Kung “Pao-less” Chicken
Back in the day, Panda Express was my jam. When I was pregnant with Judah and working full time as a teacher and coach, Hayden and I ate there at least once a week. Remember, this is before I cared very much about food quality. I was still very much a quantity driven person. A dear friend of mine, Amy, introduced me to her homemade Kung Pao Chicken. She came over to my house and even made it for me while pregnant with Judah, and I was in homemade take out heaven! Paleo? No. Not in the slightest. Delicious? Yes. We made homemade chow mein and everything.
Sadly, I now know better so I decided to paleo-fy my favorite recipe from my friend Amy for you! I even measured, and wrote it down! It actually got thrown away for a second because I wrote it down on a Geico bill…whoops. I quickly scooped it out, even though it was covered in food! I hope you love it! I call it “pao-less” because my kiddos ate it too, and I didn’t want it to be too spicy for them! You can totally add crushed red pepper, and be good to go!
Kung “Pao-less” Chicken
Ingredients
2-2.5 pounds of chicken – sliced on the diagonal thinly
½ of a cabbage (purple or green)
2 cups of peeled and diced carrots
1 cup of diced celery
1 large red bell pepper
2.5 cups of broccoli florets
½ of a white onion
2 tbsp Tapioca starch
Sesame Seeds – for garnish
Green Onions – for garnish
For the sauce:
½ cup olive oil or avocado oil
¼ cup coconut aminos or gluten-free soy sauce
¼ cup coconut sugar
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
Garlic powder to taste
Onion powder to taste
**add up to 1 tsp of crushed red pepper depending on the heat level you want
Directions:
1. Chop all of your vegetables. Try and get them all about the same thickness so it all cooks evenly. You can place it all in a bowl as you chop, except for the cabbage. Keep it separate!
2. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce and set it aside.
3. Slice up your chicken and place it in a bowl. Dump in a 2 tablespoons of tapioca starch(like corn starch), and mix the chicken and the starch together. You want just a light dusting! So don’t be tempted to add more!
4. Heat a skillet up with your frying oil of choice. I used olive oil but avocado oil works great too! Medium-ish to medium high. Place your chicken in the skillet in batches, browning both sides until you have cooked all of your chicken. Place it on a paper towel lined plate to drain as you finish them.
5. In a separate skillet, heat up some oil for your veggies. Add all of the veggies listed except the cabbage. Cook until the veggies begin to soften but not all the way because the sauce will steam them a bit too, so you don’t want everything all mushy! Maybe 5-8 minutes or so. Then add the cabbage to the veggie pan. Cook 3 more minutes.
6. Pour the sauce you mixed up before into the veggie pan. This will steam all the veggies since the pan is still hot. Turn the heat down. Stir in the chicken until everything is evenly coated in the sauce.
7. Transfer to a dish, top with green onions and sesame seeds.
8. Enjoy your homemade takeout!
I hope you guys love my fake out take out recipe! Let me know what you think!