General Tso’s Chicken
52 comments » 
It wasn’t until the last few years that I really have started to embrace Asian cuisine. I’ve had a lot of firsts, including sushi, and the different flavors and dishes have definitely grown on me. Most college kids rely on Chinese take out to get them through cram sessions and heartache, but I was always more of a pizza girl. I leaned on Domino’s. I, of course, had tried Chinese before, but was never crazy about it. All of that changed when I started spending time at my Chief Culinary Consultant’s. When he first mentioned ordering Chinese and I said that I hadn’t ever found something I really liked, he said I had to get General Tso’s, and that I would love it. He knows me all too well, because I absolutely adored it. Between the crunchy, battered chicken, the thick sauce, and the generous amount of spice, I was completely smitten. It soon became my favorite take out option, and I found myself craving it. We had talked about trying to make it at home, but until now I hadn’t found a recipe that I thought sounded authentic enough. I’m thrilled to have found this one; I think we might be cooking in Chinese more often than we order it out now!
I was most worried about the chicken breading having that characteristic thick, crunchy coating that is so typical of General Tso’s. That was definitely achieved, thanks to including just a little bit of the marinade in the dry batter ingredients. Genius! Everything else came together perfectly. As I cooked the sauce, I couldn’t believe how absolutely identical it smelled to the General Tso’s sauce I have come to know and love. Once everything was finished and we dug in, we hardly spoke a word, except to grunt and groan about how phenomenal the food was. And how much it really did taste like General Tso’s. Easily one of the best dinners I’ve made in the last year or so. Top 3, for sure. It’s going into the permanent rotation and very likely will replace many a take out meal for us.
One year ago: Best Ever Potato Salad
Three years ago: Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte
Four years ago: Homemade Marshmallows
General Tso's Chicken
Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Ingredients:
For the Marinade & Sauce:
½ cup hoisin sauce
¼ cup white vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1½ cups water
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1½ pounds), cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakesFor Coating & Frying:
3 egg whites
1½ cups cornstarch
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
4 cups vegetable oil
1-2 green onions, thinly sliced (optional, garnish)Directions:
1. To make the marinade, whisk the hoisin sauce, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch, and water in a bowl. Of this mixture, place 6 tablespoons into a zip lock storage bag and add the chicken; seal and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Set aside the remaining marinade in the bowl.
2. While the chicken is chilling in the marinade, heat the 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Sauté the garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes until fragrant. Add 2 cups of the hoisin marinade to the skillet and simmer, whisking constantly, until the mixture is dark brown and thickened. Remove from heat, cover and keep the sauce warm.
3. To prepare the chicken for coating and frying, whisk the egg whites in a shallow dish until foamy; set aside. Combine the cornstarch, flour, baking soda, and remaining hoisin marinade in a second shallow dish; mix until it resembles coarse meal.
4. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and from the marinade. Pat the marinated chicken dry with paper towels. Toss half the chicken into the foamy egg whites until well coated, then dredge the chicken in the cornstarch mixture, pressing to adhere. Transfer the coated chicken to a plate and repeat with the remaining chicken.
5. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat until the oil registers 350 degrees. Fry half the chicken until golden brown, about 3 minutes, turning each piece halfway through cooking. Transfer the cooked chicken onto a paper towel lined plate to drain. Return the oil to 350 degrees before frying again. Repeat with the remaining chicken.
6. Warm the sauce over medium heat until simmering. Turn off the heat and add the fried chicken pieces. Toss to coat and serve.
(Recipe adapted from What's Cookin, Chicago?, originally from Cook's Illustrated)
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General Tso’s Chicken is definitely a favorite of mine. I’ve made several versions, but never a deep-fried version. I try to be a healthy person most of the time but I am definitely going to splurge a bit and deep fry these babies!
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Ohh man does this look good. I love Asian food! I have never tried making it because I always thought homemade could never compare to take-out. Might have to give this one a whirl…
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Wow, this is the fist recipe I’ve seen that actually visually looks like what my wife loves so much. On the to-do list!
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Wow! Thanks so much for sharing this because most recipes that I have seen appear as though the sauce is very sweet, this one looks spot on to the one that I have always had. Very excited to make this!
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This recipe sounds great, I can’t wait to try it. Do you have any recommendations for what to serve with it? Rice for sure, but I always feel a little bad for making a meal that’s all carbs and protein and no vegetables. Any suggestions for a suitable vegetable side-dish?
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Michelle on April 16th, 2012 at 5:58 pm
Hi Jen, I have most often seen broccoli with General Tso’s. I would steam it and then toss it right into the sauce (or serve alongside).
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I have never had General Tso’s Chicken before, but now I guess I won’t have to, since this recipe looks so delicious! Can’t wait to make this!
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I love Asian dishes but for some reason have always shied away from trying to create them at home. General Tso’s is one of my favorites!
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Tso chicken is one of my favorite dishes, but I have never tried making it at home, this is my opportunity now since it doesn’t sound complicated!
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This will be making an appearance on our menu very, very soon. It looks absolutely amazing!
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I don’t care about it’s authenticity, I love general Tso’s and this one looks great.
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How spicy hot is this? For a mild version, would I just use 1/4 tsp of crushed pepper flakes?
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Georgia on April 16th, 2012 at 1:48 pm
Um – looking at a recipe for Hoisan sauce – that’s where the main heat comes from. Maybe I could just make a milder version of hoisan sauce. I’ll play with it and see how it works out. I loveeeeeeeeee General Chicken.
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Michelle on April 16th, 2012 at 6:00 pm
Hi Georgia, The hoisin sauce that I used didn’t really have any spice, it was sweeter. I would check some different brands and read the labels – mine didn’t have anything spicy in it. I would say on a scale from 1 to 10, this was probably a 3 or a 4 on the spicy meter. If you don’t like spicy, I would reduce or omit the red pepper flakes.
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Georgia on April 16th, 2012 at 6:55 pm
Ok – I’ll read labels on the ready to buy hoisan sauce. When I googled hoisan sauce, the recipes had peppers/sauces in the sauce to make it hot. I once told PF Chang’s that I wanted mild Gen Chicken and it was almost white with just a tinge of specks of red.
Thanks for responding.
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This is one of my favorites!!
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I love General-tso chicken! Love this recipe! I can see adding Rooster Sauce on it! Oh man, I’m hungry now!
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We haven’t found a great Chinese place since moving almost a year ago and I’ve been missing my General Tso’s! I can’t wait to try this!
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I’m pretty sure I could eat General Tos’s chicken every single day. I have a few go-to recipes but somehow I missed this one from CI. I need to make it happen asap, it looks awesome!!
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My BF loves General Tso’s chicken but has been a little disappointed the last few times he ordered it out. It has put me on the mission to find a great at home recipe for it. This one looks like a winner.
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I was one of those college kids that ate a lot of Chinese food but lost a lot of my taste for it over the years due to poor quality. The idea of making it at home is much more appealing.
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Looks and sounds delicious. Love the crispy, sweet and spicy hot combination.
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I can’t wait to try this, thank you.
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General Tso’s has never looked so mouth watering! Amazing!
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Can’t wait to make it-ooooh, ahhhhh!
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This is one of my favorite Chinese dishes. I can’t wait to try this. Thanks!
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i love asian! this looks awesome. i’m so hungry now.
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thanks for this recipe and not for the suspected reason (though it DOES look delicious and I may try it when my younger son isn’t home).
GINGER! *smacks forehead* I bet that’s what causes his mysterious allergic reactions! But ….. (sorry, on a tangent here), I wouldn’t think there was Ginger in sesame seeded breads or Goldfish crackers. Can you by any chance email me what ingredients are in the hoisin sauce?
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Michelle on April 16th, 2012 at 6:03 pm
Hi Jenn, I think the ingredients vary by brand – when shopping the Asian aisle at the grocery store and comparing them, some sauces had plums, while some had molasses. They weren’t completely consistent. I already used up my jar and threw it away, or I would have included the ingredients for you. I would take a spin through the international aisle and pick up a couple of jars and check out the ingredients.
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I adore General Tsos! There’s a local restaurant that throws in fresh jalapeno slices in the sauce to simmer. It’s out-of-this-world hot. And completely awesome.
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This is so much my go to order when it comes to Chinese food. I need to give making my own a shot.
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I need a piece of that right now!! It looks AMAAAAAAAAAAAAAZING!!!
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The recipe looks yummy! I’ve nominated you for The Versatile Blogger Award – http://www.yummyinspirations.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/breakfast-in-jar-versatile-blogger.html
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I live 1 hour from any chinese take-out so I’m excited to see this. I made GSC before but this recipe looks better, thanks!
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We make a version of this, and it is SO good! Sure beats take out.
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General Tso’s was my first Chinese take-out choice, too! (In college, though.)
I lived on that, and Papa John’s pizza!
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I always shy away from making homemade Chinese food. Thanks for posting such descriptive directions, this recipe sounds delicious!
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chicken is the most favorite item for me. that why i love that post very much
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I don’t usually indulge in fake Chinese food since there’s always the real stuff to be had but there are times when you just crave the bastardized American versions… And then I feel bad about it but it’s always tasty going down. It’s such a double edged sword.
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Michelle – You did it again! This was a fantastic recipe. My husband and I loved this meal and I managed to make it somewhat weight watchers friendly! I even made a mistake (life with a one year old will do that) and made the marinade with the garlic, ginger, oil, and red pepper flakes! Next time I will be sure to read the recipe 3 times! I’m making the cashew chicken on Sunday for friends, I bet it will be just as fantastic!
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OMG – Thankyou so much for this recipe. I live in Australia and General Tso’s Chicken is not something that I am familiar with (it’s not on the menu at our Chinese takeaways), however when I saw this recipe I just had to make it. I’m not sure what the original tastes like, but this one was amazing, and my entire family loved it. I love your site and have tried several of your recipes. Keep up the great work
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I just made this tonight and it was amazing ! Far exceeded my expectations, this will definitely be in the rotation ! thanks for posting !
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Made this for dinner tonight. It was quite a bit of work but now that I’ve done it once it’ll be a breeze next time. Definitely need to up the spiciness next time too. So yummy!
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I made this dinner with the help of my son. Next time we will double the sauce. My son said “we could put that sauce on DIRT and it would taste GOOD! A lot of steps but it should get easier next time..
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Made this today, it was great! I didn’t have any hoisin sauce, but the internet was gracious enough to find me a substitute recipe. The breading process was something I wasn’t used to, but it paid off with that nice crunch I’ve been trying to find. Thanks for putting this up!
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Michelle, I made this tonight and it was delicious! I don’t usually fry anything so it was a bit of a change. I didn’t have any hoisin sauce so I made it from scratch and added sriracha sauce to it and it gave it a nice level of heat. Thanks for posting this, definitely a keeper!
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My son thinks General Tso’s is the best Chinese dish aside from lo mien. I am not happy with most recipes for it. I will try this one and see what he says.
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Hello,
I just wanted to thank you for posting this recipe. I recently discovered your blog and I must say, I love it! I tried this particular recipe last night. My boyfriend very much enjoyed it. This was my first try ever at Chinese food, I think i did pretty well. So anyway, thanks again. I have my eye on those crab cakes for my next food adventure.
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Just made this on Friday with some white rice and steamed broccoli. It turned out great! I was so amazed that I was able to make something that looks just like Chinese take-out but from scratch! It was extremely tasty and my boyfriend had to go back for seconds. Awesome
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I just wanted you to know I LOVE LOVE LOVE this recipe! I have made it four or five times now, (and again tonight!)and my family adores it! Thank you for sharing…you have many great recipes!!!
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Just made this for dinner tonight and it was awesome! Everyone loved it! Our local grocery stores didn’t have Hoisin sauce so we had to make our own. Used this recipe. http://chinese.food.com/recipe/homemade-hoisin-sauce-312992. The chicken was really crunchy and the sauce was yummy!!
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This recipe was absolutely AMAZING!! I made it last night for dinner and just finished eating the left over’s for lunch and I am sad, no more
I added broccoli to the recipe and used a frying pan, instead of a dutch oven. Delish, thank you so much for sharing.
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