General Tso’s Chicken is a popular meal when eating out at a Chinese restaurant, but it is so easy to make at home and tastes delicious!
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. When Justin found this recipe he wanted to try, I figured I would give it a chance.
Making recipes 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. After I cooked the chicken, I set aside a few pieces for them before putting it 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. We were extremely pleased with the meal. After we made it with everything we wanted. And made enough of it!
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. The photos showed the chicken on a bed of white rice. 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. 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. Cut 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. 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. Turn the chicken 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. Hoisin sauce is found in the same aisle as the soy sauce. 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. Put it on a cooling rack so the oil can drip off. 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). Coat the chicken with sauce by stirring continuously for one minute.
Serve the General Tso’s Chicken warm over rice and add a few sesame seeds to garnish.
Recipe
Originally Published On: February 12, 2018
Last Updated On: July 24, 2019
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 granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
Recommended Equipment
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
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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 🙂
You could easily add a bit more to the recipe. I can’t do spicy, it doesn’t agree with me. But that’s the great thing about making your own!
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!
The first time we made it without the rice it was a little plain to me. Adding the rice made it feel like a full meal.
Now, you share the recipe, I will try to make it If it turns out good, I will no longer order it.
It’s so much better when you can make it yourself!
This is one of our very favorites when we get Chinese. Yours looks even better and I know it taste better being homemade.
Oh you should definitely give it a try then if it’s a favorite! We love making it at home so much better than ordering it out.
I love homemade Chinese food! I’ll be saving this recipe as I have not yet tried general tso’s!
It’s delicious! I was hesitant at first since it’s usually spicy but we’ve made it many times for us and when we’ve had company over.
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.
I hope you enjoy the meal! We’ve made this one many times since it’s so quick and easy.
This is really my favorite dish from the Chinese restaurant. I am loving that I can make this at home.
And it’s so easy to make, too! One pan, 30 minutes, and you have a delicious meal ready to eat.
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.
I hope you get a chance to try it! The meal is delicious and comes together quickly.
This is one of my favorite things to eat! Can’t wait to try this for myself.
April
And it’s even better when it’s fresh and homemade!
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!
I know! It looks impressive but really isn’t that hard to put the meal together.
Pinned and I can’t wait to try it! General Tso’s is my fav!
I hope you enjoy the meal!
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!!!
Trust me, once you make it at home you’ll always want to make your own. It tastes so fresh this way.
This looks soooo delicious!!! I can’t wait to make it, i love general tso’s chicken. I will let you know how it goes.
It’s such an easy recipe and tastes so good once it’s done. I hope you enjoy it!
I can’t wait to try this recipe! Chinese food is one of my favorite food so this recipe is not an exception. Also, I love how easy is to make it.
It’s so easy. You only need about 30 minutes and one pan to have a delicious meal ready to eat!
This looks delicious. It also seems pretty easy to make 🙂
You’ve got it, it’s both easy and delicious!
We love general tsao chicken but never made it at home! I will share with Andrew because he loves o try stuff like this out!
If you enjoy this when eating out, you should definitely make it at home. It’s fresh and delicious and fun to make together.
I am always terrified of oil cooking. I like your tip about a lower temp to help counter that, will definitely have to try that. This sounds so good!
It makes such a difference. As long as you aren’t cooking something that needs to be done on the outside and not the middle, it works really well!
This is my husband’s go-to takeout order. I’ll have to make this at home for him as a treat!
Oh I bet he would love it!
This looks super yummy. I much prefer to coo at home than buy a take away that’s for sure xx
It’s so much better to make things at home. It tastes better and you can make it exactly how you want it!
For me, most spicy dishes are too spicy, especially in Asian restaurants.
When I do something at home, I also modify the recipes for less spicy ones. Your dish looks delicious and simple. I feel inspired to try the Chinese dishes in my kitchen more often
That’s exactly why I like making it at home. I like having control over all of the flavors, including how spicy a food is.