General Tso’s chicken
Crispy chicken in a sticky, sweet, gently spicy sauce, pan-fried in a skillet and better than the takeout carton.
- 50 min total
- 40 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 4
- About $2.17 a serving
- 730 calories
- Good the next day
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups long-grain white rice, rinsed
- 1¼ lb chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 4 green onions, sliced, whites and greens kept apart
- 1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)
From your pantry
- 2¼ cups water
- ¼ cup soy sauce, divided
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 3 tbsp sugar
- ½ cup cornstarch, divided
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
Each serving has about 730 calories, 41 g protein, 85 g carbs and 24 g fat, and costs about $2.17 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No chicken breasts? Boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenderloins work.
- No chicken broth? Vegetable broth or bone broth works.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the rice and water in a medium and bring it over high heat.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
once, cover, turn the heat to low and cook 18 minutes, then take it off the heat with the lid on.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Low heatTimer: 18 min
Cut the chicken into 1-inch pieces and them in a bowl with the egg and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce. Wash your hands and board.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
the broth, the rest of the soy sauce, the vinegar, sugar, hoisin and 2 teaspoons of the cornstarch together in a measuring cup.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
Put the rest of the cornstarch in a bowl, lift the chicken out of the egg, and it in the cornstarch until every piece is thickly coated.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Dolly’s tip: Shake off the loose powder. A dry, even coat is what turns crisp.Heat the oil in a large over medium-high until it .
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Medium-high heat
Fry half the chicken 5 to 6 minutes, turning, until and and the biggest piece reads 165°F.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Lay each piece in moving away from you, so any splatter goes the other way.Food safety: Chicken and turkey are done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
on paper towels and fry the rest.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Medium-high heat
Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of oil, turn the heat to medium, and the garlic, ginger, pepper flakes and green onion whites for 30 seconds, .
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heatTimer: 30 sec
Stir the sauce, pour it in, and let it bubble 1 to 2 minutes, , until thick and glossy.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min 30 sec
Add the chicken, until every piece is coated, and take the pan off the heat.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Dolly’s tip: Toss and serve right away. The longer it sits in the sauce, the less crisp it stays.Serve over the rice with the green onion tops and sesame seeds.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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