General Tso’s chicken is one of my ultimate choices when I’m picking out Chinese takeout. This pineapple General Tao chicken was heavily inspired by my pineapple chicken recipe in Cozy Delights- my latest holiday book. Making General Tao chicken from scratch is completely off my alley so this is adapted from RecipeTin Eats’ General Tso recipe. It combines crispy chicken bites with a pineapple chicken-inspired sauce. It gives very much lazy Friday night vibes with a hit of spicy, sweet and savory.
I recommend serving this with noodles or rice and garnishing it with green onions or sesame seeds. I used tinned pineapples which are usually packed in pineapple juice. That way you have both the pineapple chunks and pineapple juice needed for making the pineapple sauce. Having ultra crispy chicken allows the chicken to soak up all the sauce without getting soggy. This General Tso’s chicken recipe tastes just like any Chinese takeout chicken.
Tips for crispy chicken:
- Fry the chicken in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan. Overcrowding lowers the overall temperature of the chicken so it takes longer for the chicken to get crispy.
- Don’t take out the chicken from the oil until it looks super browned
- Cornstarch or potato starch is necessary to get crispy chicken. The next best alternative is corn flour.
Store any leftovers in a dry, airtight container for up to 2 days. The chicken still remains crispy as hell even the next day so don’t worry! This is soggy-free-verified by me, enjoy!
Ingredients
Fried chicken chunks
0.8 kg/ 1.8 lbs boneless and skinless chicken breasts, pounded flat
2 teaspoons table salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder or minced garlic
2 teaspoons cayenne powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup corn starch/potato starch
3 cups cooking oil
Pineapple sauce
1 large onion, diced
2 sweet bell peppers, trimmed, deseeded and diced
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
398ml can pineapple chunks
3/4 cup pineapple juice
1 cup vegetable broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons ground ginger
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Sesame seeds to garnish
Fresh chopped herbs to garnish
Instructions
Fried chicken chunks
- Whisk the flour with the salt, garlic, cayenne pepper, cornstarch/potato starch into a large mixing bowl.
- Cut the chicken breast into 2 inch squares and place half the amount into the flour bowl from the previous step.
- Heat the coking oil in a 10-inch skillet.
- Fry the coated chicken chunks in the hot oil for about 10 minutes on each side. The key is to let it get really browned and crispy-looking. Don't overcrowd the pan for best results.
- Drain the fried chicken on paper towels.
- Toss the remaining raw chicken chunks into the flour bowl from step 1 and fry until crispy. I fried the chicken in 3 batches.
Making the Pineapple sauce
- Drizzle a few tablespoons of the oil used to fry the chicken in another large skillet. Fry the onions and bell peppers until softened.
- Whisk the hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, pineapple juice, broth, soy sauce, lemon juice and ginger together and add this to the skillet from the previous step.
- Stir in the all-purpose flour in the skillet and the pineapple chunks, and let it simmer for 10 minutes on medium heat. Stir occasionally so it doesn't burn. It would have thickened up after a while.
- Toss the fried chicken chunks with this pineapple sauce until it is completely coated. Continue to let it simmer on low heat for another 10 minutes.
- Garnish with sesame seeds or green onions.
- Serve hot over boiled rice or noodles. Store any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 2 days.