This recipe for General Tso’s chicken is battered crispy chicken pieces tossed in a sweet and spicy sauce. A takeout classic that’s simple to make at home and even better than what you would get in a restaurant!
My family loves Chinese food, and I’ve set out to recreate all their favorite recipes at home. I often make crab rangoon, chicken lettuce wraps and this irresistible crispy General Tso’s chicken.
General Tso’s chicken is one of my all time favorite Chinese food dishes. I love that it’s crispy, with a hint of sweet and a hint of spicy. I’ve started making this recipe at home when we’re craving Asian food, but don’t want to take the time to go to a restaurant. It’s been a huge hit, both with the kids and the adults!
This is one of my favorite Chinese entrees. When I want to make a Chinese food feast, I like to pair this chicken with some of my favorite appetizers like hot and sour soup, egg drop soup and cream cheese wontons. You also could serve this chicken with a flavorful side dish like beef lo mein or beef fried rice. Mix and match your own ultimate Chinese dinner!
Table of Contents
General Tso’s Chicken Ingredients
When you make General Tso’s chicken you will need chicken thighs, eggs, flour, cornstarch, vegetable oil, sesame seeds, green onions, salt and pepper. For the sauce you will also need garlic, red pepper flakes, chicken broth, hoisin sauce, brown sugar and soy sauce.
How Do You Make General Tso’s Chicken?
This dish starts with cubes of chicken you season with salt and pepper and then batter with flour, cornstarch and eggs. Deep fry those chicken morsels until they are golden brown. Whisk together a sweet and savory sauce made with soy sauce, garlic, brown sugar, red chili flakes and hoisin sauce. Heat the sauce in a pan or skillet and toss the chicken in the sauce until it is coated. The final step is to add a sprinkle of sesame seeds and green onions, then serve and enjoy.
Tips For The Perfect General Tso’s Chicken
- This chicken is best served immediately, as the coating will absorb the sauce and get softer as it sits.
- Use a frying thermometer to make sure your oil stays at 350 degrees F. If the oil is too hot, the outside of the chicken can burn before the inside cooks through. If the oil is too cold, the chicken will absorb more oil and be heavy and greasy.
- You can use chicken breasts instead of thighs if you prefer, although thighs are the more traditional choice.
- When you remove the cooked chicken from the hot oil during the frying process, place it on a plate covered with clean paper towels to absorb any excess oil.
Quick Tip
Be careful not to fry too many pieces of chicken at the same time to avoid the pieces sticking or clumping together. I typically fry batches of about 6-8 pieces at a time.
Recipe FAQs
General Tso’s chicken is a popular Chinese entrée made with fried chicken pieces coated in a sweet and slightly spicy sauce. This chicken is similar to sesame chicken, but the sauce has a little more heat and a more complex savory flavor.
While, General Tso’s chicken and orange chicken are both delicious Chinese stir fries, they are very different dishes. They both have golden fried chicken pieces in a sweet sauce, but General Tso’s chicken has a more savory flavor relying on soy sauce, chili flakes and chicken broth. Orange chicken is sweeter, has orange juice in the sauce and has a lighter colored sauce.
General Tso’s sauce is made of hoisin sauce, brown sugar, soy sauce and chicken broth with a little garlic, red pepper flakes, vegetable oil and cornstarch.
General Tso’s sauce is sweet and savory with a little spice provided by red pepper flakes.
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General Tso’s Chicken Variations
While this chicken dish is delicious, you can modify it to suit your own taste.
- Spicy: To increase the spiciness of your chicken, feel free to add more red pepper flakes. If you want, you can also include some whole dried red chili peppers.
- Flavoring: You can make the sauce more tangy by adding some grated ginger or a little rice vinegar. For a more savory sauce, try adding a little sesame oil.
- Protein: Instead of chicken you could make this dish with small cubes of steak or pork.
- Vegetables: You could add cooked vegetables to the dish by adding them to the sauce at the same time as the chicken. You could use mushrooms, bell peppers, snow peas, baby corn or zucchini.
I love to make this sweet and spicy chicken at home. There is something about enjoying those crispy chicken pieces hot and coated with freshly made sauce that I can’t resist. Don’t bother with takeout and instead give this recipe a try!
More Delicious Chinese Food Recipes
Sweet and Sour Chicken
50 mins
Korean Fried Chicken
35 mins
Mongolian Chicken
30 mins
Chicken and Green Beans
30 mins
Sweet Chili Chicken
40 mins
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General Tso’s Chicken
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 1 inch pieces
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup corn starch
- vegetable oil for frying
- 2 teaspoons sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons green onions sliced
For the sauce:
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or more to taste
- 3/4 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
Instructions
- Place the eggs in a bowl; add salt and pepper to taste.
- Mix together the flour and corn starch and place in a shallow bowl or on a plate.
- Heat 3 inches of oil in a deep pot to 350 degrees F.
- Dip each piece of chicken into the egg mixture, then coat in the flour mixture. Repeat the process for all of the chicken pieces.
- Fry 8-9 pieces of chicken at a time for 5 minutes or until browned. Repeat with all the remaining chicken.
- While the chicken is cooking, make the sauce.
- Heat the 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and crushed red pepper flakes and cook for 30 seconds.
- Whisk together the chicken broth, hoisin sauce, brown sugar, soy sauce and corn starch.
- Add the liquid mixture to the pan and bring to a simmer. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until sauce has thickened.
- Add the chicken pieces to the pan and toss to coat with the sauce. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onions and serve.
Notes
- This chicken is best served immediately, as the coating will absorb the sauce and get softer as it sits.
- Use a frying thermometer to make sure your oil stays at 350 degrees F. If the oil is too hot, the outside of the chicken can burn before the inside cooks through. If the oil is too cold, the chicken will absorb more oil and be heavy and greasy.
- When you remove the cooked chicken from the hot oil during the frying process, place it on a plate covered with clean paper towels to absorb any excess oil.
- Be careful not to fry too many pieces of chicken at the same time to avoid the pieces sticking or clumping together. I typically fry batches of about 6-8 pieces at a time.
Just like all of Sara’s recipes that I’ve tried, this did not disappoint. A bit time consuming, but well worth it in the end. II added some ground ginger and a drop of sesame oil to the sauce. I’ve made this two times now, and it’s already earned a spot on the family favorites list. Thank you.
This was amazing and soooo easy!I was skeptical but it was to die for!!
My 1st time with this adventure. I sure think it’s a 2 person job. But wow…it was all worth it in the end. Loved this recipe thank you so much! Great results.
OMG, that sauce was so good. I could ea it with a spoon! It was really a delicious dinner.
Mmm…this is the best General Tso’s chicken!! I love Asian flavors, so to be able to make great, yummy chicken at home makes me so happy!
This chicken is loaded with flavor!! I could eat it anytime of day! It is a meal the whole family enjoys!!
Very good!! I added some ground ginger. I believe that is a part of General Tao sauce.
Question: it says to consume right after cooking because the chicken soak up the sauce and will get soggy. Is it possible to not mix the sauce until you’re ready to eat the dish?
Yes that should be fine!
Was my first time trying General Chicken and this was a great start! This may just have been a user error but the chicken didn’t get very crispy like I thought it would before the chicken inside started to overcook so it wasn’t the crispiest. But the sauce was so good! I can’t help but to alter recipes so we added a bit of rice vinegar and some ginger (at beginning with garlic and red pepper). Will definitely make this again and try to tweak the breading and def double the red pepper flakes it seemed spicy in the pan alone but once added to the chicken it got a lot more mild (my 3 year old could eat mild) and I like a little heat!
I found potato starch makes a crisper coating than the corn starch. You can also take out some flour and replace with more potato starch. And thick soy sauce makes it more of a glaze so it doesn’t soak as fast. I like mine a bit sticky. But to each is own. Great feasting!
Made this for dinner tonight, I followed the recipe to the letter and I am here to say it was DELICIOUS! Someone had commented it was like teriyaki which almost swayed me not to make it, I am not a teriyaki fan. This was not at all like teriyaki. The only thing as I was cleaning up I saw the sesame seeds sitting on the counter. Oh well, there will be a next time for sure! Thanks.
Very delish. It didn’t taste like General Tso to me, more like a teriyaki. but the family loved it. will make again
Great recipe!
I married into a Chinese family so when I take on a chinese dish, i’m swimming in deep water! But this one, with some rice and bok-choi, came off to perfection and I’m really thrilled.
Amazing! Made for the first time tonight and my picky boyfriend gave it a 10 out of 10 and asked when are we having it again! So easy and delicious!
You’ve done it again Sara. It’s an extremely rare occurrence for me to try another person’s recipe, when looking up something new, which for me is around 4-5 days a week. I always come back to you. This was no different. Read a million on the net, came back to you. For me, the clincher was that there was no vinegar. Unlike 99% of Americans, I can’t stand vinegar at all, so of course, again, I went with yours!! It was insanely delicious, and I will be making this forever more. Thanks so much for such a delicious and easy recipe. As for the person who commented on the sugar, there’s many a Chinese sauce that calls for sugar, as well as, many other kinds of cooking!!
Just made this i already had a sauce but the chicken turned out very tasty i used chicken breast. My family loved it
Going to try this recipe soon, but i just have one question. Many other recipes have vinegar, what makes this one different without the vinegar? Curious if this is a lot sweeter compared to the others? Thanks!
I don’t consider this dish to be overly sweet but you could try adding vinegar if you prefer it that way!
I can’t wait to make this tonight!
This is one of my favourite recipes I’ve made from your site!! I recently purchased an air fryer and I wanted to know if you had a guide on how to make the same breaded chicken for this!
I actually haven’t tried this one in an air fryer, you could try coating the breaded chicken pieces in cooking spray then adding them to the air fryer.
I have made this recipe twice. Tonight it will make it thrice!! We
I have made this recipe a few times now and everyone loved it