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.
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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)
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I like this General Tao’s chicken recipe.
But if you want to give chinese taste you have to use chinese chili (Sichuan chili for example) instead of mexican chili (arbol).
This is one of my favorite take out dishes!! Can’t wait to try making it at home now!
Wow, this looks delicious! I don’t typically dabble in Chinese food, but my husband loves it, and so I’m thinking I’ll have to give this a try. 🙂 Nice to meet you Christin, I’m new to your blog. Have a great night!
Holy moly I want this on my plate right now!
This looks so much better than any take-out I’ve ever gotten! I definitely need to try this at home!
This looks amazing! It makes me want to start my day with a big bowl of General Tso’s Chicken and white rice at 8:05 AM.
Always wanted to try this chicken! Thanks for the recipe!
This looks SO amazing, Christin! Love making take-out dishes at home! This is one of my husband’s favorite! Yours is perfect and so full of flavor!
Gorgeous photos!!! This dish looks like the perfect sweet/spicy/savory balance that I love so much about General Tsos! Pinned!
PS Congrats on your Woman’s World feature! Was so excited to see someone I “know” in there this week!
I love making my own Chinese food. This looks sooooo tasty! I will have to try your recipe!