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Crockpot General Tso Chicken has a little more of a kick than sweet and sour chicken, and better flavor. A great chicken recipe for the crock pot!
Featured With This Recipe
I love this version of General Tso chicken. More times than not, General Tso chicken is what I will order at Chinese restaurants or for takeout. It has a little more of a kick than sweet and sour chicken and I like the flavor better. Before this recipe I would always make our original recipe for General Tso but ever since I came up with this Crockpot version, I haven’t gone back to the old one (the old one is equally delicious… this way is just a little easier). I came up with this crock-pot version the other day when I didn’t have a lot of time in the late-afternoon to prepare dinner. I made this during my kids’ nap time. This pairs great with our restaurant-style fried rice recipe!
If you say “Tso”
Sometimes the most difficult part of ordering food in an ethnic restaurant is pronouncing the names without sounding like an idiot. There are a lot of differing thoughts on the pronunciation of this favorite Chinese food dish in America. According to SpoonUniversity.com, it is perfectly acceptable to pronounce it “so” — just omit the “T.” But according to my husband, Jared’s, experience working in a Chinese restaurant, it is more correctly pronounced “chow.” Either way, you are going to want to be eating this amazing General Tso Chicken while you think about saying the recipe name.
Ingredients in CrockPot General Tso Chicken
What’s nice about this slow cooker General Tso chicken is that it takes minimal effort and minimal ingredients. Here’s what you need:
- Chicken
- Flour coating for dredging (flour, salt, and pepper)
- Sugar (you can use plain white sugar, brown sugar, or dark brown sugar)
- Soy sauce (“lite” or low sodium soy sauce)
- Pineapple juice
- Vinegar (white vinegar, rice wine vinegar, or cider vinegar)
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Cornstarch (to make a slurry for thickening)
- Oil (to help with browning)
- Green onion (for garnish)
Additions
We love this recipe as it is, however if you want to make some adjustments or add some ingredients, here are some popular add-in ideas:
- Sesame seeds
- red pepper flakes
- honey (in place of sugar)
- hoisin sauce (just a tablespoon)
- Chile sauce
- Sriracha (for a little extra kick)
- broccoli (sauté broccoli and add right before serving)
Storing and Reheating Leftovers
Store leftovers in an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can also freeze leftovers in a shallow airtight container for up to 6 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before reheating in a non-stick skillet or in the microwave until heated through.
What To Serve with CrockPot General Tso Chicken
We almost always serve this dish with steamed white rice. It can also be served with brown rice or cauliflower rice. If you are looking for more side dish ideas, here are some of our favorites:
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Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. You can. If you want to skip browning the chicken first, you can absolutely just throw the chicken in the slow cooker with the sauce ingredients and let it cook until finished.
Sugar, soy sauce, pineapple juice, vinegar, garlic, and ginger.
Liquid does not need to be covering the chicken as long as the chicken is in a single layer and isn’t overcrowded. This ensures for more even cooking.
Crockpot General Tso Chicken
Equipment
- Crock Pot (Slow Cooker)
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken breasts cut into inch pieces
- 1 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup “lite” soy sauce
- 1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
- 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar
- 3 cloves garlic crushed
- 2 teaspoon fresh ginger finely grated
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 cup cornstarch mixed with ¼ c. water
- 4 green onions sliced
Instructions
- Combine flour, salt, and pepper in resealable food storage bag. Add chicken. Shake to coat with flour mixture.
- Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken about 2 minutes on each side (it doesn't need to be cooked all the way through at this point). You may have to do this in batches. Set aside.
- In the Crock Pot, whisk sugar, soy sauce, pineapple juice, vinegar, garlic, ginger, and cayenne until well combined.
- Add chicken to crock pot and cook on low for 3-4 hours. If you would like your sauce thicker add water/cornstarch mixture about 30 minutes before serving. Stir it in SLOWLY, folding it into the chicken. You won’t want your breading to be scraped off of your chicken pieces so be gentle!
- Garnish with green onion and serve.
Notes
- Serve with steamed rice and/or steamed or sautéed veggies to make a complete meal
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days
- Freeze leftovers for up to 6 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight before re-heating.
Nutrition Information
For chicken recipes, i usually just dump uncooked thawed chicken into the crock pot. Less time and less cleanup! 🙂 For these Chinese recipes, is it really necessary to brown the chicken in the skillet first?
You do what works best for you! If you find it easier and to your taste, feel free to adapt these recipes any way you want to. We are happy to give you a start. 🙂
What size crockpot?
It shouldn’t matter what size but I used my 5 qt. Hope this helps!
Oh. Em. Gee. Finally had the time to make this and it is the best General Tso’s Chicken I have had in over a decade! I am so loving it!
Most recipes I adjust or tweak ahead of time and then have more ideas of how to make them better afterward too. This recipe I made almost exactly (only used dried ginger powder instead of fresh) and I do NOT plan on doing anything different the next time. I have been craving General chicken for a while, but haven’t found any local restaurant that has a great recipe. I’ll never order out for Chinese again!
Thank you so much for sharing this awesome recipe.
Yay Lori!!! We are so glad you liked it! It is one of my favs too 🙂
How much ginger powder did you use for the recipe?
If using powder instead of fresh, use about half the amount (so about 1 tsp)
I’m in the process of making this, but it looks more brown than red?! I made 4lbs of chicken so I added more of the ingredients.. Wondering if I didn’t put enough of something? It’s still cooking and I haven’t put in the cornstarch water mixture?!
I am going to definitely have to try these. I am always looking for new crock pot recipes, and these look great!
Is fresh ginger the Ange as ginger root?
Oops I meant is it the same?
Yes, fresh ginger root
This is one I can’t wait to try…perfect for a rainy day.
Would this work with tofu?
Is there any nutritional info available for this recipe?
We don’t have it on hand, I know there are places online like at livestrong.com that you can put in a recipe and it will tell you the nutritional info. Hope this helps!
This recipe is better than any I have had at a restaurant. It is a keeper. I made broccoli, carrots, red bell pepper and hot pepper to add to it. We loved it!
Hello. I liked the recipe we had it last night very tasty chicken we had it with tex-mex rice mixture with some broccoli and carrots I put soya sauce over the broccoli. thank-you for the recipe George whipps
I tried this today and it was spot-on just like what I would find in a good restaurant. Definitely going to keep this recipe.
How many servings is this? I need 8 servings
But I really want to try this! Dinner party tonight!!
I would say it serves 6-8.. if you are doing other dishes along with it you should be fine with 8. If you are worried about it, just add another pound of chicken.
This looks great, I love a good crockpot recipe!
I made this last night, and it was AMAZING! I actually halfed it, thinking the full recipe would be too much, but I so regret doing that now because of how good it was.
I will definitely be making this again!
Made this yesterday and everybody loved it! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
Delicious! Just made this for dinner. Will definitely make it again! Served it with white rice, steamed broccoli and fresh pineapple slices.
We made this for sunday dinner and everyone loved it! It was delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
Just made this today… it’s till cooking, but I tasted the ‘broth’ and WOW. This is going to be soooo good! I’m going to pair it with some quinoa and steamed string beans!
thanks, oh I shared your recipe/website on my facebook page. 🙂
oh and I’m shocked at how QUICK it all came together!!
This is totally calling to me – and I love that it’s made in the slow cooker!