Any Panda Express fans out there? I had my first encounter with Panda Express shortly after moving to Los Angeles. This was far before the word Paleo ever filtered through my ears. I fell hard for Panda Express. Do you want to add another entree for one dollar? Ok! How about a spring roll? Ok! I would load up on lo mien, fried rice, orange chicken, kung pow chicken and sweet fire chicken. Sounds healthy. Totally kidding. It is a little gross looking back but at the time eating healthy was the furthest thing from my mind.
Fast forward four years, and I have been craving my old Panda Express favorites. I really wanted some sweet fire chicken and fried rice. I have an another cauliflower fried rice recipe on my blog but I spruced it up a bit! For the chicken I knew I needed a legit sweet chili sauce to start. I’ve made Steph from Stupid Easy Paleo’s sweet chili sauce a couple times and love it! I used her recipe as a jumping off point then doctored it up to make it more like my old favorite. This dish turned out so good! I can already see it becoming a go-to dinner for me.
Ingredients
- 5 tbls white wine vinegar
- 3 tbls honey
- 1-2 tsp chili garlic sauce, depending on your heat preference*
- 1 tsp garlic, grated
- 2 tsp ginger, grated
- 2 tsp arrowroot powder
- 1 tsp ghee
- 1 lb chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 large red bell pepper, cored and cut into 1-in pieces
- 12 oz can pineapple chunks, drained
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 3 tsp ghee, divided
- 1/2 cup white onion, diced
- 5 tbls coconut aminos
- 2 tsp sesame seed oil
- 1 tsp ginger, grated
- 2 eggs, beaten
Directions
- Mix all ingredients in a small sauce pot over medium heat. Bring to a boil and whisk until all ingredients are melted and sauce starts to thicken, about 2 minutes. Set aside.
- Melt ghee in large skillet and add chicken, salt and pepper.
- Stirring occasionally, cook for 10 minutes until all pieces of chicken are cooked through.
- Add in bell pepper and pineapple and cook for about 5 minutes until bell pepper is slightly soften.
- Pour in sweet chili sauce and toss to coat all ingredients.
- Bring sauce to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Remove the cauliflower stem and cut into chunks that will fit in your blender or food processor.
- Pulse a couple times until the cauliflower reaches a “rice” like consistency.
- Heat large skillet over medium-high heat and melt 1 teaspoon ghee.
- Cook onions until transparent.
- Add cauliflower, coconut aminos, sesame oil and ginger.
- Stir until cauliflower is evenly coated and cook for 5 minutes.
- Push cauliflower mixture to one side of the pan. Add eggs in clean space and scramble with wooden spoon.
- Once eggs are cooked, mix in with other ingredients.
- Add in remaining 2 teaspoons of ghee and stir to fry the rice for 5 minutes.
Notes
*If you don't have chili garlic sauce on hand, you can use 1/2 red jalapeno finely diced plus an additional 1/2 tsp minced garlic!
Enjoy!
x vanessa
Kiersten says
My husband is still a HUGE panda express fan. Maybe this would help him move past his unhealthy addiction 🙂
vanessa says
It definitely eases the separation anxiety just a little! 🙂
Rebecca says
I made this for dinner tonight. It was so yummy. We are already planning to have again soon. I can’t wait to eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
vanessa says
I’m so happy you liked it!!