Skinny General Tso's Chicken

If I had to pick my favorite food of all time it would be Asian food.   I cook a ton of Asian food and I eat a ton of Asian food.  Some way or another, I always manage to turn something “Asian” – Asian sweet potatoes, Asian soup, Asian chicken sandwich, Asian tacos,  Asian squash, Asian cucumbers, Asian pork tenderloin, you name it, I’ve “Asianified” it.  So needless to say, picking my favorite Asian recipes is a tall order.  But if I had to pick my favorite Asian beef recipe of all time it would be this Asian beef.  If I had to pick my favorite Asian chicken recipe of all time, it would be this General Tso’s Chicken, with my Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken, Pineapple, Carrots and Bell Peppers coming in a close second.  

So in other words, YOU NEED TO MAKE THIS CHICKEN!  (would it help if I said, PLEASE!!!  )

Did I mention this was our favorite Asian chicken?

After devouring this for the first time, you might find yourself craving General Tso’s chicken, dreaming about General Tso’s chicken, even falling in love with General Tso’s chicken.  But that’s okay, because this chicken is baked and then broiled to crispy perfection and not fried,  so its worthy of all your guiltless affection. (Restaurant servings may include up to 1,300 calories, 11 grams of saturated fat well and exceed 300 mg of cholesterol – if you believe Wikipedia, but I think I do on this one).

 The sweetness of the caramel sauce is perfectly balanced by Asian chili sauce and zingy ginger, all infused with garlic and toasted sesame seed oil.

The chicken alone seeps with flavor from the marinade and its crispy ginger spiced breading…but becomes positively addictive as its smothered in the sweet and spicy sauce.

And its so easy!  You prepare most of the sauce when you marinade the chicken (marinade becomes base of sauce), so you are simply left with breading and baking the chicken (easy but can take some time) and mixing sugar with water and heating up the sauce when you are ready to eat, that’s it!  Did General Tso’s chicken just get even better?!

So go ahead, show Skinny General Tso’s Chicken your appreciation for being both daringly delicious andskinny by baking this tonight.

I promise it will be become your family’s favorite General Tso’s chicken.

SKINNY GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN AKA MY FAVORITE CHINESE CHICKEN EVER!

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Author: Jen@CarlsbadCravings

Serves: 6

INGREDIENTS

• Marinade/Sauce
• 2 - 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1” pieces
• ½ cup soy sauce
• ½ cup Chinese rice wine, I use this one found in the Asian section of any grocery store (may substitute dry sherry)
• ½ cup water
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seed oil
• 1-2 tablespoons Asian chili sauce sauce/Sriracha*, more or less
• *(2 T is quite spicy, perfect if you love heat, use less if you don't)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
• Dash of pepper
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch (reserve from marinade)
• 
  Carmel Sauce
• 1 cup sugar
• ¼ cup water
• 
  Flour Breading
• 1 cup flour
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons ground ginger (sounds like a lot, its amazing)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 eggs + 2 tablespoons water whisked together
• 
  Snow peas, or other vegetables of choice

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a medium bowl, whisk all of the marinade ingredients together except for the cornstarch. Spoon 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of the marinade into a freezer bag with the chicken; refrigerate for 30 minutes up to overnight. Refrigerate the remaining marinade ingredients separately in the bowl (this will become the base of your sauce).
2. When ready to cook, place aluminum foil on the bottom of a baking sheet. Add cooking rack on top and spray with cooking spray. Combine the flour breading ingredients in a large freezer bag. Dip the chicken pieces in the egg wash and then place them in the flour mixture. Shake until evenly coated.
3. Place chicken on baking sheet and lightly spray tops of chicken with cooking spray. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes then move the baking tray to the top middle oven rack and broil until crispy, watching closely so the chicken doesn't burn (about 2-3 minutes). Flip chicken pieces over and broil another 2-3 minutes, or until golden and crispy.
4. While the chicken is baking, whisk 2 tablespoons cornstarch to the reserved sauce. Set aside.
5. Add water and sugar to large skillet and boil over medium heat, for 1 minute - don't overcook or it will harden! At this point, add reserved sauce all at once to the hot caramel. Simmer the sauce until it thickens, about 1-2 minutes. Add snow peas and simmer 30 more seconds. *If adding different vegetables, simmer for 1-2 minutes, or until vegetables are crisp tender and then add snow peas.
6. Remove the sauce from the heat and allow to cool down slightly. Add cooked chicken and stir to combine.

RECIPE ADAPTED FROM ROCK RECIPES