Panda Express Doesn't Have to Be Authentic Chinese Food to Be Good

There are certain arguments we seem destined to have forever.

Does pineapple belong on pizza? Is a hot dog a sandwich? 

Does Panda Express count as authentic Chinese food?

Regarding that last one, Panda Express co-founder and co-CEO, Andrew Cherng, isn't particularly interested in fighting with us.

In a recent TODAY interview, Andrew was asked about people who criticize the chain for not serving traditional Chinese cuisine.

He said he takes no offense.

And perhaps that's because Panda Express has never been trying to convince us that Orange Chicken came straight from somebody's kitchen in Hunan.

Panda Express Calls It American Chinese Food

Andrew and his wife, fellow co-founder and co-CEO Peggy Cherng, have a fairly straightforward answer to the authenticity question.

Their food is American Chinese.

Peggy described it to TODAY as a marriage of two cultures and cuisines, while Andrew pointed out that customers ultimately decide what works.

And quite a few customers seem to have voted with their forks.

Panda Express now has more than 2,500 locations and calls itself the nation's largest Asian restaurant chain.

That's an impressive amount of Beijing Beef for what some people say doesn’t count.

Orange Chicken Has Its Own Origin Story

Orange Chicken is probably the best example of what Panda Express means by American Chinese food.

Chef Andy Kao created the dish for Panda Express in 1987. 

He drew inspiration for it from flavors he associated with China's Hunan Province and the citrus flavors Kao encountered in Hawaii.

The result was something new.

Crispy chicken met that sweet, tangy orange sauce, and America proceeded to lose its collective mind over it.

In 2025 alone, Panda says its U.S. customers ate nearly 148 million pounds of Orange Chicken.

At that point, we may have to accept that the dish has earned its own place at the table.

The Panda Story Started Long Before the Food Court

Panda Express may be permanently associated with food courts in many of our minds, but the family's restaurant story started differently.

Andrew and his father, Master Chef Ming-Tsai Cherng, originally opened Panda Inn in Pasadena, California, in 1973. 

Its menu was inspired by Mandarin and Sichuan cuisine.

Ten years later, Andrew and Peggy opened the first Panda Express at the Glendale Galleria.

The quicker restaurant format took off.

By 1993, Panda Express had grown to more than 100 locations, eventually reaching 1,000 restaurants in 2007 and doubling that number by 2017.

Maybe We're Asking the Wrong Question

There are wonderful restaurants in America that serve regional and traditional Chinese dishes.

Panda Express isn't pretending to be one of them.

It's serving a cuisine shaped by Chinese culinary traditions, American tastes, immigration, experimentation, and decades of people enthusiastically ordering Orange Chicken.

We don't need to decide whether that's authentic enough.

We can simply decide whether we want chow mein or fried rice with it.

Looking for stories that inform and engage? From breaking headlines to fresh perspectives, WaveNewsToday has more to explore.