General Tso's (Not) Chicken Bowls Recipe from Oh My Veggies (2024)

Published: Aug 16, 2015 · by Nicole · Updated: Feb 15, 2021 · This post may contain affiliate links.

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A fellow vegetarian friend introduced me to a fantastic breed of restaurant: vegetarian Chinese. If you live near a major city, there'sprobably at least one nearby. Basically, you walk into what appears to be any old Chinese restaurant, and order from a menu that looks just like any ordinary Chinese restaurant menu. The twist is that dishes include no indication of whether or not they are suitable for vegetarians, because everything is vegetarian. It can be a little freaky at first, ordering something you'd never order at a conventional Chinese restaurant, but you get used to it pretty quickly.

One of those staples of American Chinese cuisine not normally suitable for vegetarians is General Tso's Chicken. This simple dish consists of crunchy stir-fried broccoli alongsidebattered chicken, doused in a sweet-meets-salty soy-garlic-vinegar sauce. The vegetarian version I had at this restaurant, which is so good it made the friend who suggested it to me cry, is one I always suggestit for vegetarian-Chinese newbies--even omnivorous ones--and they love it every time. It features battered and deep-fried seitan in place of the chicken, and the whole thing is smothered in candy-sweet sauce.

Couldn’t be too tough to create something just as delicious as this veggie Chinese-restaurant favorite, I thought. (Fried +loaded with sugar usually results in some good-tasting food.) I wouldn'tgo so far as to call this versionhealthy, but it’s definitely better for you than most restaurant versions. My General Tso’s Veggie Bowluses pan-fried seitan and a sweet—but not over-the-top sweet—sauce. You won't evenmiss the deep-frying or the extra sugar. This stuff is rich, scrumptious and will win over anyone you serve it to, vegetarian or not. Sorry in advance if it makes you cry.

This post was originally published on August 6, 2014.

Recipe

General Tso’s (Not) Chicken Bowls

This vegetarian take on General Tso's Chicken uses pan-fried seitan and crunchy broccoli, covered in a sweet (but not too sweet) sauce.

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Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes minutes

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegetarian

Keyword: General Tso’s (Not) Chicken Bowls, vegetarian General Tso's Chicken

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 286kcal

Author: Oh My Veggies

Ingredients

For the General Tso's sauce:

¼ cup vegetable broth
2 tablespoons honey or agave
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon cornstarch

For the bowls:

1 large broccoli crown cut into florets
¼ cup cornstarch
2 8-ounce packages seitan, cubed
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil or any neutral-flavored cooking oil
3 garlic cloves minced
½ tablespoon fresh grated ginger
15 dried red chili peppers
2 scallions chopped
2 teaspoons sesame seeds

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make the sauce

Whisk all of the ingredients together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Steam the broccoli

Pour 1 inch of water into a large saucepan or wok and bring to a boil. Add the broccoli, cover, and steam until it's bright green and tender-crisp, about 2 minutes. Remove the broccoli from the pan, drain and set aside.

Make the General Tso's bowls

Place the cornstarch and seitan in a large plastic bag and toss well to coat.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the seitan cubes in a single layer. Cook for 3-5 minutes, or until crispy and golden brown on the bottoms. Gently flip and cook another 3-5 minutes on the other side. Remove the seitan from the skillet and transfer to a plate.
Add the garlic, ginger and chili peppers to the skillet. Sauté about 1 minute, until the garlic and ginger become fragrant and the chili peppers start to blacken.
Add the sauce, seitan and broccoli to skillet. Flip a few times to coat seitan pieces. Cook for about a minute, just until the sauce thickens.
Divide among bowls. Serve with rice and top with sesame seeds and scallions.

Notes

Believe it or not, this is a mild version of the dish. Increase the heat by doubling or even tripling the number of dried chilies, or adding a bit of Asian chili paste.

Nutrition

Calories: 286kcalCarbohydrates: 36gProtein: 18gFat: 9gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 5gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 998mgPotassium: 579mgFiber: 6gSugar: 13gVitamin A: 1535IUVitamin C: 138mgCalcium: 95mgIron: 3mg

Craving more veg-friendly recipes? Shop our collection of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks, including our new Vegan Thanksgiving and Vegan Christmas cookbooks!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

Anele @ Success Along the Weigh says
August 06, 2014 at 8:44 am

General Tso's is my favorite! Will definitely make this!
Reply
- Alissa says
  August 06, 2014 at 3:11 pm
  
  Me too! Enjoy 🙂
  Reply
Abby @ The Frosted Vegan says
August 06, 2014 at 8:59 am

My guy loves General Tso's Chicken, so this would be a perfect way to bribe him into trying a non-meat meal! 🙂
Reply
- Alissa says
  See Also
  Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef - The Recipe Critic Sticky Sesame Cauliflower - Secretly Healthy Recipe!Weight Watchers Freestyle Tastes Like Chinese Takeout Freestyle Recipes 48 Meatball Recipes For Those Of You Who Know They Go Beyond Spaghetti
  August 06, 2014 at 3:12 pm
  
  This is the perfect dish for meatless bribery!
  Reply
Lori @ RecipeGirl says
August 06, 2014 at 10:53 am

Adding this to my must-try soon list!
Reply
- Alissa says
  August 06, 2014 at 3:13 pm
  
  Excellent! Hope you enjoy it!!
  Reply
Kerri says
August 06, 2014 at 12:06 pm

Gonna make this, but with Tofu instead! 🙂
Reply
- Alissa says
  August 06, 2014 at 3:15 pm
  
  I've had restaurant versions of this with tofu and they're tasty as well. Please let me know how it works if you give it a try 🙂
  Reply
Polly @ Tasty Food Project says
August 06, 2014 at 12:09 pm

This looks so delicious and flavorful! I must give it a try!
Reply
- Alissa says
  August 06, 2014 at 3:16 pm
  
  Thanks Polly! I found it to be quite delicious and flavorful. I hope you agree 🙂
  Reply
Ami@NaiveCookCooks says
August 06, 2014 at 6:34 pm

Wow love the veggie twist but I have never tried or heard about seitan before? Any thoughts? Thanks!
Reply
- Alissa says
  August 06, 2014 at 9:42 pm
  
  Seitan is a meat substitute made from seasoned wheat gluten. You can pick it up in places like Whole Foods or you can make your own. I definitely recommend giving it a shot!
  Reply
Kristin says
August 06, 2014 at 9:04 pm

Would I be able to substitute tempeh for the seitan?
Reply
- Alissa says
  August 06, 2014 at 9:47 pm
  
  If you substitute tempeh you'll probably want to skip the cornstarch coating and just pan-fry it plain. I haven't tried this recipe with tempeh, so I can't say for sure how it will work out, but I think it would be good. Please let me know what you think if you do give it a shot!
  Reply
  - Blanster says
    August 08, 2014 at 8:27 pm
    
    I made this tonight with tempeh. Of course I didn't see you comment about skipping the cornstarch, so followed your directions to a "t". It's good! I've been a vegetarian so long, I've never had General Tso's chicken, so have nothing to compare it to. I added carrots and next time, I'll steam even more veggies to add. It's a great base with a very flavorful sauce. Thank you!!
    Reply
    - Alissa says
      August 08, 2014 at 9:57 pm
      
      Awesome! Thanks so much for commenting to let me know how this worked out! We've had a few questions on substitutions so this info will come in handy. Great to hear you enjoyed the dish 🙂
      Reply
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
August 06, 2014 at 11:33 pm

i definitely could devour a bowlful of this right now.. will be recreating this recipe for my vegetarian household. thanks for sharing!
Reply
- Alissa says
  August 07, 2014 at 1:57 pm
  
  Thanks Thalia! I hope this is enjoyed by you and your entire household 🙂
  See Also
  15 Flavorful Pheasant Recipes - Beautiful Dawn Designs
  Reply
Emily says
August 07, 2014 at 12:17 am

I know this is ridiculous, but I've never had any kind of General Tso's Fill-in-the-Blank. Looks like it's time for that to change!
Reply
- Alissa says
  August 07, 2014 at 1:58 pm
  
  General Tso's is the popular favorite for a reason. You've definitely gotta try it!
  Reply
Deborah @ Confessions of a Mother Runner says
August 07, 2014 at 2:06 pm

Looks easy and goo!
Reply
- Alissa says
  August 07, 2014 at 8:55 pm
  
  Thanks Deborah! It was delicious and really easy to make!
  Reply
Sydney says
August 07, 2014 at 2:43 pm

Hey I made this last night it was super tasty! thanks for sharing! I didn't have chili peppers so i just used cayenne powder and it made it plenty hot.
Reply
- Alissa says
  August 07, 2014 at 8:56 pm
  
  Yes! So glad to hear it! Also good to know the recipe works with cayenne as a sub. Thanks so much for sharing!!
  Reply
Ana says
August 09, 2014 at 3:29 pm

This is the mild version? I'm deffo making this, but i might make a baby version!
Reply
- Alissa says
  August 12, 2014 at 4:36 pm
  
  Haha! Yeah, the sauce itself is pretty mild. The dried chilies only infuse it with a little bit of heat, so unless you bite right into one it will be very mild. It should still be tasty if you leave them out altogether though. Enjoy!
  Reply
Joanne says
August 09, 2014 at 10:02 pm

I've been to a vegetarian dim sum place here in NYC many times, but never just a straight up veg Chinese restaurant! Must seek out. And make this general tso's at home. It is one dish I miss since going veg!
Reply
- Alissa says
  August 10, 2014 at 2:53 pm
  
  You should definitely check out some Chinese vegetarian places! Philadelphia has a bunch of them - I'm sure New York does too. I hope you get to try out this dish in the meantime. Enjoy 🙂
  Reply
M says
August 12, 2014 at 10:43 am

I've never had General Tso's chicken but my boyfriend orders it every time we get Chinese take out and he confirmed the "tso-yness" of the sauce. It was really, really good even with a bunch of questionable substitutions. I used flax to thicken the sauce because I don't have cornstarch. I used tempeh instead of seitan and pan fried it without the cornstarch coating. I used regular homemade barbeque sauce instead of hoisin, AND I was out of veg base so the sauce just had water and a dash of onion powder instead of broth. No sesame seeds either (I need to go grocery shopping apparently). So the recipe is pretty flexible. Will definitely make it again.
Reply
- Alissa says
  August 12, 2014 at 4:38 pm
  
  Great to know it was tasty, even with all of those substitutions! For that matter, it's great to know that the recipe is so flexible. I'm glad to hear you and your boyfriend enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing!
  Reply
V says
April 10, 2015 at 7:38 pm

Mmm! I made this for dinner tonight and I loved it! This was the first recipe I've made from your site and now I'm really excited to try some more. Sadly I couldn't find any seitan at my grocery store (I couldn't even find any tofu), but they had tempeh so I used that instead and it still turned out fantastic. I'll definitely be making this again, it was really easy to do and really satisfying.
Reply
- Alissa says
  April 12, 2015 at 8:35 pm
  
  Awesome! Glad you liked it! I think have to give this a try with tempeh soon, as I've heard from quite a few people that it works nicely. 🙂
  Reply
amanda says
May 31, 2015 at 2:13 pm

Another great vegan recipe! Thanks Alissa! One question: what kind of chilies do you use? From the photo it looks like you're using some kind of dried cayenne peppers? I used Thai bird eye chilies which were great - they are VERY VERY hot, but only if you break them open, and it seemed like all 15 of mine stayed intact. At any rate, thank you again, love this recipe!
Reply
- Alissa says
  June 01, 2015 at 9:46 pm
  
  Thanks so much Amanda! You should be able to find the chilies I used in the Asian section of a well stocked supermarket. If not, they'll certainly be available at an Asian market. They're usually sold in bags and might be labeled as Chinese or Sichuan chili peppers. Cayenne, Thai chilies and most other types of red chili peppers work just fine as substitutes though. I'll sometimes just substitute some hot sauce in a pinch.
  Reply
Sarah | Well and Full says
September 02, 2015 at 3:40 pm

I've been looking for a vegan recipe for general tso's! I can't wait to try this out. Do you think you could sub chickpea flour for cornstarch, as a thickener? 🙂
Reply
- Alissa says
  September 04, 2015 at 8:45 am
  
  I've seen recipes that use chickpea flour in a similar way, so I think it would work, but can't say for sure without having tried it myself. Please let me know how it works if you do try it! 🙂
  Reply
Refugio Buch says
September 03, 2015 at 11:39 pm

My meal came out a bit over cooked to make up for having to make sure the chicken was cooked all the way through. The chicken should have been cooked through after the minute simmering.
Reply
- Alissa says
  September 05, 2015 at 9:33 pm
  
  If you're using seitan you don't need to worry about it being cooked all the way through - seitan is fully cooked as packaged. I hope that helps!
  Reply
Kate says
September 05, 2015 at 3:35 pm

Oh yes, yes, yes!! I am a General Tso's fanatic, so this sounds amazing!
Reply
- Alissa says
  September 05, 2015 at 9:34 pm
  
  If you're a Tso's fanatic I think you'll really dig these! Thanks Kate! 🙂
  Reply
Diane says
September 11, 2015 at 4:27 pm

My daughter can't decide if this is her favorite recipe or one other thing I make for her. This is really very tasty. I have served it multiple times and everyone loves it. Thanks for posting.
Reply
- Alissa says
  September 13, 2015 at 8:49 pm
  
  Awesome! So glad to hear it. Thanks Diane! 🙂
  Reply
Will says
January 17, 2016 at 12:01 pm

:hat tip:
Just wanted to say thank you. The recipe is amazing.
Reply
- Alissa says
  January 17, 2016 at 4:58 pm
  
  Thank you!! Glad you think so. 🙂
  Reply
Susannah says
February 03, 2016 at 8:27 pm

I just made this last night. It was amazing then, and it was amazing today for leftovers too. I didn't have whole chilies so I used 1tsp crushed red chilies. I also added 1C carrots. It came out great, though I'd love to try it with the whole chilies next time. Thanks for the great recipe!
Reply
- Alissa says
  February 05, 2016 at 10:14 pm
  
  Glad you liked it, and carrots sound like a perfect addition! Thanks so much, Susannah!
  Reply

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General Tso's (Not) Chicken Bowls Recipe from Oh My Veggies (2024)

FAQs

What is the closest thing to General Tso Chicken? ›

Sweet and sour chicken: The two are super similar. The main difference is that General Tso sauce has more ginger flavor, as well as a little more heat from the hot sauce or chili flakes.

Learn More Now ›

What's the difference between General Tso's and sesame chicken? ›

General Tso's chicken is a spicy and tangy dish made with a mix of chicken breast and thighs, while sesame chicken is a sweeter option made with succulent chicken thighs. Whether you're in the mood for something spicy or sweet, both dishes offer a delicious and crispy meal that's sure to satisfy your cravings.”

Is General Tso and General Gau the same? ›

Whether it goes by the name General Tso's, General Gau's, or General Gao's (see a spirited Yelp discussion on the matter here), the deep-fried nuggets of boneless chicken tossed in sweet-spicy sauce and served on a bed of broccoli is America's reigning Chinese dish.

What's the difference between General Tso and orange chicken? ›

The key difference is that the General Tso's sauce has more pepper flakes in it to give it that kick, while the orange chicken sauce has either orange zest, orange juice, or orange peel included to give it that bright zing of orange flavor.

What is kung pao vs General Tso? ›

General Tso's is sweeter with a milder spice, featuring deep-fried battered chicken. Kung Pao is spicier with stir-fried chicken, vegetables, and peanuts. Also, General Tso's has Chinese-American roots, while Kung Pao hails from Sichuan cuisine.

View Details ›

Do Chinese eat General Tso? ›

You might be surprised to learn that General Tso's chicken, a staple on Chinese-American menus, is almost entirely foreign to people who live in the country from which it supposedly originated. While the dish isn't exactly authentic Chinese food, its namesake was a very real (and very powerful) general.

Discover More ›

Is General Tso just sweet and sour? ›

Much as with sweet and sour chicken, General Tso's chicken is then tossed in a sticky, sweet sauce, this time made with rice vinegar, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and sugar. Ginger, garlic, and chili flakes add more depth to the flavor. And it's worth noting that you'll find no ketchup in this sauce.

Know More ›

What is similar to General Tso Chicken at Panda Express? ›

General Tso's chicken and orange chicken are two popular Chinese-American dishes that are often compared. While both dishes feature crispy fried chicken pieces coated in a sweet and savory sauce, there are some key differences between the two.

What is orange chicken called at Chinese restaurant? ›

In Chinese, this dish is known as "陳皮雞", literally "dried citrus peel chicken", referring to dried orange or tangerine peel. However, the taste and recipes of this dish differ due to cultural and geographical factors.

Keep Reading ›

What is General Tso chicken the same as? ›

While both General Tso chicken and orange chicken feature crispy pieces of chicken coated in a flavorful sauce, the key differences lie in their flavor profiles and origins. General Tso chicken has a more complex and slightly spicy flavor profile, while orange chicken has a bright and citrusy flavor.

See Details ›

Is Kung Pao similar to General Tso? ›

Kung pao chicken and General Tso's chicken are similar in that they are both chicken-based dishes with a hint of chili, but the primary difference is that latter is deep-fried and coated with a syrupy sweet and sour sauce, and the former is coated with a gentle, more balanced sauce.

Learn More ›

What's another name for General Tso? ›

Zuo Zongtang (General Tso) was a respected Chinese statesman and military leader of the late Qing dynasty, which ruled the country from 1644 until 1912. He played an important role in the Taiping Rebellion, a civil war that was waged in China in the mid-19th century.