This Instant Pot General Tso’s Chicken is the perfect, healthy, homemade dinner in under 30 minutes. This spicy Chinese takeout favorite is simple and quick to prepare with just the perfect balance of sweet and tangy.
Instant Pot General Tso’s Chicken
General Tso’s chicken is a favorite, one that everybody loves. If you’re wondering what exactly this dish is, don’t worry I’ve included a little section below to explain. For those of you who have ordered this dish before, you know that it is the perfect mix of sweet and sour.
I decided to do a healthier spin on Tso Chicken today using my oh so handy instant pot. That means that I had this dish served up in less than 30 minutes! Healthy, tasty, and quick? Now who doesn’t love that.
What Is General Tso Chicken?
Now while this dish is one of the most popular orders in Chinese restaurants here at home, it’s not exactly authentic. Westernized versions are also known as orange chicken if that’s a little more familiar. It is usually served deep fried over a mountain of white rice, but today I decided to cut back on some of the calories and axe the frying. So let’s get into it! Break out that Instant Pot and let’s get cookin.
Ingredients In General Tso Chicken
Detailed measurements and instructions can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page.
- Chicken – I used chicken breast today but chicken thigh is a tasty alternative, just keep in mind it’ll need to be cooked a minute or two longer than breast.
- Soy Sauce – Low sodium so we can control the sodium level in this dish. I also used a bit of dark soy sauce for that umami flavor.
- Sweet – I used both brown sugar and honey to get some rich sweetness and an ooey gooey sauce, you’ll thank me later.
- Aromatics – Garlic and ginger, fresh is preferred! If minced is all you have on hand just keep in mind that 1 1/2 teaspoons equals one fresh clove.
- Rice Vinegar – The tangy key to this General Tso Chicken recipe. If you don’t have any on hand apple cider vinegar is a great substitute!
- Red Pepper Flakes – We need a little heat in this dish and red pepper flakes are the perfect addition.
- Tomato Paste – The perfect little acidic base for our sauce, it will also give the dish a nice rich color.
- Hoisin – If this thick sauce isn’t already a staple in your fridge, it should be. Pick some up as it’s so crucial in lots of Asian dishes!
- Cornstarch – We’re going to make a slurry with cornstarch and a little bit of water to help our dish thicken.
How To Make Instant Pot General Tso Chicken
Detailed measurements and instructions can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page.
- Saute the sauteables: Turn your Instant Pot on the saute setting and add the chicken first. Then add the rest of the ingredients (save for our cornstarch slurry) and stir well. Close the lid and set the Pot to the poultry setting.
- Finish the sauce: Allow the pressure to naturally release before removing the lid. Transfer only the chicken to a bowl and switch to the saute setting before adding the slurry. Cook this sauce for an additional 2 minutes till it has thickened and dump the chicken back in before giving it a good stir.
- Garnish and serve: Serve this dish over a nice mound of hot white rice. I love to garnish this dish with some toasted sesame seeds and fresh green onion!
Other Ways To Make General Tso Chicken
Slow cooker
This dish is perfect made in your slow cooker! Just sear the chicken a bit on the stove before adding to the slow cooker. Whisk all of your sauce ingredients together separately (save the cornstarch slurry) and pour over the chicken. Cook all of this on low for 3 – 4 hours. Incorporate the slurry in the last 20 minutes of cooking or until thick and serve over rice!
Stove top
If you’d like to make this over the stove just saute up your chicken before removing and cooking your aromatics and chili flakes till fragrant. Add all your sauces and slurry and allow to cook for a few minutes till the sauce is thick. Add the chicken and combine well before serving!
How To Store Leftover General Tso Chicken
In the fridge this chicken recipe will last up to 4 days as long as its container is airtight. It can also freeze beautifully for up to 3 months, just be sure to thaw completely in the fridge and before reheating over the stove.
Craving More Instant Pot Recipes? Try These Dishes:
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Chicken Shawarma
- Butter Chicken
- Mongolian Beef
- Pasta E Fagioli
- Swedish Meatballs
- Beef And Broccoli
- Beef Stew
- Mac and Cheese
Instant Pot General Tso's Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken breast skinless and boneless, cut into bite size pieces
- 1/4 cup soy sauce low sodium
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp ginger fresh, grated
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp water
Optional Garnish
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 2 green onions chopped
Instructions
- Turn your Instant Pot to the saute setting. (See your manufacturer's guide for detailed instructions on how to use your instant pot.)
- Add the chicken pieces to the Instant Pot then dump the rest of the ingredients to it, excluding the cornstarch and water. Stir everything well with a spoon.
- Close the lid (follow the manufacturer's guide for instructions on how to close the instant pot lid). Set the Instant Pot to the Poultry setting and set the timer to 5 minutes.
- Once the Instant Pot cycle is complete, wait until the natural release cycle is complete, should take about 10 minutes. Follow the manufacturer's guide for quick release, if in a rush. Carefully unlock and remove the lid from the instant pot.
- Switch the Instant Pot to the saute setting (do not put the lid on). Transfer the chicken to a bowl using a slotted spoon.
- In a small bowl whisk the cornstarch and water together then pour over the sauce and stir. Cook for about 2 minutes until the sauce thickens. Add the chicken back to the Instant Pot and turn off your Instant Pot by pressing the cancel button.
- Garnish the chicken with sesame seeds and green onions. Serve over rice.
Jane H Boice says
June 13, 2019 at 6:30 pmI finally was able to down load this recipe, after struggling on my Kindle. I printed it out for future use, and tonight we had it. The only thing I changed is that I cooked (sauteed) the chicken a bit until it was no longer pink. I used thighs, and they were a tad bid still frosty, not totally defrosted. Well, I served this to my husband, and he took one mouthful and said “WOW”, so I knew it was really good. It is so much better than take-out, spicy and just delicious. I made white rice in my Instant Pot first, and while I was letting the pressure reduce for my chicken, I steamed some broccoli on the stove at the same time the pressure was dropping on my IP. Worked perfectly. We will have this again!! I wonder, could I add a red pepper sliced up in the IP with the chicken. Would it cook not too mushy at 5 minutes and natural release?
Joanna Cismaru says
June 14, 2019 at 8:03 pmI’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe! I don’t think I’ve tried peppers yet in the IP but if you want to avoid mushy peppers, just add it after the 5 minutes and put the IP on saute mode, add the peppers and cook for a few minutes until the peppers are cooked to your liking.
Ann says
April 4, 2019 at 5:13 pmIt was such an easy recipe. The dish itself turned out good but was a bit too sweet. I will definitely make it again but cut back on the brown sugar and/or honey. Otherwise, it was really good.
Jloeb says
March 17, 2019 at 2:45 pmI was wondering, my instant pot doesn’t have a poultry setting, is there another setting I could use?
Joanna Cismaru says
March 17, 2019 at 3:09 pmJust the manual setting is fine.
Nikki says
March 10, 2019 at 12:47 pmI enjoyed this but the sauce was super thick when I opened the IP and there wasn’t a lot of it. I’m wondering how to thin it out a bit? Anyone else have this issue? No way would I consider thickening it anymore with cornstarch.
Nicole Beaulieu says
March 11, 2019 at 11:02 amThis type of dish is meant to have a nice and thick sauce that really clings to the chicken. If you want it a bit thinner to coat your rice, I would slowly add some low sodium chicken broth and stir well until it’s reached the consistency you like!
Phil Johnson says
January 9, 2019 at 10:47 pmshould you thoroughly cook the chicken at the beginning on the saute mode or is it still raw when you switch to poultry mode
Nicole Beaulieu says
January 10, 2019 at 9:48 amNo need to cook it thoroughly on saute, it will be cooked fully after the pressure cooking process.
Amber says
January 1, 2019 at 12:16 pmHow long do I keep it on the saute setting at the beginning of the recipe?
Nicole Beaulieu says
January 2, 2019 at 10:30 amJust until everything everything is warmed through!
Joe says
December 11, 2018 at 3:51 pmIs there a way to cook the rice in the Instant Pot at the same time as the chicken and make this a truly one pot meal?
Nicole Beaulieu says
December 12, 2018 at 10:32 amYou can, but the water will mix with the sauce during the cooking process so you won’t have that classic General Tso sauciness. Put in equal amounts of rice and water and set it using the rice function on your pot.
SH says
January 8, 2019 at 4:42 pmYou can easily make rice separately in the same pot. Use a trivet, place it right on top of the chicken/sauce mixture, your instant pot should have come with one. Place a high heat safe dish, like Corning Ware, onto of the trivet, with equal parts rice and water in it. Make sure you leave enough room for the rice to cook/expand. Set the pressure cooker time to 10 mins, that should give enough time for chicken and rice to cook, and do a natural release.
D says
March 25, 2019 at 4:18 pmI have a rice cooker that helps
Samantha says
November 7, 2018 at 3:19 pmThis was devine!!! Even the leftovers were great.
Shannon says
November 4, 2018 at 3:54 pmHow many servings does this make
Nicole Beaulieu says
November 5, 2018 at 10:32 amAs you can see in the recipe card, this makes 4 servings.
LK says
October 11, 2018 at 10:21 amIs it rice vinegar or rice wine? Thank you for recipe and video!!
Joanna Cismaru says
October 11, 2018 at 10:56 amIt’s rice vinegar. 🙂
Rozi says
October 3, 2018 at 8:37 pmSeriously love this recipe! Want to make it for a big family dinner on Sunday. What do I do if I want to double the recipe? Double ingredients? More time? Please let me know! (My husband seriously is the pickiest eater, so if he loves it, everyone will!)
Nicole Beaulieu says
October 4, 2018 at 10:11 amJust double the ingredients, the same amount of time will work just fine. Enjoy!
Barbara says
September 17, 2018 at 3:00 pmMy instant pot will not allow me to go all the way down to 5 minutes on the Poultry setting. It goes down to 10 minutes (the minimum), and then cycles back to 120 min (the maximum). Did you mean 10 minutes in your recipe above, or do I have a wonky Instant Pot? 😉 Will set it for the minimum of 10 minutes and see how it turns out…
Joanna Cismaru says
September 18, 2018 at 11:00 amI meant 5 minutes. I know not all Instant Pots are the same, so if 10 min is the minimum for your IP I would set it to 10 minutes. Let me know how it turns out.
Barbara says
September 18, 2018 at 1:33 pmIt still turned out delicious 🙂 thanks for the recipe!
Joanna Cismaru says
September 18, 2018 at 1:47 pmGlad to hear it!
Chris says
October 24, 2018 at 10:15 amPoultry setting is the same as high pressure cooking.. try that feature instead of poultry.
Valeria says
May 15, 2018 at 7:58 amCan this be made in a slow cooker too?
Nicole Beaulieu says
May 15, 2018 at 10:22 amYes you can! Cook on low for 3-4 hours.
Healthy foods lover says
May 11, 2018 at 4:52 amThank’s for detailed guidance
K Brown says
May 1, 2018 at 8:52 amSimply stated… WOW! That was sooooo goooood! Couldn’t find “Dark” Soya though so added a dash of regular sodium along with the required low sodium. Again, turned out sooooo goooood! (The family was impressed too)
Natalie Ellis says
April 23, 2018 at 9:28 pmIt looks so delicious. You make me really crave for one xD
Also, I love the functions of instant pot a lot. Gotta buy it soon!
Joanna Cismaru says
April 24, 2018 at 9:01 amYes, you should! It’s really my favorite appliance in my kitchen right now. 🙂
Tony says
April 25, 2018 at 10:03 amNatalie it took me a year before buying one, and to be honest I’m not too sure why I waited. I love mine, sure makes cooking a lot easier…
Scott in MD says
April 26, 2018 at 4:53 pmSame here, Tony. I dropped a bunch of hints to family members after Thanksgiving and three of them kicked-in and got me The Pot. I love it dearly and use it it 3-4 nights every week.
It won’t grow your hair or improve your sex life, but the Instant Pot will rekindle your love of cooking and make putting dinner on the table a whole lot less arduous and boring.
Sharon Richard says
April 23, 2018 at 8:06 amI Do Not Have a Instant Pot But I do Have a Slower Cooker. Would I use the Same Recipe for a slow cooker?
Joanna Cismaru says
April 23, 2018 at 8:15 amYes, or you could even just do this in a regular pot and cook the chicken for about 10 minutes or until cooked through, then follow the rest of the steps the same.
Viki Kerr says
April 23, 2018 at 7:33 amcan you make this in a crock pot I don’t own and instant pot don’t think I would use since I’m the only one who lives in my house
Joanna Cismaru says
April 23, 2018 at 8:15 amYou absolutely could, I think you’d need to cook the chicken for 3 to 4 hours on low or high for about 2 hours.
Viki Kerr says
April 23, 2018 at 1:36 pmThank You Joanna
Leone says
April 23, 2018 at 7:18 amThank you so much, this is wonderful.
Joanna Cismaru says
April 23, 2018 at 7:54 amMy pleasure!