General Tso's Chicken

4 from 2 votes

We created the perfect General Tso's Chicken recipe that tastes just like your favorite Chinese takeout dish. It's spicy, savory, a little bit sweet, and super crispy.

Servings servings

Prep Time 25

Cook Time 20

Total Time 45

Equipment

Ingredients

1 lb raw chicken breast trimmed into 1-1/2 inch pieces
1 cup white rice dry
2 cups water
4 tbsp vegetable oil

Chicken Coating

1 tbsp sesame oil
2 egg whites
2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
¾ cup cornstarch
2 pinches salt
1 pinch black pepper

General Tso's Sauce

2 tsp minced garlic
1½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup water
1 tbsp cornstarch
5 tbsp brown sugar
¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp tomato paste
1½ tbsp hoisin sauce
2½ tbsp chili oil
1½ tbsp rice vinegar

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

First, make the coating for the chicken. In a medium bowl, whisk together sesame oil, egg whites, and 2 tbsp soy sauce. Add chicken and stir to coat, then let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.
Steam the white rice. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil, then stir in rice, turn heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for 20 minutes. Once the rice is done, fluff with a fork and keep covered until ready for serving.
Prep the sauce. In a small bowl, stir together cornstarch, brown sugar, soy sauce, and tomato paste. Add hoisin sauce, chili oil, and rice vinegar, then whisk to combine well and set aside.
Once the chicken has rested, combine cornstarch with salt & pepper in a second bowl. Dredge chicken in the cornstarch and set aside.
In a deep cast iron frying pan, heat 2 tbsp of the vegetable oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add chicken in batches and fry until crispy, about 4-5 minutes, turning over once or twice as it cooks. Drain cooked chicken on paper towels and set aside. Add more oil to the pan as needed.*
Begin making the sauce. Remove the cast iron pan from heat. Add minced garlic and crushed red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 10 seconds.* Add 1 cup water and scrape the bottom of the pan to stir seasonings into the water, then return pan to medium heat.
Add sauce to the frying pan. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly, about 5-6 minutes.
Add chicken to the frying pan and stir until coated in sauce. Remove from heat and serve immediately with steamed rice.*

Notes

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 and might burn if you take too long measuring out ingredients. (To learn more about what a mise en place is, read our blog post above!)

Frying the chicken: Add oil to the pan between batches of chicken as needed, maintaining about 1/4-inch of oil.

Sauce: When you add the minced garlic and crushed red pepper flakes to the super hot pan, they will start to cook fast and may burn if you don't keep them moving. We like to dump the two ingredients in at the same time and immediately start moving them around, constantly stirring until the water is added and the seasonings are mixed in well.

Serving suggestions: A plate of General Tso's and steamed rice goes great with a side of homemade pork dumplings! Try our recipe here.

Cooking tools: The deep side of our 2-in-1 Cuisinel cast iron is perfect for frying and cooking up sauces like General Tso's. We also love using this flat-edge wooden turner for sauces, especially on our cast iron since it won't damage the pan!

Author: Nicole

Calories: 891kcal

Course: Dinner, Main, Main Course

Cuisine: Asian, Chinese

Keyword: chicken breast, chili oil, cornstarch, hoisin, new year, rice, rice vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, takeout, winter

Nutrition