Out of all RUclips chef/cooks, I love how you have priorities on the combination of saving time, simplifying, and either reducing calories or making the dish more well-rounded. I always look forward to what you come up with, keep up the good work!
I love this show because of how he adds in the concept of time to make something, and I wish he would also talk a little bit more about how many perishable ingredients you need to also have on hand, and how well things reheat, because if you're only cooking for one or two people, sometimes dishes with a lot of ingredients end up costing more than just buying it from a local place (if you're picking up, not paying for fees and tip and stuff) - because packages of ingredients like peppers, broccoli, lettuce, and mushrooms, and green onions, etc. etc. are REALLY hard to use up before they go bad if you don't make huge batches of stuff.
That and also how to do substitutions. Often my only option is Walmart or Dillons, and neither have a lot of the nicer pantry items. That and I'm also on a budget. Overall he feels like the kind of well off online cook that still understands average people don't have a lot to work with lol
@@johnpaulboudreaux9569Josh is a clown.. most his recipes are in no way practical for the home-chef, and he most certainly does not take into account your time
@@Leto617Not even close. The prices at the store are severely inflated. You can get multiple pounds of frozen nuggets for the cost of one takeout container of general tso
Thank you for including the method to make it closer to takeout version, a lot of youtubers jump in with "better" and "healthier" and forget that some of us just want the closest approximation to the flavors that comforted us through the rough spots, much appreciated.
I was one of the voters who said they'd cooked it one time and never again. The chicken turned out perfect, but it was a pain in the butt to accomplish. So, I am very glad to see this video! Thanks!!
Ethan, almost all of your videos seem to ask the question “how can we cut the calories” and it’s just awesome. With your advice, I have been incorporating more low calorie, good eating into my day to day meals. They’re the meals I look forward to the most. I have been eating your chicken quesadilla recipe like… 4-5 times a week. I’m realizing that flavor doesn’t need to equal excessive oils and cheeses. Capstone of this realization… pickled onions. Anyway, I can tell just three minutes in, this video is another banger.
I agree. I’ve used his low Calorie sauces and dips. I would have never thought Greek yogurt or (cottage cheese) could make a nice base for a sauce or dip. I use a chipotle - Greek yogurt (plus herbs and a little oil) sauce frequently for my Chicken meals that are often on rice or quinoa.
Try sumac, salt, pepper, and chopped parsley on freshly chopped onions if you don't have pickled onions. Also I just can't go back to plain ol' greek yogurt after I discovered tzatziki sauce
@@yaqubebased1961 I'm not familiar with tzatziki sauce but looked it up. It seems like a savory yogurt. And it seems like there are different ways of making because when I look up the nutrition, I get various answers from 0 or very little protein to high protein. seems it's high protein if you use mostly greek yogurt to make it?
@@Homer-OJ-Simpson you have to use greek yogurt, shredded cucumber (salt it now to release liquid as we'd have to drain it anyway), extra virgin olive oil and white vinegar with a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio (preference), minced or crushed garlic, then add it all together plus more salt and black pepper. Lastly you can also add some chopped herbs as well (I use dill). It goes well with everything but especially good with any protein wrap
Thanks for the awesome video, Ethan. Would you PLEASE consider doing a series like this with ingredients we can prep, freeze, and then use in a variety of recipes during the week...like real recipes and homemade versions of our favorite freezer aisle snacks, not salads, lol. I love salads, but everyone does that already. Thank you 🙏🏾
The side broccoli, when not overly steamed, adds some nice freshness and - crucially - soaks up the sauce beautifully. General Tso's broccoli (no deepfrying) can be super satisfying as a weeknight meal.
Its odd I don't think I see it with broccoli too often. Bell peppers on the other hand seem like a staple ingredient. I wonder if this is a regional thing.
I have this weird thing with general Tso chicken where I have to have broccoli and rice with it because that’s what the takeout restaurants always did. I love the way the sauce tastes with the broccoli.
Broccoli is there to cut oily taste that overwhelms after a few bites of the chicken… it’s called เลี่ยน in Thailand. A word that express for a food that is overwhelm by richness and oily so much that you don’t enjoy the rest of the meal/dish
I need broccoli too. But I ran out of broccoli when I made it a few years ago & used snow peas instead. The textural difference wasn’t as big, but the flavor actually worked better! Also works with snap peas, carrots, & baby corn (I tested all 3 after the snow pea revelation.)
If anyone wants the broccoli you can blanch them in boiling water for a bit and or flash fry them in the high heat oil to preserve the green and crispness.
8:07 - Honestly amazed you were able to get that Chosen Foods oil spray to actually *spray.* Regardless of how much I shake it, it only ever comes out as a stream.
Great video! I'm standing in my kitchen right this second shooting a General Tso's video! I made about 30 different versions over the past month and noticed a lot of the same things you did. The problem with the batter of most takeout versions is that they tend to use only cornstarch and whole egg. I think it's the fat in the egg yolk that makes it so cakey and spongy. Also, the fact that there is no gluten in the cornstarch makes their batter soggy as soon as it hits the sauce. Kenji Lopez's version for the fried chicken was the best - by far - but the crust was a bit too tough, so I think it needed to be made a tad lighter with more cornstarch. Most takeout sauces are an absolute travesty. Just like you stated - they are totally one-dimensional in the sweet note. Others at more traditional places I've tasted were a bit too tart and just not balanced. A good GT sauce should be sweet/sour/spicy/savory. The best solution I've found is to use brown sugar in a smaller quantity and to blend white vinegar with unseasoned rice vinegar in chicken stock. I was able to finally get to sauce I really enjoyed after testing about 30 different versions and combining the best elements of each one. The deep-fry/freeze/deep-fry is the method most takeout places that I've spoken with use. It's just the cornstarch only + whole egg combo that makes their batter so soggy after saucing. I thoroughly enjoyed your video! I hope you do more in the takeout series! Cheers!
There's a takeout place nearby that has a really spicy GT sauce, and I always have to ask them to dial the spice back a bit because of my acid reflux... but yeah, most places are 100% about the sweet.
I just wanted to tell you that the format of this video is really awesome! Combining the ease/health/blind test along with the presentation pace really presents your methods as credible, worthwhile, and reasonably doable for the interested.
This is awesome! I've never even considered making this because I thought it would be too hard! Your suggestion to pre fry and freeze the chicken opens up a ton of weeknight options. You definitely get the home cook who likes to produce delicious food, but on a time, energy, and money budget. Thanks for your inspiring content!!
I completely agree! I can get boneless skinless chicken breast for $1.99 a pound on sale and do a bunch of these over the weekend to store for the week. Then whip up whichever sauce I'm in the mood for 😊😊
if u want quick AND GOOD try a frozen box of Innovasian General Tso from the store (air fryer) over their frozen rice (microwave), or better yet Uncle Ben's 90 second rice packages, take 10 minutes and is actually very close to restaurant style. I used to make a trip to the Chinese restaurant once a week for takeout Tso - now i only eat it at home.
im vegetarian and i do this with falafel all the time, goes straight in the freezer after deep frying and airfried later. even if im planning to eat it the next day. taste + texture is infinitely better than leaving it in the fridge and/or microwaving.
Ethan, You are wonderful, thoughtful and honest! Thank you for taking this journey. Making food, testing it and giving us your findings! Your tweeks to recipes and the variations during the preparations are amazing. You are doing everything I would want, if I had more hours to my day. Your passion for what you are doing is SINCERE! I appreciate you and your labor immensely. THANK YOU SIR!!!
I say it almost every week, but your deep dive comparison tests are just SO helpful! If I kept a little jar of Orange Chicken sauce and General Tso's in the fridge, my only problem would be keeping enough nuggets in the freezer! That might be all I ever ate. I rough chop a baby bok choy (leaves and all) and add it to my Orange Chicken. It's really tasty and actually adds vitamins with a welcome change of texture that doesn't leave me feeling like I've made any sacrifice for the sake of being "healthy" at all. Not sure what would go well with General Tso's.
As an American, I thought I'd never say this, but THANK YOU for using metrics on your measurements. I don't know how many recipes I've gone through only to find cups, tsp, and tbsp weren't being used properly and to have what i made "not come out right" because the person that wrote the recipe used dry measure cups for liquids or vice versa. Or the writer did something else like convert their oz of ingredient into cups... Also, cups of irregularly shaped ingredients (e.g. "cup of broccoli" or any "cup of..." sliced or julienned produce) is the most asshatteriest measure of those types of ingredients ever...
I make it once a month… I knew I was weird. I was a server at PF Changs in college and got their recipes from the head chef. It’s absolutely amazing. The beauty is once you make the sauce you can store it and do new concepts with the sauce. Example, Dark sauce can yield Mongolian ribs or Mongolian green beans and it would change your life.
I made it at home maybe 5 times and quickly realized this was worth paying to just get. It actually taught me a great lesson of using going out to eat for stuff I definitely wouldn't make at home vs just getting something generic.
Honestly. Like I won't make sushi at home. But ill easily make a burger at home. I can make stir fry and chicken fried rice.. but certain things like general tsos chicken etc. Is not worth the time for me to do.
Yep. I can grill steaks, burgers, smoke baby back ribs or pork butt (long processes, but mostly hands off work), but certain things are best left to a commercial kitchen.
Yeah, like I've gotten pretty good at making amazing steaks, but if I want a slow-roasted Prime Rib, I go and get one. I just can't do that at home - not in the same way and not even for less money. I love the honesty of this show.
Took me like 40 minutes beginning to end. and that was with me measuring things out and watching the video. I did it in the air fryer. I've eaten a lot of takeout Gen tso, this sauce was better by far. Better if you deep fry but I didn't bother. Turned out quite crispy.
for a super quick sauce, i use ketchup, sweet chili paste, hoisen sauce and a little bit of soy sauce. super fast and only a few ingredients you need on hand.
Thanks Ethan. Made 4 batches tonight in the air fryer and wacked some in the freezer for later. The kids loved it. Much nicer than supermarket stuff and more flavour. Excellent recipe. Thanks for all your work bud.
Honestly, your version sounds tasty, and I will have to try it. My fave so far is Seonkyoung Longest’s Asian at Home General Tsos sauce, I have taken her orange chicken recipe and adopted it to make a stir fried version of general tsos, with the same sweet, tangy, spicy general tsos sauce.
My wife and I used to get General Tso's at a local Chinese place and loved it. they went out of business and all the other local places have terrible general tso's chicken. it is always mushy and soggy with a super thin sauce. Not at all what I want or like. So, I made this today! I did the double fry then froze it and will heat it up in the air fryer. I used thigh meat and it is crispy and delicious. I did double up on the sugar and I liked the sauce. Next time i think I will use about half as much black vinegar. I thought it was a little too present in the sauce for my taste. Keep it up I enjoy your videos!
The actual laziest way...I buy popcorn chicken at the grocery store, sauce from Leeann Chin, and instant pot some rice. It's not typically how I would cook such things, but sometimes, you do what works. 😊
@@jesusofsuburbia3675 You have to wash the rice several times and then you have to either cook it on the stove which is extra dishes or a rice cooker which is also dishes but not as bad. Rice is sticky to pans, so you have to add in the effort to wash up afterwards. Also, depending on climate or even the day, getting the right consistency on the rice could be a challenge for a lot of home cooks. Sometimes the more consistent and easiest option would be to just use a prepackaged rice. There's actually not much of a health disadvantage to packaged rice compared to most foods you buy that's been heavily preserved. A good brand typically will use salt and a little starch to preserve rice with not many additives. The same way they do in Chinese cooking. If you notice the differences between fried rice from a Chinese takeout compared to a home cook, they're able to get a more separate/dry texture on the rice due to the salting and starching to prevent spoilage and mitigate moisture. Sometimes the frozen or packaged ingredients are just as healthy if not fresher than what you could get in a grocery store.
@@arabscamel1034 @ArabsCamel "several times-" bro a few rinses to wash the starch (2 in my cases) isn't that hard??? And what do you mean by "depending on the climate-" rice are cooked the same whether there's a monsoon out or the summer. If anything it's so hard to f*ck up cooking rice. "Challenge to home cooks" yeah lol.
@@arabscamel1034 Getting rice right using a rice cooker is very easy, even kids can make rice. So if you like rice, it is very worth to invest in a rice cooker. You dont really need to wash rice, that's a remnant of the old times when there are physical dirt and rocks in the rice, but in these modern times with modern agriculture, rice you buy in supermarket are pretty clean already(the free starch thing doesn't factor as much as long as you get the water ratio right) I guess the problem that non-asians encounter most is estimating the amount of water to add, as that heavily depends on the type of rice used.
I must say, seeing that poll the other day about General Tao made me excited knowing Ethan would likely roll out a video with it soon. While I have only made it a small handful of times, I’m feel inspired to try it again!
Pro tip: Trader Joe's frozen orange chicken. Once my friend showed me those I never attempted to make it myself again. It's incredible, and I'm not one for frozen items, this one is an anomaly.
Ethan, I tried your recipe tonight, did not have chicken breast on hand so I use chicken thighs. The chicken came out just divine, so soft and juicy on the inside, crispy on the outside. Thank you so much (dziekuje bardzo) for sharing the best recipe.
@@Sargentleman lol I don't have misophonia. Better luck next time! I can tolerate all things related to chewing except slurping. If you can imitate slurping via text, I'll give you a cookie
My word, it's like my NSA guy talked to you about my weekend. I craved General Tso's, and wanted to make it to save myself some money, but instead went out to eat because of those reasons you mentioned. A bit scary, ngl. But congrats on such a good prediction!
i do a vegetarian version periodically since i always have tofu on hand, but i typically use just cornstarch (sometimes with a tbsp of flour but usually not) and do a shallow “fry” with just enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. i also always get lazy on the sauce, so i will be giving this sauce a try!
This video finally made me buy an airfryer. I live in a country where Chinese restaurants do not offer Tso's chicken, so making it is the only option. Unfortunately my partner hates the smell of cooking oil (even though I use fresh canola oil), while I'm not a fan deep frying for practical reasons. Your version of the sauce is so aromatic and has such a depth that it's hard to tell whether it was deep or air fried. By the way for breading I used the chestnut flour. An expensive option, but totally worth it. It contains a lot more natural sugars which makes the breading even more crispy.
Definitely I’m doing this one next. I’m defrosting my chicken now 👍🏼 thank you for all the perfect work you do. Love your recipes and the way you educate us and explaine ❤
I love your channel man. You always make things simple and fast for the home cook. And all the meals you feature focus on taste rather than looking fancy or being trendy. I appreciate you man keep being yourself.
Love this dish. In Germany, it isn't really available otherwise, so I have made it multiple times myself. But yeah, very time consuming to make. My trick to make it more healthy is just to leave out the rice. Don't need it if the chicken is already crusted in carbs.
das ungesunde ist das reudige öl und das billige weißmehl, in dem das fleisch frittiert wird, und der hohe zucker und salz gehalt der soße und nicht der weiße reis, du otto.
To add, I like using cauliflower rice or using shirataki noodles/rice so it is lower in calories, but highly filling. Easier method is to just sauté veggies if having something in the side is a must
@@Lysanderastra to most non Americans that is pretty high. It is fried chicken so idk I just go all out with stuff like this, but I am sure many Europeans wouldnt go past 500 cals for a meal
I’ve been making general tso at home for like two years now, thank god I got an air fryer. I’ve never actually tried it in a restaurant because it’s not very popular here in the UK, but the homemade version SLAPS. The secret is the shaoxing rice wine 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼
There is a recipe from "school of wok" from Covent Garden, London. So it make it's way to the UK. But in the US, it's really all over the place. I'm usually cooking the version from Seonkyoung Longest. Even translated it to german and posted it. (Naming my source of inspiration, of course.)
Tien Tsin chilis are the 100% best option for this dish no questions asked. I spent about 2 months perfecting my version a few years ago and I had to order them, but it was totally worth it.
Yeah. Definitely the straight Air Fry. I made the 1865 White House Chicken Fricasee, [Abe's Fave] and it was brutally taxing. The first time I made Gen Tsao at home, it was too involved. Now my Ninja Foodie is gonna getta workout!😊
Made these for the first time. I watched the video when it first came out. We did the air fryer method and I paired it with my homemade Asian fired rice. Wow was this a phenomenal combo. Thank you Ethan! You nailed how to make this properly at home. I've always loved takeout general Tso, but this blows it out of the water!
Oh my goodness, this was so good. I used the air fryer, and I was a little reluctant to dump the raw chicken and the marinade all into the flour/cornstarch mixture, but I am so glad I did because it gave it these crunchy chewy edges just like General Tao’s is supposed to have. Thank you so much for the recipe and details, my husband was blown away 😁
I own a Control Freak but feel like I’m not taking full advantage of it due to very few recipes besides for deep frying gives temperature instructions. I’d love if you would more often casually give temperature guidances beyond “low”, “medium”, etc. in other kinds of recipes as CF guidance, or maybe make a video about roughly what temperature spans are inferred by different descriptor words. Thanks so much for hugely inspiring videos!
Not to criticize mind you but I feel like it would be difficult to do so since you don't check the temp for, i.e., a pan or a barbecue. For baking or frying, it works well but not sure about the rest.
Ethan: made this last night with the double deep fry method and was so incredibly pleased with the results. Whenever I’ve tried to make Chinese food, the seasoning always comes out very bland, uninteresting, and overly homogenous. This recipe was FULL of flavor: spiciness, hotness, sweetness, and truly worthy of a Chinese restaurant. The only thing I added was a tsp. of ground black pepper to the flour dredge. It’s just me so I had one serving last night and froze the other three. I plan on taking one of those and doing a re-fry tonight. I have a few “go-to” recipes when guests come over and this will DEFINITELY be one of them! Thanks again for your recipe and research.
Yes, pulling out the oil, heating it up, maintaining the temp through batch cooking, letting it cool, straining, and all the clean up specific to the oil is totally just a difference of about five minutes of actual work. Totally.
For fastest, I generally just buy prebreaded frozen chicken, microwave them, put Kikoman orange chicken glaze on the pieces, but first I steam the rice in a rice cooker & steam the broccoli for 16 min, then put it all together in a bowl. A little Ponzu sauce on the short grain rice. Ponzu sauce is a bit less salty than soy & has lemon or lime in it. Also you can mimic the jack in the box teriyaki bowl with Kikoman Teriyaki baste & glaze sauce with baked chicken pieces and steamed broccoli and sautéed onions over short grain rice.
As a Chef, I love videos like this because I can steal your sauce recipe (which looks great BTW and has all the ingredients it SHOULD have in it and none of the stuff it shouldn't (like the quote says; don't fix what ain't broken)) and make my own chicken recipe how I need. Over the past 3 years I have become severely intolerant to gluten. IDK why. IDK what happened. But gluten makes me sick. Found a great gluten free recipe for the chicken but their sauce was a little oddjob. Thanks for the sauce, Ethan. Good job! BTW thanks for doing GRAMS. We all about that life!
Made this today. It was dope. Air fryer only. Substituted AP flour with rice flour. Surprisingly crispy. Didn't have garlic chili paste, whatever that is (lol), so I threw some garlic and thai chillis and a touch of oil in the mortar and pestle. Also did half mirin, half rice vinegar for the sauce, and a bit less sugar. I also didn't have dried chilis so I toasted some thai chilis. two for the chili garlic paste and two for the sauce itself. It was perfect. really enjoyed this thanks a lot!
During the chinese cultural revolution, many of the best chefs in the country escaped to nyc. This and many other chinese american dishes are actually very technical and complicated because they were invented by masters of their craft! Would love to see a scallion pancake video
Okay. I gotta be real cause I see this a lot. Am I the only one with a full freezer? Who the hell has room for a full sheet tray in their freezer. Not me, lol.
Hahaha I totally getcha! Honestly, I have played many Tetris rounds with the freezer to make space. Nowadays I tend to bake or cook a lot, so I try to keep some space. But it's not always possible. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@fedexcow5324 It happens here too sometimes, after buying a half beef and a pig, or after hunting, and especially around Thanksgiving or Christmas if we are hosting family and friends. Not wealthy enough to buy a walk in yet.
I love your channel. I like how you break down a common cooking problem (scientifically, practicality, nutritionally, etc.) time and time again. I love General Tsao Chicken but wouldn't dream of trying to make it myself.
With two small children and crazy days, this is great just for general meal prepping and having a quick go to dinner. I make a good orange chicken, now to add this sauce to the fridge and some bags of chicken to the freezer. More time swinging the girls around outside. I can't wait to try this sauce!
looks dope. now that I think of it that sauce would also be great over fried cauliflower. There's gobi manchurian with a bit different sauce, and its bomb. Just skip the marinade and use a batter breading of flour, seasoning, water
So regarding cutting calories - I know it's not "traditional", but when I do general tso at home, I just skip deep frying the chicken altogether. Basically what I do, using a wok, is cook the chicken, set it aside, then continue using the wok to make the aromatics, sauce, thicken, etc, then throw the chicken back in to sauce it up and move it to the rice. Basically Ethan's process, my ingredients are slightly different but looking forward to trying this version especially with the black vinegar. It uses one pan (the wok) and takes like 15 min to cook. I can have it done faster than my rice (I don't have a rice cooker and instead steam it on a pot on the stove, comes out perfect in 20 min)
Ethan, there’s a major typo in your recipe link. According to your video (3:59), the breading calls for 100 g of flour and 25 g cornstarch (which sounds fair), but the recipe link calls for 200 g of BOTH. I knew something was up when I saw 200 g of cornstarch. 😂 The salt and baking powder are correct in both.
Yes, luckily my intuition told me that was way too much cornstarch, so i winged it. The ratio of cornstarch in the slurry is also too high in the link. Really needs to be fixed.
Hey! I think this is the first time you used an air fryer in your video! Did you recently get one? I remember you saying earlier that you wanted to keep your kitchen appliances to a minimum but I'm happy you decided on getting one.
I've been using Made With Lau's recipe for the past couple years and make it at least 3 times a month for a family of 4. The whole process is less than 45 minutes for 8 - 12 servings in order to have leftovers. I don't really understand where all the alleged time is going if you're multitasking during the process. The only main difference is his is a batter instead of a dredge. The freezing for later step is a nice addition that I might start doing in the future. Normally we don't really care about the leftovers being crispy the next day. I'm personally opposed to air fryers in general considering how little you can put in them and the redundancy if you already own a toaster oven so I wont be testing that route. If I'm feeling extra lazy I'll just use bottled general tso sauce from House of Tsang. It tastes basically identical to the take-out sauce.
This is so awesome! Thanks. Not only do we not make it at home, 3/4 of the restaurants who make it, aren't making the actual General Tso's. Most often, they pass off what is essentially barbecue or sweet and sour as GT's. Bleck. I agree, it shouldn't be that sweet. I would assert the broccoli is actually really important. But it shouldn't be a few token pieces of rubbery veg. The real deal will have generous portions of perfectly steamed, never mushy or rubbery, bright green broccoli, so that the florets capture and hold some of that amazing sauce and balance the carbi-ness of the dish.
I am more of an Air Fryer rather than a deep fry (mostly because I don't like the popping of oil from the fryer), but the deep fryer of #4 looks and sounds amazing 😋
I think the reveal of the text as the oil spread to the pan was such smooth editing. I think your taste tests would benefit from two lazy suzannes underneath so you could randomize your samples more smoothly.
I partook in that poll and literally the day before I found a new Chinese place that makes the best one I’ve had yet. This came out at the perfect time
Been doing this a few years; buying 4kg of chicken THIGHS, chopping in 2-4, deep fry once and freezing. I remove some of the fat for the kids, but honestly leaving that on gives a super tasty "pocket" of juicy fats in the finished nugget. Whip up any sauce in the wok and throw the refried nugs into it, toss it briefly and serve immediately. I would also add a little warning about the cornstarch slurry; lowering temp before putting it in, or it might bead up into gummy starch bubbles.
This is also a good technique for steak fingers and pork cutlet nuggets. How you prepare the coating makes a difference. I use flour, egg with cornstarch and pancake batter mix, and panko crumbs for the final crunch coat or cornflakes for pork cutlets. Then same results to finish with a cream gravy or dipping sauces.
This is a great video, I love the breakdown of each step, and the comparisons. I'm going to try an air-fried version with cauliflower. Not to be healthy, just because I don't like chicken and I don't like to deep fry at home. This video has inspired me. Thank you!
Hell yea with the frozen meal prep! I need to figure out how to recreate those frozen heat and serve pasta bags but can't figure out the different component and par-cooked pasta nests.
Hi, deep frying always puts me off so an air fryer option is interesting. It’s what to do with all that oil after cooking. What do you do with it? Cleaning it, storing it and how often, if any, times can it be reused. I liked that you addressed this 👍.
Thank you for the recipe 'push'. I bought a bag of frozen, deep fried, chicken nuggets from Aldi a month ago, planning to make General Tso's or Orange Chicken in my AF. This week is it!
How about taking the raw chicken pieces, vacuum-sealing them in a bag with a baking soda and/or cornstarch slurry (to tenderize the chicken), sous vide cooking that a bit below temp, then removing from bag, pat dry, dredge in the dry ingredients, and frying it once... ? Goal is crispy outside with a more tender, juicy inside. Heck, you can add some marinade to the bag as well to give some extra flavor to the chicken and/or rice. Edit: I was just thinking you could sous vide the rice too. A search for this reveals rice needs to cook at 200 ° F for around 30 mins and the chicken at 140 ° F for about 90 mins. So you'd probably want to cook the chicken first, cook the rice next (letting the chicken cool a bit), then pat the chicken dry and start the fry. The bonus with this method is you can have portions of chicken and rice vacuum-sealed in your freezer, ready to cook. You can also drop a vac-sealed bag of broccoli in toward the end of the chicken bath.
My method: shallow frying! Saves time if you don't mind skipping the second fry (and thus the crunchiness). You also don't need to wait long for the oil to cool down. So you can use the wok short after for your veggies. Add the chicken to the sauce pot to coat then add that to the veggies and serve with rice 👌
Interestingly, our local Chinese takeout restaurant (a high-quality establishment) doesn't bread the chicken and their sauce isn't really sweet or heavy and only moderately spicy. It took me by surprise the first time I got it (we just moved to our new city) and I was used to the heavier, sweeter meals in NJ. Coincidently, I was planning on making "the General" tomorrow and I'm just going to saute the uncoated chicken pieces with garlic and a little dark soy sauce before really saucing it up with General Tso's sauce from Iron Chef. Over Jasmine rice of course. A bit healthier but still tasty and fast. Thanks Ethan!
Well damn. Now I know how to make literally the only thing I ever order from the local Chinese joint at home. And I can make the sauce spicier to boot. You really are making the case as to why I need a kitchen scale.
The Trader Joe's kit works for me. I add a good amount of hot sauce to it, but it's great in the air fryer since you don't have to deal with the first frying.
Most of the takeout versions of General Tso's Chicken in my area have been Tso Tso.
I hate this joke. I'm going to make this chicken and use it nonstop
@@FatalDeceit lol same
Nice one, dad!
I was also gonna make a Chinese food pun but I figured that was too Lo, Mein.
@@Homer-OJ-Simpson lol
Out of all RUclips chef/cooks, I love how you have priorities on the combination of saving time, simplifying, and either reducing calories or making the dish more well-rounded. I always look forward to what you come up with, keep up the good work!
I love this show because of how he adds in the concept of time to make something, and I wish he would also talk a little bit more about how many perishable ingredients you need to also have on hand, and how well things reheat, because if you're only cooking for one or two people, sometimes dishes with a lot of ingredients end up costing more than just buying it from a local place (if you're picking up, not paying for fees and tip and stuff) - because packages of ingredients like peppers, broccoli, lettuce, and mushrooms, and green onions, etc. etc. are REALLY hard to use up before they go bad if you don't make huge batches of stuff.
That and also how to do substitutions. Often my only option is Walmart or Dillons, and neither have a lot of the nicer pantry items. That and I'm also on a budget. Overall he feels like the kind of well off online cook that still understands average people don't have a lot to work with lol
ethan's a lot more enjoyable and useful to watch than joshua weissman, that's for sure
@@johnpaulboudreaux9569Josh is a clown.. most his recipes are in no way practical for the home-chef, and he most certainly does not take into account your time
An even lazier option is to take Popeye's popcorn chicken or frozen popcorn protein and combine with homemade sauce
given the price in store, just order out, probably be cheaper, lol
@@Leto617Not even close. The prices at the store are severely inflated. You can get multiple pounds of frozen nuggets for the cost of one takeout container of general tso
@@Leto617 do you know how to do maths?
Kenji Lopez has his recipe for this on serious eats if anyone is interested.
Now this is something I'll actually do lol
Thank you for including the method to make it closer to takeout version, a lot of youtubers jump in with "better" and "healthier" and forget that some of us just want the closest approximation to the flavors that comforted us through the rough spots, much appreciated.
I would like to see Ethan do a follow-up video with some other Sauces that would work great with this fry method. Orange Chicken, Sweet and Sour, etc.
I was one of the voters who said they'd cooked it one time and never again. The chicken turned out perfect, but it was a pain in the butt to accomplish. So, I am very glad to see this video! Thanks!!
Ethan, almost all of your videos seem to ask the question “how can we cut the calories” and it’s just awesome. With your advice, I have been incorporating more low calorie, good eating into my day to day meals. They’re the meals I look forward to the most. I have been eating your chicken quesadilla recipe like… 4-5 times a week. I’m realizing that flavor doesn’t need to equal excessive oils and cheeses. Capstone of this realization… pickled onions. Anyway, I can tell just three minutes in, this video is another banger.
I agree. I’ve used his low Calorie sauces and dips. I would have never thought Greek yogurt or (cottage cheese) could make a nice base for a sauce or dip. I use a chipotle - Greek yogurt (plus herbs and a little oil) sauce frequently for my Chicken meals that are often on rice or quinoa.
Try sumac, salt, pepper, and chopped parsley on freshly chopped onions if you don't have pickled onions. Also I just can't go back to plain ol' greek yogurt after I discovered tzatziki sauce
@@yaqubebased1961 I'm not familiar with tzatziki sauce but looked it up. It seems like a savory yogurt. And it seems like there are different ways of making because when I look up the nutrition, I get various answers from 0 or very little protein to high protein. seems it's high protein if you use mostly greek yogurt to make it?
@@Homer-OJ-Simpson you have to use greek yogurt, shredded cucumber (salt it now to release liquid as we'd have to drain it anyway), extra virgin olive oil and white vinegar with a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio (preference), minced or crushed garlic, then add it all together plus more salt and black pepper. Lastly you can also add some chopped herbs as well (I use dill). It goes well with everything but especially good with any protein wrap
@@yaqubebased1961 definitely giving that a try. Thanks!
Thanks for the awesome video, Ethan. Would you PLEASE consider doing a series like this with ingredients we can prep, freeze, and then use in a variety of recipes during the week...like real recipes and homemade versions of our favorite freezer aisle snacks, not salads, lol. I love salads, but everyone does that already. Thank you 🙏🏾
The side broccoli, when not overly steamed, adds some nice freshness and - crucially - soaks up the sauce beautifully. General Tso's broccoli (no deepfrying) can be super satisfying as a weeknight meal.
Its odd I don't think I see it with broccoli too often. Bell peppers on the other hand seem like a staple ingredient. I wonder if this is a regional thing.
@@ieatstheinternetNew Englander here...I have never seen a bell pepper near General Tso's. Must be regional, interesting!
It's a delicious and nutritious garnish.🥦
I have this weird thing with general Tso chicken where I have to have broccoli and rice with it because that’s what the takeout restaurants always did. I love the way the sauce tastes with the broccoli.
Broccoli is there to cut oily taste that overwhelms after a few bites of the chicken… it’s called เลี่ยน in Thailand. A word that express for a food that is overwhelm by richness and oily so much that you don’t enjoy the rest of the meal/dish
I need broccoli too. But I ran out of broccoli when I made it a few years ago & used snow peas instead. The textural difference wasn’t as big, but the flavor actually worked better! Also works with snap peas, carrots, & baby corn (I tested all 3 after the snow pea revelation.)
If anyone wants the broccoli you can blanch them in boiling water for a bit and or flash fry them in the high heat oil to preserve the green and crispness.
With the air fried version, try adding some crushed corn flakes to the breading station. Makes the texture more similar to real general tso.
Good call, that would definitely add that extra missing texture!
100% corn flakes add that missing crunch. Works well on homemade chicken tenders
Corn flakes, meaning the cereal?
@@Dad_Lyon Correct
Cornflakes is not the way to achieve the authentic crunch it is instead a simple technique.
8:07 - Honestly amazed you were able to get that Chosen Foods oil spray to actually *spray.* Regardless of how much I shake it, it only ever comes out as a stream.
Great video! I'm standing in my kitchen right this second shooting a General Tso's video!
I made about 30 different versions over the past month and noticed a lot of the same things you did. The problem with the batter of most takeout versions is that they tend to use only cornstarch and whole egg. I think it's the fat in the egg yolk that makes it so cakey and spongy. Also, the fact that there is no gluten in the cornstarch makes their batter soggy as soon as it hits the sauce. Kenji Lopez's version for the fried chicken was the best - by far - but the crust was a bit too tough, so I think it needed to be made a tad lighter with more cornstarch.
Most takeout sauces are an absolute travesty. Just like you stated - they are totally one-dimensional in the sweet note. Others at more traditional places I've tasted were a bit too tart and just not balanced. A good GT sauce should be sweet/sour/spicy/savory. The best solution I've found is to use brown sugar in a smaller quantity and to blend white vinegar with unseasoned rice vinegar in chicken stock. I was able to finally get to sauce I really enjoyed after testing about 30 different versions and combining the best elements of each one.
The deep-fry/freeze/deep-fry is the method most takeout places that I've spoken with use. It's just the cornstarch only + whole egg combo that makes their batter so soggy after saucing.
I thoroughly enjoyed your video! I hope you do more in the takeout series! Cheers!
Great tips, thanks!
There's a takeout place nearby that has a really spicy GT sauce, and I always have to ask them to dial the spice back a bit because of my acid reflux... but yeah, most places are 100% about the sweet.
What ratios of corn starch do you use?
I just wanted to tell you that the format of this video is really awesome! Combining the ease/health/blind test along with the presentation pace really presents your methods as credible, worthwhile, and reasonably doable for the interested.
I really like how you offer options and different methods. Many other cooking channels can learn from that.
This is awesome! I've never even considered making this because I thought it would be too hard! Your suggestion to pre fry and freeze the chicken opens up a ton of weeknight options. You definitely get the home cook who likes to produce delicious food, but on a time, energy, and money budget. Thanks for your inspiring content!!
I completely agree! I can get boneless skinless chicken breast for $1.99 a pound on sale and do a bunch of these over the weekend to store for the week. Then whip up whichever sauce I'm in the mood for 😊😊
if u want quick AND GOOD try a frozen box of Innovasian General Tso from the store (air fryer) over their frozen rice (microwave), or better yet Uncle Ben's 90 second rice packages, take 10 minutes and is actually very close to restaurant style. I used to make a trip to the Chinese restaurant once a week for takeout Tso - now i only eat it at home.
im vegetarian and i do this with falafel all the time, goes straight in the freezer after deep frying and airfried later. even if im planning to eat it the next day. taste + texture is infinitely better than leaving it in the fridge and/or microwaving.
Ethan, You are wonderful, thoughtful and honest! Thank you for taking this journey. Making food, testing it and giving us your findings! Your tweeks to recipes and the variations during the preparations are amazing. You are doing everything I would want, if I had more hours to my day. Your passion for what you are doing is SINCERE! I appreciate you and your labor immensely. THANK YOU SIR!!!
I say it almost every week, but your deep dive comparison tests are just SO helpful! If I kept a little jar of Orange Chicken sauce and General Tso's in the fridge, my only problem would be keeping enough nuggets in the freezer! That might be all I ever ate. I rough chop a baby bok choy (leaves and all) and add it to my Orange Chicken. It's really tasty and actually adds vitamins with a welcome change of texture that doesn't leave me feeling like I've made any sacrifice for the sake of being "healthy" at all. Not sure what would go well with General Tso's.
Moved to rural Germany, take out- none here. So I‘ll have to make it from scratch, I don’t mind the effort. This is so right on, Ethan.
As an American, I thought I'd never say this, but THANK YOU for using metrics on your measurements. I don't know how many recipes I've gone through only to find cups, tsp, and tbsp weren't being used properly and to have what i made "not come out right" because the person that wrote the recipe used dry measure cups for liquids or vice versa. Or the writer did something else like convert their oz of ingredient into cups... Also, cups of irregularly shaped ingredients (e.g. "cup of broccoli" or any "cup of..." sliced or julienned produce) is the most asshatteriest measure of those types of ingredients ever...
I love how you never end up settling on the pronunciation!
I make it once a month… I knew I was weird. I was a server at PF Changs in college and got their recipes from the head chef. It’s absolutely amazing. The beauty is once you make the sauce you can store it and do new concepts with the sauce. Example, Dark sauce can yield Mongolian ribs or Mongolian green beans and it would change your life.
Hook a brother up with that recipe
@@baddiemcbadbad9231no shit don’t keep that secret from us
I made it at home maybe 5 times and quickly realized this was worth paying to just get. It actually taught me a great lesson of using going out to eat for stuff I definitely wouldn't make at home vs just getting something generic.
Honestly. Like I won't make sushi at home.
But ill easily make a burger at home.
I can make stir fry and chicken fried rice.. but certain things like general tsos chicken etc. Is not worth the time for me to do.
Can’t get it here.
Yep. I can grill steaks, burgers, smoke baby back ribs or pork butt (long processes, but mostly hands off work), but certain things are best left to a commercial kitchen.
Yeah, like I've gotten pretty good at making amazing steaks, but if I want a slow-roasted Prime Rib, I go and get one. I just can't do that at home - not in the same way and not even for less money. I love the honesty of this show.
Took me like 40 minutes beginning to end. and that was with me measuring things out and watching the video. I did it in the air fryer. I've eaten a lot of takeout Gen tso, this sauce was better by far. Better if you deep fry but I didn't bother. Turned out quite crispy.
Ethan has no idea what he's done for me by making this one.
He probably has some idea
for a super quick sauce, i use ketchup, sweet chili paste, hoisen sauce and a little bit of soy sauce. super fast and only a few ingredients you need on hand.
Thanks Ethan. Made 4 batches tonight in the air fryer and wacked some in the freezer for later. The kids loved it. Much nicer than supermarket stuff and more flavour. Excellent recipe. Thanks for all your work bud.
Honestly, your version sounds tasty, and I will have to try it. My fave so far is Seonkyoung Longest’s Asian at Home General Tsos sauce, I have taken her orange chicken recipe and adopted it to make a stir fried version of general tsos, with the same sweet, tangy, spicy general tsos sauce.
My wife and I used to get General Tso's at a local Chinese place and loved it. they went out of business and all the other local places have terrible general tso's chicken. it is always mushy and soggy with a super thin sauce. Not at all what I want or like. So, I made this today! I did the double fry then froze it and will heat it up in the air fryer. I used thigh meat and it is crispy and delicious. I did double up on the sugar and I liked the sauce. Next time i think I will use about half as much black vinegar. I thought it was a little too present in the sauce for my taste. Keep it up I enjoy your videos!
The actual laziest way...I buy popcorn chicken at the grocery store, sauce from Leeann Chin, and instant pot some rice. It's not typically how I would cook such things, but sometimes, you do what works. 😊
Instant rice? I thought rice is lazy enough with you just needing to pour rice and water and let it cook.
@@jesusofsuburbia3675 cooking rice in a pressure cooker not instant rice
@@jesusofsuburbia3675 You have to wash the rice several times and then you have to either cook it on the stove which is extra dishes or a rice cooker which is also dishes but not as bad. Rice is sticky to pans, so you have to add in the effort to wash up afterwards. Also, depending on climate or even the day, getting the right consistency on the rice could be a challenge for a lot of home cooks. Sometimes the more consistent and easiest option would be to just use a prepackaged rice. There's actually not much of a health disadvantage to packaged rice compared to most foods you buy that's been heavily preserved. A good brand typically will use salt and a little starch to preserve rice with not many additives. The same way they do in Chinese cooking. If you notice the differences between fried rice from a Chinese takeout compared to a home cook, they're able to get a more separate/dry texture on the rice due to the salting and starching to prevent spoilage and mitigate moisture. Sometimes the frozen or packaged ingredients are just as healthy if not fresher than what you could get in a grocery store.
@@arabscamel1034 @ArabsCamel "several times-" bro a few rinses to wash the starch (2 in my cases) isn't that hard??? And what do you mean by "depending on the climate-" rice are cooked the same whether there's a monsoon out or the summer. If anything it's so hard to f*ck up cooking rice.
"Challenge to home cooks" yeah lol.
@@arabscamel1034 Getting rice right using a rice cooker is very easy, even kids can make rice. So if you like rice, it is very worth to invest in a rice cooker. You dont really need to wash rice, that's a remnant of the old times when there are physical dirt and rocks in the rice, but in these modern times with modern agriculture, rice you buy in supermarket are pretty clean already(the free starch thing doesn't factor as much as long as you get the water ratio right)
I guess the problem that non-asians encounter most is estimating the amount of water to add, as that heavily depends on the type of rice used.
I must say, seeing that poll the other day about General Tao made me excited knowing Ethan would likely roll out a video with it soon. While I have only made it a small handful of times, I’m feel inspired to try it again!
Pro tip: Trader Joe's frozen orange chicken. Once my friend showed me those I never attempted to make it myself again. It's incredible, and I'm not one for frozen items, this one is an anomaly.
Ethan, I tried your recipe tonight, did not have chicken breast on hand so I use chicken thighs. The chicken came out just divine, so soft and juicy on the inside, crispy on the outside. Thank you so much (dziekuje bardzo) for sharing the best recipe.
Thigh meat is the way to go, Back in NJ or NYC they never use breast meat, too dry
Thank you for editing out the chewing sounds from your tasting shots!!! 10/10!!
Those are the best part, though?
@@Sargentlemangross. It's disgusting unless it's crunchy
@@бронза.вафля.конус Schlopp, schlopp, hoszzzk, schlopp, schlopp, gulp. Delicious.
@@Sargentleman lol I don't have misophonia. Better luck next time! I can tolerate all things related to chewing except slurping. If you can imitate slurping via text, I'll give you a cookie
My word, it's like my NSA guy talked to you about my weekend. I craved General Tso's, and wanted to make it to save myself some money, but instead went out to eat because of those reasons you mentioned. A bit scary, ngl. But congrats on such a good prediction!
I just bought a vacuum sealer w freezer bags, def giving this recipe a try!! Thanks 😊
Don't vacuum these tho, just freeze them on a tray and transfer to bag. Keeps them fluffier and easy to take out however many you need at a time.
blown away by the quality of your videos. you have every little detail covered!!! congrats
i do a vegetarian version periodically since i always have tofu on hand, but i typically use just cornstarch (sometimes with a tbsp of flour but usually not) and do a shallow “fry” with just enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. i also always get lazy on the sauce, so i will be giving this sauce a try!
Tempeh would also probably be good for a vegetarian version, depending on which taste/texture you prefer.
This video finally made me buy an airfryer. I live in a country where Chinese restaurants do not offer Tso's chicken, so making it is the only option. Unfortunately my partner hates the smell of cooking oil (even though I use fresh canola oil), while I'm not a fan deep frying for practical reasons. Your version of the sauce is so aromatic and has such a depth that it's hard to tell whether it was deep or air fried. By the way for breading I used the chestnut flour. An expensive option, but totally worth it. It contains a lot more natural sugars which makes the breading even more crispy.
Would love to see more high protein quick and easy meal recipes
I love these hybrid methods of doing most of the cooking/prep on a weekend and then finishing up during the week.
Thanks for the recipe!
Definitely I’m doing this one next. I’m defrosting my chicken now 👍🏼 thank you for all the perfect work you do. Love your recipes and the way you educate us and explaine ❤
Don't need to defrost. Just airfry it or deep fry it straight out of the freezer.
I love your channel man. You always make things simple and fast for the home cook. And all the meals you feature focus on taste rather than looking fancy or being trendy. I appreciate you man keep being yourself.
Love this dish. In Germany, it isn't really available otherwise, so I have made it multiple times myself. But yeah, very time consuming to make.
My trick to make it more healthy is just to leave out the rice. Don't need it if the chicken is already crusted in carbs.
Also German and never heard of it but it looks like a guilty pleasure of Americans
das ungesunde ist das reudige öl und das billige weißmehl, in dem das fleisch frittiert wird, und der hohe zucker und salz gehalt der soße und nicht der weiße reis, du otto.
To add, I like using cauliflower rice or using shirataki noodles/rice so it is lower in calories, but highly filling. Easier method is to just sauté veggies if having something in the side is a must
I mean rice is only like 260 calories per serving? It’s not that much. When I make this dish it’s only about 750 cals total, very reasonable
@@Lysanderastra to most non Americans that is pretty high. It is fried chicken so idk I just go all out with stuff like this, but I am sure many Europeans wouldnt go past 500 cals for a meal
I love this channel because you answer questions that I never thought I had.
Ethan’s really gotta be one the best cooking RUclips channels
My husband's birthday is tomorrow. He asked me to make General Tso's for him as his gift. You uploaded this at the perfect time! Thanks!
I’ve been making general tso at home for like two years now, thank god I got an air fryer. I’ve never actually tried it in a restaurant because it’s not very popular here in the UK, but the homemade version SLAPS. The secret is the shaoxing rice wine 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼
Does the UK even have general tso? I've never heard or seen it here.
@@shoobzy3431 not that I’m aware of, no, I just didn’t want to say we 100% don’t have it in case somethings changed in the past few years
There is a recipe from "school of wok" from Covent Garden, London. So it make it's way to the UK. But in the US, it's really all over the place. I'm usually cooking the version from Seonkyoung Longest. Even translated it to german and posted it. (Naming my source of inspiration, of course.)
Great video, as a Brit we have to make Gen Tso at home because the takeaways in the UK don’t make it! And we add broccoli on serving!
The air fryer only version seems like the quickest and easiest (as someone who is the self proclaimed Gordon Ramsey of air frying)
Tien Tsin chilis are the 100% best option for this dish no questions asked. I spent about 2 months perfecting my version a few years ago and I had to order them, but it was totally worth it.
Yeah.
Definitely the straight Air Fry.
I made the 1865 White House Chicken Fricasee, [Abe's Fave] and it was brutally taxing.
The first time I made Gen Tsao at home, it was too involved.
Now my Ninja Foodie is gonna getta workout!😊
Made these for the first time. I watched the video when it first came out. We did the air fryer method and I paired it with my homemade Asian fired rice. Wow was this a phenomenal combo. Thank you Ethan! You nailed how to make this properly at home. I've always loved takeout general Tso, but this blows it out of the water!
Could this method work for tofu as well? Might give it a try if so
No
Oh my goodness, this was so good. I used the air fryer, and I was a little reluctant to dump the raw chicken and the marinade all into the flour/cornstarch mixture, but I am so glad I did because it gave it these crunchy chewy edges just like General Tao’s is supposed to have. Thank you so much for the recipe and details, my husband was blown away 😁
I own a Control Freak but feel like I’m not taking full advantage of it due to very few recipes besides for deep frying gives temperature instructions. I’d love if you would more often casually give temperature guidances beyond “low”, “medium”, etc. in other kinds of recipes as CF guidance, or maybe make a video about roughly what temperature spans are inferred by different descriptor words. Thanks so much for hugely inspiring videos!
Not to criticize mind you but I feel like it would be difficult to do so since you don't check the temp for, i.e., a pan or a barbecue. For baking or frying, it works well but not sure about the rest.
Ethan: made this last night with the double deep fry method and was so incredibly pleased with the results. Whenever I’ve tried to make Chinese food, the seasoning always comes out very bland, uninteresting, and overly homogenous. This recipe was FULL of flavor: spiciness, hotness, sweetness, and truly worthy of a Chinese restaurant. The only thing I added was a tsp. of ground black pepper to the flour dredge. It’s just me so I had one serving last night and froze the other three. I plan on taking one of those and doing a re-fry tonight. I have a few “go-to” recipes when guests come over and this will DEFINITELY be one of them! Thanks again for your recipe and research.
Yes, pulling out the oil, heating it up, maintaining the temp through batch cooking, letting it cool, straining, and all the clean up specific to the oil is totally just a difference of about five minutes of actual work. Totally.
For fastest, I generally just buy prebreaded frozen chicken, microwave them, put Kikoman orange chicken glaze on the pieces, but first I steam the rice in a rice cooker & steam the broccoli for 16 min, then put it all together in a bowl. A little Ponzu sauce on the short grain rice. Ponzu sauce is a bit less salty than soy & has lemon or lime in it. Also you can mimic the jack in the box teriyaki bowl with Kikoman Teriyaki baste & glaze sauce with baked chicken pieces and steamed broccoli and sautéed onions over short grain rice.
I'm glad you talked about how sweet the takeout is, half the time I order takeout I wonder if they made the sauce by mixing katsup and sugar
As a Chef, I love videos like this because I can steal your sauce recipe (which looks great BTW and has all the ingredients it SHOULD have in it and none of the stuff it shouldn't (like the quote says; don't fix what ain't broken)) and make my own chicken recipe how I need. Over the past 3 years I have become severely intolerant to gluten. IDK why. IDK what happened. But gluten makes me sick. Found a great gluten free recipe for the chicken but their sauce was a little oddjob.
Thanks for the sauce, Ethan. Good job! BTW thanks for doing GRAMS. We all about that life!
*"CHOP THE CHICKEN INTO PIECES! THIS IS MY LAST RESORT!"*
Made this today. It was dope. Air fryer only. Substituted AP flour with rice flour. Surprisingly crispy. Didn't have garlic chili paste, whatever that is (lol), so I threw some garlic and thai chillis and a touch of oil in the mortar and pestle. Also did half mirin, half rice vinegar for the sauce, and a bit less sugar. I also didn't have dried chilis so I toasted some thai chilis. two for the chili garlic paste and two for the sauce itself. It was perfect. really enjoyed this thanks a lot!
During the chinese cultural revolution, many of the best chefs in the country escaped to nyc. This and many other chinese american dishes are actually very technical and complicated because they were invented by masters of their craft! Would love to see a scallion pancake video
love theses videos! keep them coming my dude
Okay. I gotta be real cause I see this a lot. Am I the only one with a full freezer? Who the hell has room for a full sheet tray in their freezer. Not me, lol.
In a deep freeze?
Hahaha I totally getcha! Honestly, I have played many Tetris rounds with the freezer to make space.
Nowadays I tend to bake or cook a lot, so I try to keep some space. But it's not always possible. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@fedexcow5324 It happens here too sometimes, after buying a half beef and a pig, or after hunting, and especially around Thanksgiving or Christmas if we are hosting family and friends.
Not wealthy enough to buy a walk in yet.
I love your channel. I like how you break down a common cooking problem (scientifically, practicality, nutritionally, etc.) time and time again. I love General Tsao Chicken but wouldn't dream of trying to make it myself.
With two small children and crazy days, this is great just for general meal prepping and having a quick go to dinner. I make a good orange chicken, now to add this sauce to the fridge and some bags of chicken to the freezer. More time swinging the girls around outside. I can't wait to try this sauce!
looks dope. now that I think of it that sauce would also be great over fried cauliflower. There's gobi manchurian with a bit different sauce, and its bomb. Just skip the marinade and use a batter breading of flour, seasoning, water
So regarding cutting calories - I know it's not "traditional", but when I do general tso at home, I just skip deep frying the chicken altogether. Basically what I do, using a wok, is cook the chicken, set it aside, then continue using the wok to make the aromatics, sauce, thicken, etc, then throw the chicken back in to sauce it up and move it to the rice.
Basically Ethan's process, my ingredients are slightly different but looking forward to trying this version especially with the black vinegar. It uses one pan (the wok) and takes like 15 min to cook. I can have it done faster than my rice (I don't have a rice cooker and instead steam it on a pot on the stove, comes out perfect in 20 min)
Ethan, there’s a major typo in your recipe link. According to your video (3:59), the breading calls for 100 g of flour and 25 g cornstarch (which sounds fair), but the recipe link calls for 200 g of BOTH. I knew something was up when I saw 200 g of cornstarch. 😂 The salt and baking powder are correct in both.
Yes, luckily my intuition told me that was way too much cornstarch, so i winged it. The ratio of cornstarch in the slurry is also too high in the link. Really needs to be fixed.
Yooooooo LFGGG!!! HYPED ASF FOR THIS VIDEO
I just imagine the dog in your profile pic screaming that and I find it humorous
@@Agent_4547 lol
Hey! I think this is the first time you used an air fryer in your video! Did you recently get one? I remember you saying earlier that you wanted to keep your kitchen appliances to a minimum but I'm happy you decided on getting one.
I've been using Made With Lau's recipe for the past couple years and make it at least 3 times a month for a family of 4. The whole process is less than 45 minutes for 8 - 12 servings in order to have leftovers. I don't really understand where all the alleged time is going if you're multitasking during the process. The only main difference is his is a batter instead of a dredge. The freezing for later step is a nice addition that I might start doing in the future. Normally we don't really care about the leftovers being crispy the next day. I'm personally opposed to air fryers in general considering how little you can put in them and the redundancy if you already own a toaster oven so I wont be testing that route. If I'm feeling extra lazy I'll just use bottled general tso sauce from House of Tsang. It tastes basically identical to the take-out sauce.
This is so awesome! Thanks.
Not only do we not make it at home, 3/4 of the restaurants who make it, aren't making the actual General Tso's. Most often, they pass off what is essentially barbecue or sweet and sour as GT's. Bleck. I agree, it shouldn't be that sweet.
I would assert the broccoli is actually really important. But it shouldn't be a few token pieces of rubbery veg. The real deal will have generous portions of perfectly steamed, never mushy or rubbery, bright green broccoli, so that the florets capture and hold some of that amazing sauce and balance the carbi-ness of the dish.
I am more of an Air Fryer rather than a deep fry (mostly because I don't like the popping of oil from the fryer), but the deep fryer of #4 looks and sounds amazing 😋
Could you do an episode on deep frying with different types of oils? Would be nice to get some info on healthy vs flavor options.
I think the reveal of the text as the oil spread to the pan was such smooth editing. I think your taste tests would benefit from two lazy suzannes underneath so you could randomize your samples more smoothly.
great recipe, will be making this, also i love the editing on the label at 6:46 when the oil spread out and "revealed" the temp
I partook in that poll and literally the day before I found a new Chinese place that makes the best one I’ve had yet. This came out at the perfect time
Been doing this a few years; buying 4kg of chicken THIGHS, chopping in 2-4, deep fry once and freezing. I remove some of the fat for the kids, but honestly leaving that on gives a super tasty "pocket" of juicy fats in the finished nugget. Whip up any sauce in the wok and throw the refried nugs into it, toss it briefly and serve immediately. I would also add a little warning about the cornstarch slurry; lowering temp before putting it in, or it might bead up into gummy starch bubbles.
Been looking forward to this video since you posted the question
This is also a good technique for steak fingers and pork cutlet nuggets. How you prepare the coating makes a difference. I use flour, egg with cornstarch and pancake batter mix, and panko crumbs for the final crunch coat or cornflakes for pork cutlets. Then same results to finish with a cream gravy or dipping sauces.
This is a great video, I love the breakdown of each step, and the comparisons. I'm going to try an air-fried version with cauliflower. Not to be healthy, just because I don't like chicken and I don't like to deep fry at home. This video has inspired me. Thank you!
Hell yea with the frozen meal prep! I need to figure out how to recreate those frozen heat and serve pasta bags but can't figure out the different component and par-cooked pasta nests.
I've made it many times, but I've used inauthentic chicken (usually frozen popcorn chicken or boneless wings) and store-bought sauce.
Hi, deep frying always puts me off so an air fryer option is interesting.
It’s what to do with all that oil after cooking. What do you do with it? Cleaning it, storing it and how often, if any, times can it be reused. I liked that you addressed this 👍.
Thank you for the recipe 'push'. I bought a bag of frozen, deep fried, chicken nuggets from Aldi a month ago, planning to make General Tso's or Orange Chicken in my AF. This week is it!
I've been waiting for you; someone like you doing this recipe!!!
Im someone who takes pride in how much effort i put into cooking at home, but General Tso's is just exessive.
One dish I simply cannot stand and can’t say anything good about it.
But yours looks good for people that like this stuff.
It's insane how good this channel is. It feels illegal.
How about taking the raw chicken pieces, vacuum-sealing them in a bag with a baking soda and/or cornstarch slurry (to tenderize the chicken), sous vide cooking that a bit below temp, then removing from bag, pat dry, dredge in the dry ingredients, and frying it once... ? Goal is crispy outside with a more tender, juicy inside. Heck, you can add some marinade to the bag as well to give some extra flavor to the chicken and/or rice.
Edit: I was just thinking you could sous vide the rice too. A search for this reveals rice needs to cook at 200 ° F for around 30 mins and the chicken at 140 ° F for about 90 mins. So you'd probably want to cook the chicken first, cook the rice next (letting the chicken cool a bit), then pat the chicken dry and start the fry. The bonus with this method is you can have portions of chicken and rice vacuum-sealed in your freezer, ready to cook. You can also drop a vac-sealed bag of broccoli in toward the end of the chicken bath.
I think you could air fry them for the hands off approach, and then re-fry them in a shallow pan when you're looking to eat.
Another one is breadcrumb air fried chicken. Soaks up any sauce really well and stays crunchy. I usually do 75/25 Panko/plain.
When ordering takeout, I always ask for 50% sugar. Most restaurants have no problem doing this kind of adjustment. Very interesting comparison!
My method: shallow frying! Saves time if you don't mind skipping the second fry (and thus the crunchiness). You also don't need to wait long for the oil to cool down. So you can use the wok short after for your veggies. Add the chicken to the sauce pot to coat then add that to the veggies and serve with rice 👌
Interestingly, our local Chinese takeout restaurant (a high-quality establishment) doesn't bread the chicken and their sauce isn't really sweet or heavy and only moderately spicy. It took me by surprise the first time I got it (we just moved to our new city) and I was used to the heavier, sweeter meals in NJ. Coincidently, I was planning on making "the General" tomorrow and I'm just going to saute the uncoated chicken pieces with garlic and a little dark soy sauce before really saucing it up with General Tso's sauce from Iron Chef. Over Jasmine rice of course. A bit healthier but still tasty and fast. Thanks Ethan!
Well damn. Now I know how to make literally the only thing I ever order from the local Chinese joint at home. And I can make the sauce spicier to boot.
You really are making the case as to why I need a kitchen scale.
I made a Keto version and we don't get it in India so I only ever ate my own version.
The Trader Joe's kit works for me. I add a good amount of hot sauce to it, but it's great in the air fryer since you don't have to deal with the first frying.
I make it at home many times....I have a great recipe and instructions....probably one of my favorite dishes.. Thanks Ethan