Frying is not my thing. Coming up with a version of a favorite from our local Chinese restaurant was a challenge I took on. Baked General Tso’s Chicken, it shall be! Be it yet a little more time consuming than I thought it would be, the process was worth it. Revising along the way, since the thought entered my mind, I’m sure I could be a little better prepping ahead of time to make the cooking more seamless and productive. There’s always next time, right? Until then, I’ll make my corrective suggestions here as we go along.
Three dishes in a line. One with flour, the next has the beaten eggs the last contained the Panko crumbs. The chicken was all prepped and ready. Make sure it’s patted dry with some paper towels! I started rolling them in the flour and thought, there has to be a quicker way! So, out came a Ziploc bag. I dumped the flour in there with the chicken and shook for a few seconds! Bam! The next part was a little messy, but a pair of tongs assisted in coating with the egg mixture followed by the Panko crumbs. Once this last step was complete, they were moved to a foil- lined pan for baking. You could parchment paper too!
Even though these little nuggets are done, I thought about spraying them with my olive oil mister to create a more golden color AFTER they came out of the oven. I’ll try that nest time!
I steamed the broccoli and placed the florets in the bottom of the wok. Now, why did I do that? I should have just stir-fried them in the wok first! Duh! They would have appeared a more glorious green in color and be a little more firm to the bite. By the time I took the pic, they seem to have lost a little of their form. In spite of that, it was still good!
The sauce ingredients were place into a small sauce pan and whisked together over low heat until it thickened. The sauce was poured over the broccoli and chicken in the wok and gently stirred to distribute and coat ingredients .
Oh, yum! Just place this Baked General Tso’s Chicken over some of my Fried Rice or some plain Jasmine rice, if you prefer.
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs, cut into 1" chunks
- 1/4 c flour
- 2-3 large eggs, beaten
- 2 c Panko breadcrumbs
Sauce
- 1 1/2 c chicken broth I use better than Bouillon Roasted Chicken Base
- 1/3 c Hoisin sauce
- 1/4 c rice vinegar
- 3 T Low sodium soy sauce
- 3 T brown sugar
- 2 T cornstarch
- 1/4 t red pepper flakes
- T broccoli crown, cut into florets
- 1-2 T grated fresh ginger
Instructions
Chicken
- Cut chicken into 1" chunks. Pat dry with paper towels.
- Place chicken chunks in a Ziploc bag with flour and toss to coat.
- Put chicken chunks in beaten eggs using tongs and move to the next coating station.
- Roll in Panko crumbs to coat and place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper or foil.
- Bake at 450 degrees F for 13-15 minutes. While this is baking, create the sauce. Begin to stir-fry the broccoli florets in a wok as sauce is finishing.
Sauce
- Constantly whisk all of the ingredients and simmer until thickened.
- Place the chicken in wok with the broccoli. Pour the sauce over and stir/toss to coat.
- Serve over Fried Rice or Jasmine rice.
