General Tso Sauce is a sweet, spicy, and rich sauce perfect for making General Tso tofu, veggies, and all your stir-fry dishes! Full of flavor and easy to make with only 6 ingredients.
Who doesn’t remember the first time they had Chinese takeout and General Tso chicken? I do! But, I think what I loved most was the sauce. A little sweet with a little heat, and that subtle tang to take it over the top.
So, here is my version and I must say IT…IS…AWESOME!
Lately, it’s become my go-to sauce of choice. I use it on my 5-Minute Spicy Asian Noodles and it is so freaking good!
This recipe is inspired and adapted from Mike’s at Chili Pepper Madness. His recipe was simple, to the point, and super delicious. I tweaked a couple of ingredients and the amounts. But, all the flavor is there!
In This Post
Ingredients You’ll Need
I love General Tso Sauce and wanted to create an easy, no-fuss, and of cour, oil-free recipe. Also, I wanted a sauce that tasted as close to Chinese take-out as I remembered.
Six simple ingredients, BIG flavor, and so incredibly easy to make. Let’s do it!
- low-sodium soy sauce (use tamari if gluten-free)
- pure maple syrup
- rice vinegar
- sweet chili sauce or chili garlic sauce
- low-sodium vegetable broth
- cornstarch (for thickening)
See the recipe card down below for a detailed list of ingredients and exact quantities.
How To Make General Tso Sauce
You won’t believe how easy it is to make authentic General Tso. And, better yet, how delicious it is!
Whisk all of the ingredients together in a bowl or saucepan until everything is well combined and the cornstarch is dissolved.
Cook over medium heat until the sauce thickens, usually about 5-7 minutes, while stirring frequently.
Hint: BE SURE AND STIR AS IT COOKS! You don’t want the sauce to burn.
General Tso Variations
I love spicy food, but I realize not everyone has the same tastes and preferences as me. So, here are a few variations for making General Tso fit your own personal taste.
- Spicy - If you like it hot, as I do, and want your General Tso to have a little more kick add some spice by tossing in some red pepper flakes while cooking to imbue heat into the dish. You could also add some Sriracha as well.
- Sweeter - A sweeter and milder version of this delicious sauce is what some prefer. So, if that’s you, add a little extra maple syrup or honey (not vegan). You can also add a bit of hoisin sauce as well.
- Other Ingredients: I think this recipe is pretty much perfect the way it is and it’s simple. But, you could add extra things like red chili flakes, ginger, garlic, green onion, or freshly chopped red chilies.
Substitutions
This recipe is not naturally gluten-free because of the soy sauce, but you can change that by simply replacing the soy sauce with tamari. Below are a few more substitutions as well you can implement if needed.
- Tamari – if you need this recipe to be gluten-free use low-sodium tamari. It’s basically soy sauce without wheat. Yes, soy sauce has wheat in it…who knew?
- Chili Sauce – I prefer sweet chili sauce, but there are a few other options that will work. A few of my favorites are Sriracha, Gochujang, Chili Garlic Sauce, or just plain Chili Sauce.
- Vinegar: if you don’t have rice vinegar you can use apple cider vinegar or white vinegar. It won’t be as spiced but will work in a pinch.
Storage
Keep this General Tso sauce in an airtight container or jar in the fridge for up to a week.
Top tip
Use a nonstick saucepan when making General Tso sauce. It’s a bit delicate and you don’t want to lose any of the sauce by having it stick to a pan.
How To Use Vegan General Tso Sauce
You can easily use the delicious sauce as a replacement for teriyaki, hoisin, or even BBQ sauce. It also makes a great marinade. These are my favorite ways to use General Tso Sauce:
- Pour it over broccoli.
- Use it as a marinade on this tofu.
- It makes a perfect dip for these oil-free vegan egg rolls.
- Simply mix it in with rice for a delicious late-night snack.
- I’ve been using this recipe for air fryer tofu, minus the oil, and then making General Tso Tofu with the sauce.
Try these delicious vegan sauce recipes
Looking for more delicious vegan and oil-free sauce recipes? Try these:
I hope you enjoy this General Tso Sauce. Be sure to leave a comment and rate it down below. Thanks for your support!
Quick & Easy General Tso Sauce Recipe
- Total Time6 minutes
- YieldAbout 1 ¼ cup 1x
- DietVegan
General Tso Sauce is a sweet, spicy, and rich sauce perfect for making General Tso tofu, veggies, and all your stir-fry dishes! Full of flavor and easy to make with only 6 ingredients.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup of low-sodium soy sauce
- ¼ cup of pure maple syrup or honey
- 1 ½ Tablespoons of rice vinegar
- 1 ½ Tablespoons of chili sauce
- ¾ cup of low-sodium vegetable broth
- 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch
Instructions
Notes
Store in an airtight container or jar in the fridge for up to a week.
Use a nonstick pan. This sauce can be a little delicate and you don’t want it burning or sticking to a pan.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ¼ cup
- Calories: 66
- Sugar: 10.3 g
- Sodium: 422.9 mg
- Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 15.6 g
- Fiber: 0.2 g
- Protein: 1.1 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
- Prep Time: 1 minute
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Dressings & Sauces
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Asian
Yummy stuff. I cut back the chili garlic sauce to 1 Tbs and that was just the right amount of heat for my husband. I stir fried a mountain of veggies and added the finished sauce at the end, letting it simmer for 1-2 minutes before serving over rice. Will make again and again.
Excellent! Husband ate leftovers and said even better today. He said “save that recipe”.
haha, awesome!!!
This was an amazing base recipe, my wife loved it, and I just added a little extra siracha for myself. The best part we already had all the ingredients so this was fantastic!!!!
Awesome!
Delicious! Simple and easy to make!
It’s a winner!! I Made this General Tso Sauce recipe along with the 4 ingredient Best baked Tofu recipe. I have to say I have tried many recipes for General Tso’s sauce and this is the Best I have ever made! I followed the recipe although I only used a tablespoon of the chili sauce not knowing how spicy it was going to be. It was simple, one pot mixture that I made while the tofu was baking. I doubled the recipe as I like a lot of sauce and there was leftovers. I made it along side rice and steamed broccoli. It was better the next day. My husband loved it and it will be on my routine of meals going forward! Thank you Shane! You make me believe that becoming totally vegan is a possibility!
I would have posted a picture but I didn’t see a way to do it.
So dang delicious!
Hi. Made this for dinner with air fried tofu and broccoli, a sprinkle of green onion and sesame seeds. My husband was amazed that the sauce was homemade. I tweaked the recipe a little to adjust for heat and would have liked more vege’s (time constraint on my part) but this is definitely going in the rotation of dinners. Thank you!
Made this last night and put over tofu and quinoa. Delicious! Served with broccoli as well. Thanks again Shane!