| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 4 hr |
| Active: | 40 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
- 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar or rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 1/2 quarts (6 cups) vegetable oil
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups cornstarch
- 1/2 cup self-rising flour
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
- 3 to 5 dried Szechuan peppercorns, crushed
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 large Hawaiian rolls
- Butter, for the rolls
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
- Chinese Slaw, recipe follows
- Chinese Hot Mustard, recipe follows
- 2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions
- 2 carrots, julienned
- 1 medium head napa cabbage, shredded
- 1 red Fresno chile, seeds and ribs removed, julienned
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1/4 cup boiling water
- 1/4 cup dry English-style mustard, such as Coleman’s
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 clove garlic, grated on a rasp grater
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, optional
Instructions
- For the marinade and chicken: In a bowl, whisk together the hoisin, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and cornstarch. Transfer 1/4 cup of the mixture to a ziptop bag and add the chicken thighs. Marinate, refrigerated, for at least 3 hours, but ideally overnight. Reserve the remaining hoisin mixture to make the General Tso’s sauce.
- For the crispy chicken: In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil until a deep-frying thermometer registers 350 degrees F.
- In a pie dish or shallow bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and eggs. In a separate pie dish or shallow bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and self-rising flour. Mix 3 tablespoons of the buttermilk-egg mixture into the flour mixture; lightly whisk to work the buttermilk into the dredge to create crispy, craggly little bits.
- Dunk the chicken first in the buttermilk-egg mixture, then dredge in the flour mixture to coat thoroughly. Gently drop the chicken into the oil, in batches if necessary, and fry until golden brown and the interior registers 160 degrees F, 8 to 10 minutes.
- For the General Tso’s sauce: Meanwhile, heat the oil in a medium saucepot over medium-low heat. Add the ginger, Szechuan peppercorns and garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute; do not burn. Add the reserved hoisin mixture, bring to a simmer and simmer until thickened, 5 to 8 minutes.
- While the fried chicken is still hot, submerge it in the warm sauce to coat.
- For the sandwich build: Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat. Split the rolls in half and butter the insides. Griddle or toast until golden brown.
- Place a dunked chicken thigh on each roll and top with a nice sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds. Top with the Chinese Slaw and Chinese Hot Mustard.
- In a large bowl, toss together the green onions, carrots, cabbage and chile. In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then pour over the cabbage mixture. Toss until the slaw is coated. Let the flavors meld for at least 30 minutes.
- Whisk the boiling water and mustard together in a bowl. Let cool completely.
- Mix in the mayonnaise and garlic, then season with salt and pepper if desired.
Reviews
This has a great flavor! I will definitely use the marinade/sauce recipe again. The slaw was also very good. It was a bit time consuming for a week night meal. However I will use variations of this recipe!!
OK, I’m conflicted with this recipe. First off, the flavors are outstanding. The chicken came out so crispy and tender. It is probably the best chicken I have ever fried. Here’s the but, it was a lot of work. Not complicated, just a lot of steps. I even took a shortcut by buying a bag of coleslaw mix. I would definitely use parts of this recipe again when making regular General Tso’s chicken with broccoli and rice. My recommendation is to marinade the chicken, set aside the extra hoisin marinade, make the slaw, mustard and toasted sesame seeds the day before. Then all you will need to do is finalize the General Tso’s sauce, fry the chicken and assemble the next day. By the way, for the General Tso‘s sauce,I did not have Szechuan peppercorns, so I used coriander seed and black peppercorns, toasted them in a dry skillet then threw them in my spice grinder.
Not a bad thing about this recipe. It’s amazing.
Great recipie! I didn’t change a thing. It was absolutely delicious.
Awesome twist
Made this for dinner and would not change a thing the mustard was great and General Tso sauce was great . Thanks for a great recipe
After watching this my mouth was watering. Made for fam and will post lawyer on instagram. Great recipe Jeff!!!
I used the recipe to make chicken tenders and the chicken was perfectly crispy and my family loved it!!
I knew I had to make this after seeing on the Kitchen yesterday. So good!!! The chicken comes out great and the slaw is super tasty! Definitely a keeper!