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It’s so hard sometimes to pick and choose what to post on certain days. Thankfully I have you all on Facebook to help me out :) You guys were clearly craving the take-out, fake-out over the cookies I had wanted to post! Ask and you shall receive! This lightened up version comes from the book I talked about last week, Comfort Food Makeovers by America’s Test Kitchen. The numbers on this dish before ATK’s makeover was crazy! 910 calories, 45 grams of fat, and 5 grams of saturated fat. After? 490 calories, 8 grams of fat, and 1.5 grams of saturated fat. What a difference, huh?!
So, speaking of my Facebook page..let’s just say, when it rains, it POURS. Did any of you follow along with what happened last night? I’m sure 95% of you received that Pinterest email about my Holy Yum Chicken. What a bunch of drama. I seriously have the best fans and readers. You all came up to bat for me with the negative comments and messages. I can’t thank you enough for understanding and realizing this was all beyond my control.
It really irks me that people jump to conclusions and have their own assumptions about everything without getting the facts first. Ever heard that quote, “be kind; for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” ? Well, so many people don’t really know what’s going on in my PERSONAL life and to add what happened yesterday on top of it, just really put me to the tipping point. Seriously, newsflash: this isn’t the end of the world. There are countless of tragedies going on in the world right now (re: OK tornadoes, wars, etc.) and for people to freak out at me over a recipe?! Really people, perspective…
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the recipe below. It’s become one of Jason & I’s favorite! :)
Lightened Up General Tso’s Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
- Vegetable oil spray
- ¼ cup (31 g) all-purpose flour
- 3 large egg whites
- 5 cups (140 g) Kellogg's Corn Flakes cereal, finely crushed
- 1 ½ pounds (680 g) boneless skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of all visible fat, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 ⅔ cups (394 ml) water
- ⅓ cup (79 ml) low sodium soy sauce
- ¼ cup (59 g) apricot jam
- 3 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoon canola oil
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 475 °F (246 °C). Line rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil, top with wire rack, and spray rack with oil spray.
- Spread flour into shallow dish. Whisk egg whites until foamy in second shallow dish. Spread corn flakes crumbs into third shallow dish. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Working in batches, dredge chicken in flour, dip in egg whites, then coat with corn flakes, pressing gently to adhere. Lay on prepared wire rack.
- Spray chicken with oil spray. Bake until chicken registers 165 °F (74 °C) and coating is brown and crisp, about 12-15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk water, soy sauce, apricot jam, hoisin, cornstarch, and vinegar together in a bowl. Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Whisk in soy sauce mixture, bring to simmer, and cook until thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and keep warm.
- When chicken is cooked, return sauce to simmer over medium-low heat. Add cooked chicken and toss to coat. Serve with steamed white or brown rice.
THank you so much for this delicious recipe, I will definately try this.
One of my favorites for takeout Chinese but I always feel so guilty after eating. This seems like a great alternative that I’m going to try.
PS. Love your blog, now added to the reader, love your words – they make me smile and laugh. :)
Aww thank you :) welcome to the table! I’m so happy to have you here, Pamela!!
Absolutely delicious recipe! I only needed about 2.5 cups of crushed corn flakes cereal, but it was every bit amazing! Even my 11 month old loved it! :D Thank you Julie!
This looks scrumptious :) I love general tsos chicken!
Looks yummy! Do you by chance know where I can find the nutritional information? House of diabetics… Thanks. :)
Hi Janina – Unfortunately, no. There are many reasons as to why I don’t post nutritional information on my recipes, one of which is that I simply do not have the time to do this. Also, I’m not a registered dietician or nutritionist so for me to give any sort of nutritional information would be incorrect and inaccurate. There are also many differing factors when it comes to nutritional information and since I do not have the knowledge in this, I do not feel comfortable posting this sort of information. If you must have this information, there are many calculators out there (free and paid) that can help you with calculations. A simple Google search would pull up some of these calculators, but again, I’m not endorsing them as I do not know how accurate they may be. Sorry and hopefully you can still make this!! :)
Oh girl, I missed the Pinterest thing, but it sounds just awful! People can be so cruel, especially online when they can hide behind their screens. You have so many supporters out there!
This chicken looks so awesome! I love when you do these posts!
Looks delicious. Sorry you had such a debacle with Pinterest and your chicken dish. Readers are mostly often but can be so tough when we get something wrong. I feel you on so many levels! Can’t wait to try this at home. Way better than the take out version!
Why do some people’s kids have to suck? Seriously. lol
On a better note, I’ll have to try out this lightened version (and get my hands on that TK cookbook!!)
one of my fav take out options!!!!
I missed the pinterest, sounds like a good thing. People get too crazy on the internet. But on a happy note this looks fabulous- I bought the cookbook a few months ago and have only made the lightened up choc chip cookies- they were good but I think I would rather eat a real one. This however still looks really tasty!