When you love ordering Common Tso’s rooster out of your native takeout spot, you should strive my make-at-home Common Tso’s Shrimp! Candy and spicy sauce coats crispy shrimp for a simple dinner that is far more scrumptious than takeout.
🥣 What’s Common Tso’s sauce?
When you’ve frequented your native Chinese language restaurant, likelihood is you have seen Common Tso’s rooster (or tofu, and so forth.) on the menu.
Common Tso’s sauce is a candy and spicy sauce that is highly regarded in American Chinese language cooking. It is made with a base of soy sauce and sugar (or honey/agave), combined with with rice vinegar, garlic, ginger and dried chilis, and thickened with a contact of cornstarch.
It isn’t a conventional Hunan sauce and is a Chinese language-American invention that is been tailor-made for American’s tastebuds.
Regardless of the actual fact you will not discover Common Tso’s sauce in China or different Asian international locations, it will probably nonetheless be a enjoyable sauce to make from scratch at residence. Particularly when served with shrimp!
🗒 Substances
Here is all the things you should make this Common Tso shrimp (please see the recipe card on the backside of this publish for ingredient quantities and full recipe directions):
- Shrimp: peeled and deveined with tails off
- Cornstarch
- Salt & pepper
- Vegetable oil: or the cooking oil of your selection
- Garlic
- Recent ginger
- Hen or vegetable broth
- Soy sauce
- Granulated sugar
- Rice vinegar
- Hoisin sauce
- Recent or rehydrated dried arbol chilies: you can too substitute with chili paste, like a sambal oelek
- Sesame oil
- Sesame seeds: for garnish
- Scallions: for garnish
🍤 Why this recipe works
Fast and straightforward: It is simple sufficient to make for a weeknight dinner, but additionally spectacular sufficient to serve to visitors with out stress.
Balanced sauce: the combo of soy, sugar, rice vinegar and a contact of hoisin delivers an ideal sweet-tangy taste profile. The recent ginger provides a brightness.
Warmth management: you possibly can determine on the spice stage of your sauce by adjusting the sort and quantity of chilies that you simply add.
Versatile entree: Common Tso’s shrimp may be served in so many alternative methods with so many alternative sides. Concepts under!
Coating the shrimp in a light-weight layer of cornstarch and cooking them in sizzling oil, leads to a fantastically crispy shrimp.
After making the sauce, you will need to add the shrimp in and simmer simply till heated by means of.
The sauce needs to be thick sufficient that it clings to the shrimp.
👩🍳 Recipe ideas
- Dry totally: you should definitely pat shrimp utterly dry with paper towel earlier than tossing shrimp in cornstarch (step 1). Ensuring they’re utterly dry will permit them to crisp up higher when cooking.
- Work in batches if obligatory: crowding the pan will drop the temperature and result in soggy shrimp. In case your wok or skillet isn’t large enough for all of your shrimp, prepare dinner them in two smaller batches.
- Use excessive warmth: sear the shrimp over medium-high warmth so that they prepare dinner shortly with out steaming; 1–2 minutes per facet is loads.
- End sauce with sesame oil: drizzling sesame oil in on the finish retains the toasty taste vivid (it will probably get bitter if it cooks too lengthy).
- Add garnish: chopped scallions and sesame seeds make the proper Common Tso shrimp garnish.


🔥 Easy methods to alter warmth
I used dried arbol chiles that I rehydrated for my sauce and with my 4 chiles, it is a barely spicy dish. It is undoubtedly not too spicy, however has a light-weight warmth to it, such as you’d discover in most eating places.
Nonetheless, if you’d like a milder or spicier dish, listed here are some concepts:
- Milder: Take away the seeds and membranes from 1–2 arbol chilies so that you get the chile taste with out all the warmth. Alternatively, simply use 1 teaspoon of sambal oelek.
- Further spicy: Go away the seeds in your chiles and add an additional chopped arbol pepper an additional teaspoon of chili paste. You may as well fell free to complete the shrimp with a drizzle of chili oil.


🥦 Easy methods to serve
In fact, Common Tso’s rooster is usually served over white rice and that is how I prefer to serve my shrimp, too. However since you make it at residence, you possibly can serve it any means you need!
Listed here are some concepts for what to serve Common Tso’s shrimp with:
You may as well be at liberty to easily add these shrimp atop a inexperienced salad.


When you love cooking shrimp for dinner, try all my straightforward shrimp recipes. I particularly love these shrimp poke bowls and shrimp and feta orzo salad.
And you should definitely remark under should you make this Common Tso’s shrimp for your loved ones!
📖 Recipe

Common Tso’s Shrimp
When you love ordering Common Tso’s rooster out of your native takeout spot, you should strive my make-at-home Common Tso’s Shrimp! Candy and spicy sauce coats crispy shrimp for a simple dinner that is far more scrumptious than takeout.
Makes:4servings
Substances
- 1lbshrimppeeled and deveined with tails off
- 1 ½Tbsp+1 tspcornstarchdivided
- ¼teaspoonsalt
- ¼teaspoonpepper
- 3tablespoonvegetable oil(or cooking oil of your selection)
- 2clovesminced garlic
- 1tablespoonminced recent ginger
- ½cuprooster or vegetable broth
- 3tablespoonsoy sauce
- 2tablespoongranulated sugar
- 2tablespoonrice vinegar
- 1tablespoonhoisin sauce
- 4recent or rehydrated dried arbol chilesfinely chopped for about 1 ½ tablespoon (or 2 teaspoons chili paste,like sambal oelek)*
- 1teaspoonsesame oil
- Sesame seedsfor garnish
- Chopped scallionsfor garnish
Directions
Pat shrimp with paper towels to make sure they’re as dry as doable. Sprinkle 1 ½ tablespoon corn starch,salt,and pepper over the shrimp and toss to coat.
Warmth cooking oil in a big skillet or wok over medium-high warmth. As soon as oil is sizzling,add shrimp in a single layer (you possibly can work in batches if obligatory) and prepare dinner for about 1-2 minutes on either side or till pink and cooked by means of. Take away shrimp from the skillet to a plate or bowl and put aside.
In the identical skillet,add minced garlic and ginger and sauté for about 30 seconds till aromatic.
Add rooster or vegetable broth,soy sauce,sugar,rice vinegar,hoisin sauce,and chopped chili peppers or chili paste. Stir and convey the combination to a simmer.
Make a cornstarch slurry by combining the remaining teaspoon corn starch and 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl and mixing to mix. Add slurry to sauce and stir repeatedly whereas sauce simmers for an additional 1-2 minutes till it thickens to a consistency that may coat the again of a spoon.
Add cooked shrimp again to the skille and sir to coat the shrimp within the sauce and heat them. Drizzle with sesame oil and toss to mix once more.
Serve over white rice,brown rice or no matter you select. Garnish with sesame seeds and chopped scallions.
Notes
When you like a spicier sauce,you possibly can add extra chiles and you should definitely go away the seeds and membranes in.