General Tso’s Chicken (Crispy)
I spent real money on takeout General Tso’s for years before I learned I could make it crispier at home. The first time I pulled a batch from my own skillet — shatteringly crispy battered chicken in a sticky, sweet-spicy sauce that was better than anything delivered in a paper container — I felt simultaneously proud and annoyed at all the money I’d wasted. The delivery guy lost a loyal customer that day.
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- 1.5 pounds boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- Salt and pepper
- Vegetable oil for frying
For the Sauce
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch + 2 tablespoons water slurry
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
- 6-8 dried red chillies for flavour, not extreme heat
- 2 green onions, sliced
Method
Batter the Chicken
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Toss chicken pieces with soy sauce. In a bowl, mix cornstarch, flour, salt, and pepper. Beat in the egg with a splash of water to make a thick batter. Coat the chicken pieces thoroughly.
Double-Fry
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Heat 1-2 inches of oil to 175C / 350F. Fry chicken in batches for 3-4 minutes until light golden. Remove and drain on paper towels. Let them rest 5 minutes while you heat the oil to 190C / 375F. Fry again for 2-3 minutes until deep golden and shattering-crispy. The double-fry is the technique that changes everything — the first fry cooks the chicken through, the second fry crisps the batter into an armour that holds up against the sauce. Same technique as dragon chicken because physics doesn’t change between cuisines.
Make the Sauce
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In a clean wok or skillet, heat a tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add dried chillies, garlic, and ginger — stir for 30 seconds until fragrant and the chillies darken slightly. Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, hoisin, and sesame oil. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the cornstarch slurry and stir until the sauce thickens into a glossy, sticky glaze — about 1 minute.
Toss and Serve
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Add the crispy chicken to the sauce. Toss rapidly for 30 seconds — every piece should be coated in the glossy, sticky-sweet sauce. The coating will hold its crunch for a few minutes, so move fast. Top with sliced green onions and sesame seeds. Serve over steamed rice immediately.
General Tso’s Chicken — Better Than Takeout
I spent real money on takeout General Tso’s for years before I learned I could make it crispier at home. The first time I pulled a batch from my own skillet — shatteringly crispy battered chicken in a sticky, sweet-spicy sauce that was better than anything delivered in a paper container — I felt simultaneously proud and annoyed at all the money I’d wasted. The delivery guy lost a loyal customer that day.
General Tso’s chicken is an American-Chinese classic: battered and fried chicken pieces tossed in a sweet, tangy, slightly spicy sauce with dried chillies. It’s not authentically Chinese (it was invented in New York in the 1970s), but it’s authentically delicious, and in the comfort-food-obsessed world of Polish Mom, that’s what matters. My version focuses on getting the coating extra crispy — a double-fry technique that creates a crunch that survives the sauce. Because soggy General Tso’s is a betrayal.
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- • 1.5 pounds boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
- • 1/2 cup cornstarch
- • 1/4 cup flour
- • 1 egg
- • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- • Salt and pepper
- • Vegetable oil for frying
For the Sauce
- • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- • 3 tablespoons sugar
- • 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- • 1 tablespoon cornstarch + 2 tablespoons water (slurry)
- • 3 cloves garlic, minced
- • 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
- • 6-8 dried red chillies (for flavour, not extreme heat)
- • 2 green onions, sliced
How to Make It
Batter the Chicken
Toss chicken pieces with soy sauce. In a bowl, mix cornstarch, flour, salt, and pepper. Beat in the egg with a splash of water to make a thick batter. Coat the chicken pieces thoroughly.
Double-Fry
Heat 1-2 inches of oil to 175C / 350F. Fry chicken in batches for 3-4 minutes until light golden. Remove and drain on paper towels. Let them rest 5 minutes while you heat the oil to 190C / 375F. Fry again for 2-3 minutes until deep golden and shattering-crispy. The double-fry is the technique that changes everything — the first fry cooks the chicken through, the second fry crisps the batter into an armour that holds up against the sauce. Same technique as dragon chicken because physics doesn’t change between cuisines.
Make the Sauce
In a clean wok or skillet, heat a tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add dried chillies, garlic, and ginger — stir for 30 seconds until fragrant and the chillies darken slightly. Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, hoisin, and sesame oil. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the cornstarch slurry and stir until the sauce thickens into a glossy, sticky glaze — about 1 minute.
Toss and Serve
Add the crispy chicken to the sauce. Toss rapidly for 30 seconds — every piece should be coated in the glossy, sticky-sweet sauce. The coating will hold its crunch for a few minutes, so move fast. Top with sliced green onions and sesame seeds. Serve over steamed rice immediately.
Why Double-Fry
The first fry cooks the inside and creates a foundation. The rest period allows moisture from the chicken to migrate to the surface of the batter. The second fry at higher temperature re-crisps the outside and drives out that surface moisture, creating a super-dry, super-crispy shell. When you toss this in sauce, the coating holds for 5+ minutes before softening. Single-fry chicken goes soggy within 60 seconds of sauce contact. The extra 5 minutes of effort gives you dramatically better results.
Tips
💡 Pro Tips
✓ Chicken thighs, not breasts. Thighs stay juicier during double-frying. Breasts dry out.
✓ Dried chillies are for flavour, not fire. They toast in the oil and release a warm, smoky aroma. You eat around them. They make the sauce taste deep and complex without making it painfully spicy.
✓ Toss in sauce at the last second. The longer chicken sits in sauce, the soggier it gets. Toss, plate, eat. Speed is everything.
✓ Oil temperature matters. Use a thermometer. Too cool = greasy. Too hot = burnt outside, raw inside.
Variations
• Air fryer version: Coat chicken in batter, spray with oil, air fry at 200C / 400F for 14 minutes, flipping once. Toss in sauce. Less crispy than fried but way less oil.
• Orange chicken twist: Add 2 tablespoons orange juice and 1 tablespoon orange zest to the sauce. Almost-orange-chicken with a General Tso’s backbone.
• With broccoli: Stir-fry broccoli florets separately and add to the finished dish. Classic Chinese-American combo.
How to Store
The chicken is best fresh — the coating loses crunch after a few hours. Sauce stores separately for 5 days. For leftovers: reheat chicken in a 200C / 400F oven for 8-10 minutes to re-crisp, then toss in warmed sauce. Never microwave fried chicken. Never.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this very spicy?
No — the dried chillies add warmth and aroma, not searing heat. The sauce is more sweet-tangy than spicy. My youngest eats it without complaint. If you want more heat, add chilli flakes or fresh sliced chillies to the sauce.
Can I skip the deep-frying?
You can pan-fry in less oil, but the coating won’t be as uniformly crispy. For a healthier option, the air fryer version gets you about 75% of the crunch with a fraction of the oil. It’s a fair trade-off for a weeknight.
Why I Stopped Ordering Takeout
Here’s the honest math: a family-sized order of General Tso’s chicken from our local Chinese place costs $18. Add rice and an appetiser and we’re at $30-35. I make the same dish at home for about $8, it takes 25 minutes, and the chicken is crispier because it goes from skillet to plate in under 60 seconds instead of sitting in a container during a 20-minute delivery drive. The sauce is fresher, the coating is crunchier, and I can control the sugar and sodium levels — which matters when you’re feeding four growing kids.
My boys now prefer the homemade version. My husband still occasionally wants the “real thing” from the restaurant, and when he orders it, he concedes within two bites that mine is better. I don’t gloat. Much. The takeout container sits half-eaten while my skillet gets scraped clean. That’s all the validation I need. Between this, pad thai, and Korean chicken, we’ve cut our takeout budget by about 70%. Polish Mom is frugal Mom. Babcia would be proud.
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