Kung Pao Chicken

5 from 1 vote

Kung Pao chicken is a famous Chinese dish made with chicken, peanuts, spicy red chilis, and a sweet kung pao sauce. This stir-fry comes together in less than 15 minutes and is better than any take-away.

Course Dinner, Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine American, Asian, Chinese

Keyword Asian cooking, Bok Choy, chicken, Kung Pao, Stir-fry

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Marinate 30 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings servings

Calories 420kcal

Author Veena Azmanov

Cost $10

Equipment

Ingredients

1 lb Chicken cut into bite-size pieces
8 pieces Chinese bok choy or 2 sticks celery cut into pieces
1 Onion sliced
1 tbsp Garlic minced
1 tbsp Ginger minced
3 Red chilies dried, spicy, chopped
10 Cashewnuts or peanuts
2 tbsp Cooking oil canola, sunflower grapeseed
2 tbsp Cilantro for garnish
½ tsp Salt if necessary

Marinade

¼ tsp Salt
¼ tsp Pepper
1 tbsp Rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp Soy sauce

Sauce

1 tbsp Rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp Soy sauce dark
1 tbsp Hoisin sauce
1 tsp Sesame oil
2 tbsp Sugar
½ tsp Scheuan peppercorns crushed
1 tbsp Cornstarch

Metric - US customary

Instructions

Marinate chicken

Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces.
Season with salt and pepper ( use less salt).
Add the vinegar and soy sauce.
Cover and leave to marinate for 30 mins to an hour.

Saute

Cut the bok choy in half - stalks and leaves separate - set aside.
In a wok or cast-iron skillet, heat the oil.
Add sliced onions, and saute for a minute.
Then, add the ginger, garlic, and chilies - saute 30 seconds.
Then, add the chicken and stir-fry on high for 2 minutes.
Add the stalks of the bok choy (as they take time to cook) - saute 2 minutes more.
Then, add the prepared sauce - stir-fry another minute.
Next, add the bok choy leaves - continue to stir-fry.
Sprinkle on the nuts - cashew or peanuts.
Taste and adjust seasoning, add salt as necessary.
Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Video

Notes

Tips for making this Kung Pao chicken

Stir-fry is a quick dish so have all the ingredients ready before you begin to stir-fry
Prepare the sauce before you begin to stir-fry.
Cut the chicken into even bite-size pieces so they cook evenly
Heat the wok or skillet on high before you stir-fry. It's the cooking on high heat that enhances the flavor of stir-fry dishes
Bok choy stalks take longer to cook so we add them ahead of time. But they take not more than 2 to 3 minutes.
Add leaves at the last 2 minutes of cooking.
Similarly, add nuts at the end of cooking so they don't become soft.
If you don't have Sichuan peppercorns use black pepper powder.
Kung Pao chicken is supposed to be hot and spicy but you can reduce the number of spicy chilies or use a non-spicy variety

Nutrition