It's unlikely you'll find anything if you look for "Hart Authentic Orange Chicken" online - at least I didn't find anything when I looked. It seems that this frozen entree is made by Hart Food Products from Lakewood, CA. I bought it at Grocery Outlet, and I imagine they are their only distributor. Actually, given Hart's pathetic website, it's difficult to believe they are any sort of serious company. Which really tells you something about where Grocery Outlet sources its products. And indeed, orange chicken seems to be one of only three or four products Hart offers (at least it looks that way from this picture at their website).
Anyway, I was in Grocery Outlet yesterday and thought I'd take a look at the frozen stuff they had, as I've been feeling less and less like cooking lately. This orange chicken product didn't seem too bad - at least in comparison to the brand-name frozen food products. Yeah, it has a lot of salt, corn syrup and a myriad of preservatives, but so do all the brand name products. At least it had chicken as its main ingredient :-)
It's not obvious from the picture in the package, but this is really popcorn chicken - which is annoying as that means it has much more breading than you would like. It's uncooked so you need to bake it for 20 minutes, pan fry it for 10 to 15 minutes, or deep fry it for 6 minutes. Then you mix it with the orange sauce which comes in 3 packages. You can't microwave it.
As for the taste, it met our very low expectations. Mike found it too bland, while I thought the chicken had a subtle "off" flavor. The sauce was OK, somewhat orangee and not too sweet.
I'm unlikely to buy it again.
Comments (4)
I just made this for dinner-it was a quick meal with a salad and rice.
Split my pack into thirds so I'll get over 6 servings out of a package.
Added diced onion and cilanto to add to the flavor so I would purchase it again at below 3.00 a package at food4less
Posted by Lee | July 15, 2009 6:04 PM
Posted on July 15, 2009 18:04
the product had to much batter and not enough chicken and I cooked it the recommended best method and it came out very hard. The sauce was decent but there wasn't enough to cover all the chicken I will not purchase this product again as well as I bought the teryaki chicken product I am going to return it to the store for something else.
Posted by Melissa Brown | September 13, 2009 8:52 AM
Posted on September 13, 2009 08:52
Hello Marga. I'm the owner of Hart Food Products, a small business. Just me and my wife trying to raise our 4 babies. Yes my web site is pathetic. I'm a startup business and when I created the web site I didn't have enough money to do it right, and now I just don't have the time to fix it. The nuggets I package are small, as is my price. All competing product retail for 25¢ to 35¢ an ounce verses my retails of 10¢ an ounce. That's a huge savings. Kids also prefer the smaller nuggets. If your on a budget, or have to feed a lot of kids, it's a great value. FYI, if you mix in chopped green onions and a dash of red pepper, it really improves the flavor. I always give prompt refunds to customers who are not satisfied and would be happy to refund your 2 bags. Grocery is not my only retailer, although they are my first and most important one. I will always be deeply grateful to them for the opportunity they gave me, and the success they have brought me. Really good people to work with. I have several retail chains covering the western states and I'm planning to expand into the southern states early next year. I'm also coming out with a pineapple flavor next year. My products have been so successful that I have purchased a building in Paramount and will be setting up my own USDA processing facility. We took a second mortgage 3 years ago to buy the packaging equipment and set it up in a friends processing facility. That facility is now to small now for our expanding volume, hence the new building. Setting up a USDA processing facility is no easy thing, and the expense of it all is terrifying. But We're also excited at the new opportunities this building will bring us. Sorry for the length of this post. Email me and I'll send a refund. Thanks Bill Hall
Posted by Bill Hall | September 22, 2009 7:03 AM
Posted on September 22, 2009 07:03
I bought your product thought if was a flook thought I got the bottom of the barrel"crumbles"didn't even attempt to cook /fry it..my pig will eat anything.the picture looks nothing like the product.will not buy again.re the fact "your terrified" if the heat is to hot get out of the kitchen.I am however impressed that you suggest a refund??
Posted by Beverly Glass | March 3, 2010 5:29 PM
Posted on March 3, 2010 17:29