This Healthy General Tso Chicken doesn’t deep fry the chicken but still gives you a delicious dish, with great textures and awesome flavor, plus it’s so quick and easy to make!
Why This General Tso Chicken Is So Good!
- An easy and quick recipe, 15 mins cook time
- Uses stir fried chicken instead of deep fried, for a healthier dish.
- Has a super flavorful sauce, which you can make as spicy as you like!
- A versatile dish, you can replace the chicken with thinly sliced pork or beef.
How To Make This Healthy General Tso Chicken – Step By Step
In a bowl, make the General Tso sauce: Whisk together the soy sauce, vinegar, honey, garlic chili sauce, chicken broth, just 1 teaspoon of the cornstarch. Set aside.
Add broccoli to a pan/wok until broccoli has turned bright green and is crunchy-tender. Set broccoli aside. Empty water from wok or pan and dry well. Return wok or pan to stove.
Cube the chicken, coat in cornstarch, salt and pepper. Then stir fry the chicken in the pan/wok, do it in two batches so the chicken is in one layer.
When all the chicken have cooked, turn heat to medium. Let the pan cool a bit before adding the rest of the ingredients (so they don’t burn). Add the green onions, garlic and ginger . Stir fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Control your heat so that the ingredients don’t burn.
Pour in the General Tso’s sauce to pan and bring mixture to a simmer. Return the chicken and broccoli to the pan, toss and cook for 1 minute. The sauce should thicken and the chicken should be cooked through completely. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve immediately.
Dark Meat Vs White Meat In This Healthy General Tso Chicken
According to an article from Josh Ozersky on Time Magazine, the difference between white and dark meat isn’t as great as you might think.
From U.S. Department of Agriculture:
100 grams of white meat – 0.56 g of saturated fat and 114 calories
100 grams of dark meat has 1 g of saturated fat and 119 calories.
To save .46 grams + 3 calories, I’ll take the dark meat any day!
Men’s Health article: “The extra fat in dark turkey or chicken meat raises your levels of cholecystokinin (CCK), a hormone that makes you feel fuller, longer.”
Live Science: “A nutrient called taurine, found abundantly in poultry dark meat, significantly lowered the risk of coronary heart disease in women with high cholesterol, the study revealed. The researchers said that taurine also might help protect against diabetes and high blood pressure.”
Slate: The Dark Side of the Bird: “Dark chicken meat is also nutrient rich, containing higher levels of iron, zinc, riboflavin, thiamine, and vitamins B6 and B12 than white meat.”
So feel free to substitute with this Healthy General Tso Chicken with boneless, skinless dark meat 🙂
A Healthy General Tso Chicken Recipe
This Healthy General Tso Chicken dish is lower in calories than your classic take out version but it’s just as delicious! It’s packed with steamed broccoli and the chicken isn’t deep fried, it’s actually coated in cornstarch and stir fried, giving the chicken a lovely crispy coating. You will not miss the deep fryer!
Top Tips For Healthy General Tso Chicken
- You can substitute chicken for thinly sliced pork or beef.
- Stir fry the chicken in two batches, to make sure all the chicken touches the wok/pan
- For a vegetarian version, use extra firm tofu cut into cubes and vegetable broth.
- Serve with white or brown rice.
I love hearing from you! If you have made this Healthy General Tso Chicken, be sure to leave me a star rating and a comment below!
Healthy General Tso Chicken Recipe Video
Healthy General Tso Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar or white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 to 2 teaspoons garlic chili sauce
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 3 teaspoons cornstarch divided
- 1 large head broccoli cut into small florets
- 1 pound boneless chicken meat cut into 1-inch pieces
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1-1/2 tablespoon of cooking oil
- 1 to 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- 1 teaspoon ginger finely minced (or grated on rasp grater)
- 4 stalks green onion chopped
- 1 teaspoon roasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- In a bowl, make the General Tso sauce: Whisk together the soy sauce, vinegar, honey, garlic chili sauce, chicken broth, just 1 teaspoon of the cornstarch. Set aside.
- In a wok or large sauté pan over high heat, add 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil. Add broccoli to the pan and cover. Steam for 2 minutes or until broccoli has turned bright green and is crunchy-tender (just shy of cooked through.) Remove broccoli from pan, drain and rinse with cool water to stop cooking. Set broccoli aside. Empty water from wok or pan and dry well. Return wok or pan to stove.
- In a medium bowl, add chicken, remaining 2 teaspoons of cornstarch, salt and pepper and stir to coat chicken evenly.
- Heat the wok over high heat. When very hot, add cooking oil and swirl to coat. To get a nice crust on the chicken, you'll cook them in a single layer, giving them plenty of space to brown. Add half the chicken to pan in a single layer. Let cook undisturbed for 1-2 minutes, until the bottom of chicken is browned, flip chicken, cook until other side is browned. The chicken should be halfway cooked through - remove the half-cooked chicken pieces to a plate to set aside. As you take chicken pieces out, continually add in more of the raw chicken to the pan to cook.
- When all the chicken have cooked, turn heat to medium. Let the pan cool a bit before adding the rest of the ingredients (so they don't burn). The pan should still have some cooking oil left from the chicken. To the pan, add the green onions, garlic and ginger . Stir fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Control your heat so that the ingredients don't burn.
- Pour in the General Tso's sauce to pan and bring mixture to a simmer. Return the chicken and broccoli to the pan, toss and cook for 1 minute. The sauce should thicken and the chicken should be cooked through completely. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve immediately.
Notes
Stir fry the chicken in two batches, to make sure all the chicken touches the wok/pan
For a vegetarian version, use extra firm tofu cut into cubes and vegetable broth.
Serve with white or brown rice.
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a review in the comment section! I always appreciate your feedback and I know other readers do, too!
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I’m always looking for great new recipes! Keep up the good work 🙂
So I’m trying to not use oil these days, and stir fry is a bit iffy in my kitchen. instead of sataying the chicken with oil, I actually use your buttermilk chicken recipe, and coat tiny pieces, and bake them. then I put in my chopped scallions, ginger julienne, and sliced garlic and just satay it in the wok, not with oil, but with a bit of chicken stock, like 4 tablespoons, just to get the flavors released and I’m left with tons of flavor without the oil. then i add the baked chicken, stir to coat the veggies, then add the sauce to coat everything, stirring for a minute to get the starch to thicken things up. Surprisingly, It comes out just as good as with the oil IMHO.
Thank you so much Bob! jaden
In the kitchen, I’m the assistant and my wife is the cook calling the shots. We’ve got the whole kitchen tag team thing down to a science and it’s a lot of fun (with good rhythmic music in the background), we take advantage of a nice rebate (this week the deal was on chicken) and we whipped out a few recipes to fill the freezer. As luck would have it, I didn’t check email and didn’t see your recipes for General Tao Chicken until after everything was cooked and the kitchen was squared away. Thanks for the recipe we’ll be sure to try out on our next cooking blitz.
thanks for the recipe! I hope my family likes it as much as I do. (I made it for dinner)
Hey jaden,
For some reason my sauce just won’t thicken. Please help ðŸ™
You can also thicken by adding (1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup cool water) at the end of cooking. Just stir in, simmer for 1 minute. It should thicken nicely.
Thank you!!
This was excellent and so fast! I did double the sauce and add dried chiles and chilie oil. This website is a new discovery for me and we love it. Keep the recipes coming!
I wish you were more specific in your cooking directions. It clearly states to only cook the chicken half way, and then remove from heat and add back in at the end for a minute. By doing this, you’re still left with raw chicken. :-/ My meal came out a bit over cooked to make up for having to make sure the chicken was cooked all the way through.
The chicken should have been cooked through after the minute simmering. Perhaps you cut your chicken pieces too big?
Thanks for finally talking about >Healthy General Tso’s Chicken | Steamy Kitchen Recipes <Loved it!
What specific cooking oil do you use?
I love Rice Bran Oil. You can find at Trader Joe’s and many health food stores.. Great for high-heat cooking with neutral flavor.
Hi Jaden,
I wanna try making this dish but I’ve got a toddler at home. Can I omit the garlic chili sauce/there’s a substitution to it that won’t make this dish spicy?
Hi Jeanne! Just leave it out 🙂
Hi Jaden,
First time commenting but have enjoyed your site for years! Though we’re a non-veg family, my MIL is visiting next week and I’ve bought some firm tofu to try in this recipe. Do I cube and then cook the tofu in a similar manner as the chicken? Do I simply add the cubed tofu to the finished dish? Thank you for sharing your knowledge and life events!
Hi Rani! Yes, cook your tofu as you would chicken (brown all sides), remove. Add back into the stir fry at end of cooking (just like the chicken) and let it cook (this gives the tofu time to absorb the sauce)
This looks delicious!!! I’ll definitely make this recipe some time next week.
I’m subbing the chicken for tofu because chicken is so unhealthy.
Soooooooooo yummy. Thanks for helping non-cookers to be able to wow the kiddos with awesome food! <3
My daughter and I made this dish tonight, one batch with chicken (white meat) and one batch with tofu. The flavor of the sauce is delicious and the flavors pop. The ginger is a nice touch! Easy directions and definitely a do over.
I’m not a huge fan of General Tsos chicken, mostly because the only version I’ve been introduced to so far in life is from a restaurant! Bleck!
I will, however, be incredibly willing to try this recipe once I get the chance. Thank you for showing me that there are alternatives!! 🙂
Hello,
May I know why you felt you needed to write “brothas” and “sistahs” when you referred to the dark meat.
I find it very offensive. And I am surprised no one else does.
OOoohh… definitely trying this tonight. It looks amazing!
thank u so much for this recipe it was delish!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And flavorful:_))
Great recipe! I’m going to make it! I have always prefered the dark meat over breast, and now I feel good about my preference.
Nice, looks much healthier than the deep fried alternative!
We made a big batch of this last Friday night. It’s what I ate for breakfast the next day!
A healthy general tsos – thank you!!!!
This looks delish!
This looks awesome and I can’t wait to try it!
Burning question…
I see chili garlic sauce in lots of asian recipes… Is it the same thing as sriracha? There are a number of products at my grocery store that look like they could all be considered chili and garlic, but they look like might be wildly different in flavor. Is there a specific product you recommend here?
thanks!
Chili Garlic sauce is different – it’s thicker, chunkier, spicier, less sugar. But yummy all the same 🙂 I use both.
Your meals look so good,but I need the carb and potien count. We just found out my husband is a diabetic. Thank you
This looks so good!
What is the red stuff in the small bowl in the pictures?
Garlic chili sauce or sriracha!
It seems like you are successfully making the case that dark meat is in fact healthier than white, considering the overall nutritional profile and the negligible difference in fat.
This is so delicious. I love this. I make this recipe in my dinner.
My boyfriend is Malaysian-English and actually prefers the white meat. But like you said, it works out better for me! I love dark meat so much
Yum this looks really nice. I’m a dark meat girl all the way too.
Dark meat for the win! It’s a forgiving part of the chicken when it comes to cooking. You can hardly overcook it! Your food looks great with the chicken breast, good contrast on color and texture for the dish.
I’m Japanese American & I actually can’t stand dark meat…I will only ever eat white meat but you’re right, I’m the only Asian I know who doesn’t like dark meat. Yummy recipe! Looking forward to trying it.
my new years resolution was no eating out alone, THANK YOU for sharing a homemade general tso’s! Definitely my favorite, and so is dark meat! My sister and I are also prefer opposite meats, so buying a whole chicken is perfect for us