P.F. Chang's General Tso Chicken Recipe (2024)

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Make our P.F. Chang’s General Tso Chicken Recipe at home tonight for your family. With our Secret Restaurant Recipe your General Tso Chicken will taste just like P.F. Chang’s.

P.F. Chang's General Tso Chicken Recipe (1)

Photo by jensteele

General Tso Chicken – Everyone’s Favorite “American” Chinese Dish

If you ask for General Tso Chicken outside the major cities in China (where the influx of American tourists have made it necessary to include on most menues) the waiter will probably look at you like you are crazy.

Why? Because General Tso Chicken is not a traditional Chinese dish. It was invented in American Chinese restaurants for Americans. And not only is the dish almost completely unknown in China, but the General that the dish may or may not be named after is such a minor character in Chinese history that most Chinese have never heard of him.

Imagine if one of your guests, out of the blue, were to asked you to make some Hagood Chicken for them and you get some idea of the confusion your waiter is feeling. (Johnson Hagood was a Brigadier General in the South Carolina State Militia during the American Civil War – and as far as I know there is no chicken dish named after him. Yet. 😉 )

Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom of this page after you read (and make!)P.F. Chang’s General Tso Chicken Recipe. There are TWO MORE delicious General Tso Chicken Recipes for you to try.

P.F. Chang’s General Tso Chicken

P.F. Chang's General Tso Chicken Recipe

Make our P.F. Chang's General Tso Chicken Recipe at home tonight for your family. With our Secret Restaurant Recipe your General Tso Chicken will taste just like P.F. Chang's.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Active Time20 minutes mins

Total Time50 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Keyword: P.F. Chang's

Ingredients

Sauce

  • 1/2 cup Cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup Water
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh Garlic
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh Ginger
  • 3/4 cup Sugar
  • 1/2 cup Soy Sauce
  • 1/4 cup White Vinegar
  • 1/4 cup dry Sherry or White Wine
  • 1 can condensed Chicken Broth

Meat

  • 3 pounds boneless skinless Chicken, cut into chunks
  • 1/4 cup Soy Sauce
  • 8 small dried Red Chiles stems and seeds removed
  • 1 Egg beaten
  • 1 cup Cornstarch
  • 2 quarts Vegetable Oil for deep-frying plus 1 tablespoon for stir-frying
  • 2 cups sliced Scallions green onions
  • Fried Rice or Steamed Rice for serving

Instructions

Sauce

  • Put everything in a quart jar with a lid and shake it up, then put in the fridge. Just shake it up again when you are ready to use it.

Meat

  • In a large bowl, mix together the chicken, soy sauce, and hot peppers. Stir in the egg. Add the cornstarch and mix until all the chicken pieces are well coated. (It will look awful at this point.)

  • Heat the deep-frying oil to 350°F in a large pot. Cover a large platter with a few layers of paper towels.

  • Set aside the chiles. Deep-fry 7 or 8 chicken pieces at a time until crispy. Drain on paper towels. Repeat until all the chicken chunks are fried.

  • Place 1 tablespoon oil in a wok and heat until very hot. Add the scallions and chiles and stir-fry for about 30 seconds. Shake the sauce to recombine, then pour it into the wok. Cook until thick. If it gets too thick, add water until it’s the right consistency. Add the chicken to the sauce and cook until everything is hot and bubbly. Serve with fried or steamed rice.

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Another “General Tso Chicken” Recipe for You to Try:

On Secret Copycat Restaurant Recipes Pinterest Page Food Network Star, Sunny Anderson, makes a killer version of General Tso Chicken. She calls it Airman Anderson Chicken – and you can find a link to it on our Pinterest Page (Click the Link Below). Be sure to “Follow” us while your are there for even MORE Recipes.

Click HERE now for Food Network Star, Sunny Anderson’s Airman Anderson Chicken on The Secret Copycat Restaurant Recipes Pinterest Page

And One More Homemade General Tso Chicken Video Recipe for You to Try:

P.F. Chang's General Tso Chicken Recipe (5)

Photo by avlxyz

Video Courtesy of Cooking With Kai

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  • P.F. Chang’s General Tso Chicken
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  • P.F. Chang’s Lettuce Wraps with Chicken Recipe
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  • … MORE Great Recipes Coming Soon!

Photo of P.F. Chang’s General Tso Chicken Home Recipe is by jensteele and is used by permission under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) License. Photo of General Tso Chicken is by avlxyz and is used by permission under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) License. Original Video can be found at How to make General Tso’ Chicken. Photos may be “representative” of the recipe and not the actual finished dish. All photo licenses listed were correct at the time of the posting of the page. Additional Information Courtesy of Wikipedia and is used by permission.

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P.F. Chang's General Tso Chicken Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is PF Chang's version of General Tso Chicken? ›

Have you ever eaten at P.F. Chang's? They have “Chang's Spicy Chicken” on the menu, which is basically their version of general tso's. It has the perfect balance of sweet and spicy, and the sauce is light in color, which indicates it's not overloaded with soy sauce.

Is General Chang the same as General Tso? ›

The two claims may be somewhat reconciled in that the current General Tso's chicken recipe — where the meat is crispy fried — was introduced by Wang under the name "General Ching's chicken", a name which still has trace appearances on menus on the Internet (the identity of its namesake "General Ching" is, however, ...

Why is General Tso chicken so high in calories? ›

Worst: General Tso's Chicken

The breaded, fried chicken is smothered in a sugary sauce. One order clocks in at around 1,500 calories and 88 grams of fat, and it delivers more sodium than you should get in a day. Other fried dishes to watch out for: sesame, orange, and sweet and sour chicken.

What is the closest thing to General Tso Chicken? ›

Sweet and sour chicken: The two are super similar. The main difference is that General Tso sauce has more ginger flavor, as well as a little more heat from the hot sauce or chili flakes.

Why does General Tso Chicken taste different? ›

General Tso's chicken typically uses dark meat

Dark meat does in fact have a more succulent texture and taste, and biology is to thank.

What do the P and F stand for in PF Chang's? ›

P.F. Chang's was conceived and developed by Paul Fleming (P.F.) and Philip Chiang (Chang) so both names were incorporated into the name of the concept.

What is the difference between General Tso's chicken and General Tao's chicken? ›

General Tso's chicken (also known as General Tao's or Tsao's chicken) is an iconic Chinese-American takeout of deep-fried chicken coated in a thick sweet sauce. You can also make it spicy for those who like a little kick.

What does General Tso mean in English? ›

General Tso was an actual general for the late Qing Dynasty. General Tso, whose real name is Zu Zhongtang, was equivalent to General Sherman, an outstanding general for the US Union army during Civil war in American culture.

What is the healthiest Chinese food to eat? ›

13 Healthiest Chinese Food Takeout Options
  1. Steamed dumplings. Dumplings offered at a Chinese restaurant are pockets of dough filled with seasoned meat and vegetables, usually pork and cabbage. ...
  2. Hot and sour soup or egg drop soup. ...
  3. Moo goo gai pan. ...
  4. Beef and broccoli. ...
  5. Chop suey. ...
  6. Chicken and broccoli. ...
  7. Baked salmon. ...
  8. Happy family.

Which is healthier kung pao or general tso? ›

General Tso's chicken is battered, deep fried, and tossed with a spicy sauce. Kung Pao chicken, on the other hand, is not deep fried and instead is wok seared and tossed with a marinade. The choice here depends on the restaurant, but in most cases Kung Pao chicken is the winner.

What Chinese food is ok for diabetics? ›

Some lean protein choices include chicken, lean ground pork and fish. These proteins are often used in Chinese main dishes such as Kung Pao Chicken with Bell Peppers. Plant-based proteins, such as tofu, are also found in Chinese dishes. Tofu may be used as a meat alternative, providing protein from soybeans.

Is Chang's spicy chicken like General Tso's? ›

General Chang's Chicken is essentially the same dish with a less popular name. I've read that Tso and Chang were ancient rivals. If it was the recipe they were fighting over, it was the dumbest excuse for military action until the Iraq invasion came along.

What is the difference between General Tso and Hunan chicken? ›

General Tso's Chicken is battered and deep fried whereas Hunan Chicken is lightly dusted in cornstarch and stir fried or lightly pan fried. General Tso's Chicken is sweet and mildly spicy, far less spicy than Hunan Chicken, with the zing coming from a generous amount of ginger verses chili peppers.

Is Panda Express orange chicken like General Tso's? ›

Andrew Cherng, owner and founder of Panda Express, said that orange chicken is just a variation of General Tso's chicken, another dish that is almost unknown in China.

What is the same as General Tso Chicken? ›

General Tso's Chicken is a Chinese-American dish of fried chicken pieces that are breaded and tossed in a tangy sauce. This dish is very similar in style to sesame or orange chicken. But, like in much of Chinese food, it's the sauce that makes each dish unique.

Is Szechuan chicken the same as General Tso? ›

General Tso's chicken is about the most dangerous Chinese dish on the menu—dark meat battered and deep-fried, then cooked with vegetables in a sweet, spicy sauce. Szechuan chicken, made with leaner, white meat and sautéed with vegetables, is a far better choice.

What else is General Tso chicken called? ›

What is another word for General Tso's chicken?
sweet and spicy dishGeneral Tao
General Tao chickenGeneral Tao's
General Tao's chickenGeneral Tso
General Tso's

Is Kung Pao Chicken the same as General Tso? ›

Kung pao chicken and General Tso's chicken are similar in that they are both chicken-based dishes with a hint of chili, but the primary difference is that latter is deep-fried and coated with a syrupy sweet and sour sauce, and the former is coated with a gentle, more balanced sauce.

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