Coconut Chicken Recipe: Great for Dairy Intolerance

This recipe was created out of a need to make some substitutions for a client: She loves cream based sauces however upon a elimination diet by her doctor she found that dairy upset her stomach. She graciously shared this recipe with me. Lucky for me I had a few can left over from my sons birthday cake!

This recipe uses coconut milk instead of dairy. While it's not a foolproof substitution, it is quite delicious. Plus the saturated fats in the coconut milk are healthy, energy delivering medium-chain triglycerides, which are also incredibly valuable to the immune system.


Creamy Dreamy Coconut Chicken

3 good-sized chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and diced
2 tsp. coconut oil
1 small apple, peeled and diced
Thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated or chopped fine
1 can organic coconut milk
1 tsp. ground sage
Unrefined sea salt to taste
Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Heat a skillet on medium-high heat. Once hot, add in one teaspoon of coconut oil and let it melt. Season chicken pieces with unrefined salt and pepper. Add to skillet allowing pieces to brown on each side. Once chicken pieces have browned, set aside in a bowl. Return skillet to heat.

Add second teaspoon of coconut oil and allow to melt. Add in diced onion and stir frequently, allowing onion to brown some. Season with some unrefined sea salt. When onion pieces have gone translucent and begun to brown on some of the edges, add garlic, apple and ginger. Stir well.

Turn heat down to medium and continue to cook ingredients for another minute or so. (Optional addition - here, you could deglaze the pan with a half cup or so of organic white wine and allow it to reduce for a couple of minutes before adding the coconut oil. This will make for a richer flavour to the sauce. If you don't have wine, you could also juice half a lemon). Add in coconut milk and stir until the sauce has an even consistency. Once sauce has come to a boil, add back chicken pieces and stir well.

Turn heat down to medium-low and allow to simmer for 5 - 10 minutes; until chicken has cooked through.

Spoon chicken with sauce over rice, rice pasta, quinoa or other grain.

Variation: Instead of adding sage, use curry powder and use this as a base for a delicious coconut curry.

Elimination Diet: Substitute citrus and vinegar with vegetable or chicken stock