Panda Express Sweet Fire Chicken (Copy-Cat)

I absolutely love this chicken dish at Panda Express! It’s sweet, tangy, slightly spicy and darn delicious. Here’s an easy homemade version that tastes amazingly good!  Each serving has 268 calories, 7 grams of fat and 6 Weight Watchers FreeStyle SmartPoints. I can’t wait for you to make it… A must try!

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

½ cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon corn starch

A little salt and pepper

1 large egg

1 large egg white

1 pound chicken breasts (boneless, skinless) cut into 1-inch chunks

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup red bell pepper, chopped

1½ cups pineapple chunks (from a 20 oz can, in 100% pineapple juice) drain all juice except reserve ¼ cup, see shopping tips

¼ cup pineapple juice (reserved from the can above)

½ cup Panda Express Sweet Chili Sauce or Thai sweet chili sauce, see shopping tips

2-3 tablespoons green onions, thinly sliced

Instructions

1. In a small shallow bowl, mix together flour, cornstarch and a little salt and pepper. In another shallow bowl, beat together the egg and egg white.

2. Working in batches, dredge chicken pieces in flour mixture, dip into eggs, then dredge in flour again, pressing to coat. Place on a plate until all the chicken is dipped and coated.

3. Coat a large nonstick pan with cooking spray. Heat 1½ tablespoons olive oil in pan. Add chicken to pan and cook until evenly cooked, golden and crispy, about 2-3 minutes on each side. If your pan isn’t large enough, cook chicken in 2 batches. Once cooked, remove to a clean plate. Wipe pan clean.

4. To the cleaned pan, heat ½ tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat. Add red bell pepper, pineapple chunks, ¼ cup reserved pineapple juice, and cook stirring occasionally, until tender, about 4 minutes. Mix in cooked chicken and sweet chili sauce until well combined and hot, about 1-2 minutes. Garnish with green onions.

5. Serving suggestions: Serve over steamed cabbage, cauliflower rice or brown rice. Top with ¾ cup Sweet Fire Chicken with Pineapple and sauce.

Makes 6 servings. Each serving, about ¾ cup including sauce.

Food Facts
Panda Express Sweet Fire Chicken is made of crispy, white-meat chicken, red bell peppers, onions and pineapples in a sweet chili sauce. Each serving has 380 calories 16g fat, 3g sat. fat, 13g prot, 47g carbs, 1g fiber, 320mg sod, 27g sugar

Shopping Tips
You can find Panda Express Sweet Chili Sauce in most supermarkets in the Asian or international section or at one of the Panda Express locations. If you can’t find it, use a Thai sweet chili sauce. There are many brands available, including Trader Joe’s. 

Serving Tips
I like to serve this dish over steamed cabbage and red bell peppers.

Quick recipe:
1 bag cabbage, shredded 
½ cup red bell peppers, chopped
Place shredded cabbage and bell peppers in a bowl. Steam in microwave for 2-3 minutes.
Add to a large, nonstick pan. Add rice vinegar and 1 tablespoon chili sauce. Stir-fry a few minutes.
Sprinkle in 1-2 tablespoons diced green onions.

Weight Watchers Freestyle SmartPoints 6
Weight Watchers SmartPoints 9
Weight Watchers Points Plus 7