Easy General Tso Chicken in 30 Minutes

Time for quick and easy Chinese takeout at home. This lighter version of my favorite Chinese dish with a full-flavored sweet and slightly spicy sticky sauce.

Introduction

I have worked on this General Tso's Chicken recipe for almost a month which is long for me. Most recipes are easy, but the workflow and the taste of model recipes didn't work for me.

I started with an American Test Kitchen version that was an absolute disaster. After an hour of hard cooking, I created the biggest mess I have ever made in the kitchen and a meal that went in the garbage—way too much vinegar and poor results overall.

I went through more recipe trials, and it was starting to get old—too much work, too many odd ingredients, and poor results. Ultimately, I used a Martha Stewart recipe as the inspiration and made it lighter with some hints from other recipes.

My Rating

Yep, a five but a lower five. There is some room for improvement but not much. I will be doing this over and over.

🇨🇳What is General Tso's Chicken

General Tso's chicken is generally a sweet and somewhat spicy deep-fried chicken dish served in most North American Chinese restaurants.

Although it is probably some basis in standard Chinese fare, it is not a traditional Chinese dish. Most likely, what we now know as General Tso’s Chicken originated in New York City in the 1970s, but there are many conflicting claims about who and where.

Wherever it started, it is now standard fare in almost every North American Chinese restaurant—and has always been one of the most popular dishes.

🐓Ingredients for General Tso Chicken

The Chicken

This is a "lighter" version, so skinless boneless chicken breasts are my choice here, but boneless skinless chicken thighs will work fine. Or chop up some chicken tenders.

If you use thighs, the cooking temperature should be 180°-185° instead of 165°. This is a texture suggestion. Thighs are safe at 165°, but you will like the texture much better at 180°.

Coating ingredients

The chicken is coated with egg white, corn starch, salt, and pepper, then pan-fried. So healthier than deep-frying and more manageable at home. If you don't care about the fat, use the whole egg instead of two egg whites.

Sauce ingredients

The sauce is flavored with brown sugar, Hoisin sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, dry ginger, and crushed red pepper flakes.

The Hoisin sauce provides vinegar flavor for this dish, but you may want to add a small amount of rice wine vinegar. Likewise, garlic is in the Hoisin but add more if you wish.

Dry ginger is used, but many recipes call for fresh ginger, which I don't usually have on hand. Use 1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger for each ¼ teaspoon of ground ginger.

The red pepper flakes are "to taste." ¼ teaspoon has minimal heat (1/10)  but some pleasant taste. ½ teaspoon is about what you would typically have in a restaurant (3/10), but 1 teaspoon is more for the heat lover (7/10).

Brown sugar adds sweetness to the sauce, but it can be cut in half without much effect.

👨‍🍳How to Make General Tso Chicken

1. Trim two chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes.
2. Coat the chicken with a mixture of egg whites, corn starch, salt, and pepper. Shake off the excess topping before proceeding.
3. Brown the chicken in a large skillet or wok in hot oil. Turn occasionally and cook to 165°.
4. While cooking the chicken, mix the sauce of Hoisin sauce, ketchup, and other seasonings.
5. When the chicken is brown and 165°, remove the chicken from the skillet.
6. Add the sauce to the hot pan and cook until thickened while whisking continuously.
7. Add the chicken into the sauce and serve.

❓FAQs

🍽️Serving and Storage

Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and slices of green onions. Sided dishes of rice and steamed vegetables should be added to complete the meal.

Store leftovers sealed airtight for four days. I don't expect this to freeze well.

📖Chinese Recipes

How to Cook Rice in the Oven

Easy Fried Rice in 10 Minute

Easy Chicken Stir Fry

Easy Crock Pot Cashew Chicken

Crock Pot Beef and Broccoli

This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.

🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions

The only "special" thing is Hoisin sauce. I'm now going to stock it in my refrigerator.

Start by patting dry and trimming two skinless boneless chicken breasts. Then cube into about 1-inch pieces.

Heat 2 teaspoons vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a large nonstick skillet or a wok. Whisk together 2 egg whites or one whole egg, corn starch, salt, and pepper.

Dry the chicken thoroughly with paper towels. Add chicken to the egg mixture and stir to coat.

Shake excess coating off the chicken and add one piece at a time to the hot oil. You can be a perfectionist and half-turning them nicely for 8 to 10 minutes and repeat. OR put them all in and occasionally stir like lazy me for about 12-14 minutes. Be sure the internal temp gets to 165° by checking multiple pieces. Use 180° as your endpoint if using thighs.

While the chicken is cooking, start the sauce — Whisk corn starch into ½ cup of water. Then add brown sugar, Hoisin sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, dry ginger, and crushed red pepper.

When the chicken is done, transfer to a bowl and decrease the heat to medium-low. Add the sauce and whisk continuously while boiling until well thickened 2-3 minutes.

Add the chicken back into the sauce and stir to coat.

Transfer to the serving dish. Garnish with the toasted sesame seeds and slices of green onion. Serve with sides of rice and steamed vegetables.

📖Recipe

Editor's Note: Originally Published October 17, 2012. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.

Originally Published October 17, 2012.