If you love ordering General Tso's chicken from your local takeout spot, you need to try my make-at-home General Tso's Shrimp! Sweet and spicy sauce coats crispy shrimp for an easy dinner that's way more delicious than takeout.
🥣 What is General Tso's sauce?
If you've frequented your local Chinese restaurant, chances are you've seen General Tso's chicken (or tofu, etc.) on the menu.
General Tso's sauce is a sweet and spicy sauce that's very popular in American Chinese cooking. It's made with a base of soy sauce and sugar (or honey/agave), mixed with with rice vinegar, garlic, ginger and dried chilis, and thickened with a touch of cornstarch.
It's not a traditional Hunan sauce and is a Chinese-American invention that's been tailored for American's tastebuds.
Despite the fact you won't find General Tso's sauce in China or other Asian countries, it can still be a fun sauce to make from scratch at home. Especially when served with shrimp!
🗒 Ingredients
Here's everything you need to make this General Tso shrimp (please see the recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):
- Shrimp: peeled and deveined with tails off
- Cornstarch
- Salt & pepper
- Vegetable oil: or the cooking oil of your choice
- Garlic
- Fresh ginger
- Chicken or vegetable broth
- Soy sauce
- Granulated sugar
- Rice vinegar
- Hoisin sauce
- Fresh or rehydrated dried arbol chilies: you can also substitute with chili paste, like a sambal oelek
- Sesame oil
- Sesame seeds: for garnish
- Scallions: for garnish
🍤 Why this recipe works
Quick and easy: It's easy enough to make for a weeknight dinner, but also impressive enough to serve to guests without stress.
Balanced sauce: the combo of soy, sugar, rice vinegar and a touch of hoisin delivers a perfect sweet-tangy flavor profile. The fresh ginger adds a brightness.
Heat control: you can decide on the spice level of your sauce by adjusting the type and amount of chilies that you add.
Versatile entree: General Tso's shrimp can be served in so many different ways with so many different sides. Ideas below!
Coating the shrimp in a light layer of cornstarch and cooking them in hot oil, results in a beautifully crispy shrimp.
After making the sauce, you'll want to add the shrimp in and simmer just until heated through.
The sauce should be thick enough that it clings to the shrimp.
👩🍳 Recipe tips
- Dry thoroughly: be sure to pat shrimp completely dry with paper towel before tossing shrimp in cornstarch (step 1). Making sure they're completely dry will allow them to crisp up better when cooking.
- Work in batches if necessary: crowding the pan will drop the temperature and lead to soggy shrimp. If your wok or skillet is not big enough for all your shrimp, cook them in two smaller batches.
- Use high heat: sear the shrimp over medium-high heat so they cook quickly without steaming; 1–2 minutes per side is plenty.
- Finish sauce with sesame oil: drizzling sesame oil in at the end keeps the toasty flavor bright (it can get bitter if it cooks too long).
- Add garnish: chopped scallions and sesame seeds make the perfect General Tso shrimp garnish.
🔥 How to adjust heat
I used dried arbol chiles that I rehydrated for my sauce and with my 4 chiles, this is a slightly spicy dish. It's definitely not too spicy, but has a light heat to it, like you'd find in most restaurants.
However, if you want a milder or spicier dish, here are some ideas:
- Milder: Remove the seeds and membranes from 1–2 arbol chilies so you get the chile flavor without all the heat. Alternatively, just use 1 teaspoon of sambal oelek.
- Extra spicy: Leave the seeds in your chiles and add an extra chopped arbol pepper an extra teaspoon of chili paste. You can also fell free to finish the shrimp with a drizzle of chili oil.
🥦 How to serve
Of course, General Tso's chicken is generally served over white rice and that's how I like to serve my shrimp, too. But since you're making it at home, you can serve it any way you want!
Here are some ideas for what to serve General Tso's shrimp with:
- White rice, brown rice, quinoa, or cauliflower rice.
- Fried rice
- Lo mein noodles
- Green beans (these blistered green beans are perfect!)
- Steamed or roasted broccoli
- Steamed or roasted bok choy
- Steamed snap peas or edamame
- Asian slaw
- Pickled cucumbers
You can also feel free to simply add these shrimp atop a green salad.
If you love cooking shrimp for dinner, check out all my easy shrimp recipes. I especially love these shrimp poke bowls and shrimp and feta orzo salad.
And be sure to comment below if you make this General Tso's shrimp for your family!
📖 Recipe
General Tso's Shrimp
Ingredients
- 1 lb shrimp peeled and deveined with tails off
- 1 ½ Tbsp + 1 tsp cornstarch divided
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 3 tablespoon vegetable oil (or cooking oil of your choice)
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- ½ cup chicken or vegetable broth
- 3 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 4 fresh or rehydrated dried arbol chiles finely chopped for about 1 ½ tablespoon (or 2 teaspoons chili paste, like sambal oelek)*
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- Sesame seeds for garnish
- Chopped scallions for garnish
Instructions
- Pat shrimp with paper towels to ensure they're as dry as possible. Sprinkle 1 ½ tablespoon corn starch, salt, and pepper over the shrimp and toss to coat.
- Heat cooking oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Once oil is hot, add shrimp in a single layer (you can work in batches if necessary) and cook for about 1-2 minutes on each side or until pink and cooked through. Remove shrimp from the skillet to a plate or bowl and set aside.
- In the same skillet, add minced garlic and ginger and sauté for about 30 seconds until fragrant.
- Add chicken or vegetable broth, soy sauce, sugar, rice vinegar, hoisin sauce, and chopped chili peppers or chili paste. Stir and bring the mixture to a simmer.
- Make a cornstarch slurry by combining the remaining teaspoon corn starch and 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl and mixing to combine. Add slurry to sauce and stir continuously while sauce simmers for another 1-2 minutes until it thickens to a consistency that can coat the back of a spoon.
- Add cooked shrimp back to the skille and sir to coat the shrimp in the sauce and warm them. Drizzle with sesame oil and toss to combine again.
- Serve over white rice, brown rice or whatever you choose. Garnish with sesame seeds and chopped scallions.
Comments
No Comments