General Tso Chicken (Gluten Free)

    Ingredients

    • 1 Egg White
    • 2 Tablespoons Tamari
    • 2 Tablespoons Shaoxing Wine
    • 2 Tablespoons Pepper Flavored Vodka
    • 1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
    • 3 Tablespoons Cornstarch
    • 1 Pound Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs (diced into bite sized chunks)
    • 6 Tablespoons Chickpea Flour
    • 2 Tablespoons Tapioca Flour
    • 1/2 Cup Cornstarch
    • 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
    • 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
    • 3 Tablespoons Tamari
    • 2 Tablespoons Shaoxing Wine
    • 2 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar
    • 1 Splash Water
    • 1 Tablespoon Sugar
    • 2 Tablespoons Plum Sauce
    • 1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
    • 1/2 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
    • 1 Tablespoon Corn Starch
    • 3 Cloves Garlic (minced)
    • 2 Inches Ginger (grated)
    • 5 Thai Chiles (sliced)
    • 1 Head Broccoli (chopped)
    • Oil for Frying
    • Fried Rice
    • For: 3 People
    • Preparation: 30 min
    • Cooking: 30 min
    • Ready in: 1 h

    Instructions

    1. Whip the egg white until it starts to get slightly foamy. fold in the rest of the marinade ingredients except the chicken. Split it in half. Add the chicken to half of the mixture and set the rest aside.
    2. Mix the dry coat ingredients together. Mix in the reserved marinade. It gets clumpy but whisk it up until the clumps are sort of small.
    3. Mix the tamari, wine, vinegar, water, sugar, plum sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and cornstarch. Whisk until there are no more lumps.
    4. Saute the ginger, garlic, and chiles for a minute or so. Add in the sauce mixture and stir. Bring to a simmer until it thickens and remove from heat.
    5. Bring your oil to 350. Work in batches, tossing the chicken in the dry coating, then shaking off the excess and dropping them into the oil. Fry about 4 minutes before transferring to a rack to drain.
    6. Turn the heat back on the skillet and add in the chicken and broccoli. Toss until everything is coated and warm and the broccoli is just slightly cooked.

    Notes

    I had a really nice New Year’s Eve and Day this year with some close friends. My roommate and I had 6 people over, and the 8 of us hung out for about 24 hours. Some people even stayed 36 hours! We were all dressed up at night, and then switched to sweatpants around 12:30 but kept the party going. We woke up and had breakfast, and then just sat around watching movies all day. I cooked a ton of food over those 24 hours, and a lot of the recipes will be up here in the next few weeks. This dish was a request from my roommate, and the last thing we all ate together, at around 5pm New Year’s Day. I followed the Serious Eats recipe for General Tso Chicken with a few tweaks to make it Gluten Free and make it my own.


    The chicken is marinating already, and you want to make the sauce before you fry it. Garlic, ginger, and chiles, followed by the sauce with rice vinegar, tamari, and shaoxing wine.

    Cornstarch in the sauce causes it to thicken after it comes to a simmer.

    The chicken is frying up. It is coated with some beaten egg whites, cornstarch, and chickpea flour.
    Toss the chicken in the sauce as it comes out of the fryer.

    I mixed broccoli right in instead of keeping it on the side like the way it is normally served at my Chinese takeout.

    Crispy fresh and flavorful chicken!
    I have always wanted to make this popular takeout dish at home, and was happy I finally had a reason to do it!

    Happy New Year!

    Here is an awkward family photo we took around midnight.

    I mostly followed the Serious Eats recipe. I tripled it because I was cooking for 8. I mixed broccoli in. I also added a little bit of plum sauce and oyster sauce to the sauce mixture, just to make it taste a little more like the type of general tso chicken I am used to. For Gluten free substitutions, I swapped all soy sauce for tamari, and I swapped the flour for a mixture of mostly chickpea flour and a little tapioca flour.