I’ve always seen that little spicy icon next to General Tso’s Chicken on a menu, and it scared me away from trying it. I don’t get along with spicy foods, but when Justin found this recipe he wanted to try, I figured I would give it a chance.
Making recipes like this at home gives me the opportunity to modify it so that it works well for our family. I knew the boys wouldn’t want this with the spicy sauce on it, so after I cooked the chicken, I saved set aside a few pieces for them before putting all of the chicken in the sauce.
Funny story about this recipe: I tried to make it one night, and didn’t realize that I only took out one chicken breast instead of two. It let us get a taste of the recipe, and we both liked it, but it was nowhere near enough to make a meal out of it. And I forgot to cook the rice. And Justin wanted red pepper in it that I forgot as well.
Since we knew we liked the flavor, we said we would try again in a few nights when Justin didn’t have meetings, and the boys didn’t have their swim lessons. This time, once we made it with everything we wanted, and made enough of it, we were extremely pleased with the recipe!
The original recipe doesn’t say to make it with rice, but it’s a little plain without it as we learned the first night. Also, the photos show the chicken on a bed of white rice, but I always cook with brown rice, so I made that instead. The recipe doesn’t have red pepper in it either, but Justin wanted that, and it did add a lot to the flavor of the dish (not to mention gave us a bit of
Step by Step
I started by preparing the rice in my rice steamer, then cutting the chicken breasts into bite-sized chunks and coating them with cornstarch. It took about 1/4 cup of cornstarch. This was the first time I had ever used cornstarch as a breading, and I liked the texture that the chicken had much better than breading with flour or breadcrumbs.
Add some oil to a frying pan and cook chicken, turning a few times, until it is cooked through. This took about 10-15 minutes for me, and I had the oil at a medium temperature. I hate when the oil splatters, so I prefer to slowly fry foods instead of turning the heat up quickly.
As the chicken cooks, whisk together the rice vinegar, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, water, sugar, and cornstarch to form the sauce. I found that it settled a bit as it sat waiting, so made sure to stir it every so often. The hoisin sauce can be found in the same aisle as the soy sauce, and rice vinegar will either be near those foods as well or near the other kinds of vinegar in the store.
After the chicken has cooked, remove it from the pan and put it on a cooling rack so the oil can drip off of it while you finish the rest of the meal. Hint: place a towel or paper towels under the rack to help catch the oil for easier cleanup later.
Either drain the oil or use a different pan if you don’t want to move the hot oil. If you remove it, leave about a tablespoon to cook the garlic in. If you use a new pan, add one tablespoon of oil to the pan and warm the oil. Add the cayenne, ginger, and garlic to the oil and stir for about 30 seconds.
Add the diced red peppers to the pan and cook for a minute or two to soften slightly. Then add the chicken as well as the sauce (after giving it a quick stir) and cook, continually stirring, for about a minute, so the chicken gets coated with the sauce and it warms everything together.
Serve the meal warm over rice and add a few sesame seeds to garnish.
Recipe
General Tso’s Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 cups rice (cooked)
- 2 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- oil for frying
- 1 tbsp ginger (minced)
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 red bell pepper (diced)
- 1 tsp sesame seeds (for garnish)
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp hoisin sauce
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
Instructions
- Prepare rice according to directions
- In a large frying pan, heat oil over medium heat
- Meanwhile, cut the chicken into bite-sized chunks and coat with cornstarch
- Once the oil is warm, add the chicken and cook until done, turning occasionally
- Meanwhile, whisk together the sauce ingredients
- After the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pan and place on a wire cooling rack to let oil drip off
- Drain the oil (except for about 1 tablespoon) and add the cayenne pepper, garlic, and ginger
- Cook for about 30 seconds then add the diced red pepper
- Once the pepper has softened slightly, add the chicken and sauce to the pan, stirring to coat
- Serve chicken warm over rice and garnish with sesame seeds
Notes
Nutrition
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This looks delicious! I really like these kind of recipes, they always turn out well. I can’t wait to make it. Do you think the hoisin sauce is a must? I don’t have it, But if it’s a must I’ll get it because I see it in a lot of recipes and been wanting to use it.
I’ve only made it with the hoisin sauce, so I’m not sure how well it would work without. This was the first time we’ve ever used it, so I bought a bottle. It didn’t cost much, and we love this so much that I’m pretty sure we will use it all up making this meal many times.
We always order this on take out and it’s great to find a recipe we can try at home. It looks delicious! We like spicy though, so maybe we’ll add some kick in ours 🙂
Oh this sounds amazing. I would totally have done it with rice and green peppers too. I haven’t tried something like this in ages!
Now, you share the recipe, I will try to make it If it turns out good, I will no longer order it.
This is one of our very favorites when we get Chinese. Yours looks even better and I know it taste better being homemade.
I love homemade Chinese food! I’ll be saving this recipe as I have not yet tried general tso’s!
Chinese cuisine is my all time favorite and this quick and easy recipe just seems what I need. Will try it this weekend for sure.
This is really my favorite dish from the Chinese restaurant. I am loving that I can make this at home.
I’ve always loved General Tsos Chicken, but I’ve never tried making it at home. I’ll have to stick to this recipe and try it sometime.
This is one of my favorite things to eat! Can’t wait to try this for myself.
April
I can’t believe how good and how easy it is to make this chicken! I love Asian flavors so this will definitely be on the menu soon!
Pinned and I can’t wait to try it! General Tso’s is my fav!
I have only had Tso’s chicken at Hunans….I will attempt to try this recipe at home as it is one of my favs!!!