General Tso's Chickpeas & Greens
A healthier and delicious take on the classic deep fried dish -- plus it's gluten-free and plant-based! Sautéed veggies, chickpeas or even chicken stir fried with a General Tso's sauce. A quick and easy weekday meal.
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
General Tso's Sauce (adapted from Pinch of Yum)
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 knob of ginger grated
- ½ cup vegetable broth
- ½ cup gluten-free tamari or soy sauce
- ⅓ cup rice vinegar
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons gluten-free plain tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 1-2 tablespoons of cold water (for a thinner sauce, use 1 tablespoon corn starch)
Stirfry Veggies
- 1 15 ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 2 -3 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 head of cauliflower cut into bite sized florets
- 1-2 cups snow peas trimmed
- 5- 6 baby bok choy ends trimmed, cut lengthwise
- 2-3 cloves minced garlic
- 1 bunch green onions thinly sliced, white and green parts divided
- Toasted sesame seeds optional for serving
- Optional: chicken breast cut into 1-2 inch pieces
Prepared brown rice, white rice or quinoa for serving
Instructions
General Tso's Sauce
- In a small saucepan, heat the sesame oil over medium low heat.
- Add the ginger and garlic and stir fry for a minute or two, until fragrant
- Add remaining ingredients and whisk to combine. Simmer for 5-10 minutes or until sauce is thickened. Set aside.
- Note: Sauce will thicken when it cools, then thin up again when heated. Whisk or stir before spooning onto chickpeas and veggies.
Veggie Stir Fry
- In a large skillet, over medium high heat, add 2-3 tbsp oil and heat until shimmering but not burning. Add white parts of onions and some of the green parts, and saute a minute or two until just tender. Add garlic and saute about 30 seconds or until fragrant.
- Add cauliflower and saute 3-4 minutes until starting to get tender. Add bok choy and snow peas and saute an additional 2-3 minutes until bright green and tender-crisp. Cook longer for softer vegetables.
- Add a few spoonfuls of General Tso's sauce to the sauteed vegetables and stir to combine. Heat 2-3 minutes until warm if the sauce isn't already warm.
- Spoon vegetables into a bowl and set aside.
- Add chickpeas to the same saute pan and over medium heat, saute 2-3 minutes to warm. Spoon General Tso's Sauce onto the chickpeas, stir to combine, let simmer a few minutes and serve. The longer the chickpeas simmer with the sauce, the more they absorb the flavor.
- Serve chickpeas and veggies over rice. Garnish with sesame seeds and additional green parts of onion if desired.
OPTION: In place of chickpeas you could saute chicken but cook the chicken first, then add in the vegetables.
NOTE: to keep the veggies and chickpeas separate in this photo, I sautéed them each separately. First the cauliflower then set aside; then the bok choy, then set aside; then snow peas, and lastly, the chickpeas. I added some of the sauce directly to the chickpeas and let them simmer. Then added the additional sauce on top of the veggies.
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Sooooo good! I made this for dinner tonight and my husband (who is not gf) stated it was better than the Chinese takeout he had last night. I made chickpeas for me, and chicken for him. This might be our new favorite recipe from healthy gf family!
Yay! So happy you (and your husband!) love it as much as we do! You just made my day 🙂
This was a fantastic recipe super delicious! Thank you
Thank you! So happy you loved it!
This was excellent! Didn’t miss the meat! I’ll definitely make it again!
Great! So happy you loved it!
Help! I’m so confused!
In the instructions to the stir-fry, it says to add the chickpeas in step #2. (“Then add in chickpeas and saute 1-2 minutes until warm.”)
But then in step #5, it says to add the chickpeas to the pan. ( “Add chickpeas to the same saute pan…”). ???? Are we supposed to divide the chickpeas? But that doesn’t make any sense! Help, please! What are we supposed to do with the chickpeas, and when? Thanks!
My apologies! It should not say it in step #2. The chickpeas don’t need to be cooked for long, though if it you do, it would be fine — very flexible recipe… Thanks for pointing it out… changing it now!
Thank you! That’s basically what I did when I made this last night and it came out great. Very tasty!