General Tso’s vs Orange Chicken: Which Should You Order?

Put General Tso’s chicken and orange chicken side by side and most people cannot tell them apart. Both are bite-sized pieces of battered, fried chicken coated in a dark, glossy sauce. The difference is in what that sauce is built from.

The short answer

General Tso’s chicken is sweet, tangy and carries chilli heat. Orange chicken is sweeter and brighter, built on citrus, and typically not spicy. If you want warmth and a bit of a kick, choose General Tso’s. If you want the crisp fried chicken without the heat, choose orange chicken.

What makes General Tso’s chicken distinctive

The sauce is the signature: savoury and slightly sour underneath, sweet on top, with dried red chillies providing the heat. In many kitchens the chillies are left in the dish, which is a useful visual cue — if you can see whole dried peppers in the container, you are almost certainly looking at General Tso’s rather than orange chicken.

The dish is named after Zuo Zongtang, a nineteenth-century Qing dynasty general from Hunan, though the dish as it is eaten today was developed much later by Chinese chefs working outside mainland China and became a fixture of American Chinese menus.

What makes orange chicken distinctive

Orange chicken leans on citrus. The sauce is built around orange — juice, zest or peel, depending on the kitchen — balanced with sugar and a savoury base. The result is brighter and noticeably sweeter than General Tso’s.

Heat is where a dish’s reputation and an actual menu often part company. Orange chicken carries little or no chilli in many kitchens, which is how it earned its name as the mild option. That is not universal: on the Panda Li’s Kitchen menu it is marked spicy, exactly as General Tso’s Chicken is. If heat is your deciding factor, go by the menu marking rather than the reputation.

Side by side

Which should you order?

• You like a bit of heat. General Tso’s, every time.
• You are ordering for children or a mixed table. On this menu, sesame chicken or bourbon chicken — neither is marked spicy.
• You want something in between. Sesame chicken sits close to orange chicken in sweetness but finishes nuttier and less citrusy.
• You want to try something less familiar. Bourbon chicken is in the same crisp-fried family but with a different sweet-savoury profile.

Finding them on the menu

At Panda Li’s Kitchen, all four of these dishes sit in the same part of the menu. General Tso’s Chicken, Orange Chicken, Sesame Chicken and Bourbon Chicken are all listed under house specials, in small and large sizes. General Tso’s Chicken and Orange Chicken are both marked spicy there; Sesame Chicken and Bourbon Chicken are not.

If you would rather stay away from fried, sauced chicken altogether, the chicken section has lighter stir fried options such as chicken with broccoli, chicken with snow peas and moo goo gai pan. There is also a General Tso’s Tofu in the vegetable section for anyone who wants the sauce without the chicken.

Where the dish came from

General Tso’s chicken has an unusually well-documented origin for a takeout staple: it was created by the Hunanese chef Peng Chang-kuei, who cooked in Taiwan before opening a New York restaurant in the 1970s, where the dish was sweetened for American tastes. The Smithsonian Magazine has covered that history in detail.

How to tell them apart when the food arrives

Takeout containers are not labelled, so three quick checks settle it.

• Look for whole dried chillies. If you can see them among the chicken, it is almost certainly General Tso’s.
• Check the colour of the sauce. General Tso’s tends to be darker and more reddish-brown; orange chicken is brighter and more amber.
• Look for vegetables. General Tso’s is often served with broccoli or peppers mixed through. Orange chicken is more often just chicken and sauce.

Where sesame and bourbon chicken fit

These two sit in the same family and are worth knowing about, because they solve the problem when neither of the first two is quite right.

Sesame chicken is the closest relative to orange chicken: the same crisp fried chicken, a sweet and savoury sauce, finished with sesame seeds that give it a nuttier, rounder flavour. It is not marked spicy on this menu, which makes it the natural pick if you want this style without heat.

Bourbon chicken is the odd one out. It comes from Louisiana rather than from Chinese cooking, and it has been absorbed into Chinese-American menus over the last few decades. The sauce is sweet and savoury with a molasses-like depth rather than citrus or chilli.

What to pair them with

All four are sweet, fried and heavily sauced, so two of them on one table makes for a monotonous meal.

• Pair with plain steamed rice rather than fried rice, so the sauce has something neutral to sit against.
• Add one dry or savoury dish — beef with broccoli, a vegetable stir fry or a mei fun — for contrast.
• Keep a light soup at the start. Egg drop works better here than hot and sour, which competes.

Frequently asked questions

Is General Tso’s chicken spicy?

Traditionally yes, mildly so — the sauce usually includes dried red chillies. On the Panda Li’s Kitchen menu both General Tso’s Chicken and Orange Chicken are marked spicy, while Sesame Chicken and Bourbon Chicken are not. Heat levels vary between kitchens, so ask if unsure.

Which is sweeter, orange chicken or General Tso’s?

Orange chicken is generally the sweeter of the two. Its sauce leans on citrus and sugar, while General Tso’s balances sweetness against chilli heat and a savoury, tangy base.

Are they both breaded and fried?

Yes. Both start with bite-sized chicken that is battered and fried, then tossed in sauce. That shared texture is why they look so similar under the counter lights.

Which one is better for someone who does not like heat?

Going strictly by this menu, neither — both are marked spicy. Sesame Chicken and Bourbon Chicken are the two dishes in the same crisp-fried family that are not marked spicy.

The bottom line

Same chicken, same crisp coating, two different sauces. General Tso’s brings chilli heat and a tangier edge; orange chicken is sweeter and brighter. Pick the one that matches how much heat you actually want.