Slow Cooker General Tso’s Chicken
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An easy slow cooker version of the family favorite General Tso’s chicken and it’s soooo much better than takeout!
Okay, first things first. I worked as a waitress in a Chinese restaurant for 3 years in high school and we had this chicken dish on the menu. It was called General Tsao’s Chicken. But in all of my Asian food eating experience, I always see it spelled General “Tso’s” Chicken – – – > no “a” involved in the Tso part. So my waitressing past wants me to spell it General Tsao, but for the sake of everyone else on the planet who is going to see this recipe, I am spelling it without the “a”, just so we can all be on the same page her.
In all reality, I’m still confused about how it is supposed to be spelled.
But I’ve eaten a LOT of General Tso’s chicken in my day. It’s easily in my top 5 favorite Chinese dishes. Kung Pao, a natural favorite. Tangerine Chicken, oh my gash I could eat it all day. And Cantonese Flat Noodles, with char sil. Mmmmmmmmm. Oh heaven my mouth is watering. I need Chinese food!!!!!
Okay, sorry. Got a little carried away there for a second.
Like I said, I’ve had a lot of General Tso’s chicken and this slow cooker version is one of the best I’ve ever tasted! I absolutely love that it’s made in a crockpot, so incredibly easy and extra flavorful because it gets to marinate for a while. Just 15 minutes prep before you toss this in the slow cooker and then you just let it goooooooo (yes, like Frozen. I’m a Disney buff.) A few hours later you’ve got dinner on the table the whole family will LOVE! You just can’t beat this kind of flavor and minimal prep.
What people are saying about this Slow Cooker General Tso’s Chicken
“I have made this twice and it is good. I made the following changes that, for my family’s tastes, worked nicely…So-o-o-o-o good !” – Mike
“This was a super flavorful addictive dish! I did not do it in the crock pot because my morning was super busy but I was able to whip this up while my rice cooked. I loved that is was super quick and so delicious. Where I live overseas there are not many Chinese restaurants but I crave Chinese all the time so this was a winner. I am looking forward to trying your other Chinese dishes as well! I shared this on my fb page and then it was shared multiple times by my friends.” – Grace
“What a great recipe!! I have shared this recipe with a few girl friends and the reviews are awesome.. easy, flavourful and crazy delicious..great stuff :)” – Wendy
“This was a super flavorful addictive dish! I did not do it in the crock pot because my morning was super busy but I was able to whip this up while my rice cooked. I loved that is was super quick and so delicious. Where I live overseas there are not many Chinese restaurants but I crave Chinese all the time so this was a winner. I am looking forward to trying your other Chinese dishes as well! I shared this on my fb page and then it was shared multiple times by my friends.” – Kalia
Slow Cooker General Tso’s Chicken
Ingredients
- 3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts , (about 2 pounds), chopped into bite size pieces
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 cup corn starch
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon pepper
Sauce
- 4 tablespoons hoisin sauce , (can be found in the Asian section at most markets)
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoons minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- steamed or fried rice for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oil in a nonstick pan or skillet over medium heat. Whisk together corn starch, salt, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, and pepper.
- Add corn starch mixture and chicken pieces to a large zip lock bag. Seal and shake to coat chicken.
- Add coated chicken pieces to pan. Saute 1-2 minutes until browned. (It chicken will still be raw in the middle at this point, that’s okay)
- In a bowl combine all sauce ingredients and whisk to combine. Add half to the crockpot along with chicken pieces. Cook on low for 4 hours.
- Immediately before serving, Add remaining sauce to the crockpot and stir gently. Serve with rice.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe adapted from Favorite Family Recipes.
It’s what’s for dinner!
Sounds delicious!
Just wondering why you don’t add all the sauce at once?
Thanks
Hi Stacy, I’ve found that a lot of the sauce gets absorbed by the chicken during the cooking process – I like to reserve part of it to toss with the chicken at the end so it has a nice thick coating of sauce at the end 🙂
Re: General Tso’s Chicken
I have never seen a recipe that calls for 1 cup of cornstarch. Is that amount correct?
Yes, Cindy, it is used in coating the chicken, kind of like coating with flour. That is the correct amount.
May be you could add a touch of honey. I also do this on the stove and it has become my favorite meal! I used balsamic vinegar so I don’t know if that gives it a slightly sweeter flavor than other vinegars.
just finished making this on the stove so the chicken would be crispy. Turned out beautifully, the sauce, however, not so much. The sauce seems to be missing the sweetness of general tso that I’m used to. Any suggestions? Followed the recipe exactly, did I miss something?
I tried this recipe earlier this week because my fiance loves this dish when we order take-out Chinese. I also ran into the problem of the sides burning after only about two hours in the crock pot. Would making a double batch of the sauce help prevent this? Or maybe the problem is just with my crock pot being too hot or something.
Hi Rhyan, I have had some readers mention that doubling the sauce does solve this – I always double the sauce and I never have a problem with it! 🙂
Made this recipe tonight and it was delicious!! I decided to forgo the slow cooker and just cooked the chicken all the way through on the stove in one pan and thickened the sauce in a separate pan. I also added a yellow bell pepper for some color. I took the advice from one of the comments and made 1 1/2 times the sauce so had plenty to go around.
I love the way it turned out and will definitely make it again! I think I’ll add more vegetables next time and maybe some cashews. Thanks for the recipe, Tiffany 🙂
This looks absolutely delicious. I was wondering if I was able to use your slow cooker recipes without a slow cooker. Is there any way I could do that ? And what could I substitute for rice wine vinegar because it’s very hard to find In my area. Thank you
I didn’t use a slow cooker. I used peanut oil on high heat to quickly brown the chicken, but not cook it through, then added the sauce. The chicken will completely cook while the sauce thickens and reduces. Turned out great. Really tasty recipe – better than our local Chinese restaurant.
This was a super flavorful addictive dish! I did not do it in the crock pot because my morning was super busy but I was able to whip this up while my rice cooked. I loved that is was super quick and so delicious. Where I live overseas there are not many Chinese restaurants but I crave Chinese all the time so this was a winner. I am looking forward to trying your other Chinese dishes as well! I shared this on my fb page and then it was shared multiple times by my friends.
We really loved this recipe! It was pretty easy to fix.. I’ve even thought of cutting up the chicken ahead of time so there was not so much work in the morning. We like it with a lot of sauce, so I used the entire amount in the crock pot to begin, and then mixed up a half recipe before serving. Worked great!