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General Tso’s Chicken Recipe

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Updated on June 24th, 2022


At nearly any buffet or take-out place, you can find General Tsoā€™s Chicken. General Tsoā€™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 wasnā€™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 general’s sauce. For the frying ā€“ itā€™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 Tsoā€™s chicken give this one a try. Serve on top of white rice. Enjoy.

(Makes about 2 servings)

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General Tso’s Chicken Recipe

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  • Author: Bobby

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1lb boneless skinless chicken thighs (cut into 1ā€ chunks)
  • 5 dried red chili peppers
  • 3 green onions (sliced)
  • 3 eggs (beaten)
  • Ā½ cup cornstarch
  • oil (for frying)
  • Sauce-
  • 1 Ā½ tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons of rice wine
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch

 

Instructions

  1. In a large mixing bowl combine cornstarch and beaten eggs. Mix well to create a batter. Add chicken bits and coat thoroughly.
  2. Ā To make the sauce- in a small bowl combine rice vinegar, rice wine, soy sauce, sugar, and cornstarch. Mix well and set aside.
  3. Heat deep fryer or wok to 375 degrees and deep fried chicken bits in batches. Drain on paper towels.
    Add 1-2 tablespoons of oil to your work. 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.
  4. Add sauce mixture to the wok and cook stirring until the sauce becomes thickened and bubbly. Garnish with green onions and serve.

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154 thoughts on “General Tso’s Chicken Recipe”

  1. diva

    this dish sounds so interesting! i love its name šŸ™‚ 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

  2. Grilling Recipes

    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

  5. Bobby

    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!

  8. Phil E. Drifter

    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.

  10. Kevin

    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!

  14. nikki_xxxxxx

    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 šŸ™

  16. dude

    Hey Phil E. Just thought you should know:

    ZuĒ’ ZōngtĆ”ng, 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.

  17. KIM

    Looks delicous! Thanks for sharing it. Interesting feedback about General Tso! šŸ˜‰

    Happy Thanksgiving to all of you out there that celebrate it!

    kc

  20. Foode

    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

  21. Wendy

    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-

  24. Bobby

    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.

  25. Bob

    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!

  28. Glenn

    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.

  31. shopkeeper

    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?

  32. Bobby

    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.

  34. Lyn Ferguson

    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.

  37. Peachy

    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.

  38. Kelly

    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.

  39. Bobby

    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 šŸ™‚

    Enjoy.

  40. em71

    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!

  41. Kolby

    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.

  42. Tracy

    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!

  45. Ryan

    How would I make this spicier? I order at chinese restuarants and request spicy and it never seems to be spicy enough.

  47. ugubabba

    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 šŸ˜‰

    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

  48. ugubabba

    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 šŸ˜€

    Again, thanks Bobby , amazing recipe.

  49. Bobby

    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.

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