Craving Chinese takeout? Make this delicious Paleo and Whole30 version of General Tso’s chicken! When I first started cooking the idea of making my own Chinese food seemed overwhelming to me. That was one cuisine we never really made at home when I was growing up. Sure we got takeout from our local restaurant, but I’d never tried making my own. So a few tips for anyone looking to branch into making their favorite takeout staples at home.

Go to your local Asian market. There are so many items that I’ve never seen before and I have NO idea what they are, but every time I go it’s a fun experience and I find something new to try. Buying your spices here in bulk will save you TONS of $$ and most of the spices have the names in English as well so you will not have a difficult time locating what you need. I not only get specialty items like szechuan peppercorns and birds eye (or small thai) chili peppers, but also staples like cumin, garlic, ginger, etc. What I generally do is just wash my empty spice bottles and refill them with the bulk spices to save money and reduce waste.
Read your ingredients. Always. You should be doing this regardless, so it shouldn’t be anything new, but always take a look and make sure there are not added ingredients you’re trying to avoid in your sauces, vinegars, coconut milks, and spices. It can be a challenge at times to locate whole food ingredients (I accidentally used a rice vinegar throughout my entire first Whole30 that had high fructose corn syrup!) but I promise you they are worth the extra effort to find.
Do not be afraid! I promise, making your own Chinese food is simple, easy and delicious. I’ve made this recipe several times now and it’s a lunch favorite.

Breading

I personally LOVE what I have labeled the dump method. Simply put – this is where you dump you egg over the chicken then dump in your flour mixture and toss. It is so much easier and faster than hand dipping and breading each individual piece, but a few key notes if you convert to this method.

Drain any excess egg. You want your chicken to be wet and fully covered in egg, but if you notice a lot of extra in the bowl, do your best to pour this out before you add your flour. If you have too much egg the breading will turn into a paste. If this happens to you, never fear, just add another half cup of almond flour/quarter cup of tapioca starch combo premixed. It will still be a little paste like, but it will cook up just fine.
You must mix your flours evenly together before you add them to your chicken. If not you will end up with some pieces covered only in starch and some pieces in only almond flour. As you can imagine, this tastes less than ideal.
You do not need to season your breading as the sauce will give the chicken all the flavor it needs.

Sauce

As mentioned above, read your ingredients. It is possible to find vinegars without sulfates and watch out for high fructose corn syrup or other sugars in your vinegars as well. For the coconut amino, my personal favorite is Big Tree Farms organic coco aminos. It has a thick and rich consistency that I love for sauces and marinades. If you’re sensitive to heat, do not chop your dried chilis or simply omit them all together. However, the dish needs some spice to it, so don’t omit the red pepper/chili oil all together or it just will not taste quite right.

Cooking Instructions:

Begin with the Sauce

Gather your your vinegars, chicken broth, spices, and coconut aminos and add them all to a small sauce pan. If you do not have chili oil then check out my homemade version. Its easy and makes plenty of leftovers for other recipes. You can also sub crush red pepper or the spicier thai chili peppers if you don’t have chili oil. If you’re looking to reduce the heat in your sauce do not chop the dried chilis or simply omit them. They add quite a kick so beware.

If you’re using fresh garlic and ginger I recommend using 4 cloves and 1 tsp respectively. For granulated use 2 tsp garlic and 1/2 tsp ginger.

Cook the sauce on the stove until it reduces by half. Make sure to keep an eye on it and stir it regularly so it does not burn. Once it has reduced to half the original volume take it off the heat and let it rest while you finish preparing the chicken.

For the chicken

Cube chicken into 1 inch pieces then place in a large bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl whisk your egg. In another separate bowl combine your almond flour and arrowroot starch. If you do not have almond flour, you can substitute coconut flour.

Add your egg to your chicken mixture and toss with a fork until everything is evenly coated. Drain any excess egg off of your chicken. You want the chicken to be fully covered in egg, but if there is a lot of excess egg you will get a paste consistency when you add your flour.

After you’ve drained off any excess egg add your flour to the chicken mixture and toss with a fork (or your hands) until everything is evenly coated. If you do end up with a thick paste then simply mix another 1/2 cup of almond flour and 1/4 cup of tapioca starch and add this mixture to your chicken and continue to mix. There will be some soft paste like consistency regardless, but as long as each piece of chicken has a good amount of flour mixture stuck to it, it will all work out in the end.

Next place 1/2 cup avocado oil in a large skillet on medium/high heat. Once oil is hot, but not smoking add chicken pieces in a single layer. Cook chicken until breading is brown on underside then flip and cook until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 F. Repeat this step with the chicken in batches, adding extra oil as needed until it is all cooked. Toss the chicken in the sauce.

AIR FRYER METHOD:

If you have an air fryer simply set it for 400 F. I like to set mine to 35 minutes which is usually enough time to cook all my batches in my 4Q fryer and lets it preheat for about 3 minutes. Once it is preheated, spray the inside with avocado oil then place chicken in a single layer. Spray again with avocado oil and cook for ~11 minutes, or until cooked through and golden brown, shaking half way. Repeat with remaining chicken until it is all cooked.

Once the chicken is finished cooking toss it all in the sauce and it’s ready to serve. I personally like to serve this with cauliflower rice and steamed broccoli. But you can pair it with whatever you prefer!