General Tso Chicken is a delicious Chinese stir fry recipe with crispy chicken tossed in a slightly sweet, savory and tangy vinegar sauce
Being the only female in a house full of males and teenagers makes life interesting.
For starters, since I am the shortest and smallest person in my family, they think for some reason that this means that I need to eat much smaller portions than all of the rest of them. Okay, it might be true that I really do need less caloric intake than the rest of my family but it should also mean that at least I get a little portion of dinner.
Last nights dinner event broke the last straw of motherly patience and perseverance. I made a delicious entrée of General Tso Chicken and rice. General Tso Chicken is a quick and easy delicious Chinese chicken stir fry. General Tso Chicken starts with crispy flavorful seasoned fried chicken that has a crunchy crust but is moist and juicy on the inside. The fried chicken is then glazed with a gorgeous sweet, savory, and tangy vinegar sauce that will have you going back for seconds and third helping. I even added a little chili in mine to give it just a touch of zip.
On record…Boys: 3 helping each, Mom: 0 helpings. At this rate, I am going to be loosing weight fast.
I have learned my lesson the hard way. If you have teenagers at home, do not bring the dishes to the table before you are seated along with them. I repeat do not bring the food to the table unattended with hungry teenagers. If you think for some strange reason, you need to bring the food to the table before you can actually sit down to be seated, make sure you take off your portion and leave your portion in the kitchen hidden in a very safe place. I repeat, do not leave your food portion unattended!!!!
There is a vast array of restaurants here in Hong Kong but of course the only food here that is worth a mention is the local cuisine. My boys always have loved General Tso Chicken in the restaurants and I decided to give it a spin in our kitchen. I knew that I wanted to use the concept of frying the chicken twice as believe it or not it leaves the chicken less oily and more crispy. I wanted to find a way to decrease the processed sugars and use more natural sweeteners. In addition, I wanted to accent the flavors of savory, spicy, sweet and sour in a perfect balance in a delightful sauce. I think the experimentation was a success as my teenagers did not even leave me a scrap, not even a morsel.
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General Tso Chicken
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds chicken breasts
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
or tamari sauce - 1 tbsp rice wine
Shao Xing Rice Wine - 1 egg
beaten - 1/2 cup cornstarch
- oil for frying
Sauce
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari
- 3 tbsp rice wine Shao Xing Rice Wine
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1.5 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 6 tbsp water
- 1/2 tsp garlic minced
- 1-2 chilis
if desired - optional - 2 green onions
chopped for garnish - optional
Instructions
- In a bowl combine soy sauce, sherry and egg and chicken and coat well.
- In a plastic sealable bag, place your cornstarch and a few coated chicken pieces at a time and shake until well coated in cornstarch. Remove the chicken pieces from the bag and shake off the excess cornstarch and set on a wire rack or in dish to rest for about 30 minutes to one hour. (This step of marinating in sauces and cornstarch really makes the chicken tasty and crispy)
- Make your sauce: In a bowl combine chicken broth, soy sauce, sherry, honey, rice vinegar and stir until combined. In a small bowl slowly combine cornstarch and water until dissolved and add to the rest of the remaining sauce liquid and stir until well incorporated. Set aside.
- Fry the Chicken: Heat the oil in a small pot to about 350 degrees.(If you submerge your chopsticks in the oil they will bubble around them) Use enough oil to cover the chicken pieces when frying. In small batches without crowding, deep-fry the chicken pieces until the coating sets, about 30 seconds. Remove the chicken and wait 30 seconds. Return the chicken to the oil and cook until golden, about another 2-4 minutes until crispy and brown. Remove the chicken from the oil with a strainer and place on a plate. Repeat process with the remaining chicken pieces. I placed my cooked chicken in the oven to keep warm while I fried the remaining pieces and made the sauce.
- Putting it all together: Place about a teaspoon of oil in your wok and heat up. Add chili and garlic and fry until aromatic. Add the sauce mixture and bring to a boil until thickens into a rich and delicious sauce. quickly add the fried chicken and green onions and just stir until chicken is well coated. Remove from wok to a serving platter.
- Serve delicious General Tso Chicken with rice and make sure you take your helping out before you bring it to the dinner table to your hungry family.
This is so perfect, I bet the Chinese are wondering how you managed it. Beautiful.
Thank you David. Many Chinese dishes all have a main theme to follow for prep such as the marinating of the meat, quick stir fry to keep the veggies crisp and then the sauces. Once you have all the main ingredients in your pantry it is so easy to whip up. Take care, BAM
Looks great! I want to make this vegetarian, do you think it will taste similar using tofu?
I think fried tofu, a veggie burger or even a black bean veggie burger would work really nice with this dish. I would just sprinkle or mix in a little cumin, garlic and maybe a little chili powder on the tofu before frying to give it some added flavor. Take care, BAM
Yum! This looks amazing, and my husband loves General Tso Chicken 🙂
Thank you and if your hubby is anything like my teenagers you best quadruple the recipe if you would like a taste of it too. Take care, BAM
Mmm!! Bam! That looks great! I’m so impressed with the asian food you make! I can’t wait till you open a restaurant in HK Bam! haha.. P.S. I might be visiting HK soon! yayyyy! So excitingggg
Sammy I would love to meet up with you! Please do give me a shout out if you have the time to meet up even for a quick cup of cha. Take Care, BAM
I love making this one at home and usually make them hot and spicy. Yummy!
The boys love it extra spicy and love anything with peppers and heat.
OK, new rule: you serve yourself first! This looks so good though, I can understand why your boys ate it all!
Korena, I guess I need to apply these rules starting today. 1) no food leaves Bam’s kitchen unless first photographed 2 ) no food leaves Healthy World Cuisine unless chef has eaten first! Rules to live by and for kids to follow… Take care, BAM
Serves 4 adults or 1 hungry teenager…I love it! Sounds like you need to wear skates in the kitchen, BAM, so that you can get to the table more quickly! What a great sounding dish…I used to love General Tso’s chicken and havent’ had it in a while. This is making me hungry!
Now I know what to ask Santa for x-mas” a pair of roller skates”! Thanks for that idea. Have a super weekend. BAM
Despite being such a classic, I’ve never actually had General Tso’s anything. It’s so hard to pick between recipes since they’re about a dime a dozen on the internet and so few can be vouched for. I’m so excited to get your formula, because I trust your skill and judgement! Swap out the chicken for tofu and I’m good to go. 🙂
Hannah, thank you for your kind words. You can easily swap put the chicken and replace with firm tofu. It is quite nice. Take Care, BAM
Bam this is one of my favorite dishes to order out! Love this recipe and no doubt my hungry crew would also love it. I may not have a family of growing boys, but my girls can put away the food! LOL!
I am laughing out loud here! Don’t bring the food to the table before you are seated with the teenagers is so true!! Especially if they have friends over. Your tso chicken looks delicious!
You are so right! I just shutter when I get a last minute call that one of my boys are bringing home some of their friends after rugby practice. Do you know how much food teenage boys can pack away??? The worst of it is as we do not have a car here in Asia, I have to carry or wheel everything we eat from the market back home… I think I need to purchase a second grandma cart. LOL Have a great weekend. BAM
Wow I can’t believe you made that at home! That definitely looks restaurant quality with that thick glaze…mmmm! I want to try this with some tofu!
Thank you Erika. This dish is fantastic with firm tofu. I have tried it that way before too. Have a super weekend. BAM
Good to know! You have a great weekend too!
I love this recipe, but I have the same problem you do… making General Tso’s chicken in this house is tantamount to standing over the frying pan until the boys have consumed a total of 42 chickens and passed out in a food coma. This looks great!
Teenagers are bottomless pits. I hope I can make it through this growing stage in their life. I know everyone at the grocery store on a first name basis and I have been chained to the stove for weeks. Have a great day. BAM