A quick and easy Kung Pao chicken loaded with fresh veggies in a spicy sauce sprinkled with green onions and chopped peanuts. A favorite dish at Chinese restaurants that is quick and easy to make at home.
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Update: My daughter makes this recipe all the time, and she emailed me and said she thought it was time to update the post with some nice new pictures. So I tweaked the recipe just a little bit and took some much better pictures. I hope you’ll try this recipe and it becomes a favorite at your house too.
I order Kung Pao Chicken almost every time I eat at a Chinese restaurant, but I’ve never made it at home. Recently, Pam at For the Love of Cooking posted a recipe for Kung Pao Chicken that looked easy and delicious – so I decided I should give it a try at home.
The Kung Pao Chicken at Pei Wei has carrots and pea pods it in, so I changed Pam’s recipe to include them and make it a one dish meal. Also, instead of serving it over rice (which I was out of – who runs out of rice?) I served it over ramen noodles.
The chicken was a big hit. Thanks Pam for sharing it! I’ll definitely be making it again. I changed it just a bit to accommodate my families’ tastes. Here’s my version:
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Kung Pao Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
- ⅓ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup water
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breast, diced into bite sized chunks
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 3 large garlic cloves minced
- 2 tsp fresh ginger grated
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 6 green onions chopped
- ½ cup roasted peanuts chopped
- 1 cup sliced carrots
- 1 ½ cup pea pods
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the rice vinegar, soy sauce, water, and sugar in a bowl and set aside.
- Put the chicken and cornstarch in a Ziploc bag and toss until evenly coated. Heat a large skillet or wok with sesame oil over medium high heat. Once the pan is smoking hot add the chicken and stir fry for 5-6 minutes or until no longer pink inside. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
- Add the garlic, ginger, red pepper and green onions (leaving a few for garnishing) to the pan and stir fry for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add the soy sauce mixture to the pan along with the cooked chicken, peanuts, carrots, and pea pods. Cook for a few minutes until sauce thickens and carrots and pea pods are tender.
- Serve over rice or noodles and top with remaining green onions.
RecipeGirl
That's funny, I was just thinking about Sweet & Sour Chicken (my fave) last night. Love making the Chinese classics at home. Looks great!
Netts Nook
Barbara what a great chicken dinner sounds like a winner. Great pictures.
Kristen
I saw this on Pam’s too and now I want to make it even more
Mary Ann
I know I already commented, but I am making this right now and it smells wonderful! I did a veggie version. Thanks for sharing!
The Blonde Duck
This looks fabulous! Pam’s a wonderful cook to copy! I do all the time!
I passed on your healthy Rice Krispies recipe to a friend! 🙂
Debbie
I remember seeing this on Pam’s site and both Pam’s version and yours look great!!!
Kasha
Oh my goodness thank you! This is my favorite Chinese dish! This recipe actually looks like I could handle it! Thanks Barbara!
http://www.grubandstuff.blogspot.com/
Ralonda
My hubby is a huge Kung Pao fan… must give this a try! Great pics! 😉
Mary Ann
Thanks for commenting on my post today. I saw this recipe come up and it looks perfect for tonight because we have lots of pea pods that need to be used in the fridge! Looks delicious.
Jamie
Yum sounds and looks so yummy! This is flavorful, light and tasty cooking at its best and I love Asian. Perfect idea for a springtime meal.
Ginger
Barbara your King Pao Chicken looks amazing. My son would love this with the ramen noodles!! Thanks for sharing this. Amazing photos!! Have a great day.
Lorraine @NotQuiteNigella
Thanks for the recipe Barbara! Kung pao chicken is one of those dishes we don’t get here (like General Tsao’s chicken) that I’ve always been fascinated by! When we visited NY I made sure to try General Tsao’s chicken 🙂
Anonymous
looks great!
Katy ~
Looks DELICIOUS with all those fresh veggies and certainly has a lot of eye appeal. I will certainly add this to the collection of must-dos. Well done!
HoneyB
Looks delicious Barbara! I’ve stumbled this for you!
teresa
Great idea with the ramen noodles! I can’t wait to try this!
Maris
Looks great! I’ve never had kung pao but this looks much healthier than it would be at restaurants!
Pam
Yum. Yours looks so tasty. I love the snow peas and the ramen is a great idea too. Thanks for the shout out and link back to my site – I appreciate it.
Elyse
Mmm, looks delicious! I also always order the Kung Pao. I’ve never even contemplated making it for myself. Now I can’t wait to try! Great job.
Donna-FFW
Yes, I saw this on Pams site also and have it down to try. yours looks just as wonderful.