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
Recipe adapted from Favorite Family Recipes.
Don’t worry about that. It is not for the sauce but for coating the chicken. When I have not had that much cornstarch on hand I have substituted flour.
I tried this recipe but sad to say, it was not good. I followed the recipe to a tee and it was disappointing. The photograph looks great but it did not look anything like it. I am Asian so I know I didn’t mess up the recipe. It was totally disappointing. Sorry for the bad but honest review.
I’m reading this recipe and was going to try this out. But I see that the recipe calls for 1 cup of corn starch. Is that 1 cup of powdered corn starch? That seems like a lot! Won’t it tun into “glue” like dinner? Please advise.
Thanks,
Lucy
Hi Lucy, That shouldn’t be a problem for you – The corn starch isn’t being used to thicken the sauce, its being used as a coating for the chicken 🙂
Do you have any suggestions about the best way to leave this in the slow cooker for a longer amount of time? I will have to put it in before work and I won’t be home until 10 hours later.
My best suggestion is to get a delayed timer – if your slow cooker doesn’t already have it built it! You can order them online for pretty cheap and it would be great to have one if you usually work 10 hour days!
Don’t leave this recipe in your crock pot for 10 hrs! the first time i made it, 4 hours was too long and it started burning. 10 hours would have ruined by crock pot. LOL Just have everything prepped and cook it all in the frying pan when you get home from work, shouldn’t take long. That’s my plan tonight! 🙂
Looks very good. Funny, here around the Boston area we call it General Gau’s Chicken .. most places also top it off with just a few pieces of broccoli. I think they do it just to give it color. Oh! and the add dried red peppers to it too, my son can have all of those he wants.. he loves heat! I think when I make it I’ll add extra broccoli because my son and I like it so much.
General Gau’s?? Now that’s one I’ve never heard of before ha! I do like it with the addition of the dried red peppers, I’ve had it that way several times and I love the extra heat! Definitely need to add broccoli next time though – it could use a little color and a little crunch!
So easy and SO GOOD!!!!
So I just put in the crock pot and it smells amazing! I have a concern though. My chicken is not completely covered in the sauce. Is this going to mean some pieces don’t get any absorbed?
Hi Sarah – sorry this is a bit late, I hope your chicken turned out well! If that happens in the future, I’d just toss the chicken with the sauce to make sure it all gets at least coated.
Can you make this with whole chicken breasts and not cut them up in small pieces? Perhaps adding additional cooking time in the crockpot?
Hi Kim, You sure could! General Tso’s Chicken traditionally is served with chicken chunks rather than whole breasts but hey you could always invent something new! If the chicken is thawed it should require much more (if any) additional cooking time.
Hi, I did this dish and it came out bland and sauce became so sticky not really runny..
I used my corck pot of average size and in my opinion there wasn’t enough sauce (only tiny bit on the bottom) to cook the chicken.
Any idea what went wrong?
Hi Anita, I haven’t had this problem mentioned before by anyone else so I’m not really sure…. maybe doubling the sauce would work better for you?? I often double the sauce anyway when I make crockpot dishes because I LOVE sauce 🙂
I made this and the Hubby loves it! Having a wheat allergy takes the fun out of going out to eat. I love the fact that I can make this at home and it tastes amazing! It’s also Gluten Free which is a bonus! Hooray! My only issue is that I feel that there is not enough liquid in the crock pot so, I actually double the sauce recipe. Still rocks. I always suggest trying recipes the way they are written first and then the next time around make adjustments. 😀
I absolutely second that idea to double the sauce recipe – I’m all about having more than enough sauce!!!
Tiffany, am wondering about the green onions (in the photos}. You did not list them in the ingredients, so I am interested at what point you added them. They do not look cooked, so my guess is that you added them just before serving.
I love the recipe!
Hi George, Yep I added them just before serving – I do that with a lot of my Asian style dishes for color and flavor! 🙂
I must try this. I do buy a frozen version and love it. So……..will give this a go. Do you do a chicken curry?
I adore curry and would like to find one like the English Chinese curry (that I doubt is Chinese) have never found anything like it in the States
Janice
do you have a sweet and sour sauce
Hi Brenda! You could use the sauce from my favorite Sweet & Sour Chicken recipe!
This general Tao’s chicken recipe is awesome. It came out so delicious. It my oldest son’s favorite and he is coming to visit this weekend. I can’t wait to make it for him. Thanks so much for this recipe.
i am making this for dinner hope it is as good as it looks
I have made this twice and it is good. I made the following changes that, for my family’s tastes, worked nicely. I didn’t use any salt in the flour mixture used to coat the chicken for frying. And in the sauce, I cut the soy sauce back to 2 Tbsp and the vinegar back to 3 Tbsp. I increased the water to 3 Tbsp. I pan fried the cut up and “starched” chicken and then set it aside to drain on paper towels. I poured off excess oil from the skillet (leaving the fryin’s) and returned the chicken to the pan adding the sauce. Over medium heat, I reduced the sauce while gently folding over the “nuggets” in the reduction until they were coated. So-o-o-o-o good !