Best General Tsos Chicken From Serious Eats Recipes

THE BEST CHINESE SESAME CHICKEN RECIPE

Steps:

• To Finish: Heat 1 1/2 quarts peanut, vegetable, or canola oil in a large wok or Dutch oven to 350°F (177°C) and adjust flame to maintain temperature.

GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN

Steps:

• For the chicken: Place your broccoli florets in a medium bowl and add 2 tablespoons water. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 2 minutes, until tender. Drain and set aside until ready to use.
• Heat the oil in a 4-quart (3.8-liter) Dutch oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) using a frying thermometer. Rinse the chicken in cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Mix 1 1/2 cups (335 grams) of the tempura flour and 1 cup (240 milliliters) water into a thick batter. It should look like thick pancake batter. Dredge the chicken cubes in the 1 cup (223 grams) of tempura flour and then coat them in the batter. Fry them in two batches until golden brown and crispy, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain the chicken on paper towels or a rack.
• Heat a wok or large skillet to high and add 2 tablespoons (30 milliliters) of oil. When you see the first wisps of white smoke, stir in the fried chicken, onion, chiles, broccoli, and 1/3 of the ginger and garlic and cook them for about 30 seconds.
• For the sauce: While the chicken cooks, add the oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, chili garlic sauce, sugar, white vinegar, soy sauce, cornstarch slurry, red food coloring if using, 1/3 cup water and the remaining chopped ginger and garlic into a 1-quart (946-millileter) saucepan and bring the heat up to medium. Whisk gently as it comes to a simmer. Allow it to simmer and keep whisking it for about 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat and reserve it.
• Stir in the sauce and allow it to coat the chicken and simmer. Cook it, folding all the ingredients until they are well coated, about 2 minutes. Garnish with the scallions.

GENERAL TSAO'S CHICKEN II

Steps:

• Heat 4 cups vegetable oil in a deep-fryer or large saucepan to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Beat the egg in a mixing bowl. Add the chicken cubes; sprinkle with salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, and white pepper; mix well. Mix in 1 cup of cornstarch a little bit at a time until the chicken cubes are well coated.
• In batches, carefully drop the chicken cubes into the hot oil one by one, cooking until they turns golden brown and begin to float, about 3 minutes. Remove the chicken and allow to cool as you fry the next batch. Once all of the chicken has been fried, refry the chicken, starting with the batch that was cooked first. Cook until the chicken turns deep golden brown, about 2 minutes more. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate.
• Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Stir in the green onion, garlic, whole chiles, and orange zest. Cook and stir a minute or two until the garlic has turned golden and the chiles brighten. Add 1/2 cup sugar, the ginger, chicken broth, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and peanut oil; bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes.
• Dissolve 2 teaspoons of cornstarch into the water, and stir into the boiling sauce. Return to a boil and cook until the sauce thickens and is no longer cloudy from the cornstarch, about 1 minute. Stir the chicken into the boiling sauce. Reduce heat to low and cook for a few minutes until the chicken absorbs some of the sauce.

SUPER-EASY GENERAL TSO CHICKEN

Steps:

• Mix the soy sauce, water, hot sauce, sugar, boullion, and ginger in a saucepan and heat until boiling. Cut the heat down and simmer while you prepare the chicken.
• Take your chicken and cut into bite-size cubes. Now, at this point you can either use a boxed batter mix to add a coating on it (and deep-fry according to the box mix), or you can just stir-fry your plain chicken in a little oil until thoroughly cooked.
• Going back to your sauce, use the cornstarch in water to thicken it. Then add your cooked chicken. If you battered your chicken, it's ready to eat (don't leave the battered chicken too long before eating or it will get soggy). If you stir-fried plain chicken, use this time to simmer it awhile and prepare your veggies and rice.
• Serve this chicken over the veggies and rice.

BEST GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN FROM SERIOUS EATS

Steps:

• MARINADE.
• In a large bowl, beat egg whites until broken down and lightly foamy.
• Add soy sauce, wine, and vodka. Whisk to combine. Set aside half of marinade in a small bowl.
• To large bowl, add baking soda and cornstarch and whisk to combine. Add chicken and turn with fingers to coat thoroughly. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
• DRY COAT.
• In a second large bowl, mix flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Whisk until homogenous. Add reserved marinade from Step 3. Whisk until mixture has coarse, mealy clumps. Set aside. (I would put this in a large plastic bag.).
• SAUCE.
• In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, wine, vinegar, chicken stock, sugar, sesame seed oil, and cornstarch. Stir with a fork until cornstarch is dissolved and no lumps remain. Set aside.
• In a large skillet, combine oil, garlic, ginger, minced scallions and red chilies. Place over medium heat (that's right, don't preheat skillet!).
• Cook, stirring, until vegetables are aromatic and soft, but not browned, about 3 minutes.
• Stir sauce mixture and add to skillet, making sure to scrape out any sugar or starch on the bottom. Cook, stirring, until sauce boils and thickens, about 1 minute.
• Add scallion segments. Transfer sauce to a bowl to stop cooking, but don't wipe out skillet.
• TO FINISH.
• Heat 1 1/2 quarts oil in a large wok or Dutch oven to 350°F and adjust flame to maintain temperature.
• One piece at a time, remove chicken from marinade and place in dry coat mixture and toss to coat and press dry mixture onto chicken to help it adhere. When all chicken is in dry coat mixture, make sure every piece is well-coated.
• Lift chicken 1 piece at a time, shake off excess coating, and carefully LOWER into hot oil (DO NOT DROP IT!). Once all chicken has been added, cook, agitating with long chopsticks or a metal spider, and adjust flame to maintain temperature of 325-375°F, until chicken is cooked through and very crispy, about 4 minutes.
• Transfer cooked chicken to a paper towel-lined bowl to drain.
• Add chicken to empty skillet (the one you didn't wipe out in Step 12) and return sauce to skillet. Toss chicken, folding it with a rubber spatula until all pieces are thoroughly coated.
• Serve immediately with white rice. (You may prefer to have more than 1/2 cup rice per serving.).

EASY GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425°F. Toss green beans with 1 Tbsp. oil, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast, tossing once halfway through, until crisp-tender and blackened in spots, 12-15 minutes.
• Whisk cornstarch, 1 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper in a large bowl. Heat 3 Tbsp. oil in a large skillet over high. Add chicken to cornstarch mixture and toss to coat. Cook half of chicken, turning occasionally, until chicken is cooked through and a light brown crust forms, 5-7 minutes.
• Meanwhile, mix honey, soy sauce, garlic, vinegar, Sriracha, tomato paste, ginger, 3 Tbsp. water, and remaining 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper in a medium bowl.
• Transfer chicken to a plate. Heat remaining 3 Tbsp. oil in skillet over high. Cook remaining chicken 5 minutes, then add chiles (you can add a few more depending on your heat preference) and cook, stirring and making sure chiles make contact with bottom of pan, until chicken is cooked through and chiles have toasted and puffed, about 1 minute more. Stir in honey mixture. Return first batch of chicken to skillet, toss to coat, and cook until sauce is reduced and thickened, about 2 minutes.
• Divide chicken and green beans among plates. Top with scallions. Serve with rice alongside.