When I finish work and come home, I just wanted to stop-by at a fast food place and pick food for dinner. Panda Express is right there when I get off the highway and wanted to always get pepper chicken with brown rice. But I take a step back by thinking of soy sauce, added salt and the type of chicken used. So I wanted to make pepper chicken at home. It turned out very easy to make and it is always on the list for our weeknight dinner.
You can use chicken breast or thighs but I prefer chicken thighs as it is juicy and my kids prefer chicken things than the chicken breast. I generally avoid soy sauce as it has high salt content and would like to use coconut aminos. If you are not comfortable in using coconut aminos, you can use soy sauce. Chicken thighs coated with corn starch give you nice coat while pan roasting. It also helps to hold coconut aminos together. Onions and Celery gives nice crunchiness to the chicken.
You could make this dish in less than 30 minutes in one pan which makes cleaning easy. If you have time, you can marinate the chicken and leave it for an hour. If not you can cook immediately after coating the chicken with spices. I use non-stick pan to roast the chicken as the in cast iron ( even in well-seasoned cast iron) corn starch sticks to the bottom of the pan. To speed up the process, I cook chicken in non-stick pan and start sautéing onion and celery in cast iron and transfer chicken into a cast iron pan.
I like to serve pepper chicken with steamed brown rice and oven-roasted broccoli.
Ingredients:
- Skinless boneless chicken (cut into thin slices 1/2 inch pieces) – 11/2 pounds
- Salt- 1/2 Teaspoon
- Pepper- 1/2 Teaspoon
- Corn Starch- 11/2 Tablespoon
- White Vinegar- 1Tablespoon
- Ginger- 1/2 Teaspoon
- Avocado Oil- 1 1/2 Tablespoon
- Onion (cut into 1 inch) – 1 small
- Celery (cut into thin slices) – 2-3 stalks
- Coconut Aminos- 11/2 Tablespoon
- Salt- 1/2 Teaspoon
- Pepper- 1 Tablespoon
- Spring onion- 2 Tablespoon
Steps:
- In a bowl add thinly cut chicken.
- Add salt, pepper, corn Starch, Vinegar, ginger and mix well.
- Let it rest for an hour
- In medium heat pan, pour 1/2 Tablespoon oil.
- Add marinated chicken and place them separated. Place them evenly to get a nice brown coat in the chicken pieces. Don’t overcrowd the chicken otherwise it becomes soggy.
- Cook for 15 minutes or until chicken is done. You can break the chicken piece to see there is no pink spots inside.
- Now transfer the chicken into a bowl
- In the same pan, add oil.
- Add onion, celery and sauté them for 2 mins.
- Now keep the flame in high heat and add the cooked chicken, coconut aminos, salt and pepper
- Mix well and taste now to adjust salt, pepper.
- Add Spring Onion and mix well for one last final time.
Serve with hot rice and enjoy the meal!
GulitFreeRecipe 