General Tso’s Chicken Recipe
At nearly any buffet or take-out place you can find General Tso’s Chicken. General Tso’s Chicken is a perfect combination of sweet and spicy flavors. It is a very popular dish throughout the United States and Canada. This is probably one of the best and easiest recipes around, you will be surprised at how little time it takes to prepare. I decided to get brave and use the boneless skinless chicken thighs, and I wasn’t disappointed. However, If you want to use chicken breasts that would work fine as well. The sauce keeps it nice and simple with only a few necessary ingredients to create the perfect generals sauce. For the frying – it’s your choice if you want to use a deep fryer or wok. What I did was first deep fry the chicken and then fry it in the wok for a few minutes before adding the sauce. What this does is give the chicken bits a spicy flavor coming from the dried chilies that are fried in the oil. If you are looking for an amazing recipe for General Tso’s chicken give this one a try. Serve on top of white rice. Enjoy.
Ingredients:
1lb boneless skinless chicken thighs (cut into 1” chunks)
5 dried red chili peppers
3 green onions (sliced)
3 eggs (beaten)
½ cup cornstarch
oil (for frying)
Sauce-
1 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons rice wine
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Cooking Instructions:
Step 1: In a large mixing bowl combine cornstarch and beaten eggs. Mix well to create a batter. Add chicken bits and coat thoroughly.
Step 2: To make the sauce- in a small bowl combine rice vinegar, rice wine, soy sauce, sugar and cornstarch. Mix well and set aside.
Step 3: Heat deep fryer or wok to 375 degrees and deep fried chicken bits in batches. Drain on paper towels.
Step 4: Add 1-2 tablespoons of oil to your wok. Add dried chili peppers to your wok and stir fry for 30 seconds. Add chicken bits to the wok and stir fry for a couple minutes.
Step 5: Add sauce mixture to the wok and cook stirring until the sauce becomes thickened and bubbly. Garnish with green onions and serve.
(Makes about 2 servings)
this dish sounds so interesting! i love its name
oh, nice move on using chicken thighs. as much as it’s so convenient to use chicken breasts, i find that using meat from the thigh in stirfries like these help to keep the meat more tender and juicy. mmm…i’ll like to make this some time soon as i’ve got chicken in the freezer!! x
Oh yeah! This is my favorite dish to order at the Chinese restaurant, thanks for the recipe Bobby, I am definitely trying this one. My wife always wants to share lately and doesn’t like hot stuff, so I never get to order it anymore! One question, are there specific red chilis to use or just whatever dried chilis they have in the produce section?
Thanks.
Steve
oh my… it looks so delicious… thanks for sharing…
I love all your chicken recipes. This one sounds great as well. There’s an Award for you on my blog.
diva – Yeah, I did find the chicken really juicy, it was great. I hope you enjoy the recipe.
Steve – I’m not sure exactly. I don’t have a large variety or these where I live. I wouldn’t worry about it too much as you don’t really eat them they just flavor the sauce and chicken. I hope you enjoy the recipe.
mikky – no problem, it was really good.
Ivy – Thanks for the award!
This looks about one million times better than my local take out joint. I might just have to try this next time I have a Chinese craving.
This looks great and so easy. I must try it!
What’s interesting about this dish (and I love General Tso’s Chicken, it’s what I always order whenever I get Chinese; that and a quart of wonton) is that I’ve had a subscription to Men’s Health for about 6 years and at one point they did a full article on *healthy* cuisines from around the world (how to make them) and they showed that the name ‘General Tso’ is just a marketing gimmick in the US; ask a Chinaman about General Tso and they only thing he’ll know is that it’s a popular dish served in America. There was no famous General Tso in China’s history.
General tso’s chicken truly is the best chinese food. It is A-Mazing
This is my all time favorite food (unfortunately!)!
I love the look of this recipe in the pictures you took and I am going to try to cook this myself soon! I’m not very good in the kitchen, but I will post back in a few days to comment on how it turned out.
Thanks for the recipe!
Wow, this looks sooooo good! Definitely going to try it this weekend
will be cooking it to night it looks good
very nice – and easy directions…. I will definitely try your version and add it to my arsenal of chinese recipes….
have a happy!
I’m in the uk and I think this is what we call Kung Po Chicken and its my fav… yum… yum! They sometimes add baby sweetcorn or sliced waterchestnuts – not always keen on the corn
That looks great! and with a bottle of wine together we have a winner!
Hey Phil E. Just thought you should know:
Zuǒ Zōngtáng, 1st Marquess Kejing of the Second Class.
Spelled Tso Tsung-t’ang and known simply as General Tso or General Tsuo to Western Europeans
He was a Chinese statesman and military leader.
Looks delicous! Thanks for sharing it. Interesting feedback about General Tso!
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you out there that celebrate it!
kc
I don’t think I have ever had General Tso’s chicken but it looks really tasty!
General Tso looks tempting after turkey today! Thanks for sharing.
This is an amazing looking recipe which is totally enhanced by the photos. It is incredible how the spice and sweet seem to compliment each other and the taste buds go off on an adventure of their own.
Thanks
This recipe looks fantastic, the only thing I was concerned about were the measurements for the sauce, is that all the sauce required? It seems like so little sauce to me.
I think you have one of the best looking recipe web sites I have ever seen, your tastes are similiar to mine. The pictures of your recipes are amazing, I have printed just about every recipe along with a picture of the recipe & have placed them in protective pages in a binder. Your recipes are outstanding! I love it when I recieve a new email from your site with your newest recipe addition. Keep up the great work!, & please let me know if that really is all the sauce needed for the General Tso’s Chicken.
Thanks-
WOW! This, I have been looking for quite sometime! I’m going to ask someone to try this out and see if it has the same taste as the one we ate sometime ago!
Beautifully delicious. Chinese food is my favorite, and this recipe makes creating it simple and enticing.
Wendy – thanks for the compliments. About the sauce – the sauce basically only makes enough to coat the chicken, if you want extra I would suggest doubling it. I hope you enjoy the recipe.
Pretty much doubled the recipe except the batter for the chicken, which was more than enough. Aside from the smell of deep fried oil permeating the house after frying the chicken, this was awesome! Didn’t have any rice wine so I substituted apple juice with a little gin, (a very acceptable replacement.) Will definately make this again and again! Kudos!
I can’t wait to make this dish.
Has anyone tried doing this just in the wok with no deep fryer?
Well I tried it last week, sadly we are a little short on equipment and ingredients in our new apartment. So I had to somewhat shallow fry in batches in a saucepan, I used dried chilli flakes instead of whole chillies, and I had to use mirin and white wine vinegar and soy as the sauces.
And, well… it was absolutely delicious! Definitely recommend using thigh meat for the chicken too.
I just made this about 20 minutes ago, and its all gone! Realllllllly good. ^^
This looks just yummy…I was wondering about the rice wine, is it necessary or can I skip it?
Certainly the most awesome thing I’ve seen on the web-just amazing….it is the best! One thing though, and I hate to be a wet blanket on this…is it possible, just bear with me on this for a moment, that the third picture down is photoshopped?
Tinna – I wouldn’t skip it but you can try. If you cannot find it dry sherry would work in its place. Hope this helps.
shopkeeper – no pictures on this blog are photoshopped in any way.
WOW this looks amazing! Thanks for sharing
zesty
I just wanted to compliment you on your website. I stumbled upon it and was pleasantly surprised to see that each and every recipe is one that I could not wait to try. Simply the best website I have ever come across. I’m trying to compile a cookbook for my daughters who are just out of college as they always call home for “moms” recipes. I’m adding these to that cookbook, with compliments to you of course. Thank you for your hard work. I’ve not tried them yet, but it’s obvious by the comments and beautiful pictures that you must be a superb “one of a kind” cook.
Excellent recipe!!!! Delicious!!!
Holy crap that looks delicious
I just finished eating this. I have to say….
I LOVED IT!! It turned out looking just like the picture and tasted just as good. Thank you for posting it.
I have always wanted to try General Tso’s chicken, but I have an allergy to seseame seeds. This recipe is sans seseame!
I plan on making this again soon!
Thanks again.
I have plans on making this as General Tso’s is the one and only chinese meal I order. I’m not a big fan of spicy foods though and was wondering how hot this actually is? I usually order mine mild, would I just add less chilis to the oil in step 4? Thanks so much, it looks fabulous and I can’t wait to try it.
Kelly – It is not very hot. To play it on the safe side, yes you could just add less chilis. Remember, you do not actually eat the chilis though, they are VERY HOT
Enjoy.
I tried this recipe last night and it was very good. I made a few changes due to convenience. I used a very cheap white wine instead of the rice wine, chicken breasts instead of thighs, and I used thai dragon peppers. I also omitted the green onions. I was afraid the substitutions would negatively affect the outcome, but it really turned out good. I think one of the great things about this recipe is the flexibility it offers. Thank you for providing this easy and delicious recipe.
I’ve explored the rest of your blog and each time I reached a new page I found yet another recipe that I can’t wait to try. I’m looking forward to each new recipe you post–along with the great pics!
It didn’t turn out like anything like the Generals Chicken I have ever had. Though it was good! I didn’t have Rice Wine so I used sherry instead, which might have been the reason. Also I think the Generals Chicken I usually order has lots of garlic in it.
I made this for dinner tonight, it was great. Very light and just enough spice. I used chicken breasts as that’s what we had on hand and it still turned out very tender and juicy. Very easy and inexpensive family meal!
Just GREAT for the holidays!! So easy even I
can make it.
Thanks so much Clair
The pics looks so delicious !!!!!!!!
How would I make this spicier? I order at chinese restuarants and request spicy and it never seems to be spicy enough.
Ryan – Chop up the chili peppers in the sauce and eat them.
Was so amazed to find my favorite dish from when i was in the us in your blog.
Just cooked it, its really delicious.. what a takeaway hack
Anyway it tastes a little sweet, could it be that you meant 3 teaspoons of sugar??
I will try to vary that a little next time.
THANKS A LOT !!!!
Cheers from the UK
Ugu
by the way i used dry red wine instead of rice wine (probably not the 100% alternative).. did everything in a wok and in the end due to the sweetness put some soy sauce all over.. still very very delicious.
hmmm its probably not a good idea to cook it again this evening
Again, thanks Bobby , amazing recipe.
ugubabba – red wine would go almost just as good I think. Try cutting down on the sugar a little if it was too sweet. I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe.
worth a look at:
http://blog.ted.com/2008/12/who_is_general.php
If you’ve eaten at multiple Chinese restaurants you will find variation on this dish at all of them. I’m half Chinese and worked at a restaurant my father is a partner in.
General Tso was a real general in China, but as all Americanized or other ized foods go, its adapted and presented for a market to be enjoyed and eaten by locals. Kung Pao is different in that it has peanuts and has a higher salt to sweet ratio. Yes, both are spicy. Use Cayenne or Thai red peppers, which I’m convinced are the same thing. And if you want more sauce, make more sauce.
If you go to China you won’t find this, but that is the beauty of modern cuisines, they change and adapt. If you want it made like your favorite restaurant, good luck. Every good chef has his secrets, and a kitchen with equipment that most of you don’t have in your home to recreate all the steps in a way to cook it the same.
Still, this recipe is a good foundation to make Genreal Tso’s chicken with your own style.
This recipe looks great. I love easy chicken recipes, but never seem to be able to make chinese recipes taste like I would find in a restaurant. I’m gonna give this one a try and see how I do!
When I initially made this a few weeks ago, it didn’t have the flavors/heat that I’ve grown accustomed to when I get it at my fav Chinese buffet.
I just made this again w/ a few adjustments and was very very pleased and glad I didn’t have to share. For added heat, I subbed 15 Japones chilies instead of my original de Arbol chilies. I re-hydrated the Japones for 30 minutes in a covered skillet w/ water that had been brought to a boil. In the sauce, I subbed sherry for the rice wine, added 3 garlic gloves and threw in some chicken stock, minced ginger and a generous amount of red pepper flakes. I also used the breast.
Don’t use the Japones unless you like heat. I grow my own habaneros…
I look forward to perfecting this dish and comparing it to the buffet version. Thanks for having this recipe on your site!
This was delicious. I think I’m going to make it again and make a lot more sauce, I didn’t have the heavy coating that the picture and the Buffet’s have.
Made this for dinner tonight with 3 arbol chiles instead of five (wasn’t sure how potent the chiles were, so I played it safe), and I found that it’s better than most of the restaurant versions I’ve had over the years. I might dress it up with a little ginger and garlic in the future, or toss in a few peanuts just to be a heretic, but overall this recipe just plain works. It ranks up there with my Shrimp in Lobster Sauce as the best Chinese restaurant-style dish I’ve ever made at home. I’m glad you posted it, and I’m glad I found it.
Thanks for the recipe, we tried this a couple of weeks ago and absolutely love it. We doubled the sauce though, since they didn’t look nicely coated with just one portion of the sauce. We also used the dried chili peppers, and we would have liked to have a little bit more heat in it. Do you have any recommendations on how I can make this more spicy in the future? Thanks again!!
I just made this recipe and it was delicious! I actually dropped the rice vinegar so I had to use regular white vinegar instead, which turned out fine. I poured the General Tso’s Chicken over some perfectly steamed broccoli. The end result was a dish with a picture perfect appearance and beyond imagination taste.
I actually took a picture of the dish. Visit to view the photo.
My only recommended would be to use fresh chilli peppers rather than dried ones. Split them in half for an added spicy flavor.
great recipe … yum
Also used it with fish (blue eye cod) pieces and it was delicious.
Teamed with snowpeas stirfried in sy sauce and sesame oil.
Trying prawns nexrt time.
this looks absolutely amazing!! General Tso’s is my all time favorite Chinese Chicken dish! I featured this over on Blissfully Delish today! http://blissfullydomestic.com/blissfully-delish/weekly-menu-plans/recipe-for-general-tsos-chicken/
Being from South Africa and living in the UK, I’ve never come across General Tso’s Chicken but I must admit it looks amazing!
Looks great – I used to run a small restaurant where we sometimes included a version of this – never got it looking quite as nice as that though
@Michelle – my restaurant was UK based, so there are some places – although to be fair, I got the recipe of the internet and modified it for the ingredients we could easily get.
I must say that when bloggers put the photos of the steps in their recipes it makes me so much more confident about what I’m doing. I am going to give this recipe a stab tonight.
Just made this for the Superbowl party I hosted and it was a hit. I did have to make about 7 batches of it but it was so quick and easy I will have to make it again for just my family soon.
The only difference with my dish was I added a teaspoon of chili garlic sauce to the pan right before I poured in the sauce which adds some heat to the dish and right at the end I through in some broccoli we had blanched for a minute or two. That’s the way they make it here in the Dallas area.
This is my favorite Chinese dish; I will not be buying it from a fast food places any time soon now that I know how easy this is to make! Thanks!
I wanted to ask though….at our local chinese buffet, the batter seems different. It is very crunchy and stays that way even with the sauce and seems very thick on the chicken.
Every recipe I have found for the batter is like this one and although it is good, I’d love to know what they do to make such a thick coating on the chicken. perhaps dip again in dry cornstarch?
Thanks again for a great recipe!
This is actually an American favourite, you seldom see it in Chinese restaurants in Canada. I like meat with heat and a little sweet so hopefully it’ll become more popular here.
Thanks for the recipe.
The recipe looks good, but it didn’t come out well for me. The sauce was very salty (which you’d expect with that much soy sauce I guess) and too thick (I had to use water to thin it out in the pan). Perhaps everyone else just neglected to mix the slurry before putting it in the pan? The chicken pieces did not fry well — the batter was soft and not cripsy, but perhaps I needed to fry it in the pan a little longer before adding the sauce. However, I find it hard to believe that the crispiness should come entirely from the second fry.
Sandi – It sounds like they are double breading the chicken. Roll the chicken bits in flour or cornstarch, then dip in beaten egg, then in flour or cornstarch again. This will also work better if you use a deepfryer.
Chef – Sounds like it came out about right. You may just need to make a few adjustments to tweek it to your taste. If you are looking for crispy chicken bits you have want to not use a batter at all but just dip the chicken in egg and roll in cornstarch and then fry.
I agree with Sandi. There is something they do in the restaurants that gives it that thick, crunchy coating. I have tried double frying as well. It starts off good and crunchy but if it sits for even a little bit in the sauce the crunch goes away and you know how long we have all seen this dish sit in our local “all you can eat Chineese buffet” Any suggestions?
David and Sandi – I have never had this chicken at the buffet with the crispy batter you are referring to but thinking back I have tried a recipe that did have a have thick crispy coating. Replace the slurry from this recipe for with this one and tell me if its what you are looking for.
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 egg, beaten
1 cup cornstarch
combine all ingredients, mix well, coat the chicken pieces with it and deep fry. Let me know how it turns out.
I tried this recipe a few nights ago, and am angry that I have been paying for this for so long!! This recipe is so easy and delicious! Now I can save and not order takeout! Thanks so much!
I am totally going to try this once I get in a kitchen!
Just got all the ingredients for this. Going to try it tonight. I only have chicken breast, so I will see how it comes out. Also went to two stores to fine Rice Wine, with no luck. Hopefully cooking sheery will do.
This turned out awesome! Only change I made was that I used crushed red peppers (2 TBS) and fried a clove of garlic w/ the peppers. Thanks for the recipe, this is definitely part of my kitchen repertoire.
P.S. If you use your wok to deep fry the chicken, put some clothes on first.
I doubled the sauce recipe and it wasn’t enough. You may want to triple it, but it tasted amazing and looked great! Thank you!
I made this recipe last night it came out perfect!!! My guest were so excited we are having chiense night this Saturday and trying out some other recipes! Thanks so much!
Bobby
I tried with 1 egg, soy sauce and 1 cup of corn starch and it’s still not the same.
Don’t get me wrong…I LOVE “your” recipe and it’s as close as it gets and delicious but it’s still different then what I get at our local buffet.
The consistency of the breading is different.
It’s coating is roundish and lumpy and coated very thick..the taste of the batter is different too.
If I figure it out I’ll let you know!
Thanks so much!
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve made this a few times and it’s mouth wateringly good!!! A simple but great recipe – I love it!
The first time I made it, I followed your instructions to the letter, but I couldn’t manage to keep the fried chicken crispy. As soon as the sauce was mixed with the chicken, the batter soaked it up and lost its crispyness. So the next time I made it I simply stir fried chicken pieces without any batter and added the sauce to it – WOW!!!
I even made a veggie version with a little sauce for the wife using green beans – that was good too!
BTW, how do you keep the chicken crispy?
Restaurants that have the perma-crispy will definitely deep-fry, and probably double-fry them if they want that consistently crispiness. I’d even guess they may even add a bit of sugar to the batter, which would caramalize in a deep fryer, reinforcing the crunchiness.
Personally, I dont have a deep fryer, but instead made sure to have a high temperature oil before I started frying mine. It’s all about the golden brown, which is the magical chemical reaction of fat and starch in high temps that taste sooo good and bring the crispiness. That said, the crispiness didn’t last too long after the sauce was done. Luckily, the disk didn’t last much longer so it didn’t really matter.
Also, for those who dig on spice, I added fresh serranno chilis and ginger, both julienned into super thin strips, to the stir-fry at the end. Mostly because my favorite g.tsos place had those flavors in their version. Results were fantastic, for me and mine
YMMV.
Hey Bobby! A while back I saw your recipe and just had to try it. Love the sauce so much and put a different spin on it; a salad!
http://www.greedygourmet.com/2009/04/27/general-tso’s-chicken-salad/
Thanks for inspiring me.
this is whats for dinner
lol thanks for posting this recipe, my parents anniversary came sooner than i expected and i needed an easy but fancy type of dish ya know haha i’m making it this evening. thanks loads
Would tempura work to get that slightly crispy/doughy texture everyone is looking for?
I have a friend who “hates Chinese food”, My version uses pequin chilis and some well,ketchup to color up the sauce. I use a tempura and dredge in panko to hold onto the sauce. My friend really likes my Tallacalulla Chicken, what’s in a name?
Bobby
thanks so much for the recipe. yours was the first i came across for this dish and it was obvious i needn’t look any further. i don’t eat chicken but i used your recipe for shrimp; i butterflied them and they fried up into perfect little morsels. I’ll be adding this recipe to my messy pile of favorites.
I made this recipe tonight and it was really good! It took a while since I don’t have a wok; only a little 8 inch frying pan. I also couldn’t find any rice wine, so i used regular white cooking wine. My only problem though was that it wasn’t spicy at all, even with 5 chilis in it. Anyways, it was super-delicious!
I made this recipe last night and it was the best General Tso’s Chicken that I can currently get in my city. For those of you that like a more crunchy texture on the outside of the chicken, roll the piece of chicken in a bowl of cornstarch after dipping it in the egg/cornstarch mixture. Thanks to the author for submitting this recipe!
I am a vegetarian and made this recipe with tofu. it was fantastic. The taste of the sauce was right on.
Here in Malaysia, the featured food is called “ku lou kai”, meaning “sweet and sour chicken”. More popular for the Chinese here is the pork version called “ku lou yuk”, simply means “sweet and sour meat”. The pork version is more delicious.
Wow that looks really good! but i want to do it with shrimp. will the shrimp take longer to cook?
I have made chicken tenders for my husband many times and they have been very close to the thick batter that some are seeking. I have used beer batter, just dip and deep fry. I have used buttermilk batter. I always get the big crunchy thickness with batter.
I can’t wait to try this with chicken wings!!
the real deal! YUMMMY!!!
Bobby, I spent over an hour in Kroger looking for Rice wine and Dried red chili peppers, where can I buy these? I’ve already paid for the chicken, I’d like to be able to get the other ingredients. Is Rice wine vinegar the same thing? Thanks Bobby.
Kent – a larger store such a super walmart or oceno foods should have both these items. If you cannot find the peppers, use red chili flakes instead. About the wine-
1 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons rice wine
these two ingredients, rice wine and rice wine vinegar are not same.
Rice wine is also called ‘sake’ which is probably what you would have to look for. If you still cannot find it, dry sherry will work as well.
I hope this helps. I also hope you enjoy the recipe.
I’m confused on something. Am I suppose to put the cornstarch oil into the egg mixture in step one?
Sorry I’m not experienced at cooking but I love general chicken and I’m tired of people teasing me for not knowing how to cook. If I can pull this off then I can shut them up once and for all!
samantha – its okay, thats what this website is here for, to help people learn how to cook.
You should be mixing the cornstarch and the eggs in a bowl and then adding the chicken. This is the batter.
The oil doesn’t goto into the mixture at all, it is for frying the chicken. Such as you would put the oil into your deep fryer or frying pan depending on how you are cooking the chicken.
If you need to know anything else please ask. Thanks.
Well Bobby, I might have the right peppers this time, I made this last night and I had to add red pepper flakes because it had no spice at all from the peppers I used. I went to a fresh market today and got some smaller, skinny looking red chili peppers, I remade this dish tonight with them and it was excellent!! Very good, thanks Bobby!
This looks so good. I always get this when i go
to a chinese restraunt. I will try this so i can
have it when ever i want.
I am from Canada and this is a very popular dish, however here in the Maritimes the Chinese restaurants call it General Tao. Same dish.
This looks like a good recipe…I certainly will give it a try.
I stumbled on this recipe today. Couldn’t wait to get home and make it. I sub’ed in habanero slices (about a quarter of a small pepper) and one fresh red chile and followed the rest. Kicked it up a good bit (which was perfect for me) and came out fantastic! This recipe is incredible! Thank you so much for sharing!
I just made this and wow. I was not expecting it to turn out so well! I substituted red pepper flakes for the chilis and it turned out perfectly. I’ve always been iffy about trying Chinese food on my own, but now I am not afraid. Thank you so much!
I am looking for the for a Chinese Buffet Recipe: Chicken in Coconut Sauce. I seen this in Chinese Buffets the chicken is friend in batter and then a nice white sweet coconut sauce is over it …. I have searched and searched and nothing yet… Can anyone help me find this … thanks
Deb- Sorry I have never heard of this dish. I do however have coconut shrimp on here if you are interested.
http://blogchef.net/chinese-coconut-shrimp-recipe/
Thanks Bobby for you help. Guess I’ll just keep searching lol have a great day!
Great stuff…. made it here the other day an wife kids loved it (made a mild edition for the kids)… highly recommended
I just tried it! I don’t have rice wine and dried red chili peppper so I just added more rice vinegar and fresh chili peppers dried crushed red pepper flakes. OMG it turns out to be soooo good! I can’t wait to try it again using the right ingredients. This is truly a keeper!
Thank you very much for sharing with us your delicious recipes. God bless you!
I just made it Ex like you have it and it turned out so good better then any else i tryed i only added broccoli and not the green onions. Thx!
I am trying the recipe today and I hope it turns out well! It will.
SOOOOO GOOD
This is awesome!!! My husbands favorite thing to order and he has gone back for thirds!! I can’t wait to try some more recipes!!
This is one of my favorite recipes on this site. I love general tso’s chicken. I’m so glad I can make it at home now.
I made this recipe, but the sauce to coat the chicken was not enough like when you buy it at the restaurant, or maybe because i used more than a pd of ck other wise it tasted ok, i added broccoli and green onions. thx
this is an excellent recipe!! thank you very much!!
Just finished making your recipe, it turned out great. My wife gets home in a few hours so I hope the chicken doesn’t get soggy like some people have said. If so I guess I’ll just make some more. I want to thank you for your recipe and for all the work that you have put into doing all of this. I will have to look up some of your other recipes. Thanks again.
This is so delicious. I paired it up with some cilantro-lime rice and it amazing.
this recipe is pure genius! I do need to add that I bought the general tso chicken sauce by ty ling naturals. omg there is a party in my mouth!!! im lovin it
Made this dish this evening, but substituted tofu for the chicken! I also didn’t have rice vinegar, so I used apple cider vinegar and I didn’t have rice wine, so I used sherry and it came out fabulously! I would agree with others to double or triple the recipe, maybe add some water if you want it saucy. Definitely as close as it can get to the original.
Have made this dish at least 10 times since I found the recipe! It is great! For a little more heat I add Sambal Olek, really kicks it up a bit. I usually make the sauce x’s 4 (without the cornstarch) and keep it in a glass jar in the fridge, its great for any stir fry! Just add the cornstarch when you make the dish~ Thanks so much for sharing!
This is the best dish ever !!! especially with french fries on the side oh and chinese sugered dumplings!!!!!!!!!! so good.
Bobby, This recipe looks delish! I would love to make it for my husband but I was wondering how I could make it a little more weightwatcher friendly for myself. Could I maybe use just cooking spray in a wok?? If not how much oil would I absolutely need for one serving of chicken? Thank you so much for sharing this!! I am sure my husband will be so thankful too. He loves this dish (he just doesn’t like paying for it) Which is the reason I am so thankful as I will get major points for this one !!;)
Lorrie – the oil is just for frying the chicken. You would drain it from the pan when you are finished, and drain the chicken good on paper towels. If you are looking for something a little healthier. Try coating the chicken with flour and baking it in the oven. You could also cut back on the sugar in the recipe a bit.
I’m making this for dinner tonight. General tso’s chicken is one of my favorites. I’m looking forward to this
Hi Bobby – first off, your site is amazing! There are so many Chinese dishes I want to try! There’s a couple things that maybe someone can clarify for me. Is there a difference between rice vinegar, rice wine vinegar, and rice wine? Are these 3 different things? Just want to make sure I’m buying the right ingredients!
I just made this tonight and really enjoyed it. I made everything exactly to what it said except for the rice wine and I do not own a wok so I just made it in a non stick pan. I went to three different grocery stores in my town and could not find rice wine so I substituted it with a pale dry sherry. It still worked out great. The sauce looks and seems to be very little before you add it to the chicken but in the end, it coats it perfectly. I now have all the ingredients to made it so for the next couple of times I make it, it should be a pretty cheap meal.
Hey Bobby and company,
Regarding the CRUNCH and the batter, from what I understand, restaurants will use rice flour in their batter before frying. Rice flour holds a heavy and thick consistency when deep fried, so it will bring a huge and thick crunch when you are finished. I’m going to make this tonight for my girlfriend, and I hope to deliver a few pictures.
Dang!… I did cook follow it up and everything.. It was great and taste so good. Um, yes, I’ll do it again. (smile)
Great recipe, thanks for sharing! I’ll be making this one tonight for sure.
Made this one last week, and it didn’t dissapoint! Thanks again for the great recipe!
I just made this today. The slurry was excellent, the chicken fried up very nicely!! The sauce was great too but I added a half a tablespoon of hoisin sauce and a tablespoon of garlic. It was perfect! i will be making this over and over!!
This was soo good I made this twice in 2 weeks! I used chicken breast and subbed the sugar with 6 packs of splenda egg beater for eggs. I just finished cooking this morning; made this for my lunch. Wish the nutritional info was posted with all the recipe. STILL LOVE IT! Thanks!
Oh my gosh, this was phenomenal! The only substitutions I made (due to not having the ingredients) were cooking sherry for the rice wine and regular yellow onion liberally sprinkled with crushed red pepper instead of the green onion and red hot peppers. I sauteed the onion with crushed red pepper in a little sesame oil with olive oil before adding the fried chicken back to the pan. Also, I made the chicken with a double batch of the sauce, and then in a separate saucepan made another double batch of the sauce for dipping/mixing with rice. And I seemed to have solved the problem of the batter falling off the chicken by dipping in the cornstarch/egg mix first and then coating in flour before pan frying. Perfection!
i do not know where to get rice wine. is it a cooking wine or a liquor?
Made Tso’s chicken today for me and my friends and they loved it! I had to quadruple the sauce ingredients ( doubled the chicken too). Nevertheless still too little sauce but perhaps it was my fault. Coated the chicken afterwards in flour before frying, good hint.
The recipe is great. Thank you!
Best wishes from Germany!
Made Tso’s chicken today for me and my friends and they loved it! I had to quadruple the sauce ingredients ( doubled the chicken too). Nevertheless still too little sauce but perhaps it was my fault. Coated the chicken afterwards in flour before frying, good hint.
The recipe is great. Thank you!
Best wishes from Germany!
Made this and was impressed. It was good, although I don’t have a wok. Cooked the chicken in peanut oil in cast iron. Finished the chicken off in the toaster over at 350 to make it crispy. I added a little more rice wine to knock the soy sauce back a bit… may substitute a 1/2 tsp of OJ next time for some of the soy sauce.
This looks absolutely like the Chinese Restaurants versions. I have another recipe that I did years ago for a Pot Luck for Russell Stover Candies Corporate HQ; I was a Buyer in Purchasing there. The recipe was “Okay,” but I was dissapointed in the sauce; it was too light in color as they asked for quite a bit of cornstarch in the sauce.
However, this sauce looks simple, rich, and just like what you would order. I’m definitely trying this! Thank you! I’m a HUGE General Tso’s Fan too!
I am now living in the Philippines. It is impossible to find General Tso’s here. So, when I saw you recipe, I figured I would give it a try. I made this last night for my wife and kids for dinner. The only thing that I did differently was added a teaspoon and a half of tomato paste to the sauce mix. It was delicious. It was also very easy to make.
It’s a very good recipe, but when i pour the sauce over the chicken and chili peppers it becomes very clumpy, and does not coat the chicken like it does in your picture. I think it’s the corn starch…how do i get the sauce to not clump up?
LD- try adding a little water to thin out the sauce. I have not had this problem.
Hi! Thank you for the recipe!
We just made it for dinner, although we had to improvise a little. We couldn’t find rice wine anywhere, so we substituted with dry white wine. We also didn’t have dried chili peppers (although we did have fresh) so we used red pepper flakes instead. It was alright, but I wouldn’t call it spicy.
1 lb of chicken is actually 4 servings, so we have leftovers
Next time though, I think I’m going to double the amount of sauce.
The only other problem we had was when deep frying, the chicken became stuck to the pan and part of the coating broke off as we tried to get them out. Did anyone else have this problem?
i am goin to try this for my school project looks really good asin food here i come and A
Hello there, l came back (to Denmark) 7 years ago and l have missed Gen Tso´s chicken alot.
The recipe looks great and l can´t wait to try it. One question: lsn´t nescesarry to cook the chicken-nuggets before you put in the wok? That´s what my chinese friend in US told me.
Thanks again for the recipe
Mikael- I am not sure what you are asking. If you are asking if you could just cook the chicken bits in the wok instead of the deep fryer, yes. Make sure they are cooked to an internal tempurature of 165 degrees F.
I didn’t have rice wine, so I used cooking sherry. I’ve heard that it tends to be salty, so to compensate, I used reduced sodium soy sauce. I found that the key is you have to fry in small batches as directed. I was in a hurry the first time I made it, and overcrowded the pan, resulting in chicken that didn’t crisp up, so once I added the sauce, it soaked into the batter, pulling it off the chicken. Tonight I took my time and it looked saucy and delicious, just like the picture!
I’m sorry, but I made this recipe. It looks FABULOUS, BUT it is WAY too “Eggy” tasting. I bit into one of the chicken pieces, and nearly got sick. 3 Eggs is WAY TOO MANY. Plus, I would discard the egg yolk and use the egg white ONLY. You only need 1 egg white for 1 to 1-1/2lbs of chicken. I am known from friends and family as an Excellent cook and bake my own breads. I’ve catered weddings, and I have been told I should go into my own business. I make my own Crab Rangoon, Sweet & Sour Sauce, Fried Rice, Chicken Low Mein, and Lemon Chicken. This recipe LOOKS good, but is not what it seems. Very disappointed in this recipe. I’ve made another recipe that is FANTASTIC!
I made this tonight but subbed the rice wine with white cooking wine. And i added a little sesame oil at the end. It was good but was to strong oil tasting or something was. It was like a peanut butter taste. Thanks for the recipe i will try again.
Made your recipe and it was great ! Thank you. Posted a picture on my website.
http://willsononline.com/bbq/tso4.jpg
This recipe sounds good. I have been wary of using egg in batters, but I think it will work here , since the chicken isn’t fried very long…probably won’t get too pungent like it usually does. Gonna try it tomorrow.
the recipe was so delicious but I put 8 chilis and it wasn’t as spicy as I expected, but still delicious.
Made it tonight and it was fantastic. I just found that there was not enough sauce for 2 lbs of chicken. I will make double sauce next time. Thanks for sharing