Eat In Eat Out

a food blog and digital magazine. Recipes for simple healthy meals and the occasional decadent dessert!

  • Home
  • About
    • Contact
  • Recipes
    • Starters
    • Baked
      • Cakes
      • Cookies
      • Loaves
      • Muffins
      • Pies
    • Beverages
    • Breakfast
    • Dessert
    • Main
      • Chicken
      • Meat
      • Pasta
      • Seafood
      • Turkey
      • Vegetarian
    • Salad
    • Sides
    • Soup
    • Basics
  • THE MAGAZINE
  • Contests

Slow Cooker General Tso’s Chicken

March 18, 2017 By Lori 4 Comments

Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on Yummly
Yummly
Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Print this page
Print
Email this to someone
email

General Tso’s Chicken brings a touch of the exotic to your everyday.

This dish is really really really yum. Period.

O.K. let’s take a step back and start at the beginning… I’ve been trying to replicate some favourite take-out dishes at home lately. Check out my tasty creations so far: Mongolian Beef and Sweet & Sour Chicken which were both made in the slow cooker!

Next up, General Tso’s Chicken.

What the heck is General Tso’s Chicken anyway? Is it an ancient Chinese dish named after a famous Hunan General? Nope. General Tso’s Chicken became popular in America via some enterprisingly Taiwanese chefs who opened Hunan restaurants in New York in the 1970s. This American-Chinese creation was an instant hit that remains super-popular today. You can read all about the history in this New York Times article.

My version is not as crispy as the restaurant kind, but it’s lighter and less fatty while remaining totally delicious and addictive…

Slow Cooker General Tso's Chicken_1 Traditionally this dish is deep fried in 2-3 cups of oil to achieve a crunchy, yet sticky outside coating. I always try to keep the oil as low as possible in my recipes, but sometimes it’s a challenge. You need all that cornstarch in order to create that caked-on yummy coating on each piece of chicken that’s synonymous with the recipe. Here’s what I recommend…

When you are browning each batch of chicken pieces in 1 Tbsp of oil, it gets really sticky in the pan. To over come that you have too choices: one – add lots more oil, or two – my choice, I browned each batch and then wiped out the pan before adding the next Tbsp of oil and my second batch of chicken pieces. I did this for each of the four batches and it worked well. I also made sure I tapped off as much excess cornstarch as possible before adding it to the oil.

Slow Cooker General Tso's Chicken_2 Just as delicious when you use a fork!

Slow Cooker General Tso's Chicken_sq

5.0 from 3 reviews
Slow Cooker General Tso's Chicken
 
Print
Author: Lori
Ingredients
  • 1 cup corn starch
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • 4 Tbsp canola oil
  • 2 lb. skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size cubes
Sauce
  • ⅔ cup hoisin sauce
  • ½ cup soy sauce
  • ½ cup rice vinegar
  • 6 Tbsp packed brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp minced garlic
  • ½ cup water
  • ¼ tsp red chili flakes (or more if you like)
  • ½ tsp minced ginger
  • sliced green onions for garnish
Instructions
  1. Whisk together corn starch, salt, garlic powder and pepper. Add to a re-sealable bag.
  2. Heat 1 Tbsp of oil over medium-high heat. Add ¼ of the chicken pieces to the corn starch mixture in the bag and toss to coat. Full tap off any excess corn starch mixture as you add the coated pieces to the hot pan to brown on each side for 1 minute. Repeat 3 more times with remaining chicken pieces. If too much corn starch builds up on your pan, stop, wipe out the pan, and add fresh oil.
  3. Combine Sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Add ⅔ of the Sauce to a slow cooker with all of the browned chicken pieces. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours.
  4. Just before serving, add reserved Sauce to slow cooker and stir gently. Serve garnished with sliced green onions over steamed rice.
3.4.3177

 

Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on Yummly
Yummly
Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Print this page
Print
Email this to someone
email

Filed Under: Chicken, Main Tagged With: chicken, Chinese, dinner, international, slow cooker

« Spiced Yogurt Chicken Tikka + Dietitians Day
Blood Orange Bundt Cake »

Comments

  1. Trish says

    April 6, 2017 at 6:56 pm

    This looks amazing!!! I’ve always wanted to try General Tsos chicken but was always afraid it wouldn’t turn out right. After looking at ur recipe I’m gonna have to give it a whirl! Thanks for sharing! Trish

    Reply
  2. Rocky says

    January 1, 2019 at 3:23 am

    Love the recipe

    Reply
  3. Kimberley says

    April 14, 2019 at 10:38 pm

    Absolutely delicious. I think I will add it to my Easter buffet. Thanks for a great recipe

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rate this recipe:  

FIND A RECIPE

Food Advertising by logo

STAY CONNECTED

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
Food Advertising by logo

Latest Pins

Food Advertising by logo

Connect

Lori loves to create simple and delicious meals that are ready in 30 minutes or less!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Search

Latest Posts

Copyright © 2021 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress