This General Tso Chicken Recipe is a flavorful Chinese chicken recipe. Delicious, lightly fried, Chinese style chicken is crispy, sweet, and slightly spicy.
General Tso Chicken
This General Tso Chicken is near and dear to my heart. It’s actually the first meal my husband, Jared, ever made for me back when we were dating. How lucky am I to have a husband that loves to cook! With a recipe as good and easy as this, you won’t ever have to, or want to, order-out for Chinese food again. Jared actually worked for a Chinese take-out restaurant when he was in high school. He learned how to make a bunch of the dishes, so keep a look out for some of his recipes when you are browsing Favorite Family Recipes. General Tso Chicken was his favorite to make and to eat when he worked there.
How do you pronounce “Tso?”
Some people aren’t quite sure how to pronounce “General Tso.” Some say “General Cho”, others I have heard say “General Sow,” or even “General Toes.” I have always pronounced it “General Soh”, but Jared has always called it “General Chow.” I always thought he was way off but I have come to find out he is technically right. At the Chinese restaurant where he worked, it was pronounced “Chow” and the owners of the restaurant assured him that this is the correct way of saying it. There is the Americanized way of saying and the correct Chinese way of saying it, which is indeed “Chow.” No matter how you say it, people will figure out what you are trying to say sooner or later!
Suggestions for Dressing up this Chicken Recipe
- We love cooking this dish up with our Restaurant Ham Fried Rice and some steamed veggies on the side.
- You can also add pineapple right in with the chicken to make it go further.
- It is also delicious to add bell peppers or chili peppers in with the chicken. Do what you think your family would like best!
- For more of a kick, add a bit more cayenne pepper or even a shake or two of hot sauce. By the same token, if you want it less spicy, only add a bit of cayenne.
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How to make General Tso Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken breasts cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1-2 cups flour for dredging
- oil for frying
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup pineapple juice unsweetened
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger finely grated
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 3 tablespoons water
- 4 green onions sliced
Instructions
- Dredge chicken in flour.
- Fry in oil over medium heat (in a wok or a skillet) until golden brown and crispy. Drain excess oil. Sprinkle cayenne over the chicken and keep warm on low heat. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine sauce ingredients (sugar, soy sauce, pineapple juice, vinegar, garlic, and ginger) and heat gently.
- When sauce is smooth and sugar has dissolved, SLOWLY add cornstarch mixture and stir constantly until sauce has thickened to desired thickness. Pour sauce in the wok and stir to coat chicken. Stir in green onion and hot red pepper flakes (optional). Remove from heat and serve with fried rice.
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Katherine says
I loved this so much! The flavor of the sauce is delicious and the crust on the chicken was the perfect consistency! I did make a couple of changes, though! First, I marinated the chicken for about an hour and a half before trying. I also added a little bit of white pepper and salt to the flour for extra flavor. I swapped the cayane pepper for crushed red pepper. Lastly, I added bamboo shoots in with the chicken at the end. Overall fantastic, this is going in my recipe box!
Ellen says
My favorite take out dish. I’m so excited to have a recipe to make at home and save money!
Amy Chung says
This recipe was so delicious and the family loved it! Thank you! And I reckon it’s “soh”. Definitely not “toes”! LOL
Veena Azmanov says
Love the flavors infused to it. Lovely snack opion too. My family to love it.
Alice | SkinnySpatula says
I haven’t had General Tso’s chicken in years. Pinning to try later.
Christie Gagnon says
Scrumptious! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Becky says
This was amazing. I had doubts about it tasting like General Tso’s. Next time I will add some heat but this is a new family favorite!
Malinda says
I just tried this recipe and I was expecting it to be a little sweeter. On the other hand, my boyfriend loves it.
Erica says
If you prefer your General Tso chicken to be sweeter, you can always add a little extra brown sugar and pineapple juice to the sauce. Hope this helps!
Zaina says
Hi there! Can I substitute pineapple juice for something else? Orange juice perhaps? I don’t have any pineapple and would love to try this today. Thanks 😀
Favorite Family Recipes says
Yes, you can absolutely use orange juice instead. Hope this helps!
Jade says
Can you omit the pineapple juice all together?
Or whats another substitute if you dont have pineapple or orange juice..
Favorite Family Recipes says
The pineapple juice definitely helps the consistency of the sauce. You could try adding some vinegar and sugar for that sweet and sour taste!
Savannah says
I’m making this soon and wanted to know if you only dredge the chicken in flour, or if it needs to be a flour/egg mixture? Also do I only dredge it once or multiple times to get a thicker breading?
Favorite Family Recipes says
You can do it either way. I seem to get a better coating if I do egg/flour but it depends how thick you want the breading. You can do it multiple times to get a thicker breading if that’s what you want to do!
Ron says
Hi do you have Mongolian beef recipe? If so, please share. Thanks!
Favorite Family Recipes says
Yes we do 🙂 If you do a search for “Mongolian Beef” it will come up. Hope this helps!
Ron says
Thank you! Keep up the good work.
Ashley says
This was fantastic! My husband took one bite and said, “Oh we’re absolutely making this again!” Only change we’ve made is steaming veggies and throwing them into the sauce and chicken. YUM!
Favorite Family Recipes says
We love throwing veggies in the sauce too! Pineapple is good in the sauce too 🙂 So glad you guys liked it!
Gretta says
Making this tonight, can’t wait to try it !!
MGW says
Loved this recipe. My only problem was the directions did not say to boil the sauce after adding the cornstarch. I followed the directions & the sauce never thickened. I looked at the cornstarch box & it said to boil for 1 minute. I did that & all was great!! Thanks for this great replacement for takeout.
Caryn says
I’ve made this at least a dozen times and it continues to be a crowd-pleaser! Thank you so much for posting this!
Echo says
Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Christine says
This was delicious, just as good as the restaurant!
Alisa F Mosley says
Can you make the sauce ahead of time
Favorite Family Recipes says
I haven’t tried it that way, but I don’t see why not!
annabelle says
The recipe seems to be missing. Any chance of putting it back? my family keeps requesting this dish again, it’s excellent but I never did print it out and now it seems to not even be there on the page. 🙁
Thanks!!
Erica says
Sorry about that! We will get right on it!!!
Mandy says
This was delicious! My family of 5 devoured it. I used 5 chicken breasts which the sauce just barely covered. Next time I will double the sauce, as we like ours a little more saucy. Very good flavor. I didn’t change anything. Thank you for this awesome recipe!
Erica says
We definitely like making extra sauce for that same reason. So glad everyone liked it!
Emily says
How long does this recipe take to make?
Echo says
Emily, after you cut up the chicken this recipe only takes about 30 minutes to make. Thanks for asking!
NateChef says
How did you get the chicken breading to look so perfect? Your list of ingredients doesn’t contain flower but the instructions state to use flower. Am I missing something?
Erica says
You are right- flour is not in the ingredients list but it IS used to coat the chicken to get the crispy breaded coating. I will fix it on the recipe
Tracie says
Do not use regular soy sauce! Too strong and terrible. I had to triple the other ingredients to balance it out.
Elyse says
AMAZING!!!! My boyfriend and I are nuts for Asian cuisine. We have had trouble reproducing restauraunt quality dishes, but this recipe is outstanding!!! We make jasmine or basmati rice to go with it and inhale it all. If you’re looking for an easy and brag worthy dish, this is it! Thank you for sharimg this with us! 🙂
Erica says
I’m so glad you liked this! We love it too! Thank you for your comment!
John says
My 14 year old daughter, comes from a long history of family cooks. She made this tonight for dinner, all by herself, and kicked it’s arse!!!! My NEW favorite generals chicken. And by the way…..I AM NOT A CHICKEN FAN!!!!!!! Go my future attorney/chef!!!!!!
Erica says
So gad you liked it! Wow, way to go having a 14-year-old that is so into cooking! That is impressive!
Andrea says
Delicious and so easy! It has been three years since my husband and I ate Chinese take out and we vowed never to do it again. We were longing for Chinese food lately and still didn’t want to eat take out. I haven’t attempted to cook anything like this because I am unfamiliar with it, and it’s out of my comfort zone. This was so easy! The next time I make it I will probably dredge the chicken in egg first so the flour will stick better. I also bought a ginger paste from the grocery store that I used instead of fresh ginger. It was cheaper, and I knew I wouldn’t use the whole ginger root, and I can save the paste for next time in the fridge. I used 4 lbs of chicken, and i quadrupled the sauce recipe, but I ended up having way too much extra. I also had trouble getting the sauce to thicken, so I added in more cornstarch mixture and I turned up the heat on high and constantly stirred until it reached the desired consistency. I will definitely be making this again! Thank you for sharing.
Erica says
We use that ginger paste all. the. time! It is THE best!!! So glad you liked this recipe! It is one of our favorites! We have a crock pot version too 😉 /crock-pot-general-tsos-chicken.html
Suzie says
Can you do any of this ahead of time? I am having a huge crowd for Thanksgiving and everyone is coming in on the Sunday before. I would love to try this the night they arrive.
Erica says
You could probably make all the chicken up and then freeze it– then when company comes you can bake it in the oven to re-heat and add the sauce? I have never done it before but that is how the Chinese chicken at Costco works so I am guessing you can do it at home 🙂 Let us know how it turns out!
Paula says
Absolutely delicious and so easy. My picky teenage daughter said it tasted just like the restaurant ! Thanks so much!
Erica says
Now THAT is a win! lol I am so glad she liked it! 😀
Linh says
This was so delicious!
I made a few substitutions and it still came out great. I panfried the chicken without flour to be a little healthier. I only had pineapple and orange juice for the sauce. I added about a 1/2 cup of sugar and to make it more spicy I used about 2 tablespoons of chili paste.
You are so right about the cornstarch though! I didn’t realize the heat had to be on low so with my first batch of the sauce I actually cooked the cornstarch. I believe I added 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to make it extra thick in the second batch and it came out just like I hoped!
Tina says
I don’t have any pineapple juice on hand. What would be some acceptable substitutions?
Shay says
I want to try this but in my small town u couldn’t find lite soy sauce only the kikkoman naturally brewed soy sauce. Will it work!?
Emily says
That should work fine, you can use regular soy sauce.
Jessica says
Is this dish spicy? Was wondering if the cayenne pepper will be too spicy for my kids (all 5 and under).
Emily says
It is a spicy dish, but feel free to reduce or even leave out the cayenne, it will still be good!
Loretta says
I out the pepper and it tasted Great!! My husband loved it!!
Echo says
I’m glad you adapted the recipe to your taste. Thank you for sharing!
Val says
I made this for dinner the other night and it turned out really fantastic – i’m wondering though if you have ever tried to freeze the sauce and if so how did it turn out when reheated?
Erica says
I haven’t but I’m sure it would be fine!
Rachelle says
Does this freeze well? Would it be a good make ahead meal I could just refry for a fast weeknight meal?
Erica Walker says
I would freeze the chicken and the sauce separately and then freeze. Hope this helps!
Gillian Smith says
I didn’t have pineapple…but had all ready started! So, I substituted peaches in juice. Family nearly licked the bowl clean….for those of you (like me) who start before checking the pantry! Great recipe! 🙂
Kat says
I made this for my husband and he LOVED it! He now requests it on a regular basis. Thanks for the great recipe!
Chae says
This is the best generals chicken I make it all the time for my family. My husband does not even like chinese food and he loves this and the mongolian beef. I have to say I love this website every recipe we have tried from here we love. I use ground ginger in mine because I did not have fresh ginger you just don’t use as much. Great Great Great!!!! Thank you for sharing your recipes.
Erica says
@Kathy- You can still use ginger powder, just use like 1/3 of what the recipe calls for for fresh. You definitely want some kind of ginger flavor in it!
Kathy says
I only have Ginger powder on hand. Can you just use the same amount as the fresh? Or is it a bad idea to substitute in this dish?
Amy@Walla walla says
I buy 1 piece of ginger.. skin it, and chop it up.. then freeze it in a baggie.. Then whenever a recipe calls for fresh ginger, I just break of some from the freezer.. Otherwise you buy ginger, use a little bit, and the rest ends up going to waste. This way, you always have it on hand! I do the same w/ chilpotle adobe.. I only use a Tbs. at a time of chiplote.. so it gets frozen too.. and i just break off a small piece to add to dishes.
Andrea says
I've got chow mein down but I would love to know how to make this favorite. Thanks for sharing. I'm going to try it this week.
Amy says
Anonymous,
Here is a great fortune cookie recipe.Enjoy!
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2010/02/fortune-cookies.html
Laure says
Dang, I want to make this RIGHT NOW, it looks so good, but I don't have all the ingredients!! 🙁 I need to go get some pineapple juice and ginger PRONTO so I can eat this soon!
Sunshine says
Same here
Kara says
I just made this for my family tonight and it was a huge hit. So delicious! It is definitely going into my regular rotation!
Anonymous says
What a glorious dish. It exceeds all expectations! Can you come up with a fortune cookie recipe? I have tried, but I burn the fortune papers in the oven.
Heather says
You take the cookies out of the oven then put the fortune in and fold the cookie. Allow them to cool and they will hold their shape. You do not put them back in the oven with the papers.
Eric says
I think that was the joke…