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
- Trim two chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes.
- Coat the chicken with a mixture of egg whites, corn starch, salt, and pepper. Shake off the excess topping before proceeding.
- Brown the chicken in a large skillet or wok in hot oil. Turn occasionally and cook to 165°.
- While cooking the chicken, mix the sauce of Hoisin sauce, ketchup, and other seasonings.
- When the chicken is brown and 165°, remove the chicken from the skillet.
- Add the sauce to the hot pan and cook until thickened while whisking continuously.
- Add the chicken into the sauce and serve.
❓FAQs
You can find a few suggestions, but there is no great substitute in reality. There are many components that make this a unique sauce, and you will not get the desired results with substitutes. Hoisin is commonly available in most markets and is worth buying for this recipe.
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).
Dried Chinese chilies can be used, like Tien Tsin peppers, but be careful since they can be very hot.
Several hints: first, dry the chicken as much as possible with paper towels before coating. Second, let the coating set on the chicken for 5-10 minutes before cooking. Third, flip gently in the skillet with a fork. And lastly, you can cook the chicken in several batches to not crowd the pan.
🍽️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
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
Easy General Tso Chicken in 30 Minutes
Ingredients
- 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts - about 10-12 oz. each.
- 2 teaspoons oil
Coating
- 3 tablespoons corn starch
- 2 egg whites - or one egg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoons pepper
Sauce
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 3 tablespoons Hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- ½ cup brown sugar - or less
- 3 tablespoons ketchup
- ¼ teaspoon dry ginger
- ¼ to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper - See recipe notes below
Serving options
- toasted sesame seeds
- sliced green onion
- cooked rice
- steamed vegetables
Instructions
- 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 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 and top with the toasted sesame seeds. Garnish with slices of green onion and sides of rice and steamed vegetables.
My Private Notes
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- You can use chicken thighs. I feel you should cook to 180° for thighs for better texture. They are safe at 165°.
- The Hoisin sauce is needed, and I would not skip it.
- The sweetness is on the high side. Decrease the brown sugar if you want.
- I used two egg whites to make this "lighter" but use one whole egg if you want.
- The red pepper is "to taste". ¼ teaspoon has minimal heat (1/10) but some nice taste. ½ teaspoon is about what you would normally have in a restaurant (3/10), but 1 teaspoon is more for the heat lover (7/10).
- To decrease the sodium, cut out the salt and use low sodium soy sauce.
- Good refrigerated for 3 to 4 days. I don't see this freezing well.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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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.
Leslie
I look forward to trying this recipe. However, I found the recipe amount for the chicken to be ambiguous. One chicken breast could be interpreted as one WHOLE breast consisting of two sides, each of which weighs, on average, 5-6 ozs. Judging by the amount of sauce, I’m guessing you mean about 12 ozs. of meat total. If you gave the amount of chicken in weight, it would be easier to substitute thighs for breasts. Maybe include weight measurements in recipes of this type?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Leslie,
Welcome to the blog.
You are right it is a bit ambiguous somewhat on purpose.
Let's talk about the size of a "half" breast which most people will refer to as a breast. These have grown in size over the years. 20 years ago 8 oz was about average and 6 was not uncommon. But now, most breasts will run 10-12 oz and 16 is not uncommon. My high-end butcher shop can supply 8 oz ones when I have time to go there. But the normal supermarkets will not have anything less than 10 oz usually.
So your assumption of about 12 oz each is correct. I added a little clarification to the recipe.
Thighs will be fine but you will find they have a better texture when cooked to 175-180 degrees.
Dan
Lana
We had this for dinner tonight. I added sugar snap peas and sliced mushrooms, just because I’ve always thought General Tsos would be better with some veggies. I also served mine over steamed broccoli slaw mix, and my husband’s over angel hair pasta. It was very good, but it was a bit too sweet for me and I only used 2 T of brown sugar. I added about a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to cut the sweet a bit. I think next time I will just leave the sugar out. This is probably because I have cut my consumption of sugar and may not seem so sweet to others. It was so pretty. I hoped to share photos but I don’t see a way to post them.
sam
I was made it. This is VERY good and easy, and I will definitely make it again!
Thanks friend
Madison
Okay, so I know this is a pretty old recipe, and I usually NEVER comment on blog recipes. But hoooolyyyyy crap is this ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!
I was questioning your methods after making the fry batter, but it turned out perfect. I added a whole lot more red pepper, some sliced fresh jalapenos, and a little sesame oil and this is my new favorite recipe. WOW! I'm going to be sending this to everyone I know. Thanks!
David
Tried the Gen. Tso recipe tonight. Being my first attempt, while handling a very cranky 1-yr old, it ended up being a very tasty Chinese dish, but did not remind me of Tso's I'm accustomed to in restaurants. I figure one of two things happened - I messed up a step or ingredient, or they make it differently in your area. I'll have to try another recipe to see if I can get closer to the true Tso's flavor. Worst case, I did enjoy your recipe, and will like it even more if I'm not expecting Tso's.
Alice
Wow, the easy General Tso Chicken is so delicious. The chicken was very tender indeed. Will be making this delicious dish again. I don't like a lot of red peppers in my food so I only added about an 1/8 of a teaspoon of crush red peppers which is perfect for me. But, this dish absolutely need some crushed red pepper. And I did use more oil than what the recipe calls for.
Lori
I just got done making and eating this. This is VERY good and easy, and I will definitely make it again! I love vinegar, so I think next time I will add a bit and also some pea pods. SO many possibilities! ;-) Thanks so much!
DrDan
Hi Lori,
My Hoisin sauce had enough vinegar so maybe it is brand specific. I have done this with snow peas and sliced water chestnuts. Excellent.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
marms
I'm thinking I'll get my sauce ingredients all mixed up, maybe double, and keep in a jar in fridge.
Now how about a recipe for Tom Yum Soup? You seem to have the right touch for 'fusion' foods.
DrDan
I have never heard of Tom Yum soup. I will check it out.
Dan
Lisa
I made this tonight for my family of 7 and everyone loved it. I didn't batter or fry the chicken, just cut up cooked chicken breast. I added a bag of steamed stir-fry vegetables. This is a new family favorite.
Lisa
Made many copy cat recipes and I have say this one "rocked". Thank you for all your hard work!!! Chicken was perfect. Sauce was amazing.
A Cartwright
Wow! This recipe was so delicious and so easy to make. I can't believe a novice cook lk me was able to make a dish that rivaled most restaraunts I've been to! Signature dish! Thank you so much!
Jennr
I have been in search and testing so many sauce recipes. I just want to say thank you! I can tell you this will finally become the staple sauce that I've been looking for my Asian chicken dinners!
DrDan
I really like the taste of this. Most use too much vinegar for me.
Thanks for the note.
DrDan
CassCass
I really loved this recipe! It was the first one I tried when I typed in 'easy general chicken'. The only things I changed was I used 3-4 chicken breasts, doubled the sauce, and regularly breaded the chicken. I dipped them in corn starch, then egg/milk mixture, then patted flat in a flour mixture before frying. It tastes like authentic chinese general chicken, I feel like im cooking at the restaurant now~! My kids and family love it so much I make it a few times a month. I just now bought Hoisin sauce to see if it changes the flavor.
Paula
What did you use in place of the hoisen sauce? I have everything except that ingredient.
DrDan
Hi Paula,
Most American general grocery stores will have it next to the soy sauce. It is relatively complex to make with soy sauce, hot sauce, honey, white wine vinegar, garlic and sesame oil. Lots of complex taste there and no good substitute for it. So I have no substitutes and wouldn’t try. Sorry.
Dan
Amy
Excellent! I served this with sushi rice and steamed veggies for a quick and delicious meal. The only "change" I made was to cook the chicken in two batches and keep it warm covered with foil in a 200 degree oven before making the sauce in the wok. Definitely a new family favorite!
anna
I had to come back to comment. What is with all the General Tso’s recipes with all the vinegar? Yuck! THIS IS IT! Thank you!!!!!! A keeper going in the family file
DrDan
Yep the vinegar was killing it for me too.
Thanks for the note and rating
DrDan
Lory
This was so delicious! My fiancée loved this and so did i. Especially since its so quick and easy to make. I will definitely make this again. Thanks for the awesome recipe.
DrDan
Thanks for the note and rating
DrDan
Sharon
I'm planning on making this tonight... sounds great, the reviews are great too. I'm planning on adding veggies and sesame oil with chili too... BUT I have a question for you... what dido u do with the Tien Tsin Peppers from Penzey's? I've searched your blog and found no further reference to them. Thanks!
DrDan
The Tien Tsin disappeared into another dish somewhere along the line. I was at Penzey's yesterday for a stock-up run didn't think about it. IT will go on the next list... I would sub some in for the red pepper. Or at least that was my plan. But be careful they are perhaps about twice as hot as the crushed red pepper.
DrDan
Sue
This was the first recipe of yours I made but it won't be the last! I tried this over the weekend and it was absolutely delicious. Silly me was thinking we'd have it for two meals but there were no leftovers and I think the dog only received one bite of chicken.