Let’s be dramatic.
I’m so hungry, I’m going to pass out.
I’m dying of starvation.
If I don’t eat cake soon, I will die.
These are things I’ve actually said or thought in the last 2 days. My sugar withdrawals have kicked into high gear and, although I know it will pass, I’ve gone mad. MAD I tell you!
Perhaps you’re starving, too? Maybe you’re caulking baseboards in your foyer and crawling around on your hands and knees on hard ceramic tile for 2 hours straight and you realize you normally get through these “hard times” by snacking on quesadillas and cupcakes. And now you’re supposed to munch on carrots like a dang jackrabbit all while smiling and whistling while you work?
Inconceivable!
Sidenote: I hate DIY. I used to watch HGTV every day. Now, I’m over it. Are you an HGTVer? Here are 32 Signs That You’re Addicted To HGTV. Now please enjoy these lovely before & after pics of my caulked baseboards.
Where was I? Oh yeah, the #$&%@! foyer. And starvation. And lame carrots.
So maybe tomorrow you’re going to be taping trim and painting 2 coats in said foyer that has SEVEN doorways to paint around. S E V E N. That, my friends, is an unlucky number of doorways.
I’m sure you’ll agree that this job calls for the true nourishment of pizza. droooool.
Nope. Carrots ain’t gonna cut it.
But you can’t have pizza. Because you’re eating sugar free. [make sign of the cross over chest]
Since we’re still being dramatic, this no-pizza thing makes you want to throw yourself onto the hard-as-rock tile with enough force that you break something. Like bones, man. Do they serve pizza in the hospital? You start to consider that maybe you’re taking this too far. Hmmm. mmmmm…pizza.
At this point (you’re dying, remember?) you’ll settle for anything that tastes “pretty good for healthy.”
And like destiny, into your life walks this recipe for Spicy Chicken Fried Rice.
And it’s not just “pretty good for healthy” it’s just frrreaking gobble-it-down amazing.
Better than any takeout. Completely sugar free and has no simple carbs. The perfect recipe for the Fed Up Challenge.
Yeah, I’m going to toot my own horn here. I just whipped up this chicken fried rice on a whim and a prayer. (This is the recipe I mentioned on Day 2 of the Sugar Free Challenge). I was hungry dying of starvation and needed something that made me feel satisfied. You know that feeling of satisfaction after you’ve gone back for seconds thirds on your favorite meal? Yeah, that one.
After you eat this, you’ll calm down. It’s alllll better now, see? Unfortunately, this Spicy Chicken Fried Rice will not make the foyer paint itself. But with its protein, complex carbs, and no post-sugar crash, you’ll have enough energy to paint like an HGTV star.
Print
Spicy Chicken Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup minced yellow onion
- 1 cup coarsely chopped yellow onion
- 1 pound chicken breast tenderloins
- 1 teaspoon Chinese Five-Spice powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
- 8 large cloves garlic, minced, divided
- 2 pats butter, divided
- 1 1/2 cups brown sushi rice (I used Nishiki brand)
- 2 1/2 cups water (alter this amount depending on your rice’s package instructions)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh minced ginger
- 2 teaspoons Sambal Oelek (ground fresh chili paste)
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon water
- Juice of 2 limes (or at least 2 tablespoons juice), divided
- 1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
- 1/2 cup chopped green onions
Instructions
- Cut chicken tenderloins into small pieces (about 1/2 inch sized pieces) and put into a medium bowl. If you have a mini food processor, mince and/or pulverize a chunk of yellow onion to get about 1/2 cup. To the bowl of chicken, add the minced onion, Chinese Five-Spice powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon lime juice, and whole wheat flour and combine with large spoon until all the chicken is coated evenly. Set aside.
- In a medium-sized saucepan, add 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 pat butter over medium heat. Add 4 garlic cloves (minced) and simmer for 1 minute. Add rice and stir until coated with oil. Add water according to your package directions, 1 teaspoon salt, and cook covered for the amount of time stated on package (my Nishiki brown sushi rice took about 50 min to simmer and then 10 min covered off the heat).
- Heat a large skillet over medium low heat. Add a few turns of olive oil to the pan. When pan is preheated, add 1 cup coarsely chopped onions. Sprinkle onions generously with salt and a little bit of pepper and cook them until soft. When the onions are cooked, set aside.
- While the rice and onions are cooking, in a small bowl combine ginger, 4 gloves garlic (minced), Sambal Oelek, soy sauce, 1 tablespoon lime juice, 1 tablespoon water. Mix well to make a paste. Set aside.
- Heat the same large nonstick skillet you used to cook the onions over medium-high heat. Add a couple of turns of olive oil. Once pan is preheated, add 1 pat butter and 1/2 of chicken mixture. Fry in pan until cooked through, stirring occasionally. Remove chicken and cook second batch of chicken in skillet (add a little more olive oil if you need to). When cooked, set chicken aside. (Turn off heat if rice is still cooking.)
- When rice is finished cooking, add chicken back to skillet over medium heat. Once chicken is sizzling a little, add jalapeno and cook for 1 minute. Push chicken mixture to the sides of the pan to make an opening in the center of pan. Add ginger/garlic paste in the center and cook for 1 minute before stirring everything together. Add cooked onions and rice and stir until well combined.
- Remove from heat. Stir in cilantro and green onions and serve hot.
Notes
More great recipes at www.thekitchensnob.com
Day 2 of the Sugar Free Challenge
Myself and my husband have just finished day 4 of the challenge. This spicy rice was dinner for day 2 and it was a huge hit, thank you!
Thanks for letting me know, Holly. I love hearing that! Good job on the challenge 🙂
I’m going to try this tonight. Found it on a search because we’re on the Fed Up Challenge and running out of things to eat! 🙂 I’m glad I found your site!!
Glad to hear it, Susan. Hope you like the recipe!
Omg!! This is sooo amazing and soo easy to make and full of flavour.
Its my second day too and i was starving so i looked up some recepies and i found this.i didnt have any chicken in hand but i had some frozen shrimps so i used them and cooked it for my late lunch with brown rice. Omg i am in love ?? i almost forgot i was on a diet.. Perfectly sweet perfectly spicy perfectly amazing!
Thank you so much
I love to hear that you enjoyed the recipe! I made it again a few nights ago and I forgot how good it was. Thank you for your comment and good luck on the Fed Up Challenge!
I have nit made this yet. My husband cannot have onions or shallots. What can be substituted?
Hi Luann. You could just leave them out entirely. Or you could substitute some red, yellow, or orange peppers.
Day 2 of the challenge, and cooking this dish RIGHT NOW! Smells great so far! 🙂
Only thing is, I don’t see in the instructions where the yellow onion goes (minced or chopped). Heeeelp! Lol
Vince
Hi Vince – I am SO sorry! You found a huge typo (thank you) and and I’m sorry you found it right in the middle of cooking! I have fixed the recipe to include the onion instructions. I hope the recipe was still good! I think it would be good without the yellow onions (in case anyone else reading this doesn’t like yellow onions) but it’s all fixed now. Thanks again for bringing this to my attention. Good luck with your 10 day challenge! 🙂
Seen “FED UP” today and decided to start on Friday with the 10 Day Challenge (got to wait for payday). I’m glad to have found your site by looking for “sugar free” recipe’s. Did you ever googled sugar free Recipe’s? The first three I checked, contained all sugar :O it would be funny if it wouldn’t be really sad. So I’m really counting on your help here 🙂
Hi Donna – glad to have you join! I know what you mean. It’s like when they say “sugar free dessert” there really is no such thing. Believe me, if there was, I would have eaten it this week! 😉 I’ll be posting another sugar free recipe soon. But I should warn you, I don’t always eat sugar free. So if you peruse my site you’ll find my weaknesses.
I’m doing my own no sugar challenge for 5 days. I found your blog today. I will definitely try some of your recipes and follow for support! I may continue on to the 10 day mark!
Hi Michelle! Yay! Let me know how it goes and welcome to the blog!
I am not doing the Fed Up Challenge this week but DEFINITELY going to make this rice dish! Good luck with YOUR “Challenge” and YOUR foyer! Your finished baseboards look amazing!
Oh good. I think you’ll like it 🙂
hi there , i’m doing a day by day no added/refind sugars, with a laid back version of IF (not really a think i know) and healthyish eating in general (i am normally pretty healthy but consume ALOT of calories). i get confused with carbs, simple sugars, hi glycemic index, blah blah BUT even if pasta or rice doesn’t have sugar and/ whole grain whatever..isn’t it bad because all the carbs! at least with WW pasta there is fiber, but rice? tell me it’s ok! thanks
Hi Melisa, I can’t really comment on your dietary needs because I’m not a dietician or a doctor, but I do know from my own research (Google!) that brown rice is a complex carbohydrate compared to white rice. I also saw that wild rice has less carbs than other rice.
I did see some articles mentioning that brown rice can have more carbs than white rice, but when I was doing a “no sugar” diet I went for the brown rice because I had read that white rice turns more to glucose in the body. I’m sure they both do in some way. Brown rice is supposed to have more fiber than white rice. Maybe someone else can chime in who knows more about this than me. Hope you find some answers!