This paper aims to explore torque optimization control issue in the turning of EV (Electric Vehicles) with motorized wheels for reducing energy consumption in this process. A three-degree-of-freedom (3-DOF) vehicle dynamics model is used to analyze the total longitudinal force of the vehicle and explain the influence of torque vectoring distribution (TVD) on turning resistance. The Genetic Algorithm-Particle Swarm Optimization Hybrid Algorithm (GA-PSO) is used to optimize the torque distribution coefficient offline. Then, a torque optimization control strategy for obtaining minimum turning energy consumption online and a torque distribution coefficient (TDC) table in different cornering conditions are proposed, with the consideration of vehicle stability and possible maximum energy-saving contribution. Furthermore, given the operation points of the in-wheel motors, a more accurate TDC table is developed, which includes motor efficiency in the optimization process. Various simulation results showed that the proposed torque optimization control strategy can reduce the energy consumption in cornering by about 4% for constant motor efficiency ideally and 19% when considering the motor efficiency changes in reality.