Kung pao chicken (or gong bao chicken) is a spicy stir-fry. Ingredients include peppers, onions, and chillies, cooked in a lip-tingling, highly addictive, rich, and tasty sauce.
Homemade, low in calories, and much better than from the takeaway!
This is fantastic Chinese chicken food! Tender stir-fried chicken pieces - a perfect combo of salty, sweet and deliciously spicy flavours.
Spicy chicken, peppers, onions and peanuts in a mouthwatering Kung Pao sauce. Just like the Chinese takeaway!
What is kung pao chicken?
A spicy stir-fried chicken dish. Kung Pao chicken ingredients are chicken, vegetables, peanuts and chilli peppers. It really should come with a warning because it is highly addictive! 😋
There is so much flavour in this dish, it's just crazy. Tongue and lip-tingling, I guarantee you'll want it again and again. 😋
I've been to Panda Express a couple of times when I've been in New York, but sadly, there aren't currently any here in the UK.
But the good news is, it's easier to make than you might think.
Is it healthy?
It's a healthy choice for most people, containing various vitamins, minerals, and complete protein. However, if you have to monitor salt in your diet, be aware that soy sauce is high in salt.
Ingredients for the chicken
- skinless chicken breasts
- whole dried red chillies - deseeded and cut into strips (best to use scissors)
- vegetable oil
- green bell pepper
- red bell pepper
- onion
- fresh ginger
- garlic
- spring onions (green onions/scallions)
- peanuts
All this is cooked in a tasty kung pao sauce that makes your lips tingle, mixed with peppers and onions that are still slightly crunchy.
What is kung pao sauce made of?
The spices in the chicken are balanced with soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar.
Ingredients for the sauce
- cornflour
- light soy sauce
- dark soy sauce
- sugar
- water
There are many versions of Kung Pao, but I've experimented a lot and let me tell you, I truly think I've cracked it with this recipe.
Usually, I'd add a tiny amount of Chinese black vinegar, but it has become hard to get here in the UK unless I order from Amazon.
For the small amount, it's not really worth bothering with, as we're talking 1 teaspoon. 😀
If you don't like spicy food, this is not the recipe for you because the whole dried red chillies are HOT!!
If you are buying the right chillies, here's what they look like.
I use 8 in my recipe, but I have seen in some recipes using as many as 12 and leaving the seeds in!
Seriously, we like a bit of heat here, but 12 with the seeds? For goodness sake, that's mental! 😱
But you will probably want to remove the seeds from the chillies, or I think even die-hard chilli fanatics might not be able to eat the dinner. 😉
You can find the ingredients in any good Chinese/Oriental supermarket.
Whatever you do, don't leave out the Chinese Shaohsing Rice Wine in the marinade. Sainsbury's sells it along with Waitrose.
Shaoxing or Shaohsing wine is one of the most famous varieties of huangjiu, or traditional Chinese wines, fermented from rice.
It originates from the region of Shaoxing, in the Zhejiang province of eastern China. It is widely used as both a beverage and a cooking wine in Chinese cuisine.
Substitute for Shaoxing wine
One substitute for Shaoxing wine is pale dry sherry, which can also be used in place of other amber-coloured rice wines.
But with that said, I've never actually tried to substitute it.
What is velveting?
To make the chicken nice and soft, use this meat tenderising technique in Chinese restaurants.
Find out how to velvet chicken (or meat) in my Chinese chicken curry recipe. But if you do that, skip the marinade part of this recipe.
To find more Chinese recipes, scroll to the bottom of this post and select Asian Recipes in the recipe tag cloud at the bottom of this blog, or type in the search bar at the top right of the homepage.
If you like spicy food, you will love my Mapo Tofu Recipe.
Have you tried this recipe? Please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating in the recipe card below!
Authentic Kung Pao Chicken Recipe
Kung Pao Chicken is spicy hot and tongue-tingling; if you like spicy food you will love this!
Ingredients
- 2-3 skinless chicken breast fillets (depending on their size)
- 6-8 whole dried red chillies - deseeded and cut into strips (best to use scissors)
- vegetable oil
- ½ green bell pepper - cut into bite-sized cubes
- 1 red bell pepper - cut into bite-sized cubes
- 1 large onion - cut into bite-sized cubes
- peeled fresh ginger - chopped finely (enough to make about 2 teaspoons)
- 4 cloves garlic - minced
- 2 spring onions (scallions) - sliced diagonally
- a good handful of roasted peanuts
- 1 tablespoon cornflour
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing (Chinese rice wine)
- 2 teaspoons cornflour
- 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
- ½ a tablespoon of dark soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons of sugar
- 6 tablespoons of water
Instructions
- Skip the marinade if you are using the velveting technique. Cut the chicken into bite-sized cubes and put them in a small bowl along with the marinade ingredients. Mix well and leave for 30 minutes, no more or the chicken will start to break down because of the alcohol in the Shaoxing wine.
- Meanwhile, mix the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
- Remove the chicken from the marinade and drain. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a wok and add the chicken. Stir fry until the chicken is almost cooked. Remove and set aside.
- Wipe the wok with kitchen paper and add another splash of oil and heat. Once hot, add the onion and peppers. Stir for a couple of minutes.
- Now add the ginger and garlic, stir for a minute more and then add the dried red chillies. Stir fry the chillies until aromatic and they smell spicy.
- Return the chicken to the wok and stir for a few more minutes, making sure the chicken is cooked.
- Stir the sauce as the cornflour and sugar would have gone to the bottom, then add it to the wok and stir continuously until the chicken is nicely coated.
- Throw in the spring onions and peanuts and give it all another stir.
- Serve immediately with egg-fried rice.
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Jan