I love the sweet, crunchy yum of orange chicken. But the orange chicken that most Chinese restaurants serve up is a greasy, sugary, fatty mess that is way too much for my stomach to handle these days. So here is a reimagined, paleo-friendly version that I tweaked. One caveat: My kids love canned baby corn, I added them to the final dish to make it more appealing to them. You’ll want to skip the corn to make this truly paleo.

Note: This meal took me a little longer to prepare than I anticipated, about 40 minutes, and does involve several pans, bowls and containers. So if you’re looking for a quick, weeknight dish with minimal cleanup, this isn’t what you want. Save this one for the weekend…

I served this up with a tasty side of cauliflower “fried rice.” You’ll find my recipe for the cauliflower here >>

Ingredients:

1 Lb. chicken breast or tenderloins, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 orange, for both zest and juice
2 TBS tapioca starch
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. fresh ginger
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 TBS fish sauce (or 2 tsp. kosher salt)
1 TBS rice wine vinegar
2 TBS honey
2 eggs
1 C. almond flour
Coconut oil
1 small head of broccoli, cut into bite-sized crowns and pieces
1 red bell pepper, cut into bite-sized chunks
1 small can baby corn chunks (optional)
2 green onions, sliced thin

Preparation:

With a micrograter, zest your orange, capturing all the zest in a small bowl. Set aside.

Now squeeze the juice of the orange into a small bowl.

Add the tapioca starch into the juice, and whisk until smooth

In a small pan, heat 1 TBS coconut oil over medium heat. Once the oil is glossy but not smoking, add the garlic, crushed red peppers, and half of the orange zest. Then with your micrograter, grate in the ginger. Stir together until golden brown, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Stir in the fish sauce, vinegar and honey, heat for about 30 seconds, then add in the orange juice and tapioca flour mixture. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

Reduce heat and simmer for two minutes. The sauce will thicken considerably. Remove from heat and set aside, leaving the mixture in the pan.

Now prep your assembly line for the chicken, by whisking the eggs into a small bowl, and adding the almond flour to a second container. I like to use a plastic container with a lid, for easier coating.

Dunk the chicken chunks into the egg, and add them to the almond flour. You’ll want to do this in small batches.

Cover the chicken and flour with a lid, then shake to coat the chicken. Repeat until all your chicken is prepped.

In a large cast-iron skillet, melt enough coconut oil to fill the bottom of the skillet about 1/4″ deep. Heat the oil until glossy, and almost smoking.

Working in small batches, add the chicken to the skillet, and cook for about 3 minutes.

With tongs, turn the chicken over to cook both sides, and cook another three minutes, until the chicken pieces are golden brown. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to drain and absorb any excess oil, and repeat until all your chicken is cooked.

While you’re cooking your chicken, prepare your vegetables: broccoli, bell pepper and baby corn.

In a large pan, heat 1 TBS coconut oil until shimmering, and add the vegetables. Cover with a lid to steam them, and cook for about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Once the vegetables are slightly softened, stir in the orange sauce mixture. The cooled sauce will be thick, but will loosen with heat. Stir to combine.

Add the chicken to the vegetables, and stir to reheat the chicken, and combine with the vegetables.

Serve hot and garnish with the green onions. Goes great with the cauliflower fried “rice!”