Kung Pao Chicken Casserole is BURSTING with flavor, plus it will feed a crowd or serve the best meal prep ever, plus it freezes well! (Gluten and Dairy Free)
Hi, friends! How are you guys today? Today is going to be a super quick post for me because my whole day got flipped around thanks to my temporary crown popping off yesterday. Now I’ve got to go to the dentist and get a new temporary or get this one cemented back in.
You guys, I’m SO READY for this dental stuff to be over, it’s literally the pits. I’m trying to stay positive but after what feels like eternity chewing on one side and watching what I’m eating I’m so ready for it to be over you know?
The root canal dentist (who has a fancy name I could care less about remembering) said it could take up to two weeks to completely heal and only then can the permanent crown go on. Good Lord, somebody stop the madness.
I know, exactly what you want to read about why looking at pictures of yummy food, gross dental work. That’s gross AF, I’m sorry I will not subject you to any more of my complaining about that.
I promise you this casserole is totally worth the effort in making it. I know that the ingredient list is long and it looks like a billion steps but I promise you it isn’t that bad. I kind of feel like that’s always the case with casseroles which is why I often avoid making them.
However, when I’m done I’m so happy because I literally have enough food for 3-4 meals or some to freeze! PS this freezes in individual portions really well. Who needs to get frozen food when you can just freeze your healthy leftovers???? Seriously, make this one, you won’t regret it! Alright, I’m off, told you, short post! Let’s go tackle that to do list, first up fix my damn tooth.
Kung Pao Chicken Casserole
[clickToTweet tweet=”Kung Pao #chicken #casserole – #glutenfree #dairyfree PERFECT for #mealprep & #freezer friendly!” quote=”Kung Pao #chicken #casserole – #glutenfree #dairyfree PERFECT for #mealprep & #freezer friendly!”]
You may also like:
Kung Pao Chicken Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked quinoa
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 2 lbs uncooked chicken breast or tenders I get mine from Butcher Box
- pinch ginger ground
- pinch garlic ground
- pinch black pepper
- pinch salt
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil for cooking chicken
- ½ cup coconut milk canned
- ¼ cup coconut aminos or soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sriracha
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 10 dried Japanese chilies
- 1 can water chestnuts drained
- 3 red bell peppers diced or chopped
- 1 green bell pepper diced or chopped
- Garnish: peanuts and green onions
Instructions
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350F and grease an 9 x 13 casserole dish.
- Cook quinoa according to package directions in chicken broth instead of water. (I used my instant pot with this method: 2 cups quinoa, 2 cups broth into the instant pot. Cook on high pressure for one minute and then allow natural release.)
- While the quinoa is cooking, cook your chicken. You can grill it or cook it up in a pan with a little avocado or coconut oil like I did. Just season it with salt, pepper, garlic, and a sprinkle of ginger, then cook it all the way through. Once it’s finished cooking cut it into cubes.
- Mix the sauce by combining coconut milk, coconut aminos balsamic vinegar, sriracha, brown and brown sugar in a separate medium-size bowl.
- In a large bowl, or directly in your casserole dish combine cooked quinoa, cooked chicken cubes, water chestnuts, bell peppers, and Japanese chilies.
- Pour the sauce over the top and continue to mix until everything is well combined.
- Bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until the bell peppers get soft. If it looks like the top is getting more crispy than you would like it to, cover it with foil while it finishes baking. I didn’t need foil at all the whole 45 minutes it was in there.
- Garnish with peanuts and green onions, serve immediately.
- I froze the leftovers in single portions which worked out great!
Notes
Nutrition
Are you a casserole lover?
Gluten Free Turkey Enchilada Casserole (with VIDEO)
I love Kung Pao chicken, and leftovers, I will have to give this a try. Thanks for sharing!
Let me know if you try it!
Can you sub quinoa for something else? If so, what do you suggest?
The only thing I can think of is rice or some other type of grain but it wouldn’t be a one to one substitution. The earthy taste of quinoa really goes away if you cook it in the broth! Hope that helps!