Chinese Sweet and Sour Chicken

I know I write that all of my meals are delicious, but this one turned out like overly the top I could eat it everyday for weeks delicious! Seriously, this meal was so freaking good. This Asian-inspired Paleo blog is 3/3 with the recipes that I've tried. Although I am not sure if I'd put this one in the category of easy bulk meal prep recipes, but if you have some time to heat up a few batches of chicken in the wok or large skillet, this one is 100% worth trying out. On another note, I also had to quintuple the recipe below to get enough meals, so most people probably won't need to do that. Back to the recipe though... I pre-cut the stir-fry ingredients and marinated the chicken the day before cooking to help ease the meal prep Sunday load. Definitely make sure you thinly slice the chicken breast! While the chicken was cooking, I threw the sweet and sour sauce into the blender and heated up some plain frozen cauliflower rice in the microwave. There was SO much sauce at the end to throw over top of each meal that the plain cauliflower rice had plenty of flavoring once all put together. I personally did not use white pepper, but black pepper instead, and opted for the apple cider vinegar over the rice vinegar. As far the oils, I do recommend sticking to the sesame oil for the chicken marinade, but you can easily swap avocado oil for something like coconut oil instead when heating up the chicken. Basically, don't be discouraged by the ingredient list and make it work if you can, because this meal turned out tasting absolutely amazing! 

Chinese Sweet and Sour Chicken 
Ingredients:
Sweet and Sour Chicken:

• 1 1/4 lbs Chicken breasts or thighs, , skinless boneless
• 1 1/4 tsp Coarse sea salt
• 1 1/2 tbsp Coconut Aminos
• 1/4 tsp White pepper
• 1/2 tsp Ground ginger powder
• 1 tbsp Toasted sesame oil
• 2 tsp Arrowroot starch 

Stir-Fry:

• 3 tbsp Avocado oil
• Quarter one whole Yellow onion, diced
• 1 bulb Scallion, chopped
• 2-3 slice ginger, roughly chopped
• Half one whole green bell pepper, cut into bite size cubes
• Half one whole red bell pepper, cut into bite size cubes

Sweet and sour chicken sauce:

• 1/4 cup Dry apricots, or figs, or pitted prunes
• 1/3 cup Pineapple juice, fresh or from a can, not in heavy syrup
• 2 tbsp Coconut aminos
• 1 1/2 tbsp Rice vinegar, ,or 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp Tomato paste
• 1 small Pinch of sea salt
• 3-4 tbsp Chicken stock or water 

Directions:
Season the chicken:

1. Thinly slice the chicken breasts or dice the chicken thighs. Mix well in a medium bowl with the remaining chicken ingredients. Marinate in the refrigerator while preparing the stir-fry ingredients.

Sauce:

1. Blend dry apricots with pineapple juice, coconut aminos, rice or cider vinegar, tomato paste, and a little salt. Puree with chicken stock or water to thin the texture.

Stir-Fry:

1. Preheat a wok or large skillet over medium heat until it's too hot to place your palm nearby, about 2-3 inches away. Add 1.5 tbsp of the avocado oil. Add the chicken in the skillet in one shallow layer and pan fry until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes, flipping once to cook the other side for an additional 1 minute. Set aside along with the chicken juice.
2. Heat the remaining 1.5 tbsp of oil over medium-high heat in the same skillet, then lower the heat to medium. Add the onion, scallion, and ginger. Season with a small pinch of salt. Stir-fry for 5 to 10 seconds. Add the bell peppers. Season with another small pinch of salt and stir-fry for 5 to 10 seconds. Add the chicken back to the skillet. Add 3 to 4 heaping tablespoons of the sweet-and-sour sauce. Keep stir-frying until the chicken is completely cooked through. Serve hot and immediately.

Original recipe found here