General Tso's Chicken

This was FANTASTIC!! I happily and whole heartedly recommend this recipe - and this got a big thumbs up from the Boy and the Man as well! I've been making a sweet and sour chicken recipe for years that I really like and the boys will eat every now and then but not very enthusiastically. This one they both really loved and I know it will enter the "rotation" for sure. The cook time was perfect - took exactly as long to cook the brown rice as it did to fix the chicken and sauce. Definitely the best Chinese I've ever made at home, and way better than the Chinese take out we had a couple weeks ago!

The ingredients were lined up! Chicken, cornstarch, minced garlic, chicken broth, brown sugar, seasoned rice vinegar, soy sauce, ground ginger, red chili flakes, Onion Onion seasoning, white pepper, and AP flour.

I started by mixing up the sauce ingredients, adding the cornstarch to the water.

In went the minced garlic!

Followed by the ginger.

In went the brown sugar for a little sweet.

Then a bunch of soy sauce! It seemed like a lot when I was pouring it in - but the sauce was awesome and I wouldn't change it!

The chicken broth came last (which came after the un-pictured seasoned rice vinegar)!

 Mixed it all up and set aside while the chicken was prepped and cooked!

 Seasoned the flour with the white pepper.

 Gave that a good stir with the handy dandy stirring utensil!

The chicken was diced into bite sized pieces.

 I dredged the chicken in the seasoned flour while the oil heated in the large nonstick skillet.

 In went the chicken and I let it brown a few minutes on each side.

 Added a shake of red chili flakes into about a TBS of oil in the center of the chicken.

 Next the sauce was poured in!

 As it heated it started to get darker and a little bubbly.

I let the chicken simmer in the sauce for about 5-10 minutes while I steamed some veggies and got everything else ready to go!

And voila! The sauce was rich with a perfect light sweetness to it and went very well with the veggies and rice. It was a wonderful dinner that we all very much enjoyed and I am already looking forward to making it again! :)

Recipe slightly adapted from Frieda Loves Bread!

Ingredients

FOR THE SAUCE:

2 TBS cornstarch
¼ cups water
1 clove (or tsp) garlic, minced
1-½ teaspoon ground or fresh ginger
¾ cups light brown sugar
¼ cups soy sauce
2 TBS seasoned rice vinegar
½ cups chicken broth
¼ teaspoons onion powder

FOR THE CHICKEN:
1 lb boneless, skinless, semi-frozen chicken breasts
2-3 TBS oil, more as needed
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoons white pepper
⅛ teaspoons red chili pepper flakes, or more for extra heat

Directions

Make the sauce:
Mix cornstarch, water, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, chicken broth and onion seasoning in a small bowl. Cover and set aside.

Prepare the chicken:
Slice semi-frozen chicken breasts into small bite sized pieces.

Put 2 TBS oil in a wok or heavy-bottomed non-stick sauce pan and heat on medium high heat or 375ºF.

In a large bowl or pie plate, combine flour and pepper. Using a few chicken pieces at a time, dip into the flour mixture. Shake off the excess flour mixture (or use a sieve). Put coated chicken into hot oil and cook for approximately 15 minutes, turning as needed so chicken browns evenly and cooks through.

Push chicken out from center, in the opening in the middle add about 1/2-1 TBS of oil and put desired amount of red pepper flakes into oil and cook on medium heat for a minute or two to flavor the oil. Slowly pour sauce into the flavored oil. Stir frequently over medium high heat until the sauce thickens. Allow chicken to simmer in sauce until sauce is thick and bubbly and heated through. Serve over hot rice.