Paleo Chicken and Broccoli

ByEmily Meyer

This Recipe Is: Free of gluten, dairy, soy, eggs and peanuts. It is also oil free as well as paleo.

Hi all!

Hope you are having a lovely week. I had a wonderful time with my family last week and just got back to Maine on Tuesday. Hence why I’ve been a bit MIA. As fun as my time was, my body was definitely over the way I had been eating. I had been gorging out on pie and so many other goodies, my allergies and asthma got so bad. I decided to take a break from sugar and even take a break from starches that turn into sugar. So here I am trying out some paleo recipes for our weeknight dinners. This Paleo Chicken and Broccoli came out soo yummy! I wasn’t even missing my starches since I had the cauliflower rice on the side. If your tummy needs a break from sugary starches, give this recipe a go!

I whipped this meal up in a flash when I got home from work last night. I normally don’t make meals from scratch on weeknights. I usually have things prepped and ready to go. However, being with family in NY this weekend, I didn’t have the time. Good news is, this meal can be whipped together so quick. I tried to make it a one pan meal and pretty much succeeded. I only had to use a different pan for the cauliflower rice. That makes clean up easier and makes the steps go by faster too.

I have had cauliflower rice a lot, but have actually never made it myself besides yesterday. After yesterday though, I’m never going to buy the frozen packs again! I only used 1 head of cauliflower that I got for like 3 bucks and it made the equivalent of at least 4 of those prepackaged freezer bags. It was so easy to do too! Now I have a huge bag of cauliflower rice in my freezer ready to go.

Be sure to try this recipe out, be daring and do it on a weeknight! You’ll be shocked how soon you’re sitting down to eat. When you make it, as always, take a picture of your creation and tag me on Instagram @eatordrink 🙂

Chicken and Broccoli with Cauliflower Rice

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Serves: 3

Ingredients

  • Ingredients for Chicken and Broccoli:
    • 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
    • 2 large chicken breasts
    • 1 small head of broccoli or about 2 cups chopped
    • 1 garlic clove
    • 1 teaspoon ground ginger - freshly grated or packaged powdered works
    • 1/4 cup chicken broth - more may be needed if it boils out too quick
    • 1/4 cup coconut aminos
    • 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil - can be left out for oil free
    • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
    • 1/2 cup raw cashews - whole or pieces works fine
    • Sprinkle of garlic powder
    • Sprinkle of onion powder
    • Sprinkle of pepper
    • A dash of hot sauce
    • 1 teaspoon tapioca starch - can also use potato starch or corn starch
  • Ingredients for Cauliflower Rice:
    • 1 head of cauliflower - makes at least 10 servings, you will only be using about 1 cup of the cauliflower rice for this recipe
    • 2 tablespoons chicken broth
    • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Instructions for Chicken and Broccoli:

  1. Get a large pan with edges and toast up your sesame seeds on medium heat. Toast them just until they are slightly brown and then remove. Pour them into a medium sized bowl and set aside.
  2. Cut your chicken up into small strips. Cut your broccoli into bite sized florets. Don’t be scared to keep most of the stem, just cut the stem pieces a bit smaller so they can cook through.
  3. Dice up your garlic and if you are using fresh ginger get it ground up using a cheese grater or zester grater (see note below on ginger).
  4. Heat the same pan you used for the sesame seeds over medium high heat. Add in your chicken pieces and let them get slightly brown on all sides.
  5. Add your ginger, garlic, 2 tablespoons chicken broth and about 2 tablespoons coconut aminos to the chicken. Let this mixture cook until the chicken is almost completely cooked. Slightly squishy chicken is still ok at this phase. Remove everything from the pan and add it into your bowl of sesame seeds.
  6. Now add the cut broccoli to the pan over medium high heat and let brown. Add a little bit of chicken broth if it’s sticking. Once broccoli is slightly brown add the chicken and all that is in that bowl back into the pan.
  7. Add the rest of your coconut aminos and chicken broth, as well as your sesame oil, apple cider vinegar, cashews, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and hot sauce. Mix very well then sprinkle on the tapioca starch and mix again.
  8. Cover and cook for a couple minutes on low until the sauce slightly thickens and chicken is completely cooked. *If it looks dry before covering or even after, feel free to add a bit more chicken broth or coconut aminos.
  9. Enjoy!

Instructions for Cauliflower Rice:

  1. Clean and chop your cauliflower into bit sized pieces.
  2. Add pieces of cauliflower to your food processor and pulse until they are in teeny tiny pieces. It should no longer resemble cauliflower. However, you do want to make sure you don’t pulse until it’s as fine as flour, if it’s that small it will get mushy when you cook. Be careful not to overcrowd your food processor or else pieces on the bottom will get mushy while the pieces on the top get ignored.
  3. Store the cauliflower rice in a gallon sized zip lock bag laying flat in the freezer. It’s important to lay it flat otherwise it will all freeze in one big clump.
  4. To cook: Put a small amount in a pan and heat over medium stirring occasionally. Add a bit of chicken broth or oil for flavor and to prevent sticking. I like to heat until it gets slightly brown. It adds a yummy nutty flavor.

Notes

* A tip on using fresh ginger: Right when you buy your ginger peel it all. Then pop it in the freezer. It is then much easier to grate with a cheese grater. No more stringy bits.

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