The BEST Crispy General Tso's Chicken Recipe
The perfect balance of sweet, salty, and seriously spicy, this General Tso's Chicken is better than any takeout Chinese food I've ever eaten and has taken me a decade to perfect! It's so good, you may want to double this recipe.
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
Stir Fry Sauce
- 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sambal oelak
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons sriracha
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 3/4 cup chicken stock/broth
Chicken Batter
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken tenderloins cut in 1" pieces boneless skinless thighs or breasts also work
- 1/2 cup self rising flour
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1 cup filtered water
- 2 cups peanut oil, for frying vegetable or canola also work
Stir Fry
- 3 tbsp peanut oil vegetable or canola also work
- 2 teaspoons ginger, grated
- 3 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 1 tbsp red pepper flakes
- 6-7 whole dried Sichuan chili peppers optional as they are hard to find. Reduce red pepper flakes if using chili peppers.
To Serve
- Jasmine rice
- Sliced green onions and/or whole dried chilies Sesame seeds are NOT used in traditional General Tso's, contrary to some recipes.
Instructions
Prep Frying Station
- Heat your oil to 350 degrees. Use a candy thermometer to monitor and adjust the heat as needed throughout the process as it will fluctuate.
- Prepare a baking sheet lined with paper towels and set a cooling rack on top. Set it beside the frying pan for placing the cooked chicken when finished.
Make Stir Fry Sauce
- While the oil is heating, combine all of the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Whisk well until the cornstarch is fully dissolved. Set aside.
Fry Chicken
- Make the batter by mixing together all batter ingredients in a mixing bowl. Whisk until smooth and no lumps remain. Batter will be drippy, that's normal. Place chicken pieces into the batter and toss to coat.
- Working in batches, place battered chicken chunks into the oil. Don't overcrowd the pan. Use metal tongs or a skimmer to agitate the oil so chicken doesn't stick together while it fries.
- Cook chicken 3-4 minutes, turning halfway, until golden and crispy. Place onto the prepared cooling rack. **For extra crispy chicken: after chicken cools on rack for 1-2 minutes, place it back into the oil for another 45 seconds. Then return to rack to cool.
- Keep chicken warm in a 200 degree oven while sauce is made.
Stir Fry
- Heat 3 tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes or chilies, saute 30 seconds until garlic is fragrant. Add stir fry sauce, bring to simmer and stir occasionally until it thickens to a saucy texture. Taste test and add a touch more heat or a touch more brown sugar based on your preference.
Assemble
- Add chicken into the pan tossing quickly to coat - the quicker you are, the crispier the chicken stays! Transfer to serving plate atop warm jasmine rice. Garnish and serve immediately
Notes
* Only add sauce to the amount of chicken that you plan to immediately serve. If you have leftover chicken, leave it un-sauced. So when you are ready to eat it, reheat chicken in the oven or air fryer and then toss in warm sauce.
- It can be difficult to find whole dried chili peppers. I previously found these at asian markets like H-Mart. As an alternate you can use chilies in oil and dried red pepper flakes. You can find chilies in oil in most grocery stores in the asian section of the international aisle. If you can only find red pepper flakes, that can work as well.