Crispy General Tso's Tofu is a simple vegetarian Chinese recipe coated in a delicious sweet and spicy sauce. Perfect served next to a side of fried rice or noodles. This better than take-out recipe will have your family wanting more so you may want to double the recipe!
This recipe uses extra-firm tofu that is crisped up with a cornstarch coating and fried in a small amount of oil before tossing it in your sauce. We love this recipe and it is so addicting. It's so delicious you may want to eat the entire recipe all by yourself!
Crispy General Tso's Tofu is one of Grumpy's favorite recipes!
In the beginning of our relationship, Grumpy was known to say "I hate tofu." His feeling behind that was he didn't like the texture and he felt it had no flavor. After he ate this General Tso's Tofu recipe, however, that is no longer the case. As a matter of fact, this particular recipe is the recipe that won Grumpy over to eating tofu! And, he will even request that I make it!
Grumpy loves this recipe because the tofu is nice and crispy and the sauce has the perfect amount of sweet heat. He has commented that as long as the tofu has a texture, and the sauce is delicious, it will be a hit with him!
Making your tofu as crispy as possible
Tofu, also known as bean curd, is soy milk that has been coagulated and pressed into blocks. It can be silken, soft, firm, and extra firm. 
General Tso's Tofu is very simple to make. It is just a little time consuming when having to fry the tofu pieces. However, once that is done, all you do is put the sauce in the pan, return the tofu to the pan and toss to coat.
The basic ingredients for General Tso's Sauce are soy sauce, hoisin sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, ketchup, and dried chilis.
When I have them, I will add whole dried Schezuan chili peppers. These are my favorite peppers to use and the pepper that you normally will see in a General Tso's meal you may buy from a restaurant. If you don't have the whole peppers, regular red pepper chili flakes work just as good! I always recommend you add less heat to start and then add more as you desire.
How to make Crispy General Tso's Tofu
Time needed: 40 minutes.
Crispy General Tso's Tofu, pieces of tofu coated in a cornstarch coating and fried until extra crispy! It is then smothered in a sweet spicy sauce.
- Press your tofu to remove excess water.
Place tofu brick between two layers of paper towels and top with a heavy plate or skillet to squeeze excess water from tofu.
- Cut Tofu into desired shapes
Cut into bite-sized triangular or rectangle shapes approximately ½ thick. I usually cut 1 brick of tofu in half, then cut each half in thirds. Each third is cut in half diagonally and then each diagonal chunk is cut into thirds. Doing this you end up with 72 triangle pieces of tofu. I prefer the triangular shape just because I think it is more eye appealing.
- Coat the tofu with cornstarch
Lightly dust each tofu piece with cornstarch.
- Fry the tofu
Fry the tofu in a hot skillet until browned and crispy. Try not to overcrowd the tofu as the pieces will stick to each other.
- Make your sauce and coat the tofu.
Remove the tofu pieces from your skillet and set them aside. Add the sauce ingredients to hot skillet and whisk to combine. Return tofu to skillet and toss to coat.
You may need
The ONE essential item to making Crispy General Tso's Tofu is the skillet you cook it in. I find that a non-stick skillet works best.
A good nonstick skillet will ensure your tofu pieces are not sticking to your pan and the coating pulling off when trying to flip them over. Below is an affiliate link for the cookware I use and love!
More Tofu Recipes
*If you made this recipe, please give it a star rating*
Crispy General Tso’s Tofu
Ingredients
For the Tofu
- 2 pounds extra firm tofu
- 4 tablespoons cornstarch
- ¼ cup olive oil
For the Sauce
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 3 tablespoons white vinegar
- 3 tablespoons sugar-free ketchup
- 1 tablespoons soy sauce
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 4 green onions sliced, white and green parts separate
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger
- 5 whole dried chili peppers
Instructions
- Squeeze the block of tofu of excess water by placing between a thickness of paper towels and sitting a heavy large skillet on top. I use about 3-4 thick paper towels folded about 3-4 times. Let sit 20-30 minutes.
- In a small bowl mix together the brown sugar, hoisin sauce, vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, and water until combined. Set aside.Slice the pressed tofu into ½" slices, then cut each slice into thirds for rectangular tofu pieces, or cut in the slices in half lengthwise, then each half cut diagonally for triangles.
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat with olive oil until hot. Add the cornstarch to a shallow bowl and coat the tofu with cornstarch on all sides. Fry the tofu in hot oil for 2 minutes on each side, until tofu coating is golden brown. Remove the tofu from the frying pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- In the same skillet over medium high heat, add the sesame oil and heat until hot. Stir in the white part of the green onions and the ginger. Fry for 1 minute, until fragrant.
- Add the general tso's sauce mixture to the onion mixture along with the dried chili peppers. Bring the sauce mixture to a boil over medium high heat, then reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes, until the sauce begins to thicken.
- Add the fried tofu back to the sauce mixture and toss to coat. Serve garnished with green part of the onion.
Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious
You know what? I love all of your tips, including exactly how to cut the tofu into triangles. It makes a difference in how the dish looks!
Toni | Boulder Locavore
It looks really good! I can't wait to try!
Colleen - Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck
This is my type of general tso's!!!
Lindsay Cotter
We need to make this for dinner soon! I think it will be a big hit!
jo koch
I made this recipe last night for myself as my family are meat eaters.....there was not enough to go around.....fabulous!
Shelby
Happy to hear it!! It is a definite favorite here in our home too and two people easily eat the whole thing with no problem and still wish we had more! Thanks for stopping back to let me know!
Nicole
This looks amazing. I was going to make tofu lettuce wraps tonight, but I think I will switch up to this dish.
Laura
This is absolutely the best new recipe I've made in months. We loved it. The children (four and six) fought over who got the last of it!
Shelby
So happy you came back to let me know Laura! This is one recipe that even Grumpy will request I make (that has tofu in it!) 🙂 Thank you!
Felicia
Just tried this! Amazing!!!
Debi Wayland
This looks great! I've pinned, yummly, and SU it. Thanks for sharing.
klom180
I'm a little late to the game on this recipe, but I just recently stumbled upon it on Pinterest. Made it for dinner tonight and it's incredible! I plan on using it to convert one of my friends to a tofu-lover. 🙂
Thanks so much for this!
klom180
I'm a little late to the game on this recipe, but I just recently stumbled upon it on Pinterest. Made it for dinner tonight and it's incredible! I plan on using it to convert one of my friends to a tofu-lover. 🙂
Thanks so much for this!
Gtrude
Made this dish for dinner tonight. Quite frankly, it doesn't even need the brown sugar. I left it out completely in the interest of saving calories and found that the catsup gives the dish plenty of sweetness. I really like the substitution of tofu for chicken. It is a good Lenten dish for meatless Fridays.
Kristen
Made this tonight with slight modifications just to avoid going to the grocery store, and it was delicious! This is definitely going in our 'favorites' folder!