This General Tso Sauce recipe is easy to make with only 6 ingredients, perfect for General Tso chicken or any other quick and easy stir fry. It's loaded with flavor.
General Tso Sauce Recipe
When you're in the mood for Chinese food, my spicy food loving friends, it's good to have a general tso sauce recipe on hand. It's perfect for when you're like me and need to indulge in some teriyaki madness!
General tso sauce is a sweet and spicy Chinese sauce popular in Chinese American cuisine. It is made with a base of soy sauce and chili sauce with a touch of vinegar and a sweetener, like honey, then thickened with cornstarch.
It is hugely popular with Chinese takeout dishes like general tso chicken or tofu, or other types of stir fry dishes.
You'll find variations, of course, using other preferred ingredients, and recipes can vary from cook to cook and restaurant to restaurant.
My version is very simple with only 6 ingredients. I choose to focus on the soy sauce and chili sauce, making this mildly sweet and more savory, as we prefer. You can easily adapt it to your own palate.
General Tso Sauce Ingredients
- Soy Sauce - Use light soy sauce for this, though any soy sauce can work for you. To your preference.
- Honey - Or you can use brown sugar.
- Rice Vinegar
- Chili Sauce - Try my homemade chili garlic sauce. It's great for this.
- Chicken Broth - You can use stock, or vegetable broth.
- Cornstarch - For thickening.
How to Make General Tso Sauce
Whisk the ingredients. Whisk together the soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, chili sauce, chicken broth, and cornstarch in a small bowl.
Warm the sauce in a pan. Add to a sauce pan or pot and heat 3-5 minutes over medium high heat, or until the sauce thickens.
Enjoy! Use as desired. Easy enough, isn't it?
Boom! Done! Your General Tso sauce is ready to use. How are you going to use yours? What are you making tonight? Try my General Tso Chicken recipe, of course, but it's also great for making any stir fry, like orange chicken.
Recipe Tips & Notes
- Cooking general tso sauce. Usually when making recipes like General Tso’s Chicken, the sauce thickens in the pan or wok along with other ingredients.
- Other optional ingredients. This is my preferred recipe, though I have seen some with other ingredients you might try, including sesame oil or sesame seeds, garlic and ginger, white wine vinegar, other red chilies or dried chili flakes, green onions. Feel free to experiment and make it your own.
- The chili sauce! There are several options available for this recipe. I enjoy using Doubanjiang, which is a Chinese chili bean paste. Gochujang can work, though the flavor is different. Use a simple chili-garlic sauce from the store, or make your own like I like to do. Sambal Oelek is also a potential option.
Storage
Let your general tso sauce fully cool to room temperature prior to storing in an airtight container in the fridge. Properly stored, it should keep well for up to a week!
Try Some of My Other Popular Sauce Recipes
Got any questions? Ask away! I’m happy to help. If you enjoy this recipe, I hope you’ll leave a comment with some STARS. Also, please share it on social media. Don’t forget to tag us at #ChiliPepperMadness. I’ll be sure to share! Thanks! — Mike H.
General Tso Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce light soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon chili sauce
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch use 3 teaspoons for a thicker sauce
Instructions
- Whisk together the soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, chili sauce, chicken broth, and cornstarch in a small bowl.
- Add to a sauce pan or pot and heat 3-5 minutes, or until the sauce thickens.
- Use as desired
Notes
Nutrition Information
Vicky says
Love it thank you
Monica says
Can you use chili pasta instead of chili sauce?
Mike Hultquist says
Do you mean "chili paste", Monica? Yep, you can do that, though you might need a bit more liquid to thin it out. Enjoy!
SANDRA TIDWELL says
Instead of using honey your comment said we can use brown sugar. Is the portion the same? Instead of 3 tablespoons honey use 3 tablespoons of brown sugar? I can't wait to make this! Thanks so much!
Mike H. says
Yes, you can do that. However, since brown sugar is not as liquid as honey, you might want to add a little bit of liquid to compensate for the moisture loss from not using honey. Start with a tablespoon or two and adjust to your desired consistency.
Rusty says
It looks like there is Pepper flakes in the sauce. Yes or no.
Mike Hultquist says
It is seeds from the chili sauce.
Peggy says
Made this sauce for dinner tonight. It was simple to make and come together very quickly. Doubled the recipe. We really enjoyed it. I will be making General Tso chicken a lot more now that I found the perfect sauce recipe.
Mike Hultquist says
Excellent!! Thanks so much, Peggy!
sara says
This is so spot on, Mike - thanks for sharing!
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks so much, Sara!
Sasha Frugone says
What kind of chili sauce please?
Mike Hultquist says
Use something like my Homemade Chili Sauce Recipe, Sasha: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/chili-sauce/