Healthy General Tso Chinese

Ever want Chinese but don’t want the guilt and bloat of ordering the buffet or an overloaded to-go order?

My husband and I LOVE Chinese food but really don’t like the discomfort it brought to our bellies once we started eating healthier. When we lived in Fort Thomas, KY in the winter of 2016-2017, we CRAVED Chinese almost every day so we needed to find a healthier solution or we were going to reap the consequences of all the sodium, refined carbs, and high calories. We also needed something quick and easy to meal prep for lunches during the week. After lots of researching and trying different recipes, I found a great way to make this favorite Chinese dish at your home with friends and family.

I looked online for recipes to make it homemade but never found anything that I liked or that wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg to make. I have made homemade sesame seed chicken, but it turned out too salty and I didn’t want that to happen also. So when shopping at Kroger, I found a General Tso sauce in the international section and figured that I would try it out. 

When making this recipe with this sauce, we absolutely fell in love with it and made this a weekly meal! We loved the texture, consistency, and the flavor. It wasn’t too mild or too spicy. It isn’t filled with a bunch of ingredients you can’t pronounce or haven’t seen before.

When making this dish, I wanted to try and make it as healthy as possible, so I ditched the carb-covered deep-fried part that makes Chinese food unhealthy and decided to pan-fry the chicken in olive oil instead. It REALLY doesn’t change the taste at all and you don’t notice a difference texture-wise either. It also saves time to not cover it in flour and deep fry it, so it makes it easier and family-friendlier.

I usually buy chicken breast and cut them into cubes or small strips to make them unique sizes, just like you would get at the Chinese restaurant. The only seasoning I use is salt and pepper to taste while I’m pan frying the chicken – don’t go overboard on the salt because it can make it WAY too salty.

Most Chinese dishes come with veggies! I know most people put these to the side but adding some veggies to your dish will make it more healthy and restaurant-like! I usually add broccoli with some onion and green peppers or I do mixed bell peppers and red onions for something different. You'll want to add the veggies right in before the sauce. 

Once the chicken is cooked thoroughly, add the sauce to your liking. When we first started using the General Tso sauce, we would just dump the entire bottle in and have the chicken and rice drenched in it, but now we measure it per serving and usually put in about 4-6 tbsp. of the sauce in depending on how much chicken we are making.  

When we cook, we like to go for healthy but EASY. Since we love easy, we use Uncle Bens 90 second microwavable brown rice. Although it can get expensive if not on sale, we sometimes use the Kroger brand that tastes the same. We love eating brown rice because it is a superfood and a complex carb. My husband and I tend to stay away from white rice because it’s a refined carb that turns into sugar.

This is a great and easy way to incorporate healthier options into Chinese food instead of going to the Chinese buffet or getting take-out. Bloat be-gone!

Serving 2

Prep: 10 minutes

Cook: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 tbsp. Olive Oil

1 Large Chicken Breast

1 package of Uncle Ben’s 90 Sec Brown Rice

1 bottle of Tsang General Tso Sauce (Use however much you’d like, I use about 5 tbsp.)

*optional

1 cup of chopped broccoli

OR

2 cups of mixed green pepper and onion

OR

3 cups of mixed peppers and red onion
salt and pepper to taste

Vegan: substitute meat for one head of cooked cauliflower

Direction

1. In a large skillet, pour olive oil and set heat to medium-high. Chop up chicken into cubes and tiny strips to make them different shapes and sizes (just like they are when you get them at the restaurant)

2. When the oil gets hot, throw the chicken in the pan and cook until seared on both sides (about 8-10 minutes on both sides)

3. When chicken is seared, lower heat, add veggies and pour in the sauce. Heat rice in the microwave and follow the instructions on the back of the package.

4. Once the sauce is hot, veggies are tender and rice is done, you can enjoy!