General Tso's Chickpeas (Vegan, Gluten-Free)

This General Tso's Chickpeas recipe is the best vegan version of the classic Chinese takeout dish! Healthy, gluten-free, allergy-free, and made with chickpeas instead of chicken! Made in one pan, with your choice of veggies, and a simple sweet, spicy, tangy, umami sauce! This quick and easy vegetarian meal will save you time and money!

A classic Chinese takeout dish with its signature sweet, spicy, slightly tangy, sticky sauce! Vegan General Tso's chicken uses chickpeas instead of chicken! It's easier, quicker, healthier, and super budget-friendly! You can whip this homemade takeout up in 15 minutes from start to finish! Gluten-free, allergy-free, and no frying. Pack it with veggies, make it spicer or sweeter, the choice is yours no matter how you want to serve it up!

What Is General Tso's Chicken?

This classic Chinese-American takeout dish has a debated origin between two Chinese chefs from the Hunan Province, Peng Chang-kuei and T.T. Wang. Peng Chang-kuei is credited more widely with the dish after it was popularized in his NYC restaurant. Tso's chicken was originally meant to be spicer for the Taiwanese palate but was made sweeter to suit the American palate. The crispy fried chicken is stir-fried in a sweet and spicy glaze-like sauce made with soy, vinegar, chili, and sugar.

Why Is It Called General Tso's?

General Tso's chicken is named after Tso Tsung-t'ang (Zuo Zongtang), a formidable nineteenth-century general (known as General Tso in America), as a way to welcome a Chinese diplomatic envoy that came to the US in the 1950's that Chef Peng Chang-kuei was tasked with serving.

Why You'll Love This Vegan Recipe

Vegan General Tso's chicken replaces the chicken with chickpeas! Completely plant-based and vegetarian, no mock meats or soy. Stir-fried with veggies and a sweet, spicy, tangy sauce that's soy-free thanks to coconut aminos and gluten-free! Adjust the spice level for your tastes and serve it with some white rice for a quick and easy weeknight meal in 15 minutes flat! This homemade recipe is:

• Gluten-Free
• Vegan & Vegetarian
• Allergy-free (Dairy-Free, Soy-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-Free, Peanut-Free, Wheat-Free, Sesame-Free, Corn-Free)
• Grain-Free
• Healthy & Budget-Friendly
• Packed with 100% Plant-Based Protein
• Quick & Easy Lunch or Dinner
• Great for Meal Prep & Leftovers

Ingredients For Vegan General Tso's Chicken

• Chickpeas: Just a can of chickpeas, drained, and rinsed. The humble but hearty legume that can hold its own over the sweet and spicy sauce without getting mushy!
• Starch: You can use cornstarch or arrowroot starch to coat the chickpeas. This helps the sauce thicken and cling to the chickpeas.
• Black Pepper + Ginger: Pepper and ground ginger season the starch before coating the chickpeas.
• Bell Pepper + Broccoli + Onion + Garlic: The flavors of red bell pepper, broccoli, onion, and garlic are the perfect combination of veggies for General Tso's chickpeas! You can use whatever veggies you have on hand but don't skip out on the onion or garlic!
• Veggie Broth: There needs to be enough liquid to make the sauce and vegetable broth is used in place of traditional Chinese Cooking Wine (Shaoxing Wine).
• Rice Vinegar: Rice vinegar adds an acidic sour tang to the sauce.
• Coconut Aminos: Coconut aminos are the soy-free gluten-free replacement for soy sauce! It has all the salty umami flavor you know and love without the allergens.
• Tomato Paste: Instead of using hoisin sauce (which has soy), the combo of tangy tomato paste and molasses creates the perfect deep rich flavor to replace it with.
• Chili Paste: You can use chili paste of sriracha and the amount you use all depends on how spicy you want your General Tso's sauce to be!
• Brown Sugar + Molasses: You can use as much brown sugar as you want to sweeten the sauce and the molasses, as mentioned above, adds that rich flavor.
• Sesame Oil: Sesame oil is optional since it is an allergen. However, if you don't have a sesame allergy, sesame oil adds so much savory nutty flavor!
• Scallions: For some fresh pops of green to garnish the final dish with!

Ingredient Substitutions and Add-Ins

• Swap Out The Veggies: Other delicious veggies you can use are cauliflower, carrots, snowpeas, water chestnuts, bok choy, other colors of bell pepper, or carrots!
• Make It Oil-Free: This recipe uses 2 teaspoons of oil to saute the veggies, onion, and garlic, but you can use veggie broth or water to lightly steam or dry saute the veggies instead. Also leave out the sesame oil from the sauce preparation.
• Swap The Broth: Instead of vegetable broth you can use water (there will be less flavor) or a Chinese cooking wine like rice wine or sherry wine.
• Swap The Sweetener: Instead of brown sugar, you can use honey (vegan honey), brown rice syrup, or your choice of white sugar. Each sweetener will give the dish a slightly different flavor. I do recommend keeping the molasses since it's part of the hoisin sauce flavor replication.

How To Make General Tso's Chickpeas

1. Heat the oil in a large saute pan and add your chopped veggies. Saute for a few minutes until softened and fragrant.
2. Meanwhile, mix together the General Tso sauce ingredients in a small bowl until combined.

3. Drain and rinse the chickpeas before tossing them with the starch, pepper, and ginger to coat.
4. Add the coasted chickpeas to the pan of sauteing veggies.

5. Stir the chickpeas around with the veggies until all the starch is dissolved and the chickpeas and heated through.
6. Pour in the General Tso's sauce, stir,  and allow it to simmer and thicken for a few minutes.

7. Continue cooking the General Tso's chickpeas until the sauce is thick and sticky before removing the pan from the heat. The sauce will thicken further as it cools.
8. Serve the chickpeas right away with white rice, chopped scallions, and sesame seeds, if desired.

Recipe Tips & Tricks

• If the sauce is too thin add an extra teaspoon of starch. Remember that the sauce thickens even more when it's finished cooking.
• If the sauce is too thick add an extra tablespoon of vegetable broth. General Tso's sauce is more like a thick glaze and not meant to be "saucy" in the traditional sense.
• Remember to taste and adjust the spice and sweetness level before removing the pan from the heat.
• You can easily double or triple this recipe if you want to have leftovers for some tasty lunches or if you plan on serving a crowd.
• Always keep the pan over medium to low heat so you don't burn the sauce.

How To Serve General Tso's Chickpeas

Garnish your vegan General Tso's chicken with some fresh scallions (green onion) and sesame seeds (toasted sesame seeds if you want that real sesame flavor). You can serve them with a side of white rice or vegetable fried rice, even gluten-free lo mein would be fantastic to recreate a real takeout experience! Other great side dishes would be some other gluten-free grains like quinoa, buckwheat, brown or wild rice. More veggies or cauliflower rice work great for grain-free options. You can even serve it in lettuce cups or wraps!

How To Store Leftovers

If you need to store leftovers or you want to meal prep a batch, allow the chickpeas to cool to room temperature before transferring them to an airtight container and store in the fridge for 5-7 days. You can freeze General Tso's chickpeas by adding them to a freezer-safe bag and laying the bag flat in the freezer until solid (this makes it easier to store). You can also freeze them in a container if you prefer. They'll be best if used within 5-6 months. When ready to eat, just thaw them overnight in the fridge.

How To Reheat

Toss leftover chickpeas into a pan on the stove over low heat to warm them back up! Add a tablespoon or two of vegetable broth, if needed, to get the sauce moving again after the dish has thickened up in the fridge. You can also add leftovers to an individual bowl and microwave for a minute or two for a quick and easy heating method. Chinese takeout makes the best leftovers since the flavors have more time to develop!

More Vegan Takeout Recipes:

• Vegan Sweet and Sour Chickpeas
• Teriyaki Chickpeas
• Mongolian Chickpeas
• Vegan Orange Chicken (Orange Chickpeas)
• Vegan Butter Chicken (Indian Butter Chickpeas)
• Classic Vegetable Fried Rice
• Easy Vegan Pad Thai
• 10-Minute Vegetable Lo Mein
• Cold Sesame Peanut Noodles

Print

This is definitely one of my favorite stir-fry recipes and if you've been missing that classic General Tso's flavor...this is a must-try recipe! No meat, no soy, no frying, no crying!

So tell me:

+ What's your favorite takeout sauce? Orange, sweet and sour, teriyaki, etc?

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