General Tso’s Chicken Stir-Fry is an easy dinner that cooks in 15 minutes! With tender chicken, broccoli and carrots in a spicy tangy sauce.
This stir fry recipe is the perfect Chinese Dish to throw together on a busy weeknight. It’s similar to my classic General Tso’s Chicken Recipe, but with the addition of delicious, crispy vegetables and made with a super simple cooking technique.
Some reader-favorite recipes I’ve posted are my homemade versions of Chinese restaurant classics. For more, try out my Sesame Chicken, Orange Chicken, or Chinese Honey Chicken recipes. I’ve made all the recipes simple so it’s easy to recreate delicious Chinese takeout at home!
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Sabrina’s General Tso’s Chicken Stir Fry Recipe
One of the things that makes General Tso’s Chicken so delicious is that it has the perfect balance of flavors. The honey makes it sweet and sticky, while the garlic and red pepper flakes add the perfect amount of spice, and then the mix of Asian cooking sauces add umami and tangy depth. It wraps around the crispy chicken for an amazing well-loved dish.
I’ve taken all the amazing flavors that make General Tso’s Chicken so addicting and turned it into a quick and easy stir fry dish. It’s the best weeknight dinner, all you need is some cooked rice or noodles and your meal ready in no time. You can even skip the carbs, add more veggies and it’s a complete meal by itself. If you love spicy Chinese food with lots of flavor, this is definitely a dinner you need to try!
Ingredients
- Chicken: All the other recipe ingredients are built off of the simple chicken base. The boneless chicken thighs are easy to cook to crispy perfection in the saucepan before making the sauce recipe.
- Coating: Each chicken piece is coated with cornstarch and soy sauce before cooking. The cornstarch adds a nice, crisp coating, and the soy sauce helps season the chicken.
- Vegetable Oil: The chicken is quickly fried in vegetable oil to add a crispy coating and helps season the oil for the base of the sauce.
- Veggies: Broccoli and carrots are perfect for stir-fries. They turn out with a crisp-tender texture after cooking for just a few minutes. You could also add veggies like bell peppers, mushrooms, or sugar snap peas.
- Seasonings: The fresh garlic and crushed red pepper flakes add a bit of heat and aromatic flavor to the sauce. If you want a spicier dish, you can add another 1/4-½ teaspoon of pepper flakes.
- Asian Cooking Sauces: The base of the sauce is a combination of common Asian cooking sauces – soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and rice wine. Hoisin sauce is an Asian barbecue sauce with a hint of soy flavor. Mirin, or rice wine, is a salty, vinegar based wine. Since both the hoisin sauce and mirin are salty, it’s important to use low sodium soy sauce.
- Other Sauce Ingredients: The chicken broth helps increase the volume of the sauce to cook the veggies and chicken evenly, and adds a bit deeper flavor. The sweetness in the honey helps balance all the savory and salty flavors.
Kitchen Tools & Equipment
Large Skillet: You’ll want a large, deep skillet to hold the veggies, chicken and sauce easily. Just make sure it’s a couple inches deep so the food doesn’t spill out while you are stirring it.
Wooden Spatula: Using bamboo or wooden spoon and spatulas for stir-frying is essential. The wood protects your pan from scratching and it can withstand the high heat without melting.
How to Make
Time needed: 25 minutes.
- Prep Work
Start by slicing the raw chicken into 1-inch pieces. If the broccoli isn’t already cut into florets, chop it into bite-sized pieces. Thinly slice the carrots.
- Coat the Chicken
Dredge each of the chicken pieces in cornstarch, then toss them all in 1 tablespoon of soy sauce.
- Cook the Chicken
Add frying oil to the base of a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook for about 4 minutes on each side. It should be a nice golden brown color. Remove the chicken from the pan, and set it on a plate to the side.
- Prepare the Sauce
Add the minced garlic cloves and red pepper flakes to the same saucepan, and cook for about 30 seconds. Once the garlic is fragrant, add the chicken broth, hoisin, honey, soy sauce, and rice wine. Stir to combine.
- Cook the Veggies
Add the carrots and broccoli in the stir fry sauce and toss until well coated. Cover pan and cook for 2 minutes. If you don’t have a lid that fits the pan, you’ll just need to increase the cooking time by 2-3 more minutes. Cook until the veggies are tender, but not too soft.
- Combine and Serve
Add the chicken and toss again to coat. Cook for another 2 minutes until the sauce is thickened. Serve with cooked rice or noodles.
Can this be made ahead of time?
Stir-fry dishes are best when made fresh and all at once. You could prep the ingredients by chopping the veggies and storing them in water or cutting the chicken pieces. But you don’t want to coat the chicken until you cook it or it won’t get as crispy. You can mix all the sauces with the broth and honey and store that overnight, but don’t mix it with the garlic or crushed peppers because those need to be cooked in the oil separately to build flavor.
Nutritional Facts
Tips for General Tso’s Chicken Stir Fry
Build Layers of Flavor
Part of what makes stir-fry dishes so delicious is that they build layers of flavor. The seasoned chicken infuses the oil with it’s savory flavor. Cooking the garlic and chili flakes separately in the oil before adding the sauces not only infuses it but the hot oil unlocks more pungent garlic flavor and releases the natural oils in the dried chilies. It’s a quick and easy way to add way more flavor to your dish then just mixing all the sauce ingredients in at once.
Don’t Overcook the Veggies
Another reason stir-fries are tasty is that delightful crunch of the veggies. You don’t need to cook the veggies long, just until they are crisp tender meaning they are soft enough to bite into but still have a semi-firm texture.
What to Pair With General Tso’s Chicken
Rice Bowls: Once the crispy chicken and delicious bites of broccoli and carrots are done, serve it all over a bowl of fluffy rice for the perfect filling meal. You can use Chinese Steamed Rice, or if you want a healthier alternative enjoy the chicken stir fry with cauliflower rice or Brown Rice.
Take Out Sides: Serve your General Tso’s Chicken with classic takeout sides like Chinese Fried Rice or Chow Mein. Make it an entire takeout meal with Egg Rolls and Crab Rangoons, plus some Chinese Donuts for dessert!
How to Store
Store: The chicken and veggies won’t stay good if they’re left out for more than 2 hours. If you have any leftovers, you can transfer chicken to an airtight container to store in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Reheat: It’s best to reheat your stir fry on the stove over medium high heat, stirring often, so that it heats up quickly without making the veggies mushy.
Freeze: You can freeze this General Tso’s Chicken Stir Fry for 3 months. Let it cool completely then store in a freezer safe container. Reheat it after it’s thawed overnight in the fridge.
Frequent Questions
General Tso’s Chicken has a sticky, tangy sauce that is garlicky and usually pretty spicy. It has the deep umami flavor of soy sauce with just a hint of sweetness.
Sesame Chicken and Orange Chicken are very similar to General Tso’s Chicken because they both also have a sweet, sticky tangy sauce. Orange chicken is a bit sweeter and slightly less spicy, while sesame chicken isn’t usually spicy or overly sweet.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs , boneless, skinless, and cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/3 cup rice wine , (mirin)
- 3 cups broccoli florets
- 1 carrot , thinly sliced
Instructions
- Dredge the chicken with cornstarch, then toss in the tablespoon of soy sauce.
- Place a large saucepan on medium high heat and add the oil.
- Add chicken to the pan and cook for 4 minutes on both sides.
- Remove chicken from the pan and set aside.
- Add garlic and red pepper flakes to the pan and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add chicken broth, hoisin, honey, soy sauce, and rice wine, then stir well to combine.
- Add broccoli and carrot, then stir until well coated.
- Cover and cook for 2 minutes. (If you don't have a cover available, cook uncovered for 4-5 minutes, until tender.)
- Add chicken back to pan and stir well to coat.
- Cook for 2 minutes to thicken the sauce.
Nutrition
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Variations
Sweetener: If you want a richer, deeper sweet flavor, you can replace the honey in the recipe with brown sugar or molasses.
Add-ins: There are lots of flavorful additions you can try in this recipe like fresh minced ginger, green onions, coriander, or cloves. You could also top the stir fry off with sesame seeds.
Veggies: If you want more vegetables in the stir fry, water chestnuts, sliced mushrooms, baby corn, and snow peas would taste amazing.
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