This Healthy General Tso Chicken doesn’t deep fry the chicken but still gives you a delicious dish, with great textures and awesome flavor, plus it’s so quick and easy to make!

Healthy General Tso's Chicken in bowl

Why This General Tso Chicken Is So Good!

  • An easy and quick recipe, 15 mins cook time 
  • Uses stir fried chicken instead of deep fried, for a healthier dish.
  • Has a super flavorful sauce, which you can make as spicy as you like!
  • A versatile dish, you can replace the chicken with thinly sliced pork or beef.

How To Make This Healthy General Tso Chicken – Step By Step

 In a bowl, make the General Tso sauce: Whisk together the soy sauce, vinegar, honey, garlic chili sauce, chicken broth, just 1 teaspoon of the cornstarch. Set aside.

Add broccoli to a pan/wok until broccoli has turned bright green and is crunchy-tender. Set broccoli aside. Empty water from wok or pan and dry well. Return wok or pan to stove.

Cube the chicken, coat in cornstarch, salt and pepper. Then stir fry the chicken in the pan/wok, do it in two batches so the chicken is in one layer.

When all the chicken have cooked, turn heat to medium. Let the pan cool a bit before adding the rest of the ingredients (so they don’t burn). Add the green onions, garlic and ginger . Stir fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Control your heat so that the ingredients don’t burn.

Pour in the General Tso’s sauce to pan and bring mixture to a simmer. Return the chicken and broccoli to the pan, toss and cook for 1 minute. The sauce should thicken and the chicken should be cooked through completely. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve immediately.

Yummy and Healthy General Tso's Chicken on table

Dark Meat Vs White Meat In This Healthy General Tso Chicken

According to an article from Josh Ozersky on Time Magazine, the difference between white and dark meat isn’t as great as you might think.

From U.S. Department of Agriculture:

100 grams of white meat – 0.56 g of saturated fat and 114 calories
100 grams of dark meat has 1 g of saturated fat and 119 calories. 

To save .46 grams + 3 calories, I’ll take the dark meat any day!

Men’s Health article: “The extra fat in dark turkey or chicken meat raises your levels of cholecystokinin (CCK), a hormone that makes you feel fuller, longer.”

Live Science: “A nutrient called taurine, found abundantly in poultry dark meat, significantly lowered the risk of coronary heart disease in women with high cholesterol, the study revealed. The researchers said that taurine also might help protect against diabetes and high blood pressure.”

Slate: The Dark Side of the Bird: “Dark chicken meat is also nutrient rich, containing higher levels of iron, zinc, riboflavin, thiamine, and vitamins B6 and B12 than white meat.”

So feel free to substitute with this Healthy General Tso Chicken with boneless, skinless dark meat 🙂

A Healthy General Tso Chicken Recipe

This Healthy General Tso Chicken dish is lower in calories than your classic take out version but it’s just as delicious! It’s packed with steamed broccoli and the chicken isn’t deep fried, it’s actually coated in cornstarch and stir fried, giving the chicken a lovely crispy coating. You will not miss the deep fryer!

rice and chicken in bowl

Top Tips For Healthy General Tso Chicken

  • You can substitute chicken for thinly sliced pork or beef.
  • Stir fry the chicken in two batches, to make sure all the chicken touches the wok/pan
  • For a vegetarian version, use extra firm tofu cut into cubes and vegetable broth.
  • Serve with white or brown rice.

I love hearing from you! If you have made this Healthy General Tso Chicken, be sure to leave me a star rating and a comment below!

Healthy General Tso Chicken Recipe Video

 

 

Healthy General Tso Chicken

Jayden Hair
This Healthy General Tso Chicken doesn't deep fry the chicken but still gives you a delicious dish, with great textures and awesome flavor, plus it's so quick and easy to make!
5 from 3 votes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine American, Asian
Servings 4 servings
Calories 350 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoons rice vinegar or white vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons garlic chili sauce
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth
  • 3 teaspoons cornstarch divided
  • 1 large head broccoli cut into small florets
  • 1 pound boneless chicken meat cut into 1-inch pieces
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 1-1/2 tablespoon of cooking oil
  • 1 to 2 cloves garlic finely minced
  • 1 teaspoon ginger finely minced (or grated on rasp grater)
  • 4 stalks green onion chopped
  • 1 teaspoon roasted sesame seeds

Instructions
 

  • In a bowl, make the General Tso sauce: Whisk together the soy sauce, vinegar, honey, garlic chili sauce, chicken broth, just 1 teaspoon of the cornstarch. Set aside.
  • In a wok or large sauté pan over high heat, add 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil. Add broccoli to the pan and cover. Steam for 2 minutes or until broccoli has turned bright green and is crunchy-tender (just shy of cooked through.) Remove broccoli from pan, drain and rinse with cool water to stop cooking. Set broccoli aside. Empty water from wok or pan and dry well. Return wok or pan to stove.
  • In a medium bowl, add chicken, remaining 2 teaspoons of cornstarch, salt and pepper and stir to coat chicken evenly.
  • Heat the wok over high heat. When very hot, add cooking oil and swirl to coat. To get a nice crust on the chicken, you'll cook them in a single layer, giving them plenty of space to brown. Add half the chicken to pan in a single layer. Let cook undisturbed for 1-2 minutes, until the bottom of chicken is browned, flip chicken, cook until other side is browned. The chicken should be halfway cooked through - remove the half-cooked chicken pieces to a plate to set aside. As you take chicken pieces out, continually add in more of the raw chicken to the pan to cook.
  • When all the chicken have cooked, turn heat to medium. Let the pan cool a bit before adding the rest of the ingredients (so they don't burn). The pan should still have some cooking oil left from the chicken. To the pan, add the green onions, garlic and ginger . Stir fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Control your heat so that the ingredients don't burn.
  • Pour in the General Tso's sauce to pan and bring mixture to a simmer. Return the chicken and broccoli to the pan, toss and cook for 1 minute. The sauce should thicken and the chicken should be cooked through completely. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve immediately.

Notes

You can substitute chicken for thinly sliced pork or beef.
Stir fry the chicken in two batches, to make sure all the chicken touches the wok/pan
For a vegetarian version, use extra firm tofu cut into cubes and vegetable broth.
Serve with white or brown rice.

Nutrition

Calories: 350kcalCarbohydrates: 18gProtein: 27gFat: 20gSaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 85mgSodium: 804mgPotassium: 770mgFiber: 4gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 1225IUVitamin C: 142mgCalcium: 97mgIron: 3mg
Keyword asian chicken, chicken stir fry, general tso chicken
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!