Healthy General Tso’s Chicken

Healthy General Tso’s Chicken is simple, flavorful and perfect for a weeknight dinner.  It’s a lighter take on the classic American take-out dish and will be loved by both kids and adults. It also happens to be gluten-free, dairy-free and paleo!

Healthy General Tso’s Chicken

We are big fans of the fake-out take-out recipes here, but this lighter General Tso’s Chicken might be our new favorite! It uses wholesome ingredients and simple instructions and we are pretty sure the entire family will love it! General Tso’s is typically made by deep frying breaded chicken and then coating it with a pretty sweet sauce. While we still wanted to have some crispness to the chicken, we wanted to avoid frying it and we wanted to keep the sauce free of refined sweeteners and gluten while still maintain the same taste as traditional General Tso’s.

We use a few different ingredients (such as coconut aminos and gluten-free hoisin) to help achieve the same taste but made healthier. Serve General Tso’s Chicken with your favorite side, but we suggest cauliflower rice and if you’re feeling like you need some extra veggies in your life some broccoli would fit right in here.

What You Need to Make It

We turned to a few different products to help us keep this dish free from soy, refined sweeteners and gluten, which you will notice below. We used the Coconut Secrets brand of hoisin (which traditionally contains gluten) and coconut aminos, which is a soy-free soy sauce substitute. If you can’t find the gluten-free hoisin, feel free to use a gluten-free teriyaki sauce (we also recommend the brand Coconut Secrets for that). We do recommend using both honey and coconut sugar to get a similar taste to traditional General Tso’s.

• Chicken Breast
• Scallions
• Arrowroot Starch
• Salt and pepper
• Avocado Oil
• Ginger and Garlic
• Coconut Hoisin Sauce
• Rice Vinegar 
• Coconut Aminos
• Coconut Sugar
• Honey
• Sesame oil
• Bird’s Eye Chili (or crushed red pepper)

What can you serve with this Lighter General Tsos?

We served ours with cauliflower rice, but it would also go well with:

• White rice
• Brown rice
• Quinoa
• Steamed broccoli
• Cooked green beans
• Steamed cauliflower
• Roasted spaghetti squash

Watch the video:

If you like this quick weeknight chicken dinner, check out these others:

• Spinach and Artichoke Chicken
• Creamy Tuscan Chicken (Paleo & Keto)
• Quick Spicy Italian Chicken in Tomatoes
• Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
• Gluten-Free Chicken Piccata (In 30 Minutes!)

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Healthy General Tso's Chicken

Healthy General Tso's Chicken is simple, flavorful and perfect for a weeknight dinner.  It's a lighter take on the classic American take-out dish and will  loved by both kids and adults. It also happens to be  be gluten-free, dairy-free and paleo!

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Yield 4
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Total Time 22 minutes

Recipe Type: Dinner
Cuisine Gluten-free
Difficulty: Easy
Author: Lexi's Clean Kitchen

Scale This Recipe

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Ingredients

• 1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast, diced into bite sized pieces
• ¼ cup arrowroot starch
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon avocado oil
• 3 scallions, sliced thin and whites and greens separated
• 1” piece ginger, peeled and grated
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ cup coconut hoisin sauce (see note for substitute)
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar 
• 2 tablespoons coconut aminos
• 2 tablespoon coconut sugar
• 1 tablespoons honey
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon dried bird’s eye chili (or crushed red pepper flakes)
• Cauliflower rice, for serving
• Sesame seeds, for garnish

Directions

1. Cut chicken into 1" pieces and place inside of a large bowl with arrowroot starch and a big pinch of salt and pepper. Toss to coat the chicken fully.
2. Heat oil in a large, heavy skillet. Once hot, brown chicken on both sides, in batches if necessary, for 3-4 minutes per side.
3. Remove chicken and set aside. To the pan add the white parts of the scallion, ginger and garlic and cook for 1 minute. 
4. Add in the coconut hoisin, rice vinegar, coconut aminos, coconut sugar, honey, sesame oil, and red pepper flakes. Increase heat and bring the mixture to a boil, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the skillet. Once the sauce has boiled and thickened up, add back the chicken and cook through until hot, about 1 more minute.
5. Serve chicken immediately with sauce from the skillet over cauliflower rice and top with green parts of the scallions and sesame seeds.

Recipe Notes

1. Traditional hoisin sauce contains gluten. There are some brands out there that are free from gluten such as Coconut Secrets brand. If you can’t readily find a gluten-free brand, feel free to substitute teriyaki sauce.
2. Despite this recipe calling for a lot of “coconut” products, this does not at all taste like coconut!

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