Chinese
General Tso's Chicken
General Tso's Chicken is Chinese home cooking, eaten at dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 3/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 6 dried red chilies
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 3 cups neutral oil for frying
- 3 scallions
How to cook it
- Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces, dip in the beaten egg, then dredge in 1/2 cup cornstarch.
- Heat the frying oil to 350F and fry the chicken until golden and crisp, about 6 minutes, then drain.
- Whisk the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, hoisin, and remaining cornstarch with 1/3 cup water for the sauce.
- Heat the sesame oil in a clean skillet and stir-fry the garlic, ginger, and dried chilies until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Pour in the sauce and simmer until thick and glossy, about 2 minutes.
- Toss the fried chicken in the sauce, scatter with scallions, and serve over rice.
Serve it with
A Chinese dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside General Tso's Chicken, read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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Something to sip
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand, so the absences below are as deliberate as the presences. General Tso's Chicken carries gluten, eggs, soy, and sesame. It is free of the remaining 6 allergens on that list.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | No | |
| Gluten | Yes | Turkey Lettuce Wraps |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | Yes | Beef and Broccoli |
| Soy | Yes | Nothing comparable without it yet |
| Fish | No | |
| Sesame | Yes | Mapo Tofu |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Bands, not numbers. Dinejot does not weigh anybody's food, so it says light, moderate or hearty and stops there. This dish was read and set by hand.
- Calorie band
- Hearty
- Protein
- High
- Protein quality
- Complete
- Food groups it covers
- Grains and Meat or fish
- How this was set
- Hand audited
When to cook it
General Tso's Chicken takes about 45 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a proper project. It is eaten at dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
More to cook
Cooked from the same things
Other dishes built on chicken, chili, and garlic.
From the same kitchens
More cooking from the United States.
Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.