30-Minute Hunan Chicken (Gluten-Free, Soy-Free)

This quick and simple 30-Minute Hunan Chicken recipe features a sweet and sour sauce with a little kick is a lovely tool to change up weeknight meals. Serve it with cauliflower rice or your choice of steamed or fried rice to fit your dietary needs.

Have you ever tried Hunan Chicken?

I only recently tried it, and true to my nature, I developed a grain-free, soy-free and refined sugar-free version that tastes authentic and comes together quickly for easy healthy weeknight meals.

For me, this easy recipe checks all of the boxes! It is high in protein and fiber, made with all clean ingredients, requires 30 minutes or less to make, and saves well for lunch or dinner the next day.

Quick Chinese-inspired meals like this are a revolving theme in my life due to the ease of preparation, amazing flavor, and the fact that they are perfect for meal prep.

My Mango Cashew Chicken, 30-Minute Paleo Orange Chicken, 20-Minute Mongolian Ground Beef have been my most recent favorites.

But let’s dive into this sultry little number.

What is Hunan Chicken?:

Hunan Chicken is a Chinese American rendition of what would be a typical dish from the Hunan province of China. 

Chili peppers and sweet, tart flavors are used widely in Hunan cuisine, which is where this quick and easy chicken recipe comes into the picture.

Tender chicken and vegetables in a thick, sweet yet tangy spicy sauce, Hunan style chicken is an easy stir fry recipe that we can all make any night of the week.

Ingredient Notes:

Chicken breasts: The main ingredient. Use boneless skinless chicken breast for a lean protein. You can also use boneless skinless chicken thighs too!

Tapioca flour: Used to coat the chicken in order to give it a little crispy outside and to help thicken the sauce. You can also use arrowroot flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour

Vegetables: Broccoli, carrots, and red bell peppers are the fresh vegetables that I love including in this easy recipe. You can pick your favorite vegetables. Onion, bok choy, zucchini, and cauliflower are all great options.

Avocado oil: Used for stir frying the chicken and vegetables, avocado oil is a high temperature cooking oil that is ideal in applications like this.

Sauce Ingredients: Chicken broth, coconut aminos (or liquid aminos or soy sauce), fresh garlic, ginger, red chili paste (such as sriracha), apple cider vinegar (or rice vinegar), coconut sugar (or pure maple syrup or regular sugar), and sesame oil.

This combination of ingredients makes for a meal that covers all the savory, sweet, tangy flavor bases.

Recipe Customizations:

• If you have oyster sauce or red chili bean paste at home, feel free to add 1 to 2 tablespoons of either or both.
• Sprinkle the final product with sesame seeds and chopped green onions if you’d like.
• Add in a drained can of water chestnuts if you’d like.
• For very spicy Hunan chicken, add in some fresh red chilis.

How to Make Healthy Hunan Chicken:

Prepare the sauce by adding all of the ingredients to a small blender and blend until combined. If you don’t own a small blender, simply mince the garlic, grate the ginger, and stir everything in a mixing bowl.

Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces and place it in a mixing bowl with the tapioca flour. Stir well until the chicken is well-coated in tapioca flour.

Heat the avocado oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet and allow the skillet to heat up for a couple of minutes. 

When hot, transfer the chicken to the skillet and spread it into an even layer. Allow the chicken to brown for 2 minutes before stirring it and allowing it to brown for another minute or two. There is no need to cook the chicken all the way through just yet, but the goal is to get some golden brown color on the outside of the chicken pieces.

Stir in the vegetables.

Pour the sauce into the skillet and stir well. 

Cover the skillet and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened but are still al dente. 

Remove the cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thick and chicken is cooked through, about 5 to 6 minutes minutes.

Serve the Hunan Chicken with your choice of cauliflower rice for a low-carb option, or steamed brown rice, white rice, or fried rice.

How to Make this Recipe Mild:

While the recipe isn’t overly spicy as written, it does have a small kick to it. If you prefer your food mild, omit the sriracha and the red pepper flakes for mild Hunan chicken. While ginger isn’t spicy per se, some folks find it has a bit of a kick, so you can decrease the amount to 2 teaspoons.

On the flipside, if you love spicy food, add more sriracha, sambal oelek or a pinch of red pepper flakes to increase the heat.

And that’s it! The next time you’re craving Chinese takeout, you know where to turn!

This simple recipe is perfect for meal prep, as it takes hardly any time to prepare, it can be made in bulk, and it covers the protein and fiber bases.

If you love meals like this, you may also enjoy some of my other favorite Chinese-inspired recipes. Check them out!

More Chinese Food Recipes:

• 30-Minute Sesame Ginger Garlic Broccoli Beef Stir Fry
• Salmon Stir Fry with Vegetables
• Paleo General Chicken
• Gluten-Free Chicken Chow Mein
• Lemon Chicken
• Szechuan Chicken

30-Minute Paleo Hunan Chicken

5 from 1 vote

By Julia

Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 20 minutes mins

Total: 30 minutes mins

Servings: 4 Servings

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Sweet, sour, and spicy Chinese Hunan Chicken made paleo-friendly in just 30 minutes! A quick healthy dinner recipe that is soy-free, refined sugar-free, and grain-free.

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Ingredients 

1x2x3x

For the Stir Fry:

• ▢ 2 Tbsp avocado oil
• ▢ 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
• ▢ 1/3 cup tapioca flour*
• ▢ 1 red bell pepper, cut into matchsticks
• ▢ 1 medium-sized zucchini squash, chopped
• ▢ 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped

For the Sauce:

• ▢ ½ cup low-sodium chicken broth
• ▢ 1 large clove garlic, peeled
• ▢ ¼ cup coconut aminos**
• ▢ 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• ▢ 2 Tbsp sriracha or red chili paste
• ▢ 1 Tbsp coconut sugar***
• ▢ 1 Tbsp cider vinegar****
• ▢ 2 tsp sesame oil

Instructions 

• Prepare the sauce by adding all of the ingredients to a small blender and blend until combined. If you don't own a small blender, simply mince the garlic, grate the ginger, and stir everything in a mixing bowl.
• Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces and place it in a mixing bowl with the tapioca flour. Stir well until the chicken is well-coated in tapioca flour.
• Heat the avocado oil over medium-high heat and allow the skillet to heat up for a couple of minutes. 
• When hot, transfer the chicken to the skillet and spread it into an even layer. Allow the chicken to brown for 2 minutes before stirring it and allowing it to brown for another minute or two.
• Stir in the vegetables.
• Pour the sauce into the skillet and stir well. 
• Cover the skillet and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened but are still al dente. 
• Remove the cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thick and chicken is cooked through, about 5 to 6 minutes minutes.
• Serve the Hunan Chicken with your choice of cauliflower rice, steamed rice or fried rice.

Notes

*You can replace the tapioca flour with arrowroot flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour.

**If you’re fine with soy, you can replace the coconut aminos with liquid aminos or low-sodium soy sauce.

***Replace the coconut sugar with pure maple syrup, honey, brown sugar or regular cane sugar if desired. 

****You can use rice vinegar instead of cider vinegar.

Nutrition facts are calculated without any side dishes.

Nutrition

Serving: 1of 4, Calories: 454kcal, Carbohydrates: 26g, Protein: 55g, Fat: 14g, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 13g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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