Paleo Chinese Lemon Chicken is deliciously breaded and pan-fried chicken in a zesty sweet sticky sauce for the ultimate dining experience! Soy-free, refined sugar-free, and gluten-free!
I grew up in a big family with big appetites all around.
My mom would order Chinese takeout occasionally, and I would always request lemon chicken. I then would wait anxiously for her arrival with the order to ensure I was the first person to the box of lemon chicken so that I was guaranteed a bite.
There was stiff competition over food in my family!
And naturally the fight for lemon chicken was fierce!
Have you had it?
I actually haven’t come across lemon chicken frequently as an adult but absolutely love the sweet, zesty dish.
If you haven’t tried lemon chicken, you can look at it very similarly to General Tso’s Chicken or Orange Chicken.
Chopped chicken gets breaded then pan-fried and swaddled in a delicious tangy sweet thick sauce for a flavorful meal.
I love eating it with steamed brown rice, but you can absolutely go the cauliflower rice to keep it grain-free.
Ingredients for Paleo Chinese Lemon Chicken:
For the Sauce: Lemon juice, pure maple syrup, coconut aminos (or liquid aminos if you do soy), garlic, sriracha (optional), tapioca flour, and sea salt. This combination is what make that sticky sweet tangy sauce!
For the Chicken:
Boneless chicken thighs or breasts, egg, tapioca flour, and sea salt. The chicken gets chopped up then dredged in beaten egg and tapioca flour to create a grain-free breading. It is then pan-fried in a skillet to make it nice and crispy. The tapioca flour also serves as a thickener so when the sauce is added to the pan, it thickens nicely into that sticky texture.
You can replace the tapioca flour with arrowroot flour, cornstarch or gluten-free all-purpose flour.
Let’s make it!
How to Make Paleo Chinese Lemon Chicken:
This recipe is shockingly easy to make! Don’t worry…if it’s on this blog, it’s simple, because as I’ve mentioned in the past, I can’t be bothered to make things that require an exorbitant amount of time or effort. 😉
We essentially make the sauce, pan-fry the chicken, add the sauce, then continue cooking until the sauce is thick and the chicken is cooked through.
Here’s how it’s done!
Make the Sauce:
Stir together all of the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl or measuring cup and set aside until ready to use.
Prepare the Chicken:
Whisk the egg in a large mixing bowl and chop the chicken into bite sized pieces. Transfer the chicken to the mixing bowl with the beaten egg and stir well until the chicken is coated in egg.
Add the flour and stir until everything is well coated with flour.
Make the Lemon Chicken:
Add 2 tablespoons of avocado oil to a large non-stick skillet and heat over medium-high heat.
Transfer the chicken to the skillet and spread into an even layer. The chicken pieces will try to stick together so use two spoons or a rubber spatula to break them apart (it’s okay if they stick together). Allow the chicken to brown for 2 minutes before stirring well.
Allow the chicken to brown for another 2 minutes. Add the sauce and bring to a full boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is very thick and the chicken is cooked through.
Serve over steamed rice, cauliflower rice, or with fried rice. Garnish with chopped green onion and sesame seeds if desired!
For extra credit, serve the Chinese Lemon Chicken with one of my fried rice recipes.
That’s it! I find the chicken is best when served immediately, but you can absolutely save any leftovers in the refrigerator and reheat them on the stovetop or in the microwave.
More Chinese-Inspired Recipes:
- 30-Minute Sesame Ginger Garlic Broccoli Beef Stir Fry
- Healthy Kung Pao Chicken
- Sesame Ginger Cashew Chicken
- Easy 30-Minute Paleo Mongolian Beef
- Mango Cashew Chicken
That sweet and sour life, let’s GO!
Ingredients
For the Lemon Sauce:
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, 2 lemons, juiced
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp coconut aminos or liquid aminos or soy sauce
- ½ cup water
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 tsp sriracha, optional
- ¼ tsp sea salt, to taste
For the Chicken:
- 1 to ½ lbs boneless chicken thighs or breasts, chopped into bite-sized pieces.
- ½ tsp sea salt, to taste
- 1 egg
- ½ cup tapioca flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp avocado oil or coconut oil
For serving:
- 1 Tbsp sesame seeds
- 1 bunch green onion, chopped
Instructions
- Make the Sauce:
- Stir together all of the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl or measuring cup and set aside until ready to use.
Prepare the Chicken:
- Whisk the egg in a large mixing bowl and chop the chicken into bite sized pieces. Transfer the chicken to the mixing bowl with the beaten egg and stir well until the chicken is coated in egg. Add the flour and stir until everything is well coated with flour.
Make the Lemon Chicken:
- Add 2 tablespoons of avocado oil to a large non-stick skillet and heat over medium-high heat.
- Transfer the chicken to the skillet and spread into an even layer. The chicken pieces will try to stick together so use two spoons or a rubber spatula to break them apart (it’s okay if they stick together). Allow the chicken to brown for 2 minutes before stirring well. Allow the chicken to brown for another 2 minutes. Add the sauce and bring to a full boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is very thick and the chicken is cooked through.
- Serve over steamed rice, cauliflower rice, or with fried rice. Garnish with chopped green onion and sesame seeds if desired!
Nutrition
Jenn
Thursday 18th of January 2024
Hi there, can you use any other flour such as almond flour or coconut flour?
Julia
Thursday 18th of January 2024
Hi Jenn! I haven't tested the recipe with almond flour or coconut flour myself but I think it either option would require making additional changes to the recipe. For instance, I don't think almond flour would stick very well and would cause a grainy texture. Coconut flour would likely stick, but because it absorbs so much liquid, you'd likely need to make more sauce or add liquid for it to absorb. That said, the two best replacements for tapioca flour in this application are arrowroot flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour. Arrowroot flour would keep the recipe paleo, but gluten-free all-purpose flour would make the recipe gluten-free but not paleo friendly. It's possible that a Paleo flour blend that's designed to be a 1:1 replacement for regular flour would work, such as Bob's Red Mill Paleo Baking Flour, though I can't speak to how the texture would turn out. I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions! xo
Carla
Sunday 11th of September 2022
This recipe was so delicious! I made it last night after my husband reminisced about lemon chicken being his favorite when he'd go out to a Chinese restaurant. Next time I'll make two changes: double the sauce (It was so yummy that I wanted more to soak my rice in!) and wait to pour the sauce over the chicken until serving so that the chicken chunks remain crispy. I'll probably need to add tapioca flour to the sauce to thicken it. Thanks for this amazing recipe!
Julia
Monday 12th of September 2022
I love the idea of adding more sauce! So happy you and your husband enjoyed it :) xoxo Thanks so much for the feedback!
Stephanie
Thursday 21st of October 2021
Do you think there is a way to make this without egg? I have an egg allergy but lemon chicken used to be my favourite Chinese food!!
Julia
Thursday 21st of October 2021
Hi Stephanie! I think you can make it without the egg for sure...The flour won't stick to the chicken quite as nicely but it should still crisp up a bit :D Hope you enjoy!