Ever since Grant and I have been married, I have been having him rate recipes on a scale from 1-10. This is important for us because a typical recipe that I would consider at 7 like Meatloaf , Grant considers a 3. This isn’t because my recipe didn’t taste good, it just isn’t a dish that Grant wants to eat all the time and just helps communication. Now, homemade pizza on the other hand is a lot higher on the scale, in fact he would want it ever night for dinner if I didn’t want more variety. I have been so blessed in the recipe department because I have so many talented cooks and bakers in Grant’s and my family. But every once in a while, we like to try new recipe some of which are great, other not so much. This recipe is a copy cat of P.F. Chang’s Spicy Chicken, which I would highly recommend if you eat there. I found the recipe here.
Here is the picture of the finished recipe. It was delicious and Grant gave it a score of a 8/9 which is HUGE!
Sauce Ingredients:
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons chopped garlic (3 to 4 cloves)
3 tablespoons chopped green onions (about 3 onions)
1 cup pineapple juice (Next time I might add a tiny bit less because you could barley taste that it was pineapple juice if you were looking for the taste maybe do 3/4 of pineapple and 1/4 of water)( I also might freeze the excess pineapple juice since the huge cans are always the cheapest.
2 tablespoons chili sauce ( I used the sriracha chili sauce which is very spicy. If you can handle rotel, I would make it with 1 tablespoon. If you like NO spice, I think Heinz sells a non spicy chili sauce so you can still add the flavor. We did the 2 tablespoons and it was spicy for sure but with rice and edamame it was a good mix.)
2 tablespoons white distilled vinegar
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1 cup vegetable oil
2 chicken breast fillets
1/3 cup cornstarch
Directions:
1. Make the sauce by heating 2 teaspoons vegetable oil in medium saucepan. Saute the garlic and onion in the oil for just a few seconds, not allowing the ingredients to burn, then quickly add the pineapple juice, followed by chili sauce, vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce.
2. Dissolve cornstarch in 2 tablespoons water and add it to the other ingredients in the saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil and continue to simmer on medium/high heat for 3 to 5 minutes or until thick and syrupy.
3. Heat 1 cup vegetable oil in a wok or a medium saucepan over medium heat.
4. While oil heats up, chop chicken breast fillets into bite-size pieces. In a medium bowl, toss chicken pieces with cornstarch until well-dusted.
5. Saute coated chicken in the hot oil, stirring occasionally, until light brown. Remove chicken to a rack or paper towels to drain for a moment. Pour chicken into a medium bowl, add sauce and toss well to coat chicken. Serve immediately with rice on the side.
Needless to say, this was a pretty fast dish to make especially if you have a rice cooker, and we will really be making it again in the future. I hope you enjoy if you try it and ask any questions if you have them.
9 comments
Sounds tasty! I may try this with tofu… And maybe with baking or sautéing instead of frying. But the sauce sounds great!
Question: are you saying you can’t taste the pineapple so don’t worry about the extra cost/calories with the full cup of juice, or are you saying that you wish the pineapple flavor was more pronounced? Do you think orange juice would be a good sub?
Chez,
sorry for the confusions. With the full cup of pineapple juice you can just barley taste the pineapple juice. I suggested mixing in water or some other juice(just a small amount) so it is sweet but not overly pineappley tasting. I am sure you could do orange juice as a sub and make this an orange chicken version rather than General Tso.
Jess
This sounds and looks delicious! I will be trying this recipe soon! Thanks for sharing!
Jenny made this for her Dad and me one day after the tornado. It was doiuciels! I can’t wait to try it myself. Although I think it is the sesame oil that gives it that special flavor.
Sorry for commenting on an old post. Just came across this recipe and I really want to try it out!
When it says to use 1 cup of vegetable oil and to saute the chicken in it.. Are you supposed to be like deep-frying it?? That seems like a lot of oil.
It is a lot of oil,but the cornstarch soaks up some of that oil. So it is almost like deep frying the chicken in the separate pan. That extra oil doesn’t go in the sauce, so once the chicken is fried, you take it out and pat it dry on a paper towel. Thanks for the comment, and please let me know if you have any other questions.
So should you use a pot so that the chicken is fully submerged in the oil, or is it meant to just be partially covered and fried in a pan?
Tiff,
It is fine to be partially covered and fried in the pan.
spot on recipe such a treat!! thank you so much for uploading