Known as General Tso’s chicken or General Tao’s chicken, this little cousin of orange chicken is a real delight! Slightly tangy and spicy with a hint of sugar, it’s one of my favorite Chinese chicken recipes! Expect a sweet/savory/spicy dish.
Asian or Chinese cuisine has never been so easy or so delicious.
Where does General Tao’s chicken come from?
General Tso’s chicken, also known as General Tso’s chicken, is a popular Chinese-American dish with its roots in the fusion of Chinese cuisine and Western influences.
Although often associated with the cuisine of China’s Hunan province, the exact origin of the dish remains a matter of debate. Some believe the dish was created in honor of General Zuo Zongtang, a military leader and statesman of the Qing dynasty, although direct links between the general and the dish have never been established.
General Tso’s chicken first appeared in the USA in the 1970s, when a Chinese chef named Peng Chang-kuei introduced the dish to New York.
Since then, General Tao’s chicken has become an iconic dish in Chinese-American cuisine, appreciated for its bold flavors and combination of crispy and tender textures.
General Tso’s chicken ingredients
Light soy sauce: not to be confused with dark soy sauce, otherwise the taste will be altered and the chicken won’t have its beautiful color. If you’d like to learn more about the different soy sauces, read my article on the subject.
Ginger: It’s vital to use fresh ginger. If you can only get powdered ginger, it’s best to leave it out, believe me.
The hoisin sauce: This is the main ingredient that sets my recipe apart from those of other food bloggers. The little aftertaste given is unique and adds quite a bit to the dish. Not to be confused with oyster sauce. Go here to learn more about hoisin sauce. It can be replaced by oyster sauce
Rice vinegar: Well, if you want, you can replace it with white vinegar, but given its availability in stores, you really should invest! To learn more about rice vinegar, go here
General Tso’s chicken tips
Make sure you don’t fry too many pieces of chicken at the same time to avoid them sticking together. I usually fry about 6 to 8 pieces at a time if I use my small Asian deep fryer.
To spice up the chicken, feel free to add more chili flakes. You can also add whole chillies to the sauce – the choice is yours! However, I prefer gochujang for its color and taste.
Best served immediately. My special breadcrumbs are tough, but this sauce is devilishly acidic and will soon soften your chicken fritters.
Use a cooking thermometer to ensure that your oil is at the right temperature. If the oil is too hot, the outside of the chicken may burn before the inside is cooked.
If the oil is too cold, the chicken will absorb more oil and be heavy and greasy (fat is life, but in moderation).
If you want to have leftovers for another day, plan to keep some of the crispy chicken separate from the sauce.
This way, you can reheat the chicken and sauce on their own, and the dish will retain its flavor and texture. Ideally, you should even freeze the chicken after the first frying and then “reheat” it in the deep fryer. Like frozen French fries in the end
Use chicken breast if you like, but the thigh clearly gives the best taste.
Believe me, once you’ve tasted General Tao’s chicken, no other chicken will matter to you. If you’d like to find out more about General Tao’s Chicken and its enigmatic warrior origins, you can go here: The history of General Tao’s Chicken
A very similar and equally delicious dish is crispy chicken in sweet and sour sauce.
Ingredients
- 450 g chicken thighs, cut into pieces
- 2 L frying oil
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 0.5 teaspoon pepper flakes
- 2 pods minced garlic
Sauce
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons of hoisin sauce
- 65 ml water
- 3 tablespoons of sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons of gochujang (optional for color and lift)
Breadcrumbs
- 1 portions my universal breadcrumbs
Procédé
- Mix sauce ingredients together in a bowl (except cornstarch). Ditto for the breadcrumbs in a large bowl.
- Place chicken in breadcrumbs. Fry in oil at 180 degrees for the first time until lightly browned. Set aside for 5 min and fry again until golden.
- Put a tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan and add the chili flakes, ginger and garlic.
- Sauté over medium heat until you can smell the garlic (about 30 seconds).
- Add the sauce and stir until simmering, then combine the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water and stir until thickened. Be careful not to stop stirring until thickened.
- Add the chicken and mix.
- Stir for about 30 seconds until thickened.
- Serve with rice
