General Tso's Chicken is a Chinese-American dish that is known for its sweet and savory flavor and its deep-fried, crispy chicken chunks. This is a detailed post about how to make General Tso’s Chicken at home with step-by-step method and photos. The dish typically includes chicken that is marinated, coated in a batter, deep-fried, and then tossed in a sweet and savory sauce made from soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, and chili peppers. The dish is typically served over steamed rice and garnished with scallions and sesame seeds.
Assemble all ingredients together to avoid last minute rush.
Chop chicken thighs into 1” pieces and keep aside.
Finely grate ginger and garlic. Keep separate as per ingredients list.
For Marinade Sauce: Add soy sauce, vinegar, hoisin, chilli sauce and sesame oil in a Mixing Bowl. Mix all ingredients very well.
Now, pour 2-3 tbsp of marinade sauce over the chicken pieces and add grated ginger and garlic. Mix everything and leave for marination, at least 30-35 mins.
Finely chop green onions. Keep aside for garnishing.
Cooking
Add cornflour to the chicken pieces and coat evenly, make sure all pieces are separated so they can get fully coated. Remove excess cornflour by shaking them into a Colander.
Add sugar and cornflour to the remaining Sauce-Marinade. Add chicken stock/broth and mix everything.
Now, heat oil in a deep skillet or deep Kadai over high flame.
Add chicken pieces and cook for 3-4 mins until they turn golden and crispy. Drain on paper towel to remove excess oil.
Remove oil from Skillet/Kadai or take new Skillet as per your convenience. Heat oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add crushed garlic, crushed ginger, chilli flakes and saute for few seconds until raw aroma of garlic goes away.
Add sauce to Skillet, bring it to simmer and stir occasionally until it thickens.
Add chicken pieces, toss to coat quickly. This is an important step as the quicker you are, the crispier the chicken!
Transfer to serving plate, garnish with chopped green onions and sesame seeds.
Serve hot with bowl of rice as main course or separately as a starter.
Soy sauce: Do not use very dark soya sauce here, as it will make the dish very dark and overwhelm the flavors. Take light soya sauce or all purpose soya sauce
Choosing Chicken: Chicken thigh is best for this recipe as it will stay juicy inside. If you really want to use breast pieces, then tenderise them first. Please follow our Article section on how to tenderise the breast pieces for frying.
Garlic and ginger: Try not to use store bought ginger garlic paste, as it will burn very quickly and do not give the desired taste.
Amount of oil to use: For shallow fry, use enough oil so it comes halfway up the side of the chicken so you only need to turn it once to get nice crispy chicken For deep fry, use more oil so it comes on top of the chicken pieces which will give a more even crispy coating all around.
Cornflour: You can also use half of the amount here, i.e. ½ cup for coating. But make sure each piece is well coated before you fry them.
Choosing Oil: Use any oil like sesame oil, canola oil, sunflower oil etc. I have used sesame oil as it it has nice aroma and flavor. And, it goes perfect with this recipe.
Storage: It goes well in fridge for up to 5 days. Add little water to adjust the sauce consistency before reheating the dish.
Ingredients & Equipment: Find these Ingredients & Equipment at specialty food stores or online stores. For review of some stores, please refer to the Grocery Review Section on our Website.
Nutrition Information (Note: Approximate)
Nutrition Facts
General Tso's Chicken Recipe
Amount per Serving
Calories
578
% Daily Value*
Fat
35
g
54
%
Saturated Fat
8
g
50
%
Trans Fat
0.2
g
Polyunsaturated Fat
8
g
Monounsaturated Fat
16
g
Cholesterol
148
mg
49
%
Sodium
1108
mg
48
%
Potassium
488
mg
14
%
Carbohydrates
38
g
13
%
Fiber
3
g
13
%
Sugar
11
g
12
%
Protein
30
g
60
%
Vitamin A
254
IU
5
%
Vitamin B1
0.2
mg
13
%
Vitamin B2
0.3
mg
18
%
Vitamin B3
8
mg
40
%
Vitamin B5
2
mg
20
%
Vitamin B6
1
mg
50
%
Vitamin B12
1
µg
17
%
Vitamin C
2
mg
2
%
Vitamin D
0.1
µg
1
%
Vitamin E
2
mg
13
%
Vitamin K
21
µg
20
%
Calcium
83
mg
8
%
Iron
2
mg
11
%
Magnesium
70
mg
18
%
Zinc
3
mg
20
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.