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.
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 little heat 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 can safely say this 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 This Recipe Entails
It’s surprisingly easy to make General Tso’s chicken at home. All you have to do is marinate, dredge, and fry the chicken, and simmer a simple sauce on the stovetop before combining and serving.
- Prep time: 20 minutes
- Cook time: 15 minutes
If you are looking to simplify this recipe, you can use store-bought sauce. But we highly recommend making it from scratch because it’s both easy and delicious!
Ingredients
There are three components you need when making General Tso’s at home:
- Crispy Chicken – The crispy chicken is made up of three main components: chicken breast, the marinade, and the dredge. The marinade consists of soy sauce, sesame oil, and egg, while the dredge is a basic combination of flour, salt, and pepper.
- General Tso’s Sauce – Our spicy General Tso’s sauce gets its heat from dried Tien Tsin peppers along with crushed red pepper flakes. The rest of the sauce is made up of ginger, garlic, soy sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, hoisin, sesame oil, chili oi, and tomato paste.
- Sides – The meal isn’t complete without some sides! Our favorites are white rice and pork dumplings.
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.
- Combine with the sauce – Toss the chicken in the sauce (see directions below) and serve with your desired sides. We almost always serve General Tso’s with white rice and pork dumplings.
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.
- Enjoy!
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.
- 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.
- 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!
Next time you’re craving some Chinese takeout, give our recipe a try instead and let us know what you think in the comments below! And please, don’t forget to rate and share if you enjoyed it.
Expert Tips
- Mise en place – Since everything in this recipe cooks quickly, it’s important to have your ingredients prepped, measured, and ready to go. This makes sure you can focus solely on cooking and that everything is ready right when you need it. Mise en place is your friend – cooking is more fun this way.
- Cornstarch slurry – A mini whisk makes combining your cornstarch and water much easier. It is critical that the cornstarch is mixed into the water super well and that no clumps are remaining. If the cornstarch clumps you may end up with little gelatinized pieces in your sauce instead of the thick and glossy sauce you want.
- Spice level – Tien Tsin peppers are used in many different Chinese dishes to add spice and flavor. With a Scoville rating of 50,000 to 75,000 they are much hotter than jalapenos (2,500 to 8,000), hotter than cayenne (30,000 to 50,000), but less hot than habanero (100,000 to 350,000). 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 (also known as bird’s eye chilis). If you want a milder General Tso’s chicken, then simply skip the Tien Tsin peppers all together.
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Spicy General Tso’s Chicken
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.
Notes
Nutrition
If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.
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