General Tso’s Chicken

Prep	Cook	Total	Servings
15 Min	15 Min	30 Min	4

For the Chicken

For the Sauce:

Toss the chicken thighs with the quarter cup of cornstarch and let sit while you mix the sauce ingredients.
Add the rice vinegar, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, water, sugar and tablespoon of cornstarch in a small bowl and whisk together.
Cook the chicken

Remove chicken from the pan and drain all but a tablespoon of the oil and add the chili flakes, ginger and garlic.
Cook until you smell the garlic (about 30 seconds).
Add in the chicken and toss, then add in the sauce.
Stir for about 30 seconds until thickened.
Serve immediately.

Key Ingredients in General Tso’s Chicken

Chicken: We’re using boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the recipe. But you can use skinless chicken breasts, or even chicken tenders.
Rice Vinegar: Rice vinegar is a pretty inexpensive vinegar in the grocery store and an amazing flavor boost for salads as well as many Asian recipes. You won’t regret the purchase. Rice wine vinegar works too.
Hoisin Sauce: This is a staple Asian pantry item. It has an awesome depth of flavor and is sometimes referred to as Asian BBQ sauce. This fermented soybean-based sauce is traditionally made with Chinese five spice blend for a distinctive flavor beloved by many. You’ll immediately recognize the flavor when you try it and the one bottle will make many delicious dishes. Don’t skip it.
Sesame Seeds: Presentation counts. A little sprinkling of sesame seeds, chopped chives or even red chili pepper will instantly add flair to your meal.
Sugar: You can use any kind of sugar. We are using brown sugar in our recipe.
Oil: You can use vegetable oil, peanut oil, or canola oil for deep frying your chicken. You can also add a tablespoon of sesame oil while frying for extra flavor.

Substitutions for General Tso’s Chicken

Rice Vinegar: It can be tempting to swap out items, like white vinegar or white wine vinegar for rice vinegar. Every time you make a substitution it is going to taste less like what you remember ordering out.
Hoisin Sauce: This distinctive semi-sweet sauce shouldn’t be substituted, for best taste. However, if it simply cannot be found, you can get a similar flavor with plum sauce, tamari sauce, or garlic teriyaki.
Cornstarch: This thickener can be substituted with arrowroot powder, tapioca starch, or wheat flour.
Pepper Flakes: If the chili is too spicy, you can easily keep it out without compromising flavor. If you would like more spice, just add double the chili flakes, or substitute with Sriracha which is a spicy sauce.

Air Fryer General Tso’s Chicken

You can easily cook the chicken in the air fryer. This is actually a great way to cook the chicken to a perfect crisp while working on another dish for the meal. Using this method, prepare the chicken by coating in the cornstarch. In a single layer in the air fryer, spray the top with a light coat of cooking oil and cook on 400ºF for 8 minutes. Set a time and flip the chicken over at the 4 minute mark to cook both sides. Cook in batches to ensure a crispy chicken.
While the chicken cooks, modify the recipe only in frying the garlic and ginger and pepper flakes and then adding in the already made sauce. Stir it up and let it thicken and get nice and hot.
Once the chicken is done cooking, you can add it directly to the sauce and serve hot!

How to Store General Tso’s Chicken

Serve: Serve hot and don’t keep the chicken out for more than two hours.
Store: Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Reheat on the stove.
Freeze: This is a great meal to freeze. Store extras in the freezer for up to 6 months in an airtight container. Thaw overnight when ready and reheat until completely hot.

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