General Tso's Chicken (左宗棠鸡)
Learn my dad's easy, delicious recipe for this Chinese American classic!

As a chef who spent most of his 50 year career as a chef in America, my dad's made General Tso's Chicken thousands of times.
If you’re not familiar with General Tso’s Chicken, it’s an extremely popular menu item in Chinese American restaurants but fairly unheard of in mainland China.
The original recipe was invented by renowned chef Peng Chang Kuei in Taiwan in the 1960s, who named it General Tso’s Chicken as an homage to his Hunanese heritage and their beloved general Zuo Zongtang.
When done properly, General Tso’s Chicken is an incredibly delicious dish that’s crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
Chef Peng’s original recipe is more in line with the intense spices, tanginess, and savory flavors of Hunanese cuisine, and in America, Chinese chefs added sugar to the recipe to appeal to a more western customer base.
This recipe is more true to the Chinese American method, with a sweeter taste profile.
Zuo Zongtang was a beloved statesman and military leader in the Qing Dynasty. He was known to be brilliant and always victorious in battle, and was instrumental in keeping China together and keeping peasant rebellions at bay.
A Hunanese icon, his legacy is still celebrated all across Hunan Province today, inspiring Peng Chang Kuei to name a dish after him almost a century after his death.
He had a fierce love of his country, and emphasized the importance of preserving Chinese tradition and culture. (Ironically, one of the most popular Chinese American dishes was named after him.)
We’ll talk about this more later, but there’s a really poignant documentary called “The Search for General Tso” that explains not only the origins of how this iconic dish became its own billion dollar industry, but the struggles of Chinese immigrants fighting to survive and thrive in America.
a few slices, minced
)to taste - use any amount you'd like
)for deep frying
)other half used in batter
)may need more to get the right consistency
)You should generally avoid olive oil for anything that involves higher heat.
This is because olive oil has what’s called a lower smoke point, which is the temperature at which the oil stops shimmering or rippling and starts smoking.
Smoking oil isn’t always a problem and sometimes even desired for getting that perfect “Wok Hei” in your stir fry, but it’s a sign that the oil is breaking down, which can release burnt or bitter flavors or even harmful free radicals.
Here’s a chart that highlights the smoke points of a few of the most common cooking oils.
There are a few other factors that go into selecting oils like whether they’re neutral or flavored, refined or unrefined.
Most cooking oil is created by extracting and compressing seeds and nuts, and oils that are “unrefined”, “raw”, or “virgin” are usually bottled almost immediately. They generally have more nutrients but a lower smoke point and shorter shelf life. Refined oils go through more processing for a higher smoke point, longer shelf life, and a more neutral flavor.
It’s not totally true that you should avoid olive oil, since you can buy either refined or unrefined varieties. But for simplicity’s sake, for frying, you generally want to use neutral, refined oils like vegetable oil, refined olive oil, or corn oil.
Some of these ingredients are hard to find in a typical grocery store.
If you don't live near an Asian market, most or all of what my dad uses in this recipe can be found on Amazon:
I've also included some other Chinese kitchen essentials, used in many of my dad's other recipes.
These links are affiliate links, which means that if you use our links to purchase these ingredients, Amazon pays my family a small amount for the sale - at no extra cost to you. If you use these links, we really appreciate the support!
You'll need a good wok, which provides a ton of versatility for the classic Chinese cooking methods: steaming, stir frying, deep frying, and etc.
You may want an instant read thermometer to help you get precise with how you're deep frying. Here are two great options:
We'll cut up our chicken breast (10 oz) (thighs are fine too) into bite-sized pieces.
Afterwards, place the chicken in a bowl along with salt (0.50 tsp), egg (0.50) (beat and save half for later), cornstarch (1 tbsp), and water (0.50 tbsp).
Mix and massage for about a minute to help the chicken absorb the marinade, and set it aside while we continue preparing our dish.
We'll prepare the following:
From my understanding, a lot of Chinese American restaurants like to plate General Tso's Chicken on a bed of broccoli, so feel free to do the same.
To a different bowl, we’ll add:
Mix the ingredients (minus the olive oil) for about a minute. Add the olive oil, and continue mixing and maybe adding 1/2 tbsp of water at a time until we get the consistency we want.
It's hard to put in writing, but my dad demonstrated what the right consistency looks like in our recipe video.
Using corn oil (or another high smoke point, neutral flavored, refined oil), fill a wok or pan up to 1.5 to 2 inches deep.
We’ll be frying our chicken twice. For the first fry, we’re looking to heat our oil to around 300°F (149°C), and then 350 - 400°F (176-204°C) for the second frying.
In the video, my dad explains a few ways to tell if the oil is hot enough:
Another easy way to monitor the temperature is to get an Instant Read Thermometer, which allows you to set a temperature probe in the oil and know exactly what temperature it’s at. Here are some of my favorite options.
As our oil heats up, we’ll prepare our all-important sauce by mixing
Make sure to taste it and adjust if necessary :)
After our chicken is done frying, we’ll also be cooking the sauce with dried chili peppers (4 pieces), our minced garlic and ginger, as well as cornstarch (1 tsp), water (2 tbsp), and sesame oil.
Mix the chicken with the batter, making sure each piece is evenly coated.
Fry #1 - cooking the chicken
~10 minutes @ 300°F (149°C)
Once the oil is hot enough, using chopsticks, GENTLY (we don't want hot oil splashing on us) transfer each piece of chicken into the oil. Going slow also helps prevent the chicken from clumping together, which we don't want.
Gently stir, and wait for the chicken to start turning golden brown. Then, using a strainer ladle, transfer the chicken out of the oil into a bowl.
Wait for the oil to reheat.
Fry #2 - GETTING THAT CRISP
~1-2 minutes @ 350 - 400°F (176 - 204°C)
Carefully pour the chicken back into the wok. You might notice that my dad just pours everything in, but uses the ladle as a stopper to slow down the chicken to prevent splashing.
Once it's done, use the ladle to transfer the chicken out of the wok.
You'll probably want to taste the chicken at this point. (Heh heh.)
The last step is to create the sauce.
We’ll scoop some of the frying oil into a new pan. Let the pan heat up for 1 to 2 minutes until the oil is shimmering, or forming ripples.
Then we’ll cook...
Add and stir the chicken around to evenly coat it in the sauce.
Transfer the chicken out of the pan onto a plate, and ideally, into your belly immediately.
You should be eating this ASAP to enjoy the chicken at its peak crunchy, tenderness.
As I mentioned earlier, a common way to plate this is on a bed of (cooked) broccoli, so you can try that if you like :) This also goes really well with rice!
a few slices, minced
)to taste - use any amount you'd like
)for deep frying
)other half used in batter
)may need more to get the right consistency
)We'll cut up our chicken breast (10 oz) (thighs are fine too) into bite-sized pieces.
Afterwards, place the chicken in a bowl along with salt (0.50 tsp), egg (0.50) (beat and save half for later), cornstarch (1 tbsp), and water (0.50 tbsp).
Mix and massage for about a minute to help the chicken absorb the marinade, and set it aside while we continue preparing our dish.
We'll prepare the following:
From my understanding, a lot of Chinese American restaurants like to plate General Tso's Chicken on a bed of broccoli, so feel free to do the same.
To a different bowl, we’ll add:
Mix the ingredients (minus the olive oil) for about a minute. Add the olive oil, and continue mixing and maybe adding 1/2 tbsp of water at a time until we get the consistency we want.
It's hard to put in writing, but my dad demonstrated what the right consistency looks like in our recipe video.
Using corn oil (or another high smoke point, neutral flavored, refined oil), fill a wok or pan up to 1.5 to 2 inches deep.
We’ll be frying our chicken twice. For the first fry, we’re looking to heat our oil to around 300°F (149°C), and then 350 - 400°F (176-204°C) for the second frying.
In the video, my dad explains a few ways to tell if the oil is hot enough:
Another easy way to monitor the temperature is to get an Instant Read Thermometer, which allows you to set a temperature probe in the oil and know exactly what temperature it’s at.
As our oil heats up, we’ll prepare our all-important sauce by mixing
Make sure to taste it and adjust if necessary :)
After our chicken is done frying, we’ll also be cooking the sauce with dried chili peppers (4 pieces), our minced garlic and ginger, as well as cornstarch (1 tsp), water (2 tbsp), and sesame oil.
Mix the chicken with the batter, making sure each piece is evenly coated.
Fry #1 - cooking the chicken
~10 minutes @ 300°F (149°C)
Once the oil is hot enough, using chopsticks, GENTLY (we don't want hot oil splashing on us) transfer each piece of chicken into the oil. Going slow also helps prevent the chicken from clumping together, which we don't want.
Gently stir, and wait for the chicken to start turning golden brown. Then, using a strainer ladle, transfer the chicken out of the oil into a bowl.
Wait for the oil to reheat.
Fry #2 - GETTING THAT CRISP
~1-2 minutes @ 350 - 400°F (176 - 204°C)
Carefully pour the chicken back into the wok. You might notice that my dad just pours everything in, but uses the ladle as a stopper to slow down the chicken to prevent splashing.
Once it's done, use the ladle to transfer the chicken out of the wok.
The last step is to create the sauce.
We’ll scoop some of the frying oil into a new pan. Let the pan heat up for 1 to 2 minutes until the oil is shimmering, or forming ripples.
Then we’ll cook...
Add and stir the chicken around to evenly coat it in the sauce.
Transfer the chicken out of the pan onto a plate, and ideally, into your belly immediately.
You should be eating this ASAP to enjoy the chicken at its peak crunchy, tenderness.
As I mentioned earlier, a common way to plate this is on a bed of (cooked) broccoli, so you can try that if you like :) This also goes really well with rice!
After watching "The Search for General Tso", I felt compelled to reflect and share my thoughts.
The documentary does a beautiful job telling the stories and struggles of Chinese immigrants fighting to survive in America, and it also stirs a lot of thoughts on what it means for Chinese food to be“authentic”.
Additional recommended reading/watching:
Now, hopefully, you can create your own memories with this dish with your loved ones.
Also, I cordially invite you to eat with us and learn more about the dish, Chinese culture, and hang out with our adorable son. We get into a lot of detail on my parents' life in China and the best tips on how to perfect this recipe.
Cheers, and thanks for cooking with us!
Feel free to comment below if you have any questions about the recipe.
We started Made With Lau to honor and share the legacy of our wonderful parents, Jenny and Chung Sun Lau.
Our hope is that these posts give you (and our future generations) a glimpse into how great they are!