About
Traditional Orange Chicken is very sugar-laden, but not this version of Keto Chinese! Sugar-free marmalade is blended into a sauce made with soy sauce and rice vinegar (feel free to add chili flakes if you would like). Tender chicken breast is diced and coated with a Keto almond batter made from egg, almond flour, and baking powder for a good puff. This helps the battered chicken become so lovely and golden brown and crispy coming out of the fryer. After the chicken is fried, the sauce is cooked with delicious, fragrant minced garlic and ginger until it has become a thickened glaze to coat the crispy chicken pieces. The whole mixture is tossed together to Orange Chicken perfection and served immediately.
Serving suggestions
This dish would be great with cauliflower rice or an avocado cucumber salad on the side for extra healthy fats.
What is used to thicken the sauce?
The sauce is thickened with xanthan gum, which can be found online or in a supermarket. Prep the sauce ahead of time, but do not add the xanthan until the sauce mixture is cooking in the wok. It will help the xanthan disperse evenly throughout (xanthan lumps are not good).
Do I need to drip off the excess batter from the chicken?
No, the recipe was created, so there is just enough batter for the amount of chicken used in the recipe. Toss the chicken in the batter and scoop it into batches into the hot oil.
Why is the frying oil not in the ingredient list?
If your oil is at the temperature suggested in the recipe (350 F to 400 F), there should be minimal oil pickup. So simply fill your wok ⅓ full with oil. If you are carefully counting macros, you can add 1-2 tsp separately to your calorie counter just to be on the safe side.
What if I cannot have almonds?
If almond is an issue for you, substitute the almond flour for ⅓ cup of coconut milk and replace the liquid with a 1:1 ratio with another non-dairy milk.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup water
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup splenda sugar free orange marmalade by smucker's
- 2 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 slice – 1" diameter ginger
- 2 teaspoon garlic
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes by 365
- 1 cup almond flour
- ½ cup almond milk
- 1 large raw egg
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 pound chicken breast
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking aids xanthan gum by bob's red mill
- 1 large scallions
Instructions
- For stir fries, be sure to have everything prepped and ready to go before turning the wok on. This is because wok cooking moves very quickly. In a small measuring cup, combine the water, soy sauce, orange marmalade, and rice vinegar together. Mix well and set aside. Mince the garlic and ginger and combine them together in a small bowl. Add chili flakes to the sauce mixture if you would like it to be spicy.
- Mix together the flour, milk, egg, baking powder, and soy sauce. Set this aside while you prepare the chicken breasts. Dice the chicken breasts into 1” x 1” pieces and place them into a medium sized mixing bowl. Season the diced chicken with salt and mix well.
- Fill a wok ⅓ full with avocado oil. Place it on medium high heat. Allow the oil to heat for several minutes until it reads 350 F – 400 F on a high temperature probe. While the oil is heating, combine the diced chicken with the batter. Stir to coat the chicken very well.
- When the oil is hot, add ¼ of the battered chicken to the hot oil. Allow it to sit for 30 seconds before giving it a very gentle stir to break up the chicken pieces. It is ok if some are sticking together. Once the chicken takes on a very light pale brown color, you can stir it again to finish separating all of the pieces. Allow it to cook for several minutes longer until the chicken is a very golden brown color.
- Remove the chicken using a slotted spoon and place it on a paper towel lined plate or rimmed baking sheet. A rimmed baking sheet would be best so the pieces can lay in a single layer (this allows them to stay crispy). Repeat three more times, dividing the remaining coated pieces of chicken into batches. Turn the heat off.
- Once all the chicken is deep fried, pour the oil out of the pan leaving about 1 tbsp of oil at the bottom. Wipe out any crumbs from the frying process. Turn the heat back on to medium high and fry the garlic and ginger for 30 seconds. Then add the sauce mixture.
- Sprinkle over the xanthan gum and stir quickly and well. Cook until the sauce goes from cloudy to clear and thickened. Drop in the fried chicken and toss very quickly to glaze the chicken. Top with sliced green onions and serve immediately.
Nutrition Facts
- Servings: 6
- Calories: 273.3kcal/1143.5kJ (per serving)
- Fat: 14.0g (per serving)
- Carbs: 9.3g (per serving)
- Protein: 29.6g (per serving)
