This General Tso recipe is more time consuming, but when you live in the suburbs without a good Chinese restaurants, this recipe will be worth the work and satisfy your craving. For us, this is better than take-out because Mr. Picky only eats white meat, and doesn’t like too much batter. This recipe requires double frying, which I have to stress, is a step you cannot skip because it is the KEY to making super crispy chicken.
Ingredients
- 2 Chicken breast
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce light
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 1 cup corn starch
Sauce
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce light
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce dark
- 6 tbsp white sugar
- 3/4 Tbsp black vinegar
- 1/2 Tbsp Sambal chili sauce
- 2 Tbsp Ketchup
- 1/2 Tbsp Hoisin
- 1/2 Tbsp Sriracha
- 1/4 cup Water
- 1/4 tsp chicken bouillon powder
Stir fry
- 1/2 Tbsp ginger
- 2 clove garlic
- 2 red chili
- 1 Tbsp green onion
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
Instructions
- Cut the chicken into bite size pieces, about 1/2 inch. Marinate with the soy sauce, sesame oil, and white pepper. Set aside for 30 minutes.
- In a large pan with high sides, heat on medium high 2 inches of oil.
- Mix all of the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl. Set aside.
- Place the corn starch in a large bowl and coat each piece of chicken really well pressing the corn starch into the chicken. The coating should be opaque and no longer sticky.
- Test the oil, use a wooden chopstick or end of spatula put into the oil, if there are bubbles then it is ready. Place a few pieces of chicken at a time, try not to overcrowd the pot. Cook until light golden brown, about 3 minutes and put it on a paper lined rack. Continue till you finish the first fry for all the pieces.
- In the meantime, in a wok cook the ginger, garlic, and red chili in 1 TBSP of oil. Add the sauce and reduce to a syrup consistency.
- Double fry the chicken this time you can add all the chicken if you have space, if not do it in 2 batches. Add it to the wok, and toss the sauce until it is well coated. Garnish with sesame seeds and green onions. Serve with cooked white rice. Bon appétit!
Sauce was too salty & chicken was too chewy! I followed the recipe exactly so don’t know how to fix it!
Did you add water to the sauce? Did you use only light soy sauce? You have to have dark soy sauce also since it is less salty. For the chicken I think your oil was not hot enough and you might have left it too long in the oil.