then reduce heat to low.
Quickly add in the orange juice and butter so the garlic doesn’t burn.
Then add the soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and honey.
Simmer on low for a few minutes until it begins to thicken, then turn off the heat and add the orange zest and salt to taste. Coat the chicken in the sauce then serve.

INGREDIENTS
Makes 4-5 servings
MARINADE
2 lbs chicken thighs, boneless
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 orange, juiced
1/2 C soy sauce, low-sodium
1 TBSP rice vinegar
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 C olive oil
ORANGE PEPPER SAUCE
Zest of 1 orange
2-3 oranges, juiced (about 1 C)
1 TBSP black peppercorns, coarsely crushed
1 TBSP soy sauce, low-sodium
1 tsp sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
3 TBSP butter, unsalted
1 tsp fresh ginger, finely grated
1/3 C honey
Salt to taste
Affiliate links may be included on this page which help generate a small commission (at no additional cost to you). Thanks for your support!
Incredible! This was the star of our BBQ. Thank you so much!
Wow! This was a huge hit here. For anyone having trouble with the sauce, you have to simmer it as mentioned in step 3. I let mine simmer for about 5-10 minutes and worked perfectly.
This recipe had great flavor. However - as another user mentions - the sauce did not thicken. I also had to add some corn starch.
Sauce did not thicken, all the work for minor flavor. I suggest adding corn starch to get it to thicken. I just kept slowly adding more until it wasn’t a water like texture
Looks nothing like the pictures. Sauce did not thicken at all.