Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (2024)

This content may include some affiliate links. Click here to read my fulldisclosure policy.

Check out this recipe for Easy General Tso’s Chicken made quickly & easily in the Air Fryer. Such a delicious dinner recipe that’s better than takeout.

Who loves getting take-out? Our favorite is always Chinese food, it’s so good. What if I told you that you can make Easy General Tso’s Chicken using your air fryer?

Pair this with Instant Pot White Rice and don’t miss our Air Fryer Sesame Chicken recipe too!

Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (1)

I bet I have your attention now. Yes, you absolutely can make some super tasty General Tso’s Chicken that is so simple and better for you too because it is made using the air fryer.

Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (2)

The Essential Air Fryer Cookbook for Two

Easy General Tso’s Chicken

This post contains some affiliate links. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (3)

If you love to live life on the spicy side, then this Easy General Tso’s Chicken is your perfect dinner. This favorite take-out recipe is lightly breaded and air fried to perfection. Finished off with a zesty sauce that’s sure to grab your attention.

Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (4)

Here are some commonly asked questions

What can I serve with this recipe?

We love to make a little white or brown rice and some steamed broccoli to serve alongside this dinner. It is so simple and a perfect little dinner for two.

What air fryer do you use?

We actually have 3 air fryers. I have a smaller one from Phillips that we started with. I have since given that to my son since he’s only cooking for 1.

But the more I used the air fryer I realized I really wanted a digital screen. It wasn’t any more expensive, in fact- our XL air fryer from GoWISE was less expensive than the Phillips and I love its ease & extra functions.

Plus it comes with a lot of the extra accessories I like to use when cooking with my fryer.

But I when I started working on my second air fryer book, I wanted to change things up. I picked up this Chefman 6.3 Quart Digital Air Fryer+ Rotisserie, Dehydrator, Convection Oven. It has 8 Touch Screen Presets (Fry, Roast, Dehydrate & Bake, BPA-Free, Auto Shutoff) & Accessories Included. It is XL Family Size, which is great!

Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (5)

HOW DO YOU MAKE Easy General Tso’s Chicken in the Air Fryer?

To make the general tso’s sauce

  1. Combine sesame oil, garlic, and ginger in a small saucepan.
  2. Cook over low heat for 1 minute.
  3. Add the chicken broth, soy sauce, sriracha, and hoisin and whisk to combine.
  4. Add the cornstarch and whisk and continue cooking over low heat until sauce starts to thicken.
  5. Remove from heat, cover and set aside.

To make the chicken

  1. In a medium bowl, combine the chicken, soy sauce and cornstarch. Toss to combine.
  2. Place chicken in the air fryer basket, spray with olive oil and cook at 400 degrees for 16 minutes.
  3. Toss chicken halfway through cooking and spray with a little more olive oil.
  4. Once the chicken is done cooking, transfer to a large bowl and toss with prepared sauce.
  5. Top with scallion greens and sesame seeds.

Air Fryer Easy General Tso’s Chicken

Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (6)

To make this recipe you will need…

For the sauce

  • sesame oil
  • ginger
  • minced garlic
  • chicken broth
  • soy sauce
  • cornstarch
  • sriracha sauce
  • hoisin

For the chicken

  • boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1” pieces
  • soy sauce
  • cornstarch
  • scallion
  • sesame seeds, for garnish

What to serve with general tso’s chicken

There are so many recipes that we love to pair with this copycat chicken recipe. Here are just a few of our favorites.

  • Chinese Pineapple Chicken
  • Kung Pao Chicken
  • Homemade Fortune Cookies
  • Instant Pot Sesame Salmon Bowls
  • Air Fryer Sesame Chicken
  • Vegetarian Dumplings
  • Korean Beef Bowl
  • Egg Roll Bowl
  • Air Fryer Teriyaki Chicken
  • Air Fryer Crab Rangoon
Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (7)

I promise this is better than any take-out!

General Tso’s Chicken in the Air Fryer

If you love this recipe – You might also love my air frying cookbook too!

The Essential Air Fryer Cookbook for Two also makes everything fast and easy. Most recipes take 30 minutes or less and they’re designed with simple prep and minimal clean-up in mind. Nutritional information, serving size descriptions, and recipes for vegetarians, vegans, and gluten-free are also included. There’s so much to savor.

Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (8)

The Essential Air Fryer Cookbook for Two

Perfectly Portioned Recipes for Healthier Fried Favorites

ORDER THE BOOK HERE

If you love this Easy Easy General Tso’s Chicken recipe, you’re going to love these other recipes too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!

Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (9)

Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts with Honey Sriracha Sauce

Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (10)

Air Fryer Angel Food Cake Churro Bites

Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (11)

Cheesy Spinach Wontons – In Just 15 Minutes

Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (12)

Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (13)

Rate this Recipe

Easy General Tso’s Chicken

Course dinner

Servings: 3 cups

Check out this recipe for Easy General Tso’s Chicken made quickly & easily in the Air Fryer. Such a delicious dinner recipe that’s better than takeout.

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 16 minutes mins

Total Time 26 minutes mins

Ingredients

For the sauce

  • 3 teaspoons sesame oil
  • ½ teaspoon ginger
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon sriracha sauce plus more for serving
  • 1 tablespoon hoisin

For the chicken

  • 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts – cut into 1” pieces
  • 1 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 medium scallion just greens for garnish
  • sesame seeds for garnish

Instructions

To make the sauce

  • Combine sesame oil, garlic, and ginger in a small saucepan.

  • Cook over low heat for 1 minute.

  • Add the chicken broth, soy sauce, sriracha, and hoisin and whisk to combine.

  • Add the cornstarch and whisk and continue cooking over low heat until sauce starts to thicken.

  • Remove from heat, cover and set aside.

To make the chicken

  • In a medium bowl, combine the chicken, soy sauce and cornstarch. Toss to combine.

  • Place chicken in the air fryer basket, spray with olive oil and cook at 400 degrees for 16 minutes.

  • Toss chicken halfway through cooking and spray with a little more olive oil.

  • Once the chicken is done cooking, transfer to a large bowl and toss with prepared sauce.

  • Top with scallion greens and sesame seeds.

Notes

You can use boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts. Feel free to add in some dried red chili peppers if you like to spice it up even more. You can also add 1 teaspoon crushed red peppers to this recipe. To keep it light, skip tossing the chicken in the soy sauce and cornstarch, cook as directed and toss in the prepared sauce.

Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate. Please double-check with your own dietary calculator for the best accuracy. We at Taste of the Frontier cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts as it has been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.

Love this recipe?Follow @KleinworthCo for even more tasty recipes!

Reader Interactions

    Share Your Thoughts

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. Teresa Paliotti says

    Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (14)
    I have to say I was disappointed, I followed the recipe, and it basically tasted, like a stirfry except my stir fry tastes better. Not to my taste at all, I added some spice still just ok , it was more brown than orange , will keep looking for a better recipe!!

    Reply

    • Gina Kleinworth says

      Maybe you just have different preferences & tastes. Not that the recipe was bad – just didn’t suit YOU in particular. Yes, it is supposed to taste like a stir fry – only made in an air fryer. That’s sort of the point.

    • JoAnn says

      I added a tablespoon of brown sugar and I love the taste

  2. Shawn Marier says

    Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (15)
    I think it needs a bit more ginger and garlic, but otherwise it was tasty. With a few tweaks this could become one of my go to recipes.

    Reply

  3. Allie says

    Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (16)
    I loved this recipe! The flavors were awesome. We made some jasmine rice and steamed broccoli to accompany the chicken!

    Reply

  4. Whitney Ramirez says

    Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (17)
    We made this tonight and it was pretty good! It did not taste anything like general Tso’s Chicken to be honest but all 3 of us enjoyed it. I did feel it was more salty than spicy (and I have low sodium soy sauce), but otherwise decent.

    Reply

  5. Adrienne says

    Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (18)
    Really good!! My family enjoyed it. Just enough heat but not so much my daughters wouldn’t eat it.

    Reply

  6. J Shuman says

    Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (19)
    Loved it! I doubled the sauce, added more soy sauce, some red pepper flakes, some fish sauce and broccoli to make it more like GTC. Delish!

    Reply

  7. Nettie says

    Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (20)
    Well people, I think that those who chose to write crispy reply’s about this recipe should go jump in a lake! This recipe was awesome!! I had made some steamed veggies as a side to the rice, stirred in a bit of sweet chilli sauce! My family gobbled it all up! No leftovers tm! Loved the ease of the air fryer! Perfectly cooked the meat! 😋 This will go into a regular rotation in my house! Carry on to those who left positive comments! Thank you for the new recipe idea!!

    Reply

  8. Rick says

    Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (21)
    This recipe is fantastic and a lot healthier than deep frying the chicken!! It will be made a lot in my house for myself and son! I didn’t have Siracha so I put in 5 dried chili peppers and it was fantastic!! Thanks again!
    Rick

    Reply

  9. Kathy says

    Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (22)
    Not to bad! I’d offer one suggestion to
    make a slurry of water and corn starch rather than just dumping it in. Then you’ll have no lumps. All in all a good air fryer recipe.

    Reply

  10. Kelly says

    Can you make this with bottled sauce

    Reply

    • Gina Kleinworth says

      Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (23)
      I don’t see why not.

Easy General Tso’s Chicken - Air Fryer (2024)

References

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Reed Wilderman

Last Updated:

Views: 6644

Rating: 4.1 / 5 (52 voted)

Reviews: 91% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Reed Wilderman

Birthday: 1992-06-14

Address: 998 Estell Village, Lake Oscarberg, SD 48713-6877

Phone: +21813267449721

Job: Technology Engineer

Hobby: Swimming, Do it yourself, Beekeeping, Lapidary, Cosplaying, Hiking, Graffiti

Introduction: My name is Reed Wilderman, I am a faithful, bright, lucky, adventurous, lively, rich, vast person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.