General Chicken Recipe

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I’m re-creating a Chinese-American dish called General Chicken. We served this dish at our Chinese restaurant but I think mine is a little better than my dad’s 😉 I taste tested the sauce many times to get the flavors just right. I have to say, the general tso chicken sauce is incredibly tasty!

If you’ve never tried this dish before, this crunchy chicken has all the flavors of salty, sweet, spicy, and sour. It goes best with white rice because the sauce is really flavorful! Chinese takeout would not be the same after this.

INGREDIENTS YOU NEED FOR YOUR GENERAL CHICKEN:

Chicken Marinade:

• chicken thigh (skin-less)
• ginger
• salt
• chicken bouillon
• shaoxing cooking wine or sake
• olive oil
• egg
• all purpose flour

Fry Chicken:

• corn starch
• corn oil (to fry chicken)

Sauce:

• red pepper flakes (add more if you like extra spicy!)
• garlic
• hoisin sauce
• ketchup
• rice vinegar
• soy sauce
• oyster sauce
• sugar
• water
• corn starch
• avocado oil or corn oil
• dried red chilis

Garnish:

• green onions
• sesame seeds

STEPS TO MAKE THE GENERAL CHICKEN:

1. Cut chicken thigh in 1 inch pieces and sliced ginger. In a large bowl, marinate the chicken thigh with sliced ginger, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon, 1.5 tablespoons shaoxing cooking wine, and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Mix together.
2. Beat one egg and add to the chicken marinade. Mix 1 tablespoon flour in the chicken. Mix together and this will help create the batter for chicken.
3. Add 1 cup corn starch on a plate. Coat the chicken in the corn starch. The trick is to gently press the chicken in the corn starch. This is how my dad creates a crunchier coating at his Chinese restaurant!
4. Let the corn starch chicken rest for 10-15 minutes. This will ensure that the cornstarch doesn’t fall off during the frying process. While its resting, heat 3-4 cups of oil in a pot on medium heat. To check if the oil is hot enough, add your chopstick and if there are small bubbles forming, its ready!
5. Fry the chicken for 5 minutes in small batches (I did 4 batches) to ensure that the chicken is extra crunchy. If you fry a lot at once, this will activate more steam from the chicken and makes for less crunchy chicken.
6. After frying, rest chicken on a rack or a paper towel to get off excess oil.
7. To make the General Tso sauce, add 1 teaspoon pepper flakes (add more if you like extra spicy!), 1 finely minced garlic clove, 1/2 tablespoon hoisin sauce, 1/2 tablespoon ketchup, 2 tablespoon rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 cup water, and 1.5 teaspoon corn starch. Then, mix together until corn starch is dissolved.
8. Heat pan on medium heat. Once hot, add 1 tablespoon avocado oil or corn oil and fry dried chilis for 1 minute until the peppers darken. Do a quick stir of the sauce to mix in the cornstarch and add to the pan. It will start bubbling and thickening. Cook sauce for 1 minute max.
9. Coat chicken with sauce and eat the General Tso chicken with some hot white rice for a delicious and savory meal!

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Check out Chinese Takeout Recipes from our family’s restaurant here:

• Chicken chow mein – super tender chicken with saucy noodles will make you feel like you ordered from the best chinese restaurant (your house hehe)
• Mongolian beef – flavorful beef and a mild spice makes my mouth water!
• Egg drop soup – nice and warming egg drop soup makes my tummy warm and happy!

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