Homemade General Tso’s Chicken: a must-try

Posted on by laurenarva

I’m a little ashamed to admit that I was quite late getting around to engaging in the General Tso’s Chicken game in the context of Western Chinese food up until quite recently. I’ve always had my favourites when it comes to Western versions of Chinese food; chicken balls, chow mein, almond soo guy and egg rolls, to name a few. Considering these favourites are some of the best in the Chinese food lineup, I wasn’t necessarily looking to expand my first draft choices, if you will.

I knew General Tso’s Chicken was a cult favourite among most people who enjoy the American version of Chinese food, so when my mom ordered quite the spread a few weekends back for a Mother’s Day celebration, and General Tso’s Chicken was one of the options, I decided to try it, and my world was forever changed.

This shit is fucking delicious, and if you, like me, have been sleeping on it, this is your indication to wake the hell up sooner than later.

Given how delicious this stuff is, I thought it might be fun to share a recipe to make a homemade version from home. This recipe comes from food.com.

“INGREDIENTS

“DIRECTIONS

  • Place sauce ingredients in a quart jar with a lid and shake to mix. If you make this ahead of time just refrigerate until needed, shaking it again when you are ready to use it. This also keeps your dirty dishes down.
  • Mix cornstarch slurry in a large bowl- the mixture will be strange but trust me it works. It will be VERY thick almost paste like. Add ALL the chicken pieces and stir to coat. Using a fork remove ONE chicken piece at a time and let the excess mixture drip off. YES even though the mixture has a weird consistency it will not stick like paste and the excess will drip off. Add chicken to the hot (350 degree) oil and fry until crispy. Only cook 7 or 8 chicken pieces at a time. You do not want to lower the temp of the oil by cooking too many at a time. You can use a simple cooking or candy thermometer to judge the temp of the oil.
  • Drain on paper towels. Want them extra crispy? Put them on a rack over a sheet pan. Keep warm- I just put them in the oven with the oven off. Repeating until all chicken is fried.
  • In a separate wok or large skillet add a small amount of oil and heat to 400 degrees. Again, a candy thermometer works great. (Want less dishes? You can just drain the oil after you fry all the chicken, leave a small amount (about a tsp) in the pan and use the same pan if you like.)
  • Add green onions and hot peppers and stir fry about 30 seconds.
  • Stir (or shake jar) sauce mixture, and then add to pan with onions and peppers, cook until thick. Some reviews didn’t kniw what ‘thick’ meant. Thick like the same sauce you get at a restaurant.you want it to just coat the chicken. If it gets too thick, add a little water or other liquid. The thickness of the sauce should be similar to what you get when ordering this at a restaurant.
  • Add chicken to sauce in wok and heat just until the chicken is hot enough for you. It may not even need a minute if you kept the chicken warm. The quicker you serve it the crispier the chicken stays.
  • Don’t be scared by any negative reviews. It’s not rocket science though if you have never cooked with a cornstarch slurry it may feel like an experiment. Trust yourself! You’ve got this! If you have any doubts reread the recipe and get everything in order before you start to cook. I promise you will thank yourself and maybe even me! Enjoy!
  • Oh it’s great served over rice!” the recipe states

Photo by Israel Albornoz on Unsplash

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