One of my all-time favorites. My go-to when I used to order from the Chinese take away. One of the reasons I got fat in the first place. General Tso’s Chicken. The sweet, spicy, savory mixture of sticky sauce slathering that chicken is something I never wanted to forget. This goes great with Cauliflower Fried Rice!

I’ve been experimenting with the sauce since I made the sweet and sour chicken, and I’ve hit the nail on the head! This is one recipe that those of us on a ketogenic diet shouldn’t go without trying.

I wasn’t able to get red chili’s from my grocer, but I highly suggest you use them. For me, this recipe wasn’t spicy enough. The great thing about General Tso’s is that the red chili’s is that every now and again you get a burst of spice that adds a great depth of flavor. For me, I only got a mild spice from the red chili flakes, and it wasn’t enough.

Flavor wise, this chicken is fantastic. I think the depth of flavor that the Hoisen sauce adds makes it worth the extra few carbs, same goes with the chili paste.

If you’re in a bind for time and can’t cook them in the oven, there’s an easy solution. Instead of only par-frying them, fry them so they’re cooked all the way through, drizzle the sauce on top, and serve. If you do this, it may be best to cook the sauce in a saucepan on the stove for a while to allow the flavors to develop a little bit. Also, Id suggest using 1/2 tsp. Xanthan gum if you use this method, as the sauce won’t have as much time to thicken up.

Yields 3 servings that is ~ 1.4 pounds.

The Preparation

Chicken:

3/4 cup pork rinds, crushed
1/3 cup almond flour
2 large egg
14 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon coconut oil

Sauce:

1/4 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce, or coconut aminos
2 tablespoons low-carb ketchup
2 tablespoons erythritol
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

The Execution

1. Preheat oven to 325F.

2. Place about half a bag of pork rinds in the food processor.

3. Pulse them until they are a fine and ground powder.

4. Remove the pork rind dust from the food processor and put it in a bowl. Add your almond flour and mix it well.

5. In a separate bowl, scramble 2 eggs for dipping the chicken in.

6. Clean off your chicken breasts, getting rid of any fatty or gritty parts.

7. Cube your chicken breasts, trying to be as uniform as possible.

8. Now get your station ready.

9. Dip the chicken into the egg, dip it into the pork rids and almond flour, and then put them off to the side to get them ready for frying.

10. In a pan, heat up 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil and 1 Tbsp. Coconut Oil. Once it is hot, add your chicken to fry.

11. Continue frying them, flipping them over when needed to create a crust. You don’t want to cook them all the way through here because we’ll be cooking them in the oven later.

12. Once they are finished frying, transfer them to a baking tray. I do about 2-3 batches of frying before I’m finished. Overcrowding the pan will allow too much of the oil to be soaked up and create a soggy texture. Add more oil to the pan as needed.

13. Let’s get started on the sauce. Add all of the ingredients into a bowl.

14. Mix it well until thoroughly combined. It should have a dark red color to it.

15. Cover your fried chicken cubes in the sauce.

16. Mix the sauce and the chicken well, but being careful – you don’t want the batter to peel off.

17. Put the chicken in the oven for 60 minutes. Every 15 minutes you’ll be taking it out to flip the chicken.

18. After 15 minutes there should not be much change, stir the chicken and make sure every piece has sauce.

19. After 30 minutes you can see that the sauce has started to thicken. Continue to mix the sauce and the chicken, flipping the chicken pieces of needed.

20. After 45 minutes you see that it’s almost done. Flip the chicken and cook another 15 minutes.

21. After the one hour is up, the sauce has become thick and rich. Serve as you see it now, without mixing it, to give a nice sauce crust on the chicken.

This makes a total of 3 servings of Keto Bites: General Tso's Chicken. Each serving comes out to be 559 calories, 33.8g fats, 4.3g net carbs, and 53.7g protein.

NUTRITION	CALORIES	FAT	CARBS	FIBER	NET CARBS	PROTEIN
3/4 cup pork rinds	137	8.6	0	0	0	13
1/3 cup almond flour	214	18.5	8.1	4.8	3.3	7.8
2 large egg	157	10.5	0.8	0	0.8	13.8
14 ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast	655	14.3	0	0	0	123
2 tablespoon olive oil	239	27	0	0	0	0
1 tablespoon coconut oil	122	13.5	0	0	0	0
1/4 cup chicken broth	4	0.1	0.3	0	0.3	0.4
3 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar	8	0	0	0	0	0
2 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce	21	0.2	2	0.3	1.7	3.2
2 tablespoon low-carb ketchup	18	0	1.9	0	1.9	0
2 tablespoon erythritol	5	0	0	0	0	0
2 teaspoon sesame oil	80	9.1	0	0	0	0
1 teaspoon hoisin sauce	12	0.2	2.4	0.2	2.2	0.2
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes	6	0.3	1	0.5	0.5	0.2
1 teaspoon garlic powder	10	0	2.3	0.3	2	0.5
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger	1	0	0.2	0	0.2	0
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum	4	0	0.9	0.9	0	0
Totals	1692	102.3	19.8	7	12.8	162.2
Per Serving (/3)	564	34.1	6.6	2.3	4.3	54.1