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I noticed this recipe a few weeks ago and have been wanting to try it out, and enlisted my husband's help to try it out last night. Because it calls for frying the chicken (not my favorite chore *at all* in the kitchen) as well as more attention than my usual crockpot recipes do, I knew I wasn't up for it with only my two hands. (I'm an okay cook, but if a recipe isn't pretty simple I generally shy away from it . . . so having a little help in the kitchen was worth waiting for.)
It was quite a bit of work but turned out very, very well. If I was making it again though, I'd probably just grill the chicken and make the sauce to save a ton of time and quite a few calories. But, if you want General Tso's Chicken just like your favorite Chinese place makes, get ready to start frying!
{By the way, I didn't realize until half way through the process that this recipe is entirely gluten free. Because my mother-in-law eats a gluten free diet, I'm always watching for recipes to try when we visit, and it might help a few other folks too. This isn't one of those recipes though that has tons of substitutions to make it gluten free, so it tastes the same as the regular General Tso's. It just happens to use corn starch instead of flour for frying, which works out perfectly for anyone looking for flour free food.}
{Gluten Free} General Tso’s Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 cups vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast cut into cubes
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- pinch pepper
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 tablespoons green onion
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 red chili peppers cut finely
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 3 tbsp chicken broth
- 1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari sauce
- 4 tbsp peanut oil
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar or red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- Heat 4 cups oil in deep fryer or sauce pan.
- Beat egg and add chicken cubes in bowl. Sprinkle with salt, 1 tsp sugar, and pepper, then mix. Add in 1 cup corn starch a little at a time until the chicken is coated on all sides.
- In batches, drop chicken into hot oil, cooking until golden brown and beginning to float (about 2-3 minutes.) Remove chicken and allow it to cool on paper plates while cooking the next batch.
- Cook until all chicken is cooked, and let it drain on paper plates.
- Heat 2 tbsp vegetable oil in wok or large skillet over high heat.
- Stir in green onion, garlic, and red chili peppers.
- Cook and stir until onion is translucent and garlic and chili peppers cook through.
- Add 1/2 cup sugar, ginger, chicken broth, vinegar, soy sauce and peanut oil.
- Bring ingredients to broil and cook for 3 minutes.
- Dissolve 2 tsp of corn starch into water and stir into boiling sauce.
- Return to a boil and continue to cook until sauce thickens, about 1 more minute.
- Add cooked chicken to boiling sauce and reduce heat to low.
- Cook for a few minutes to reheat chicken and so that the chicken begins to absorb some of the sauce.
- Serve over rice or noodles.
Recipe adapted from All Recipes. If you need a little more menu inspiration, go HERE.
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I can’t wait to try this! A good friend is gluten free and she SWEARS by this recipe! Thanks for sharing!
We made this tonight and included steamed broccoli back in with the chicken and sauce. We also used chicken thigh meat instead of breasts. It was so delicious!
So glad you all liked it – thanks so much for letting me know! 🙂
White vinegar is a great substitute for rice vinegar! I use it all the time. At a previous church of ours, we were good friends with a lady who was Mandarin Chinese. She told me about this substitute.
Looks delicious! FYI…I sent you an email concerning this recipe. Have a great evening.
Tamari is still a type of soy sauce it just is wheat free.
Thanks so much for clarifying!
I noticed in the directions It says vinegar, but I do not see that listed in ingredients. Am I overlooking this?
Just got it added Denise – thanks for catching that!
Vinegar is there in
1 tbsp rice vinegar or red wine vinegar
Soy sauce has wheat in it. But, if you switch to tamari it will be gluten free.
It does Jenny? Thanks so much for pointing that out… I’ll change the information on the recipe (my mother in law can’t have soy either so I may see if she could to the tamari instead…)