Sweet and Sour Chicken from Paleo Takeout

We made two recipes from Paleo Takeout: Sweet and Sour Chicken and General Tso’s Chicken.

Hi all, Andrew here. I was super excited to receive a review copy of Russ Crandall’s Paleo Takeout: Restaurant Favorites Without the Junk. Chinese food is my favorite, but it’s one of the more difficult restaurant foods to find gluten-free. Sure, there’s P. F. Chang’s and Pei Wei, but most mom and pop chinese restaurants I’ve been to just aren’t sure if their dishes are gluten-free. Paleo Take Out has all my Chinese food favorites, plus Japanese, Korean, Indian, Vietnamese, etc.

Most importantly, the recipes are easy. They’re easy to make, and the ingredients are easy to find. We made two (both were excellent): Sweet and Sour Chicken (on the left in our photo above) and General Tso’s Chicken (on the right). The publisher has given us permission to share Russ’ paleo Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe:

Paleo Sweet and Sour Chicken

Sauce Ingredients:
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp honey
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp tamari
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp white pepper

Nugget Ingredients:
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 cup tapioca or arrowroot starch
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp white pepper
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized chunks
2 large eggs, beaten

Slurry:
1 tbsp arrowroot starch
1 tbsp cold water
1/2 tsp toasted sesame seeds, to garnish
2 green onions, sliced, to garnish

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, combine the sauce ingredients. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, then reduce the heat to low to gently simmer as you prepare the rest of the meal; stir occasionally.
2. Preheat your oven to 250°F. In a wok or skillet, warm the coconut oil over medium heat. Combine the tapioca starch, salt, and pepper, then toss the chicken pieces with the starch mixture. With your fingers, dip a starchy chicken piece in the beaten eggs, shake off the excess egg, and then add to the oil. Repeat until you have filled your skillet, being careful not to overcrowd the chicken pieces. Fry the chicken until cooked through, flipping every 2 minutes, about 6 to 8 minutes per batch. As you finish each batch, place the cooked pieces on a plate lined with paper towels; put them in the oven to stay warm. You should be able to cook the chicken pieces in 3 or 4 batches, depending on the size of your skillet.
3. Once the chicken is cooked through, finish the sauce. Taste the sauce and add more salt or pepper if needed. If the sauce is too dark and strong tasting, add a little chicken broth to thin it out. At this point, the sauce should be about as thick as tomato soup and should have a sharp but not overwhelming flavor.
4. In a small bowl, stir together the arrowroot starch and cold water to create a slurry. Raise the sauce temperature to medium; once bubbling, add half of the slurry and stir until thickened, adding more slurry if needed. Remove from the heat.
5. Toss the chicken pieces with the sauce, then garnish with sesame seeds and green onions. Serve over Basic Steamed Rice (page 286) or Cauliflower Rice (page 288).

Notes: Consider adding chunks of onion, bell pepper, or even pineapple to enhance the flavor of this dish. These ingredients should be added with the starch slurry in step 4.

This dish is equally delicious made with sliced pork loin or shrimp.

Paleo Takeout is out now, and be sure to check out Russ’s Paleo blog The Domestic Man.