General Tso’s Fettuccine Alfredo
Creamy, spicy, sweet, and savory, the perfect combination of fettuccine alfredo and General Tso’s chicken that you didn’t know you needed! One of my favorite meals when I was first learning to cook was teriyaki alfredo from local restaurant in my hometown. It really helped me realize how well the salty sweet chicken matched with the creamy alfredo flavors! I even made some ravioli inspired by it.
The inspiration for this General Tso’s Fettuccine Alfredo
Weirdly, one of the main things that ties these two recipes together is broccoli! General Tso’s and fettuccine alfredo are both often are served with broccoli so I knew I needed to add broccoli to the mix. I love the combination of creamy with spicy, and we all know fried chicken goes great with parmesan and pasta! It might seem like an odd mix, but it actually blended perfectly!
Marinate the chicken
Cut some chicken thighs into bite sized pieces and season with some salt. Add in soy sauce and vodka! Lately I have been adding vodka to any marinade when I am frying something because it helps keep things crispy.
Make the General Tso’s Sauce
Saute some garlic and ginger in the pan first, then add soy sauce, hoisin, brown sugar, rice vinegar, and sambal. Because I was looking for some heat to balance the creamy fettuccine alfredo, I upped the amount of sambal I used compared to what I normally would put in General Tso’s. Then add the chicken stock and thicken it with cornstarch.
Make the fettuccine alfredo
Garlic and butter first, then add some seasonings and heavy cream. Then a bunch of parmesan!
Stir in the pasta, some of the pasta cooking liquid, and charred broccoli.
Frying the General Tso’s Chicken
I did a simple cornstarch coating on this chicken. I have done it a few different ways but I was using a recipe and I wanted to see how it came out with the cornstarch only approach. I ended up being easy and came out great! Shake out the excess marinade in a strainer, then shake out the excess cornstarch.
Fry until golden and cooked through!
Transfer to a wire rack until ready to plate. You can pop this into the oven too if there will be some time before you plate it up.
Plate the General Tso’s Fettuccine Alfredo
Pasta first, then chicken, then sauce! Top with some scallions, sesame seeds, and chili flakes.
I loved how this came out! It combined a ton of my favorite flavors. A perfect mashup of fettuccine alfredo and General Tso’s! There were hints of chicken broccoli penne, as well as chicken parmesan!
Pure comfort on a plate!
Twists on this General Tso’s Fettuccine Alfredo
This would be a lot easier if you used store bought fried chicken but made the sauces at home. I am sure you could also buy the sauces and make it even easier! This is the recipe I followed for the General Tso’s chicken but I added a bit more heat to it.
If you love General Tso’s flavors like me, check out my General Tso’s chicken sandwich!
General Tso’s Fettuccine Alfredo
Equipment
Ingredients
Chicken and marinade
- 2 boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into bite sized pieces
- pinch salt
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons vodka
Tso Sauce
- 1 tablespoon peanut or other neutral cooking oil
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger
- 2 tablespoons grated garlic
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon hoisin
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup sambal chili paste
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3/4 cup chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
Alfredo
- 1/2 stick butter
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- black pepper, chili flakes, and italian seasoning
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1 pound fettuccine
- 1 large head broccoli
- peanut or other neutral cooking oil
Chicken frying
- oil for frying
- 1 cup cornstarch
Serving
- sesame seeds
- chili flakes
- chopped scallions
Instructions
Marinate the chicken
- Mix the chicken in a bowl with the salt, soy sauce, and vodka. Set aside in the fridge for an hour or so while you do the next steps.
Make the General Tso Sauce
- Add the oil to a frying pan or pot over medium heat. Add in the ginger and garlic and saute for 3 minutes until fragrant. If you see any browning it's time to go to the next step.
- Stir in the soy sauce, hoisin, rice vinegar, sambal, brown sugar, and chicken broth. Bring to a light simmer.
- Add about 1/4 cup of water to a small mixing bowl and stir in the cornstarch. When it is combined, stir it into the sauce. You should see the sauce thicken as it comes back to a simmer.
- Remove from heat and stir in the sesame oil. Set aside until ready to use.
Make the alfredo
- Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat and add in the garlic.
- Stir to combine. Cook for 2 minutes. Add in some black pepper, chili flakes, and italian seasoning and stir to combine.
- Whisk in the heavy cream and bring to a light simmer. Simmer about 5 minutes on low heat stirring often.
- Bring a pot of heavily salted water to a boil and add the pasta.
- Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the parmesan. Just before straining the pasta, reserve about a cup of the starchy pasta cooking water. Strain the pasta and add it right into the sauce.
- Toss the sauce to combine and add as much of the pasta cooking liquid as needed to form the perfect consistency.
- Preheat broiler to high. Break up the broccoli into florets. Add to a sheet pan and toss with some oil and salt.
- Broil on high for about 5-8 minutes until the edges are charred. Stir the broccoli into the pasta.
Fry the chicken
- Bring the fry oil to about 360
- Add the chicken to a strainer and toss to remove excess liquid.
- Add the cornstarch to the chicken and toss to coat, making sure to get all the creases and fully coat the chicken. Toss in the strainer so the excess coating falls off.
- Fry the chicken in batches as needed until crispy and golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack.
Bring it all together
- Add the pasta to the plates, then top with 4 or 5 pieces of chicken. Make sure the sauce is warm. Drizzle on the sauce over the chicken and a little over the rest of the pasta.
- Top with chopped scallions, sesame seeds, and chili flakes.
It look great, but for me, you’d need to 86 the broccoli…I’ve never been a broccoli eater.