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Fusia General Tso’s Chicken (Aldi)

This is my third or fourth review of Aldi’s frozen Chinese offerings, and rather than dwelling on how depressing that is, let’s focus on how they can be hit or miss.

Fusia’s General Tso’s Chicken is definitely more the former, and it’s a good addition to the frozen Asian line.  The chicken, which is cooked in the oven, as opposed to in the microwave or on the stove top, is shockingly crispy, with a breading that suits it well.  A quick sniff gives you the impression that it’s going to be spicy, and this dish definitely has some kick to it.  Of course, since it’s a ‘mainstream’ entrée, and thus must appeal to a wide variety of tastes, you’re not going to get anything that’s going to make your eyes water, but the spices definitely put a little heat in your mouth.

The sauce is a fairly straightforward Americanized Chinese sauce, in that it pretty much resembles a sweet and sour sauce.  But then again, you wouldn’t go in to a frozen supermarket meal expecting anything gourmet now, would you?  Still, it’s good for what it is, and definitely won’t put a damper on your dining experience any more than the fact you‘re eating frozen Chinese food already will.

My main complaint with the Fusia line still pertains here, and that’s that the chicken on the bottom of the bowl gets pretty darn soggy after a while.  It’s like this with every chicken dish I’ve ever tried from their line.  I don’t know if you’ve ever eaten soggy chicken, but it’s about as appetizing as it sounds.  It becomes limp and uninviting, two adjectives you should never want to hear describe your food.

All that comes in the package is the chicken and sauce packet, so you will have to add your rice, but it makes quite a large portion of chicken.  I went in really hungry, and only managed to polish off about half of it before I started feeling full.  And just like takeout, frozen Chinese tastes just as good the next day!  Still though, that means it’s under $3 a serving, and you can’t beat that.  I would imagine there would be enough here to fill up a family of four, assuming they aren’t teenagers or overly starved, so you really get some bang for your buck.

Overall: 7/10.  If you like frozen Chinese food, you’ll get some mileage out of this.  Since it doesn’t come with rice, all you’re paying for is the chicken and sauce, and for $5, you get a lot of each.  Made in the oven, the battered chicken comes out surprisingly crispy.  The sauce is more a spicy sweet and sour, and while it’s nothing to write home about, it does have a perfect amount of kick and some good flavor.  The standard ‘is it really chicken?’ complaints apply, as something just doesn’t feel quite right about the meat.  But hey, that’s processed food for ya!  Some good bang for your buck, too, as there’s probably enough here to feed a family of four, assuming none are teenagers or overly hungry.  It’s obviously nothing gourmet, but it’s good for what it is, and that’s reason enough for me to recommend it.

This Post Has 15 Comments

  1. Mike

    Sorry, I don't agree with your reviews on these products. We absolutely disliked the Fusia frozen line. General Tso chicken is my favorite dish from Chinese takeout as is Sweet and Sour chicken for my kid, and these frozen meals just didn't taste anything like the real thing(the end result was soggy and tasteless). That said, the Fusia seasoning/sauce line is AMAZINGLY close to the real stuff, you can get a bottle of General Tso or Sweet & Sour sauce for less than $2(may be a limited buy?), compared to over $5 from an "authentic" Asian supermarket. Add to the fact that skinless/boneless chicken breasts are regularly on sale for less than $2/lb, you can easily make your favorite Chinese restaurant dish using just a frying pan (or Wok) and some oil. I prefer to deep fry the chicken first so it's more crispy, than simmer in a Wok with the sauce. Still simple enough to fix on a week night.

    However the Fusia frozen oriental stir fry line is recommended if you want a quick meal without any effort whatsoever. I tend to chop up my own chicken to add to these frozen veggies, but the stir fry veggies are pretty good on it's own.

  2. atom

    That's all right if you don't agree; it's all subjective. I agree about the sogginess, but I thought the sauce was pretty good, and liked that they gave you a ton of it.

    I'll have to try the sauce! We actually bought the General Tso's sauce a while back and haven't used it yet. Since we have chicken (and rice!) in the house, I might have to run it by my wife; that would make an excellent weekday meal!

  3. Anonymous

    To avoid the soggy or too-spicy issues, we serve the sauce on the side. The chicken stays crispy, and people can use as little or as much of the sauce as their taste buds prefer.

  4. atom

    That's actually a really good idea…why didn't I think of that? lol

  5. Unknown

    Of course the one that comes with rice will be cheaper.. They give you less meat and more rice. Obviously if I feed you a bag full of rice with less meat I could sell it to you cheaper… Stupid reviewer.

  6. atom

    Your mom's stupid.

  7. Unknown

    i am in love with the Fusia sweet and sour stir fry and could honestly eat it everyday with a smile on my face!
    Go Aldi….go Fusia

  8. atom

    I always forget how much I don't mind stir fry. It's not one of my faves, but my wife loves it, so she makes it once in a while and you're right, it's very good.

    I'm not sure I could eat it EVERY day, and I definitely couldn't eat it every day AND smile, but it's good as a change of pace.

  9. Unknown

    I found the bigger the pieces the more fatty the meat and puked it all up today.seems to be getting worse n we wont buy it anymore

  10. atom

    Ewww, yuck! I haven't had it for a while, so hopefully you just got a bad batch, but I certainly don't blame you. That's gross.

  11. Anonymous

    The last time I tried their bottles gen. Tso sauce, it was nasty. So if they're using it in the frozen bags as well, I can only imagine how bad it is.

  12. atom

    Oooh, good to know. We've only ever gotten the teriyaki sauce, which is pretty good, and I was kinda thinking of trying the Tso's. Glad I haven't!

  13. Anonymous

    Ok, I've been shopping at ALDI, and every time I went by the freezer section, the Fusia contents were either sold out (or short supplied), buy tonight, they were full on stock of Fusia General Tso Chicken and Mandarin Chicken, so I gave in and bought both flavors.

    I ate the mandarin chicken bag tonight. The contents in the bag were just chicken and the sauce pack, no vegetables, which is fine by me. I cooked the chicken in cooking oil, then transferred it into another pot to add the sauce pack on top, and stirred it in, letting in caramelize.

    I only have one thing to say: they were VERY GOOD! I'm going to try the General Tso pack, probably tomorrow, and cook it the same way, and hope the sauce tastes just as good as the mandarin. Honestly if it does, I'm not going to my local chinese spot anymore, and I'll take back what I said previously. I have my fingers crossed because for the price and what I got, I'll take this over the actual chinese store any day. Maybe that's why they kept selling out, someone must've been buying them all out.

    I give the mandarin bag a 9/10 and will update with the general tso flavor when I give it a try.

  14. Anonymous

    Ok, final update. I tried the General Tso bag. It does not taste as good as the mandarin flavor. To put it simply, you could fool someone to believe you got chinese takeout with the mandarin flavor; if you tried to do it with the general tso flavor, no one will buy your lie — the sauce they include with that bag doesn't taste authentic.

    Hopefully I helped anyone considering these items. I'm going to experiment with it some more and try 90% mandarin / 10% gen tso pack mixture.

  15. atom

    Well thanks for the anonymous review, Anonymous! I agree in that you get a lot of Chinese food for the price…and considering we have a lot of subpar Asian food in the area around me, that makes these even more enticing. Also agree with your take on the General Tso's as a whole…not really an authentic sauce flavor, but I liked the taste of it.

    Please keep us updated on your sauce experiments! They also sell the Tso's sauce separately (along with some other Asian-inspired flavors) in the condiments aisle…I wonder if those taste any different than the ones that come in the frozen packs. Might be worth using those in your taste tests!

    Thanks again for the comment!

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