6 General Tso Sauce Substitutes & When to Use Them
General Tso’s sauce is always a solid choice for Chinese-style sauces, but sometimes you just have to settle for a substitute. Whether you’ve run out of a key ingredient or just feel like experimenting with something else, knowing how a substitute will affect your dish is essential.
If you want to know which sauces are suitable for replacing General Tso’s sauce, you’re in luck. I have six of them here for you to try, so you can determine which one fits your preferences more.
Honey Garlic Sauce
This sauce is a great and easy alternative to General Tso’s if you want something sweet and savory with a touch of garlic. It only has four ingredients: butter, honey, garlic, soy sauce, and rice vinegar.
To make honey garlic sauce, melt some butter in a pot before tossing in the garlic. Try not to burn the garlic before adding the rest of the ingredients. Whisk everything together and let the sauce boil until it reaches your desired consistency.
Most of the sauce’s sweetness comes from honey, and soy sauce is its primary savory source. Rice vinegar, which you can substitute with distilled or apple cider vinegar, provides an acidic balance to allow the honey and soy sauce to work together.
Sesame Ginger Sauce
Sesame oil, ginger, and garlic are the stars of this sauce, with soy sauce as their overall supporting ingredient. Ginger and garlic provide a flavor punch in this sauce, while the sesame oil binds everything together, giving it a subtle richness that coats your tongue well.
And yes, I’m aware that the poor garlic should’ve also been credited in the sauce name, but alas.
Mix ginger, garlic, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil in a bowl or saucepan. Whisk together and let it simmer. Feel free to thicken the sauce with cornstarch slurry.
If the grated ginger and minced garlic are too strong for you, heat them in the saucepan for a few seconds to release their aromatics; use some sesame oil if necessary. Add the liquids shortly after and whisk until ready.
Teriyaki Sauce
Teriyaki is a classic sweet and savory sauce that’s sure to please any tastebud. Like Sesame Ginger sauce, Teriyaki uses ginger and garlic as flavor enhancers. The combination of brown sugar and honey delivers the signature sweetness we know and love, all tied together with the trusty soy sauce.
And just like with the previous sauces mentioned, you can make Teriyaki sauce quickly and easily. Mix soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, mirin (Japanese cooking rice wine), brown sugar, honey, grated ginger, minced garlic, and cornstarch slurry in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil until it thickens to your preferred consistency.
Sweet and Sour Sauce
Sweet and Sour sauce may not look like General Tso’s sauce, but it’ll fill that need for a sweet sauce. And the best part: a homemade Sweet and Sour sauce doesn’t have to be as brightly colored as the one you get from Chinese restaurants.
Combine pineapple juice, rice vinegar (or apple cider), ketchup, soy sauce, and brown sugar to make your own not-so-neon-colored Sweet and Sour sauce. Let the mixture boil, then add the cornstarch slurry. Keep stirring until the sauce thickens to your liking.
The resulting sauce will be darker red with a slight tinge of orange. But if you really want to emulate that Chinese restaurant color, add a drop or two of food coloring to achieve that bright and cheerful orange hue.
Orange Sauce
Who would’ve thought adding fruit juice to sauces could make a world of difference? Orange sauce uses the same base ingredients as most of the sauces mentioned here: cornstarch slurry, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar, and rice vinegar. Toss in some grated ginger and minced garlic to enjoy their aromatics and extra flavor.
But once you add orange juice, everything goes to the next level. Suddenly, you get the sweetness and zest of the orange juice and everything else in the sauce. It’s sweet, fruity, and savory – all the flavors needed to be a perfect alternative for General Tso!
To make your own Orange sauce, heat the ginger and garlic with some oil. Once cooked, add the rest of the liquids except the cornstarch slurry. Bring it to a boil before adding the cornstarch, and keep stirring until it thickens.
Maple Sriracha Sauce
I’ve been holding out on a spicy alternative for General Tso’s, so here’s one for your patience: Maple Sriracha sauce. This delightfully sweet and spicy sauce has a slow heat that will build up and creep up on your tongue as you eat. Even better, you can use this sauce as a sauce, a glaze, or a dip. Talk about multipurpose!
To start, melt butter in a saucepan. Add maple syrup, sriracha sauce, and soy sauce. Whisk them until all liquids are blended, then lower the heat and let them simmer for 3 minutes. Feel free to add more syrup if you want it sweeter or sriracha if you want it hotter.
