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Home » Recipes » Chicken

General Tso's Chicken

Published: Jun 30, 2020 · Modified: Mar 15, 2021 · by Khin · This post may contain affiliate links.

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General Tso's Chicken recipe - Crispy coated chicken cooked in a spicy and savoury sauce. One of the crowd pleasing chicken dish which is so simple and easy to make at home in 30 minutes!

Although it may look like other typical Chinese cuisines, its taste in fact is ''one of a kind''. Just like your favourite restaurant-quality, this recipe makes the taste buds tingle and it doesn't take much time at all. Easy to cook at home if you've well prepared all the necessary ingredients beforehand.

General Tso's Chicken

This dish combines BIG flavors to make a lip-smackingly tasty lunch/dinner that you can pull together in a few mins. For me, I usually cook at home very frequently as our whole family love it so much and I believe, there's no better way to celebrate special occasions with this dish with family and friends.

What is General Tso's Chicken

There's a very interesting history but the controversial story behind this particular dish. It's a popular restaurant dish in USA, created and named, 'General Tso's Chicken' by Taiwanese chef in Taiwan in 1950 s. His dish was loved by US diplomats, so other chefs in USA recreated American version.

Though it's being recognized as Chinese food, it is just a very popular Chinese-American dish commonly found in Chinese restaurants in all around US, Australia, and Europe. So it means, it's famous Chinese takeout which is one of the crowd-pleasing dishes in the US rather than in China.

Is it similar with Orange Chicken and Kung Pao Chicken?

Very similar to Orange Chicken but, the main difference is that General Tso's sauce has focused on more ginger, savoury flavor. As well as a little more heat from the hot sauce or chili flakes while Orange Chicken goes to sweeter, tangy side more.

The main difference with Kung Pao Chicken is how the meat is cooked. While General Tso is fried in a crispy coating, Kung Pao chicken is seared on the stove. Both are coated in a similar sauce, but Kung Pao normally always has more veggies and peanuts mixed in it.

How to serve this dish

This fragrant and mouthwatering dish is best suitable with steamed white rice or stir-fried noodles or fried rice. Or else, you can choose your other favorite side dishes like fried prawns, wantons, salads or various Chinese soups like Sweet Corn Soup to be accompanied. Then, you can enjoy the full banquet together with family or friends then!
For drink options, just choose or grab freshly squeezed fruit juices like lemonade or lime for a healthy and refreshing drink anytime.

How to Make It

Cut chicken into small bite size pieces. Add all the ingredients from the chicken marinate list, mix well and marinate for 15 minutes.

In a small mixing bowl add all the ingredients from the sauce mix and stir well. Set aside.

Add one egg white into the marinated chicken and mix well. Coat the chicken pieces with Corn/potato flour and toss the excess flour out before frying.

Heat the oil into high heat about 350° F. Add the coated chicken pieces and deep fry for 2-3 mins till chicken turn into crispy golden brown. Remove from oil and set aside.

Heat the wok, drizzle 1 tablespoon of oil, add the garlic and stir for few seconds then add the ginger and follow with the dry chillies. Stir fry for few seconds. ( Dry chillies can burn very easy, pour the sauce mix immediately as soon as the chillies slightly colour change. )

Pour the sauce mixture in, stir well and bring it to boil with medium heat.

Add the fried chicken pieces. Stir well with medium high heat for about 1 minute until the chicken pieces and sauce become glossy.

General Tso's Chicken

Add the spring onions and stir well for few seconds.

General Tso's Chicken

Delicious General Tso's Chicken is ready! Serve immediately. Perfect with a bowl of steamed rice or a stir-fry noodle. Enjoy!

📖 Recipe

general tso chicken

General Tso's Chicken

Homemade General Tso's Chicken Recipe made with crispy coated chicken tossed with spicy, sweet, savoury sauce. Learn how to make at home with simple pantry-friendly ingredients.
4.77 from 17 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Chinese Cuisine
Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes
Chicken Marinade: 15 minutes minutes
Servings: 2
Calories: 578kcal
Author: Khin

Ingredients

Ingredients

  •  300 g Boneless chicken thigh/breast  About 10.5oz
  • 1 cup Corn Starch Or potato starch, About 160 g
  • 2 slices Ginger cut thin slices
  • 2 cloves Garlic  cut thin slices
  • 3 tbsp Dry red chillies cut small pieces
  • 2-3 Spring Onions cut 1'' slices
  • 1 Egg white whisked
  • Oil for frying

Marinate for Chicken

  • 1 tsp Sesame Oil 
  • 1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
  • 1 tsp Garlic paste 
  • ¼ tsp Baking soda
  • ½ tsp Sugar
  • ¼ tsp Black pepper

 Sauce

  • 1 tbsp Brown Sugar
  • 1 tbsp Sriracha Sauce Or hot chilli sauce
  • 1 tbsp Black/White Rice Vinegar 
  • 2 tsp Light Soy Sauce
  • ½ tsp Dark Soy Sauce
  • ¼ cup Chicken Stock  or vegetable stock or water
  • 1 tsp Corn starch or potato starch

Instructions

  • Cut chicken into small bite size pieces. Add all the ingredients from the chicken marinate list, mix well and marinate for 15 minutes.
  • In a small mixing bowl add all the ingredients from the sauce mix and stir well. Set aside.
  • Add one egg white into the marinated chicken and mix well. Coat the chicken pieces with Corn/potato flour and toss the excess flour out before frying.
  • Heat the oil into high heat about 350° F.  Add the coated chicken pieces and deep fry for 2-3 mins till chicken turn into crispy golden brown.  Remove from oil and set aside.
  • Heat the wok, drizzle 1 tablespoon of oil, add the garlic and stir for few seconds then add the ginger and follow with the dry chillies. Stir fry for few seconds.  ( Dry chillies can burn very easy, pour the sauce mix immediately as soon as the chillies slightly colour change. )
  • Pour the sauce mixture in, stir well and bring it to boil with medium heat.
  • Add the fried chicken pieces. Stir well with medium high heat for about 1 minute till all the chicken pieces and sauce become glossy.
  • Turn off the heat, add the spring onions and stir well for few seconds.
  • Delicious General Tso's Chicken is ready! Serve immediately.
  • Perfect with a bowl of steamed rice or a stir-fry noodle. Enjoy!

Notes

Nutritional facts are calculated approximately and can be varied by a number of factors. 

Nutrition

Calories: 578kcal | Carbohydrates: 87g | Protein: 39g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 97mg | Sodium: 1710mg | Potassium: 1141mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 6052IU | Vitamin C: 18mg | Calcium: 49mg | Iron: 3mg
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kev Bond says

    November 06, 2023 at 7:08 pm

    5 stars
    Just made this for my family of 5, a huge hit even for my youngest daughter who’s a not a spice lover.
    Will definitely be making this again.

    Reply
    • Khin says

      November 10, 2023 at 11:39 pm

      So glad that you enjoyed it, Kev.

      Reply
  2. Ss says

    September 21, 2023 at 1:47 am

    5 stars
    This is the best recipe- I sauté shitakis and baby bokchoy and quadruple the sauce (but keep the vinegar one tablespoon based on our preference). Sometimes I add sliced king oyster mushrooms with the raw chicken and cook together.

    Reply
  3. rachel says

    August 24, 2021 at 8:02 pm

    5 stars
    Delicious - definitely cooking this one again! 🙂

    Reply
    • Khin says

      August 31, 2021 at 3:59 pm

      Happy that you enjoyed this recipe Rachel! Thank you so much for sharing your comment.

      Reply
  4. ian appleby says

    March 07, 2021 at 5:44 pm

    5 stars
    Very tasty dish,
    Made this with chicken but recently used pork fillet. This worked really well using the same process.

    Well worth trying.....

    Reply
  5. Paul torkington says

    February 03, 2021 at 7:47 pm

    5 stars
    Done quite a few of your recipes now , and although they don’t always look the same the taste is amazing, thankyou x

    Reply
  6. Lab sinc says

    January 30, 2021 at 9:10 pm

    5 stars
    What a great meal, simple and tasty. Better than my takeaway!

    Reply
4.77 from 17 votes (11 ratings without comment)

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Hi, I'm Khin! This blog is all about my family home cooking recipes. I want to share how to make delicious meals from simplest method with step-by-step cooking videos.

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