Introduction

One of the most popular Chinese recipes on my website is General Tso’s Chicken. I am frequently asked by readers about the origins of the recipe and the history of General Tso’s Chicken.

Although General Tso’s Chicken is named after a Hunanese general from the 19th century, it’s highly unlikely that the general ever had anything like the sticky, sugary dish. The meal was created by Hunan province chef Peng Chang-kuei, as most Americans know it today.

Total Time for General Tso’s Chicken

Preparation Time	15 mins
Cock Time	10 mins
Total Time	25 mins
Servings	4

Ingredients for General Tso’s Chicken

Sauce/Chicken Marinade:

• 3 tablespoons of soy sauce – light or all-purpose
• 1 tablespoon of hoisin sauce
• 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar (sub-white wine vinegar)
• 2 teaspoons of chili paste, any (Sambal Oelak is great)
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of cornflour/cornstarch
• 3/4 cup of chicken stock/broth

Chicken:

• 600g/1.4 lb chicken thighs, skinless and boneless, sliced into 1″ (2.5 cm) pieces.
• 1 teaspoon of ginger, finely grated
• 1 teaspoon of garlic, finely grated
• 1 cup of cornflour/cornstarch
• 1 – 4 cups of oil, for frying

Stir Fry Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons of oil (peanut, vegetable, or canola)
• 2 teaspoons of ginger, finely chopped
• Two garlic cloves, cut finely
• 1/2 teaspoon of red chili flakes (red pepper flakes)

Garnishes (At Least 1 Recommended):

• thinly sliced green onion
• seeds from sesame

How To Make General Tso’s Chicken

1. Sauce-Marinade: Combine the sesame oil, vinegar, hoisin, and soy.
2. Marinate Chicken: Remove 2 tsp of the Sauce-Marinade and combine with the chicken. Stir in the garlic and ginger and let the chicken marinade for half an hour.
3. Dust chicken: Toss the chicken in the cornflour, making sure to keep the pieces apart so they coat completely.
4. Shake off excess: Pour the leftover cornflour into a sieve and shake to get rid of it (or take handfuls and shake so the cornflour gets between your fingers).
5. Finish Sauce: Add cornflour and sugar to the leftover Sauce-Marinade (that you prepared in Step 1). Add the chicken stock and continue to blend.
6. Heat oil: In a deep skillet (or big saucepan, depending on your comfort level), heat 2 cm (4/5″) of oil to 200°C/390°F.
7. Fry: Cook chicken for 3 minutes, flipping halfway through, until crispy and golden. Empty into a plate lined with paper towels.
8. New/clean skillet: Wipe off the oil and put the skillet back on the burner. Alternately, use a different sizable skillet.
9. Stir Fry Sauce: In a big skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. When the garlic turns light golden, add the ginger and chili flakes and sauté for 30 seconds. Pour in the sauce, bring it to a simmer, and stir it every now and then until it gets thick enough to make a trail across the bottom of the pan.
10. Toss: Add the chicken and toss briskly to coat; the chicken will stay crisper the faster you work! Move to a serving plate, top with a garnish, and serve right away with your preferred rice.

Notes:

1. Soy sauce – This calls for light soy or all-purpose soy. Both work well, but avoid using dark soy sauce (which is labeled as such) since it will overpower the flavor and make the sauce appear excessively dark. Read more about soy sauce varieties here.
2. Chicken – The best is thigh because you can be sure it will maintain its juicy interior. Since most individuals aren’t very familiar with deep or semi-deep frying, the breast is particularly vulnerable to overcooking and drying out.
3. Breast & Tenderloin – Tenderize the meat a little bit if you really want to use the breast so you have some room to overcook it without it drying up. To the marinade sauce, add 1/4 tsp baking soda (bi-carb) and marinate for an hour or overnight. This is a simplified version of the Chinese restaurant-style tenderizing of chicken (using less bicarb and marinating longer so you don’t need to rinse it off).
4. Garlic and Ginger – For the chicken marinade, use a microplane or equivalent fine grater. Using a knife, chop ingredients finely for stir-frying. When using a microplane grater or garlic press, the ginger and garlic become very moist and paste-like, which causes them to burn quickly when stir-fried.
5. Amount of oil to use – To ensure that you only need to turn the chicken once to get excellent, crispy skin, it’s preferable to use enough oil to cover the chicken at least halfway up its side (from the pan’s base) (i.e. shallow frying). To achieve a more uniform crispy coating throughout, you may also use extra oil—enough so that the chicken is submerged in it—by deep-frying it.
6. Using minimal oil – To avoid frying and use as little oil as possible, simply coat the pan’s bottom with oil and heat it to medium-high. Cook the chicken for a total of 3–4 minutes, flipping it to crisp up as many sides as possible (I shallow fry because this is time-consuming!).
7. Cornflour for coating – I realize that one cup seems excessive for 600g or 1.2 lbs of chicken. In order to make sure there is enough to completely coat the chicken utilizing the mixing and shaking-off procedure, I err on the side of generosity. Because of the cornflour clumping from the marinade and chicken fluids, you lose a good amount. If you toss extremely well and fast, you might definitely get away with 3/4 cup. Alternatively, you might get away with half a cup if you dipped each piece of chicken in cornflour and then shook off the excess.
8. Sesame oil – Sesame oil that has been roasted is brown and tastes better than untoasted, which is yellow. It is more difficult to find untoasted sesame oil in Australia than toasted.
9. Storage and reheating – Will last up to five days in the refrigerator. Reheat the chicken (if the sauce is too thick, add a little water), but it won’t get crispy. Having said that, everyone who warmed up their leftovers still praised it!
10. Nutrition – Nutritional value per serving, assuming full consumption of the sauce and excluding rice.

Nutrition Facts of General Tso’s Chicken

465	28g	22g	32g
Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein

Check Out: Delicious Kung Pao Chicken Recipe

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