Editors' Pick
General Tso's Chicken
"Wow! This is even better than the BEST I have had in my fave Chinese restaurant. To make the meal go quickly prep everything the day or night before and store in the fridge. To make this easy to understand I have changed the terms to cornstarch slurry and sauce. The first is used to coat the chicken for frying, the second to coat the fried chicken. HTH I use a grater with small holes for the garlic or you can just zip all the sauce ingredients up in a blender or food processor. Enjoy! NOTE: I really appreciate all the reviews this recipe has received. I know that when making this it seems strange and like it just is not going to work. Trust that it will work even though the method and the way that the cornstarch slurry acts before cooking are so different. I was the same way the first time I made this. It does result in crispy pieces of chicken that are so like you find in a restaurant. The heat here is pretty much a balanced amount because some like it hot and some do not. Taste and add more heat as desired. Thanks again for trying this recipe. I hope that you have the great results that I have had time and again. Here is info, pics and heat levels of different chilies. http://www.foodsubs.com/Chilefre.html"
photo by anniesnomsblog
- Ready In:
- 40mins
- Ingredients:
- 14
- Serves:
-
8
ingredients
- 3 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
- 2 cups green onions, sliced
- 8 small dried chilies, seeds removed (bird pepper or thai chilies are good)
-
Cornstarch slurry
- 1⁄4 cup soy sauce, low sodium preferred
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 cup cornstarch
-
Sauce
- 1⁄2 cup cornstarch
- 1⁄4 cup water
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced
- 3⁄4 cup sugar
- 1⁄2 cup soy sauce
- 1⁄4 cup white vinegar
- 1⁄4 cup sherry wine or 1/4 cup white wine
- 14 1⁄2 ounces chicken broth (a can)
directions
- Place sauce ingredients in a quart jar with a lid and shake to mix. If you make this ahead of time just refrigerate until needed, shaking it again when you are ready to use it. This also keeps your dirty dishes down.
- Mix cornstarch slurry in a large bowl- the mixture will be strange but trust me it works. It will be VERY thick almost paste like. Add ALL the chicken pieces and stir to coat. Using a fork remove ONE chicken piece at a time and let the excess mixture drip off. YES even though the mixture has a weird consistency it will not stick like paste and the excess will drip off. Add chicken to the hot (350 degree) oil and fry until crispy. Only cook 7 or 8 chicken pieces at a time. You do not want to lower the temp of the oil by cooking too many at a time. You can use a simple cooking or candy thermometer to judge the temp of the oil.
- Drain on paper towels. Want them extra crispy? Put them on a rack over a sheet pan. Keep warm- I just put them in the oven with the oven off. Repeating until all chicken is fried.
- In a separate wok or large skillet add a small amount of oil and heat to 400 degrees. Again, a candy thermometer works great. (Want less dishes? You can just drain the oil after you fry all the chicken, leave a small amount (about a tsp) in the pan and use the same pan if you like.)
- Add green onions and hot peppers and stir fry about 30 seconds.
- Stir (or shake jar) sauce mixture, and then add to pan with onions and peppers, cook until thick. Some reviews didn't kniw what "thick" meant. Thick like the same sauce you get at a restaurant.you want it to just coat the chicken. If it gets too thick, add a little water or other liquid. The thickness of the sauce should be similar to what you get when ordering this at a restaurant.
- Add chicken to sauce in wok and heat just until the chicken is hot enough for you. It may not even need a minute if you kept the chicken warm. The quicker you serve it the crispier the chicken stays.
- Don't be scared by any negative reviews. It's not rocket science though if you have never cooked with a cornstarch slurry it may feel like an experiment. Trust yourself! You've got this! If you have any doubts reread the recipe and get everything in order before you start to cook. I promise you will thank yourself and maybe even me! Enjoy!
- Oh it's great served over rice!
Questions & Replies
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When it says " Add chicken to the hot (350 degree) oil and fry until crispy" ... How much oil? Fry it in what? Pan, Deep Fryer, Pot? -
I added 1 cup of corn starch, 1/4 cup of soy sauce and 1 egg. I got clay. What did I do wrong? -
How much oil and what type of pan works best, large saute or wok? -
Does slurry maen
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What is slurry mean
see 1 more questions
Reviews
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This is an absolutely wonderful recipe!!! So happy I found it. I did make a few changes though...<br/><br/>1. In order to make this dish a little healthier, I skipped frying the chicken. I just seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked in a small amount of olive oil until crispy. Once the sauce was on it, I did not miss the fried part of it and you really could not tell a difference.<br/><br/>2. Sauce: I added fresh ginger and orange juice instead of water. Both added another set of great flavors.<br/><br/>3. I briefly steamed some fresh broccoli and red peppers and added them into the sauce with the chicken. <br/><br/>I will definitley be making this again!<br/><br/>And to all the negative reviews, don't pay attention. People need to use some of their own decision making in the kitchen instead of relying on a recipe to tell them EXACTLY what to do and EXACTLY how long to do something...when the chicken is crispy and cooked, it's done! When the sauce is as thick as you'd like it, take it off the heat :) -
I skipped frying the chicken, and instead dusted it with cornstarch seasoned with salt and pepper, then browned it in a small amount of oil. I followed the rest of the recipe exactly, and it tured out great! -
This was excellent! I added a little extra water to the batter (slurry), used brown sugar in place of white, added some chili paste, sesame oil and ginger to the sauce and used water in place of chicken broth. I also only used about 1/3 C of corn starch in the sauce. Overall, this is definitely worth the effort to make instead of ordering take-out! Just as good or better than I have had from any restaurant. Thank you for this recipe! -
wow i thought this was pretty good!! i am not a cook but i can follow directions and measure. i had no problems making this. the slurry worked fine. i'm not sure what others are complaining about. i don't own a thermometer but had no problems. my chicken was crispy. follow the directions and its good. -
I registered just to review this recipe. Turned out fantastic. The slurry was like cement at first, but I kept the faith and was rewarded with very crispy chicken. If you have a candy thermometer and don't mind micro-managing your burner heat a little bit you can fry as many pieces of chicken in the oil as you like, just be sure to turn the heat up to compensate for the amount you're frying.<br/><br/>One word of caution for timing at the end, if you really want your chicken to stay crispy: There's a lot of sauce per chicken (which I like anyway), so serve it up quick after you coat the chicken. Obviously, if you soak something crispy in any liquid and let it sit it won't stay crispy very long :P
see 315 more reviews
Tweaks
-
This is an absolutely wonderful recipe!!! So happy I found it. I did make a few changes though...<br/><br/>1. In order to make this dish a little healthier, I skipped frying the chicken. I just seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked in a small amount of olive oil until crispy. Once the sauce was on it, I did not miss the fried part of it and you really could not tell a difference.<br/><br/>2. Sauce: I added fresh ginger and orange juice instead of water. Both added another set of great flavors.<br/><br/>3. I briefly steamed some fresh broccoli and red peppers and added them into the sauce with the chicken. <br/><br/>I will definitley be making this again!<br/><br/>And to all the negative reviews, don't pay attention. People need to use some of their own decision making in the kitchen instead of relying on a recipe to tell them EXACTLY what to do and EXACTLY how long to do something...when the chicken is crispy and cooked, it's done! When the sauce is as thick as you'd like it, take it off the heat :)
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I keep frozen ginger root in my freezer and use a micrograter to shave this into the sauce. I also sprinkle a little oyster sauce in my chicken slurry. I fry the chicken in vegetable oil with a splash of sesame. Sometimes I make the sauce and sometimes I buy a bottled sauce mix when I’m tired. The homemade sauce is way better for sure but I really like ginger in it. -
used boneless chicken thighs. Did not use chicken broth, just added about a cup of so extra water. Also, added about an inch of grated fresh ginger and the zest of an orange. Got rave reviews.
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added some cashews and ginger slices -
Add a little more liquid to the slurry than it calls for so it's not like solid concrete. We added lemon juice to the sauce to add some more tang to it.
see 28 more tweaks
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Mamas Kitchen Hope
Brenham, Texas
Proud Zaar original member! Very disappointed with the new site.
