Favourite General Tso's Chicken

This is closer to the original General Tso’s chicken than what comes in the takeout box, no thick batter, no goopy sweet-sour sauce. Thin strips of chicken breast get a quick marinade in soy, sherry, ginger, and cornstarch, then a fast wok stir-fry with dried chiles and orange zest.

Cutting against the grain into thin two-inch slices is what keeps the chicken tender. The cornstarch in the marinade pulls double duty: it tenderizes the protein and forms a thin coating that thickens the sauce as it cooks, no separate slurry needed.

Stir-frying the dried chiles for ten seconds before the chicken returns to the pan is a step you cannot skip. That’s when the capsaicin and smoky notes bloom into the oil, and that infused oil is what carries the heat through every bite. Watch them closely, ten seconds tops, burned chiles taste bitter.

Chef Tips

• Get the wok smoking hot before the oil goes in, ‘wok hei’ (the breath of the wok) only happens at very high heat. A lukewarm pan steams the chicken instead of searing it
• Lift the chicken from the marinade with a slotted spoon, don’t dump the marinade liquid into hot oil unless you want to deep-fry your eyebrows
• Fresh orange zest is what separates this from a generic chicken stir-fry. Dried tangerine peel works in a pinch but fresh wins
• Dry-roast the Sichuan peppercorns first, the heat releases their numbing tingle (málà) that makes Hunan food unmistakable
• Cook in two batches if your pan is small, crowding drops the heat and the chicken steams instead of browns

Variations

• Add a splash of black vinegar at the end for an authentic Hunan tang
• Toss scallion whites in with the chiles and finish with the green tops just before serving
• Bulk it up with broccoli florets, blanched first then stir-fried alongside the chicken in the last 2 minutes