Description
You won’t believe how easy it is to make General Tso’s chicken with this simple Trader Joe’s hack! You'll be the hero of your household!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 12 chicken tenderloin strips
- 1 bottle Trader Joe’s General Tsao’s Sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 cups steamed broccoli, optional
- 1/4 cup chopped scallions, optional garnish
- 2 cloves garlic, finely diced
- 2-3 cups of vegetable oil
For the flour dredge
- 1/2 cup corn starch
- 1/2 cup white AP flour
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs, beaten
Basmati Rice (follow package instructions)
- 2 cups basmati rice
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Start cooking your rice first. By the time the rice is cooked, everything else will be ready. Follow the package instructions. I do always make sure I rinse the rice thoroughly. I also add butter and salt.
- Cut your chicken tenderloins into pieces. The pieces should be about ½” to ¾” in size. Season with salt and pepper and set aside for now.
- Finely dice the garlic.
- Cut the broccoli into bite-sized pieces and put them in a pot with some water and a steamer insert. If you don’t have a steamer insert, steaming/boiling it directly in water works too. Plan your timing. Cook on high heat until the water is boiling. Put the lid on, turn the heat to low-medium, and steam until al dente. Should take about 7-10 minutes. A good time to turn the broccoli on is right when you start cooking the chicken.
- Chop the scallions if you’re using them.
- Get the dredging station ready. Put the flour, corn starch, salt and garlic powder in a bowl and mix with a fork. Yes, you can use all corn starch or all flour for this. I usually have both so I do a 50/50 split.
- Beat two eggs in a bowl until well blended.
- Start adding the chicken pieces into the beaten eggs. Make sure all the chicken is covered in egg. Next, start transferring the chicken pieces into the flour mixture and coat them completely. Shake the excess flour from the chicken pieces and transfer to a sheet pan so you’re ready to start frying them. Do this for all the chicken pieces.
- Heat vegetable oil in a pan. This is a shallow fry so the pieces won’t be submerged in oil. The amount of oil you use depends how big your pan in.
- Once the oil is nice and hot, start adding in the chicken pieces. Don’t crowd the pan or touch the pieces until they are ready to be turned. You’ll probably need to cook the chicken pieces in two batches. Heat should be at medium and the chicken should be cooked for 2-2 ½ minutes, then turn the pieces and cook for 2-2 ½ more minutes until crispy and cooked all the way through.
- Place the cooked chicken on a sheet pan.
- After all the chicken is finished, I washed the pan and used the same pan again for the final assembly. I added maybe a teaspoon of oil in the pan and then the garlic. Cook garlic for a minute or two – just until fragrant.
- Add all the fried chicken to the pan and mix around to combine with the garlic.
- Pour the General Tso’s sauce into the pan and mix to coat all the chicken.
- Serve with basmati rice, broccoli and garnish with scallions.
