General Tso’s Chicken Recipe (30 minutes)

At my house, General Tso’s chicken usually arrives in a white paper takeout carton or Styrofoam clamshell. The gooey little nuggets somehow hit the spot, even though you know they’ll be sub-par: too soggy, too greasy, too sweet. General Tso’s deep-fried nature doesn’t hold up to travel, even beyond town.

If you want to have a memorable and rewarding experience of General Tso, plan ahead and make it at home. Coming up with an ultra-fresh upgrade to a Chinese takeout staple feels like magic, and the results are innovative. The outside is crispy and shiny, and the sauce is perfectly balanced. The chicken itself was juicy and piping hot. All the sauces combined with steamed white rice will captivate everyone.

Takeout is always available, even on nights when you can’t do that, but please be careful. After making this top-notch General Tso, you may want to switch to another menu item when ordering.

What you need to know about making General Tso’s chicken

Many of General Tso’s chicken recipes include a marinade step, but the sauce here is so flavorful that I omit the marinade to streamline the recipe.

General Tso’s chicken does need to be fried, but with a little preparation and picking, it comes out just fine. Go step by step, prepare all your ingredients before you start, and stick to your station once you start. All in all, the frying process takes only about 15 minutes.

Cornstarch helps make fried foods crispy, so you often see cornstarch in deep-fried recipes. Cornstarch doesn’t brown easily, so in this recipe I mix it with all-purpose flour to get a golden brown outside. It’s a win-win combo.

Tips for making General Tso’s chicken

• If you don’t have a thermometer, try this go-to trick for Chinese cooks. Stick a disposable chopstick into the hot oil. If you see a few bubbles that don’t move right away, continue heating. If you see a lot of bubbles around the chopsticks, that means the oil is about 350°F and ready to start frying.
• You can avoid clogging the pan by frying the chicken in batches. If you put too much chicken in the oil at once, the temperature will drop and the chicken will become lighter in color and lose its crispiness.
• You can use chicken breasts here, but thighs hold up better to frying and provide juicy, tender chicken in every bite.
• My mother never drains fried food on paper towels. Instead, she uses newspaper, which is just as effective.

Preemption

This dish is best eaten immediately after making, but you can also mix the sauce up to 3 days in advance and refrigerate in an airtight container. Wait to add the cornstarch until just before cooking to prevent it from clumping at the bottom of the sauce. You can also cut the chicken up to 2 days in advance and refrigerate it in an airtight container.

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