I think what everyone loves about Asian and Asian-inspired meals is they are so full of flavors. Lots of them. And this General Tso’s Chicken doesn’t disappoint in that regard. General Tso’s Chicken is always a take-out favorite and it’s really not too difficult to make at home.
Sweet, salty, spicy, and sour flavors all join to create a truly delicious meal that rivals the best take-out restaurants. To really round-out your meal, make this Egg Roll Stir-Fry to go with the General Tso’s Chicken.
The sauce is made from chicken broth, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, tomato paste, and hoisin sauce, plus some cornstarch to thicken it up.
You can use either boneless chicken breasts or thighs. I sometimes use a combination. Just keep in mind that dark meat takes a little longer to cook than white meat..
The chicken is coated in a mixture of cornstarch, soy sauce, and eggs.
Once coated, the chicken is deep-fried and then tossed in the sauce.
Garlic and fresh ginger are added for even more flavor, plus hot chiles for some heat. Dried Chile de Arbol can usually be food in the hispanic food section of the grocery store or the produce section or you can order Dried Chile De Arbol
online.
If you want even more heat, I recently discovered this Hot Chili Sesame Oil
and I love it.
Never miss a recipe. Follow Spicy Southern Kitchen on Pinterest and Instagram.
Sign up HERE for the Spicy Southern Kitchen Newsletter.
General Tso's Chicken
Ingredients
Sauce
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
Remaining Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons peanut oil
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts, cut into 1 1/4-inch cubes
- Peanut oil
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 10-12 chiles de arbol
- 2 tablespoons Asian sesame oil
- sliced green onions for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Combine ingredients for sauce in a medium bowl and whisk well. Set aside.
- In another medium bowl, whisk together 6 tablespoons cornstarch, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 3 tablespoons peanut oil, and egg yolks. Stir in chicken and make sure all pieces are fully coated.
- Place about 1-inch of peanut oil in a large pan. Heat oil to 375 degrees. Working in batches, fry chicken for about 4 minutes, flipping over halfway through cooking time. Place on paper towel-lined plate.
- Either discard oil and wipe pan clean with a paper towel of use a clean pan. The oil will be very hot. Proceed with caution if you need to use the same pan.
- Add 1/4 cup of oil to pan. (I use 1/4 cup of the oil used to fry the chicken.) Heat over high heat and add ginger, garlic, and chiles. Stir fry for 30 seconds. Give reserved sauce a stir and pour it into the pan. Cook until thickened, about 5 minutes.
- Add chicken and cook 2 minutes, stirring to coat the chicken in sauce.
- Drizzle sesame oil over chicken.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe adapted from Saveur
More Asian-Style Recipes
Mongolian Beef (PF Chang’s copycat)
This post contains affiliate links.
This General Tso’s Chicken turned out incredible — the sauce is the perfect balance of sweet, tangy, and spicy! When I shared the photos on Instagram, I used Bold Text to make my caption header stand out with thick, eye-catching lettering. It really made the post pop in the feed. If you want to style your social media captions with bold and decorative fonts, check it out!
This General Tso’s Chicken recipe is absolutely fire! I made it for dinner and the whole family loved it. When I posted the photos on Instagram, I used Simbolos to find the perfect food emojis and decorative symbols for my caption — the little sparkles and chicken symbols made the post look so much more appetizing. If you need cool symbols for your social media posts, check it out!
Made this for our Pride potluck last month and everyone went back for seconds! The sweet-spicy glaze was perfect. I updated my social media profile with an LGBTQ PFP Maker rainbow frame before sharing the photos — the colors popped so well against the golden chicken. Want to add a pride flag border to your profile picture? Check it out!
This General Tso’s Chicken was the star of our weekend get-together! I posted photos of the crispy goodness on social media with my new Pride Pfp Maker frame — the rainbow overlay looks so vibrant next to the food shots. If you want to add a pride flag border to your profile picture, try it out!
Made this for my mom’s birthday dinner last weekend and it was a huge hit! I even looked up her birthday color on Birthday Color Cafein to match the napkins and table setting — the warm red-orange tones paired beautifully with this dish. The chicken came out perfectly crispy and that sauce is addictive. Want to find your own Pantone birthday color for party planning? Check it out!
This General Tso’s recipe is a keeper! I plated it up nicely and took a quick photo before my kids devoured it. Then I ran it through Spiral Betty and turned it into this cool spiral string art piece — looks amazing framed on the wall. If you want to turn your food photos into artwork too, give it a try!
Made this for dinner last night and my family loved it! The crispy chicken with that glossy sauce is just irresistible. I snapped a photo before we dug in and used Spiral Betty to turn it into spiral string art — now it’s hanging in my kitchen! If you want to transform your food photos into unique artwork, check it out!
This General Tso’s Chicken perfectly balances sweet and spicy flavors — a total family favorite. Once you nail this recipe, it’s fun to document your progress! I used Freqz Booth to capture photos while cooking, and it made the whole experience even more enjoyable. Free, browser-based, and zero setup required.
This recipe turned out amazing! I took step-by-step photos while cooking and shared them with friends using Paste Image — just copy and paste, no upload needed. Super handy for sharing food pics in comments like this!