General Tso’s Chicken

You can re-create a popular Chinese-American dish at home! This General Tsos Chicken recipe has the sweet and slightly spicy sauce that you expect. The chicken is tossed in the sauce and served over rice making this every bit as good as takeout!

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What does General Tso’s Chicken taste like?

General Tsos Chicken is a hard one to describe. It is sweet, but has a mild spiciness to it. It’s not as tangy as Orange Chicken, not as sweet and sour as Sweet and Sour Chicken. As for the spice, it’s not as spicy as Kung Pao chicken.

The flavors of General Tsos chicken are right in between Orange Chicken, Sweet and Sour Chicken and Kung Pao chicken! Not overly sweet, not super tangy and not full of spice. Sort of like a mildly spicy teriyaki sauce.

The sauce is on the thicker side and a bit sticky so it covers the chicken perfectly. You can, however, make the sauce more thin if you would like (more on that below).

What ingredients do you need to make General Tso’s Chicken Sauce?

The ingredients are pretty basic for this General Tsos Chicken Sauce recipe. You may have them already.

FOR THE CHICKEN: You will need chicken (obviously), cornstarch for coating the chicken (and for the sauce), and oil (for cooking the chicken).

FOR THE SAUCE: For the sauce you will need Hoisin Sauce (more on that below), rice vinegar (regular vinegar or cider vinegar work too), low sodium soy sauce (use regular if you like things more salty), brown sugar, minced garlic, ground ginger, white pepper (black pepper works too), dried red pepper flakes and cornstarch for thickening the sauce while it cooks.

FOR SERVING: All you need for serving is your favorite rice and some sliced green onions/scallions (optional).

You can also serve it with some sesame seeds on top, extra soy sauce or even a bit of extra dried red pepper flakes for those that like a little extra spice.

What is Hoisin Sauce?

Hoisin Sauce is added to the sauce for this General Tsos Chicken recipe. Hoison sauce can be bought at the store and is found with Asian ingredients.

Or you can make my Homemade Hoisin Sauce.

Hoisin Sauce sauce is often called “Chinese BBQ Sauce. In Asian culture it is thier “BBQ Sauce”.

Hoisin Sauce is a rich, slightly thick sauce that is salty and sweet with a bit of nutty taste. It is typically made with fermented soybeans, sugar, red chili peppers, and five-spice powder which is like an all purpose seasoning in Asian dishes.

Hoisin sauce is used as a marinade, in stir fry sauces and as a dipping sauce. It is a very versatile sauce that is used in many Asian dishes.

What is White Pepper?

White pepper is actually pretty close to black pepper but has a more earthy taste.

White pepper comes from the same plant as black pepper, the difference is how it is processed. The process of how white pepper is made is what makes the difference in the color of the pepper as well as the taste. Simply put, white pepper is fermented and black pepper is dried (giving it the black color).

White pepper usually has a more “mild” pepper flavor, lacking the heat of black pepper. White pepper has an earthy taste and is used often in Asian cooking.

It is also used in dishes that need the flavor from black pepper but don’t want the black flecks of pepper in the dish, like white sauces and potato dishes that you want a uniform white color.

What is Velveted Chicken for General Tso’s Chicken

The chicken for this General Tsos chicken recipe is not a breaded crunchy chicken but a Velveted chicken.

What is Velveted Chicken? It is chicken breast pieces that are tossed in cornstarch and then cooked in a little bit of oil. Tossing the chicken in cornstarch makes the outside feel “velvety” soft and gives the outside a different texture than breading chicken.

Velveting the chicken is common in Asian stir fries and cooking the chicken this way keeps the chicken juicy with a slightly “light” breaded golden brown crust.

How To Make General Tso’s Chicken

In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, mix together all of the sauce ingredients.

You can taste the sauce and adjust the heat level and sweetness to your liking.

Why do you add cornstarch to the sauce?

So many people ask why cornstarch is added to sauces.

Just like a flour based roux can thicken a soup or sauce, cornstarch does the same thing!

To use cornstarch as a thickener, you have to make sure you use COLD water, or the other liquid you are mixing it with is COLD. This recipe has you add the cornstarch right in with the other ingredients. Once this sauce is heated up, the cornstarch will do its thing and the sauce will thicken.

Another way to use cornstarch to thicken soup, gravies and sauces is to make a cornstarch slurry. Use equal parts of cold water and cornstarch, mix it up and then slowly add it to your simmering sauce, liquid, soup or whatever it is you’re trying to thicken. Add a little at a time, whisking or stirring as you add it.

When the sauce has reached the consistency you like, you’re done! You can make more cornstarch slurry and add it as needed. This works for any type of soup, sauce or gravy!

TIP: Once you have added your sauce to the pan in this recipe, if you want it thicker, make a cornstarch slurry and slowly add until the sauce reached the desired thickness. (Do this BEFORE you add the chicken to the sauce).

Cooking the Chicken for General Tso’s Chicken

*Before you start cooking the chicken make the sauce. Add the sauce ingredients to a bowl or glass measuring cup; mix them until they are well combined and set aside.

**It may be smart to start cooking your rice at this point.

You will start out with chicken breast pieces. You can cut the chicken into strips or bite size pieces.

Toss the chicken into a zip top bag or put it in a large bowl, and add the cornstarch. Give it a good shake/toss to make sure the chicken pieces are fully covered in cornstarch.

Add oil to your skillet and set the heat to medium. If you find the oil is too hot you can lower the temperature.

You need enough oil to cover the bottom of your pan so the chicken can fry/cook in it. But not so much that the chicken is fully covered/submerged in oil.

If you have oil leftover in your pan, you will just dispose of it after cooking the chicken.

Below you will see about the amount I use. If you are worried about using too much oil, you can start with a little, and add more as needed.

You will notice the chicken pieces are about half covered/sitting in oil. Flip the pieces as needed to get both sides cooked and make sure the center is fully cooked. The internal temperature needs to reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

**You will see in the photo below the oil will start too cook “out” of the pan and the chicken may start sticking to your skillet/pan. Just add a little bit more oil as needed.

Place the cooked chicken on some paper towels to soak up the excess oil. Work in batches until all of the chicken is cooked.

The chicken will be just a little crispy on the outside.

How to Make General Tsos Chicken

*You can use the same pan for cooking the chicken and making the dish. Wipe out or dispose of any excess oil from the pan. Then add the sauce mixture to the pan and let it come to a simmer.

The velveted chicken is cooked, and your sauce ingredients are mixed together so it’s time to make General Tso’s Chicken!

Place your pan/skillet over medium and add the sauce to the pan.

Whisk or stir the sauce in the pan. The sauce will start to heat pretty quickly. As it heats the sauce will start to thicken.

If the sauce isn’t thickening like it should, or you want the sauce thicker, see above in the blog post abut making a cornstarch slurry to help it thicken.

Alternately, if you want the sauce thinner add a bit of warm water until it thins to your liking.

Then, once the sauce has thickened, turn down the heat to low. Add the cooked chicken to the sauce and gently mix it into the sauce until the chicken is fully covered.

Turn the heat off and serve immediately.

Serving General Tso’s Chicken

Serve General Tso’s Chicken over cooked rice.

I prefer only sliced green onions on my General Tso’s chicken, but I let everyone add what they Iike to their individual serving.

You can also serve it with some sesame seeds on top, a bit of extra soy sauce or even a bit of extra dried red pepper flakes for those that like a little extra heat.

For some other delicious Chinese-American dishes try these other dishes on the blog:

• Orange Chicken
• Sweet and Sour Chicken
• Firecracker Chicken
• Mongolian Chicken
• Mongolian Beef and Broccoli
• Lettuce Wraps
• Easy Steak and Peppers Stir Fry
• Korean Beef made with ground beef
• Chicken Broccoli Ramen Stir Fry
• Easy Chicken Egg Rolls
• Ham Fried Rice

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