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Our homemade General Tso's Chicken recipe includes crispy pan-fried chicken in a sweet, sticky sauce made with ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and rice wine vinegar.
If you enjoy making Chinese-inspired recipes, try my Kung Pao Shrimp, Lettuce Wraps, Asian Chicken Salad, or Chow Mein.
Why I love this recipe:
- Family Favorite – General Tso's Chicken is one of my family's favorite dishes when we get takeout, so everyone gets excited when I attempt to make it from home! I can't say this recipe is authentic (here's a truly authentic General Tso's recipe), but my version is a little healthier (pan fried chicken) and has the same flavors, using basic ingredients.
- Affordable – I was excited to create my own version of this popular dish in my kitchen to save us money on eating out without sacrificing any flavor.
- Easy – You just batter and pan fry the chicken and toss it in a General tso's sauce. It's a fun, simple recipe even beginners will enjoy making.
How to make General Tso Chicken:
Make Sauce: Whisk together hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, minced garlic, ginger, cornstarch and red pepper flakes (reduce amount for less spice, if desired).
Prep Breading: In a large ziplock bag, combine cornstarch, flour, salt and pepper then shake, shake, shake. In a small bowl, whisk egg whites.
Bread Chicken: Coat chicken pieces in egg whites, lift and allow to drip off, then drop into breading bag. Shake until coated.
Fry: Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat then add half a cup of oil. Once oil is hot, fry the chicken in batches (don’t crowd), 2-3 minutes on each side, until golden brown and cooked through. Remove to a plate.
Combine: Add sauce to same pan and simmer until warm and thickened. Toss the chicken in the sauce just before serving.
Serve this easy General Tso Chicken recipe with white or brown rice (or for some Pan-Asian fusion, Kimchi Fried Rice) garnished with green onions and/or sesame seeds.
Variations:
- Vegetarian: Sub extra-firm tofu for chicken. Press excess moisture out of the tofu by putting it between paper towels then putting something heavy like a cast-iron skillet on top, leaving it for a few minutes. Proceed as with the chicken.
- Air-Fryer: Preheat to 400 degrees and, after breading, spread chicken pieces evenly so they don’t touch, spray with olive oil, and cook for 15 minutes.
- Slow Cooker: Mix sauce ingredients together. Prepare the chicken the same, but cook on very high heat for only 1 minute on each side, to brown the coating but not cook the chicken through. Spray slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray and add chicken, then pour half of the sauce on top. Cook on LOW for 2-3 hours then stir in the remaining sauce then garnish with chopped green onions.
More Chicken Recipes:
- Chicken Casserole
- Dirty Rice
- One Pan Jambalaya
- Chicken and Rice Enchiladas
- Baked Chicken Meatballs
- Southwest Egg Rolls
- Chicken Tikka Masala
- Orzo Salad
General Tso’s Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, , cut into small pieces
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 large egg whites
- 1/2 cup oil, (vegetable or canola oil)
General Tso's Sauce:
- 2/3 cup hoisin sauce
- 1/3 cup rice vinegar
- 1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar, , packed
- 3 cloves garlic, , minced
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger, , or 1 Tablespoon fresh minced ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or more, to taste
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Make General Tso's Sauce: Add the sauce ingredients to a bowl and whisk well to combine. Set aside.
- Make breading: Add cornstarch, flour, and salt and pepper to a large ziplock bag and shake to combine. Whisk egg whites in a separate bowl.
- Coat chicken: Add chicken pieces to the egg whites and toss to coat. Spoon coated chicken pieces into the ziplock bag, allowing excess egg to drip back into the bowl. Shake the bag to coat chicken evenly in the cornstarch mixture.
- Cook chicken: Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil. Once oil is hot, add some of the chicken (it's best to cook the chicken in 2 or 3 batches, so it browns better). Cook the chicken 2-3 minutes on each side, until the coating is golden brown and the chicken is cooked through. Remove to a plate. Repeat until all of the chicken has cooked, and set aside on a plate.
- Add sauce: Add the sauce to the pan and simmer until warm and thickened. Toss the chicken in the sauce just before serving.
- Serve with hot cooked white or brown rice. Garnish with chopped green onions.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I originally shared this recipe February 2016. Updated August 2020 and October 2023.
Just letting you know the Navy Seals weren’t formed till 1962 before that there was UDT frog men while the Army Geen Berets “Greenbeans”were just formed in 1952 so it’s very unlikely either were there most probably it would have been CIA as they were quite active in China at that time . Just thought you should know
It was too salty mayb cause I didn’t use low sodium soy sause
The hoison sauce is completely over powering. This tastes nothing like any general tso’s I’ve ever had in my life. I wanted to like it so much after working all day then spending the money and time buying the ingredients then preparing it. My boyfriend and I gave it a try and unfortunately the entire pan went into the garbage. This is a thumbs down for us.
This recipe was delicious! Restaurant quality and we will make it again!!! Thank you for sharing!!!
I was very disappointed after cooking for two hrs. ( mostly the chicken) but I wanted to make this from scratch it looked amazing.. But it tasted just like a soy sauce. Didn’t do anything different except add sesame seeds. Not much sauce left as well…Sorry but DON’T waste your time!!
This recipe was not good. It was actually inedible. The sauce was too overpowering/rich to the point it burned your throat. We tried adding water to our dish to cut the potency of the sauce but it did not work. We spent a lot of time/money and effort on these ingredients and actually preparing the meal. We are super disappointed. We do not recommend this recipe.
I want to take back the negative review I left for this recipe. We heated it up today and added a little bit of water and it was delicious! Tasted just like the restaurant. I tried to take the review down but it isn’t an option to do so! We will make this again and eat the next day. It’s like all of the flavors came together over night.
I absolutely love this dish. My Mother never wanted to cook this because of the corn starch, but I went for it. It was delicious. I have this in my recipe book now, where it will stay.
I made this recipe for my family and it was delicious but very time consuming! I chose to make the stovetop method and my chicken needed to cook way longer than 2-3 minutes per side. It was more like 10-15 minutes to get it to the nice golden brown I wanted. Was it worth the time it took to make it? I’d say it was but just be aware of what you’re getting yourself into.
This was delicious! Just like a restaurant.
This looks so good and looks like plenty of sauce. I hate when you make a recipe like this and it’s got no sauce. I usually double the sauce because of it. I saw this recipe on FB but it looks very dry when done with no sauce for the rice. So I am not sure why it would look so much different. It is supposed to be the same recipe.
Recipe adapted from Tastes Better From Scratch Get the written recipe here: http://po.st/8dht0T