Easy General Tso's Chicken

Submitted by Cat from Charlotte

"We LOVE Chinese food and General Tso's has long been a favorite. However the high fat content of the regular version in a restaurant isn't always a great option. This is a moderately spicy version of the recipe. Reduce the ginger, garlic, scallions or red pepper flakes as your tastes desire. You can also substitute higher calorie options, such as regular sugar for the Splenda, or vegetable oil instead of Pam cooking spray."

 

• Ready In: 35mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Serves: 2

ingredients

• 3⁄4 cup chicken broth, canned
• 2 tablespoons Splenda sugar substitute (or regular sugar)
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• Pam cooking spray (you may substitute vegetable oil)
• 4 scallions, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes (for spicy chicken, use sparingly if you don't like too much spice)
• 2 medium boneless skinless chicken breasts (uncooked, cut into 1-inch cubes)
• rice (2 servings, prepared)

directions

1. Whisk together broth, Splenda (or sugar), soy sauce, vinegar and ginger. Set aside. Wait until just before pouring over the meal to add in the cornstarch. (Otherwise it gets gloopy and slugdy.).
2. Spray a wok or non-stick skillet liberally with Pam (or drizzle in some vegetable oil to coat the bottom). Add scallions, garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add chicken and brown. Use more spray (or oil) if necessary to assist with the browning. Cook about 5-8 minutes. The chicken should be almost done before you add the sauce.
4. Add cornstarch to your sauce bowl (put together in step one) and whisk to create a slurry. Add to your chicken in the pan and heat until boiling, then reduce to a simmer. The boiling of the sauce will cause the cornstarch to thicken. Soon it will be as thick as the General Tso's sauce you're used to!
5. Serve over rice.

Reviews

[Grandma Deb]

Really good and very spicy. Cut back on the pepper flakes if you're not much on heat. I added a package of frozen oriental veggies to make it an meal in one pan.

 

[mwqv1234]

This is a very easy and great tasting recipe. I also doubled the sauce and found it went very well with 3 cups of rice and about 1 lb of boneless chicken thighs. I chose to use thighs because this is what they use in Chinese restaurants for General's chicken. I found difficult them to cut into bite size pieces. Too much to trim. Next time I will try the chicken breast idea in the original recipe. And perhaps reduce the red pepper flakes. It was fine for me but my bf thought it was too hot.

 

[Gran Dee]

Chose this because it didn't involve deep frying of the chicken. Used 1 very large breast (cut up, though it wasn't called for) for 2 of us. Added some red and yellow pepper as did another reviewer and cut back the red pepper flakes to 1 tsp and will cut that back the next time because we found it quite spicy but delicious served over some sticky rice I had in the freezer. Thanks for submitting this one.

 

[Kelly-Mom2Girls]

I've tried several General Tso's chicken recipes and this is the favorite. It's so easy and has so much flavor. I doubled the sauce and sauteed a sliced red pepper and half of an orange pepper in dry sherry. I also reduced the red pepper flakes to 1.5 tsp and it was still a little to spicy in my opinion, will probably reduce to 1 tsp next time. I substituted honey for the sugar/Splenda which added a nice richness. Thank you, we will definitely be having this one again!

 

[PA212864]

I made this last night for me and my family. It was so good! Followed the recipe pretty much, but winged it on amounts because I wanted lots of extra sauce, and it was still delish. My only wish is that I didn't cook the chicken all the way through before adding the sauce, as it was a tad bit over cooked, but EVERYONE went back for seconds. Next time adding veggies. Served with Jasmine rice and it was really tasty. Thanks!