Spicy General Tso’s Chicken
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A crispy, spicy General Tso’s chicken you can make in just 35 minutes for a delicious takeout style dinner at home. Serve with some homemade pork dumplings for the perfect date night activity and dinner!
In our opinion, there are 3 things that make a perfect General Tso’s chicken. First, the chicken has to be crispy. Second, the sauce needs to be thick and glossy. And third, there should be a noticeable spice to it, although not so much that you lose the other flavors. (An optional fourth point: no broccoli!)
We checked all these boxes to make our perfect version of this classic Chinese takeout dish at home. Having gone through countless rounds of experimenting with different ingredients and techniques, we’ve made sure this recipe is one of the best General Tso’s we’ve ever had! It’s such a fun date night dinner to make with your partner – and a great way to save money on takeout.
What To Expect
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Why We Love This Recipe
I love that we can make General Tso’s chicken quicker and better than we can get from any local takeout spot. The sauce is thick, perfectly spicy, and plentiful enough that I can drizzle it over the rice too. This recipe checks every box for me.
– Alex
Key Ingredients
- Chicken – We prefer using chicken breast for a firmer bite, but you can also use boneless, skinless chicken thighs for a juicier fried chicken if you prefer. Just note, this recipe is meant for chicken breast, so chicken thighs may need to be cooked longer. That’s why we always have our trusty meat thermometer on hand! Easy to make sure everything is cooked to perfection.
- Tien Tsin peppers – This is where our general tso’s gets its heat and makes it taste like takeout! We highly recommend adding these little spicy peppers. We’ve had luck finding them at local spice stores or Asian markets. You can also get them on Amazon.
- Minced ginger – We always have a bottle of pre-minced ginger on hand. It is super potent, greatly simplifies prep, and allows for us to bloom it along with other aromatics (unlike powdered ginger which would bloom too quickly here).
How To Make General Tso’s Chicken
- Marinate the chicken – Whisk together an egg, soy sauce, and sesame oil in a bowl, then add the chicken and stir to combine. Marinate for around 20 minutes at room temperature.
- Dredge the chicken – Combine flour, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Toss the chicken in the dredge to coat well and set aside.
- Fry the chicken – Fry the chicken in about ¼ inch of vegetable oil over medium-high heat until crispy, about 7 to 8 minutes. Turn the chicken over once or twice throughout cooking to crisp evenly.
- Drain on wire racks – Remove the chicken from the pan and let it drain on a wire rack over a paper towel. This makes sure the chicken stays crispy.
How To Make General Tso’s Sauce
- Prep your ingredients – In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, soy sauce, rice vinegar, hoisin, sesame oil, chili oil, and tomato paste to combine well and set aside.
- Bloom the aromatics – Heat about a tablespoon of vegetable oil, minced ginger, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, and the Tien Tsin peppers in a medium saucepan over medium low heat.
- Simmer the sauce – Add the sauce to the saucepan, bring to a simmer and stir to combine well.
- Create the cornstarch slurry – Whisk cornstarch into the cold water until completely dissolved.
- Add the slurry – Add the slurry to the saucepan while stirring the sauce.
- Bring to a simmer – Bring the sauce to a simmer while stirring gently. You’ll start to feel the sauce thicken while you stir. Simmer for about a minute and then remove from heat.
- Combine – Once the sauce has been removed from the heat, add in the chicken and stir until everything is well coated.
- Serve – Serve with a side of rice and some homemade dumplings! This recipe makes plenty of sauce since we like to drizzle extra over the rice.
Expert Tips
Serving Suggestions
Here are some of our go-to sides when making General Tso’s:
- Rice – We prefer steamed white rice, but you could go for a healthier option with brown rice, or a more flavorful option such as pork fried rice.
- Noodles – Sometimes we prefer having a side of noodles instead of rice. Try something like our garlic noodles or our pork lo mein.
- Dumplings – We almost always serve General Tso’s chicken with homemade pork dumplings. To us this just isn’t a complete dish without some dumplings on the side. Make it even more exciting with a side of spicy Szechuan dumpling soup.
- Broccoli – Steamed broccoli is a very common addition to this recipe if you’re looking to add something healthy. Personally we tend to skip this one!
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Tell us what you think!
We hope you enjoy this recipe! When you try it out, please leave a review and a star rating in the comments below. Happy cooking! – Nicole and Alex
Spicy General Tso’s Chicken
A crispy, spicy General Tso’s chicken you can make in just 35 minutes for a delicious takeout style dinner at home. Serve with some homemade pork dumplings for the perfect date night activity and dinner!
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Ingredients
- 2 cups steamed white rice
- Vegetable oil
Crispy Chicken
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce
- ½ tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 pound chicken breast sliced into 1.5 inch pieces
- ½ cup flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
General Tso's Sauce
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 1½ tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1½ tablespoons hoisin sauce
- ½ tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon chili oil
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 3 Tien Tsin peppers
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1½ teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- ¾ cup cold water
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- First, make the chicken marinade. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Add the chicken and stir to coat, then marinate for 20 minutes at room temperature.
- In the meantime, prep the sauce. In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, soy sauce, rice vinegar, hoisin, sesame oil, chili oil, and tomato paste to combine well and set aside.
- Once the chicken has marinated, combine the flour with salt and pepper in a medium bowl.Transfer the chicken to the flour, letting excess marinade drip off so you don't transfer too much of the liquid with it. Toss in the flour to coat well and set aside.
- In a deep cast iron frying pan, heat a quarter inch of vegetable oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the chicken and fry until crispy, about 7 to 8 minutes, turning over once or twice as it cooks. Drain the chicken on paper towels and set aside.
- Next, make the sauce. Add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, minced garlic, minced ginger, crushed red pepper flakes, and the Tien Tsin peppers to a medium saucepan over medium-low heat and cook until fragrant and the oil has turned a lovely red color, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add the sauce mixture to the saucepan and bring to a simmer. Stir to combine well.
- In the meantime, combine the cold water and cornstarch in a small bowl. Whisk very well until the cornstarch is completely dissolved.
- Once the sauce has come to a simmer and is well combined, add the cornstarch slurry into the saucepan while constantly stirring the sauce. Keeping the sauce moving will make sure the cornstarch slurry incorporates well, leading to a thick and glossy sauce.
- Bring the sauce back to a simmer while gently stirring, simmer for about 1 minute and then remove from heat.
- Finally, add the crispy chicken to the sauce and stir gently until well coated. Remove from heat and serve immediately with a side of steamed rice.
One last step:Please consider leaving a review to let us know how it was!
Notes
Tien Tsin peppers: Tien Tsin peppers are used in many different Chinese dishes to add spice and flavor. They are hotter than cayenne peppers but less hot than habaneros. If you want to add more spice to your dish you can either add more Tien Tsin peppers, crush them up to better incorporate them, or opt for a spicier pepper such as Thai chilis. If you want a milder General Tso’s chicken, then simply skip the Tien Tsin peppers all together.
While the chicken marinates: Use this time to start steaming the rice and also prepare your mise en place for the sauce ingredients! This step is incredibly helpful since the sauce cooks quickly.
Frying the chicken: If you need to fry the chicken in batches, add oil to the pan between batches as needed, maintaining about 1/4-inch of oil. You should aim to have only a single layer of chicken in the pan and no more.
Serving suggestions: A plate of General Tso’s and steamed rice goes great with a side of homemade pork dumplings (try our recipe)!
Cooking tools: The deep side of our 2-in-1 Cuisinel cast iron is perfect for frying chicken. We recommend using a pan with high walls to prevent oil splatter.
Nutrition
Serving: 1servingCalories: 644kcalCarbohydrates: 78gProtein: 45gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0.02gCholesterol: 159mgSodium: 2707mgPotassium: 1059mgFiber: 3gSugar: 24gVitamin A: 944IUVitamin C: 68mgCalcium: 81mgIron: 4mg
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This tastes just like my favorite general tso’s takeout – crispy bits of chicken with a spicy, sticky sauce (and no broccoli!). I love making this on a Friday night when I’m craving Chinese food but don’t want to spend money on takeout!
General Tso’s has always been one of if not my favorite takeout dinner, but I love that we can now make it at home. It allows us to control the spice level (I find most takeout spots don’t add enough heat), make it a little healthier, and omit the broccoli which just waters everything down. This is one of my favorite recipes.