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General Tso’s (pronounced “so”) Chicken is easily made using chicken broth, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, and a dash of red pepper flakes for a restaurant-quality dish at home.
What is General Tso’s Chicken?
Made famous for the sweet and savory sauce that clings to tender chunks of fried chicken, it’s named after a Chinese general but was actually created by a Taiwanese chef in the ‘50s and later made to suit North American taste buds.
Holly’s Recipe Highlights
- Flavor: Sweet, savory, and just a little spicy with a rich, sticky sauce that clings to crispy chicken.
- Recommended Tools: Large non-stick skillet, mixing bowls, tongs, and a whisk.
- Budget Tip: Use boneless chicken thighs instead of breasts. They’re often cheaper and stay extra juicy.
- Time-Saving Tip: Use pre-minced garlic and ginger or a squeeze of garlic/ginger paste to skip chopping.
- Serving Suggestion: Serve over baked or fried rice. It’s “Tso” good!
Everyday Ingredients
- Chicken: You can use chicken thighs, breasts, or cutlets, whatever you have on hand! Ground chicken or turkey works too.
- Sauce: Pantry basics, chicken broth, Asian sauces & spices give this dish its signature flavor.
- Seasonings: Fresh garlic and ginger work best, but store-bought paste or dried powders will work in a pinch. Make the sauce extra spicy by adding a splash of sriracha, gochujang, or chile paste.
- Variations: Whole baby mushrooms, water chestnuts, chopped baby bok choy, baby corn, and diced bell peppers can be added to the other ingredients to give this dish more flair.
How to Make General Tso’s Chicken
- Prep Chicken: Cut chicken into bite-size chunks and toss with seasonings, beaten eggs, and cornstarch.
- Fry: Stir-fry the chicken in oil and set aside.
- Combine: Whisk sauce ingredients together in the same pan and cook until thickened, then stir in the cooked chicken and heat through.
Garnish with green onion and sesame seeds and serve over rice or noodles.
Leftovers?
Store General Tso’s chicken in a covered container (separate from rice) in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Enjoy it cold as a refreshing lunch or reheat portions in the microwave with a little broth added to thin out the sauce (it thickens as it ages).
Freeze chicken with sauce in a zippered bag for up to 3 months and thaw in the refrigerator before reheating.
Easy Homemade Take-Out
Did your family love this recipe for General Tso’s Chicken? Leave a rating and comment below!
General Tso’s Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 eggs beaten
- ½ cup cornstarch + 2 tablespoons, divided
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil or as needed, divided
- 2 green onions thinly sliced, white and green divided
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger minced
Sauce
- ½ cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
- ¼ cup soy sauce low sodium
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil toasted
Instructions
- Cut chicken breasts into 1" cubes. Season with salt & pepper and toss with egg. Remove chicken from egg and toss with ½ cup cornstarch.
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add half of the chicken and cook until crisp and cooked through, about 5-6 minutes. Repeat with remaining chicken, adding more oil if needed. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- For the sauce, in a small bowl, combine chicken broth, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, and sesame oil.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add the whites of the green onion, garlic, and ginger and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in sauce ingredients and simmer 2-3 minutes or until thickened.
- Combine remaining 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water. Slowly drizzle cornstarch into the sauce while whisking until it is slightly thickened.* Toss sauce with cooked chicken and garnish with remaining green onion.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Chicken, Entree, Main Course
Cuisine American, Asian, Chinese© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
I recently made a delicious cookie recipe that I thought came from you. It contained devils food cake mix, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, sweet condensed milk , maybe nuts and don’t remember the other ingredients. I thought I saved recipe but can’t find it. It was sooooo delicious. Would you please send it to me. Many thanks
Hi Jackie, we have a Better Than Sex Cake that has all the ingredients you mentioned but we don’t have a cookie recipe. I hope that helps!
Was ok. Was bitter, I think I would add more sugar.
Won’t be making this again unfortunately
Thanks for trying our recipe, Laura!
This is so good! Better than any restaurant hands down!
After reading all the reviews I added a little more brown sugar. It was perfectly balanced sweet heat. Everyone in the house LOVED it!! Another great recipe by Holly. Thank you for all your recipes!!
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe Mike!
Fantastic recipe! I have made this a few times and get rave reviews. I did increase the brown sugar by one tablespoon but otherwise followed the recipe as written.
Was very good but needs a little bit more brown sugar in my opinion!
Hi Holly! Around how many chicken breasts do you use normally? I know that it depends on the size of the breast but I was wondering if I use two breast (about one inch thick) if that will be enough.
1 ½ pounds is 4 chicken breasts, approximately 6-7oz each. Enjoy Sandra!
Made this dish for my family. Very delicious better than takeout. Did not alter in any way, my family loved every forkful therefore, I give this recipe 5 stars.
Thanks Holly.
Mia
So happy to hear that Mia! You’re welcome!
Can you omit the egg and just use cornstarch like in the Mongolian beef recipe… which by the way was easy and fast. The flank steak was so tender and my family wanted seconds!!
I haven’t tried this particular recipe without the egg. It’s used to make sure the cornstarch sticks so if you skip it, you’ll want to moisten the chicken just enough so the cornstarch can stick to it. Let us know how it works out for you!
I would love to try this but have to eat gluten-free and hoisin sauce is not gluten-free. Any suggestions as to what I can replace it with? I haven’t been able to find a gluten-free hoisin sauce in Canada.
I was able to find GF Hoisin on Amazon Canada (although it’s a bit pricey). Hoisin has a unique flavor but you could try a bit of oyster sauce (if you have a GF version). If not, a little brown sugar for sweetness or even a bit of teriyaki sauce.
I will love to learn more
What if I don’t have low sodium broth and soy sauce, can use regular? Would I have to leave out something else.
You can use regular, the dish will be a little bit saltier but still delicious! (You can likely skip the salt to taste on the chicken itself).