Kung pao chicken exists both in the traditional Chinese repertoire and Americanized takeout menus alike. When we lived in Beijing, I was actually surprised to see how popular Kung Pao Chicken was among restaurant goers.
At certain restaurants that featured family-style cooking, I’d often see kung pao chicken on one out of every three tables. Chopsticks would work hard to grab at the small bite-sized pieces of chicken. And trust me, when the dish was “hot-off-the-wok” good, those chopsticks were moving faster.
Note: While this recipe was originally published in February 2015, we’ve re-tested it and updated it with new photos and clearer instructions. We’ve also included a recipe video! Happy to report the recipe itself is the same, and still as good as ever.
(Also, if you’d like to try a vegan version of kung pao, here are our recipes for kung pao tofu and kung pao mushrooms.)
What is Kung Pao Chicken?
Kung Pao Chicken is a dish featuring small pieces of diced chicken, peanuts, and chilies. While the dish originated in Sichuan province, its fame brought it to other provinces as well, each with their own regional variation.
The dish has also made its way out of China, and remains a common sight on Chinese takeout menus in countries around the world.
There are good reasons why everyone loves kung pao chicken. It’s got so many flavors going on: tangy, sweet, and salty with a hint of heat. The art is putting in the right amount of each ingredient to come up with that winning flavor combination.
It’s actually a relatively easy dish to make at home, and my goal was to make a restaurant-quality kung pao chicken recipe. Try it for yourself to see if I’ve succeeded!
Kung Pao Chicken Recipe: Instructions
1. Start by roasting the peanuts:
Heat a teaspoon of oil in a wok over medium heat and add a cup of raw shelled peanuts. Stir constantly (or they’ll burn) for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir for another minute using the residual heat in the wok.
Set aside to cool. They will turn crunchy once they’re cooled completely.
Alternatively, you could skip this step and simply use shelled roasted peanuts!
2. Marinate the chicken:
Combine the chicken with 1 teaspoon each of oil, cornstarch, and Shaoxing wine, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and a pinch of white pepper. Set aside to marinate for 20 minutes. For more information and preparing chicken for stir fries, see Bill’s post on Chicken velveting 101.
3. Prepare the sauce:
Mix together light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sugar, water, and cornstarch, and set aside.
4. Grab the rest of your ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed and sliced
- 2 thin slices ginger, minced
- 2 dried red chilies, deseeded and chopped (these can be quite spicy, so adjust according to your own tastes)
- 1/2 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorn powder
- 6 scallions, white portions only, cut into 3/4” pieces
5. And you’re ready to cook kung pao chicken:
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a wok over high heat. Sear the chicken, remove from the wok to a bowl, and set aside.
Turn the heat to low and add another tablespoon oil. Add the garlic, ginger, chilies, Sichuan peppercorn powder, and scallions. Cook for a minute or two until fragrant.
Add the chicken back to the wok. Turn up the heat to high and stir-fry for a minute.
Then stir up your prepared sauce (the cornstarch will have settled to the bottom, so make sure it’s well incorporated).
Add the sauce to the wok and stir-fry for another minute. The sauce should thicken very quickly.
Finally, add the peanuts.
Give everything a final stir and serve.
Watch video!
For a twist on this Kung Pao Chicken recipe, try our oven fried Kung Pao wings, or vegan/vegetarian versions: kung pao tofu and kung pao mushrooms.
Kung Pao Chicken Recipe – Chinese Restaurant Quality
Ingredients
To roast the peanuts:
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1 cup raw peanuts (shelled, with or without the skin)
- Can also substitute roasted shelled peanuts and skip this step!
To marinate the chicken:
- 12 oz. 340g chicken breast, cut into 3/4” cubes
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon shaoxing wine
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- a pinch of ground white pepper
To prepare the sauce:
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
The rest of your ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 3 cloves garlic , smashed and sliced
- 2 thin slices ginger , minced
- 2 dried red chilies , deseeded and chopped (these can be quite spicy, so adjust according to your own tastes)
- 1/2 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorn powder
- 6 scallions , white portions only, cut into 3/4” pieces
Instructions
- Heat a teaspoon of oil in a wok over medium heat and add a cup of raw shelled peanuts. Stir constantly (or they’ll burn) for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir for another minute using the residual heat in the wok. Set aside to cool. They will turn crunchy once they’re cooled completely. You can also skip this step and use already roasted shelled peanuts.
- Marinate the chicken. Mix together the chicken with all the marinade ingredients in a bowl and set aside for 20 minutes.
- Prepare the sauce. Mix together all the sauce ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a wok over high heat. Sear the chicken, remove from the wok to a bowl, and set aside.
- Turn the heat to low and add another tablespoon oil. Add the garlic, ginger, chilies, Sichuan peppercorn powder, and scallions. Cook for a minute or two until fragrant.
- Add the chicken back to the pan and turn up the heat to high. Stir-fry for a minute and then use your finger to stir up your prepared sauce (the cornstarch will have settled to the bottom, so make sure it’s well incorporated). Add the sauce to the wok and stir-fry for another minute. The sauce should thicken very quickly.
- Finally, add the peanuts. Give everything a final stir and serve.
I trust and love your recipes you are my go to person I have never been disappointed always a five ++++ star. Very easy to follow recipes I can not wait for your book to come out. I just finished the Wok by Kenji which I also love him too.
Nice! Thank you for your lovely comment ;-)
I’ve been making Kung Pao Chicken for a long time. I noticed you didn’t include Sesame Oil in the recipe for the sauce (I always do). I also include red Shaoshing Wine in the sauce (in addition to the marinade). Sometimes I use a little Chinese Black Vinegar along with the regular Rice Wine Vinegar, for some variation. Just throwing out a couple of ideas. Also, a squirt of ketchup or oyster sauce can be good, depending on what you’re in the mood for. There possibilities are endless.
Thank you for your tips, Larry :-)
This is is so delicious! The perfect combination of spicy, tangy and a bit sweet. To avoid having to make a vegetable side (I’m an extremely lazy person), I add two bell peppers (1/2″ dice) along with the scallions and double the sauce and aromatics. Thank you for another amazing recipe!
You are very welcome, Lana.
Muchas gracias por la información, me sera de gran utilidad…
You are very welcome.
This recipe is the best food of anything I have tried and my entry to the chinese cuisine despite me being a very picky eater meaning that I have a lot of options to choose from making this site even better than best.
Thank you so much for your generous praise :-)
Made this recipe, but I had to substitute ground white pepper for the Sichuan peppercorns, and used red bell peppers rather than dried chili peppers. Even with the substitutions, this was still an excellent recipe!
Great job, Mary, thank you for trying this recipe :-)
Hello,
For the rice vinegar, is it the white rice vinegar I should use? And if so, can I use Japanese rice white vinegar? Is there any difference between Chinese and Japanese white rice vinegar?
Thank you.
Hi Arnauld, you can definitely use Japanese rice vinegar for this recipe :-)
Making this this weekend. Can you let the chicken set in the marinating 4-8 hrs and be okay? Also I am adding blanched carrots, snap peas, and mushrooms when would you suggest I add them
Sorry to have missed your comment, Susan. You can add the blanched veggies at the same time with the cooked chicken.
I made it tonight. But used only tamari, that is – just one kind of soy sauce. Have no idea what you mean by reg soy sauce and light soy sauce. In the end the Kung pao was pretty good. But not as flavorful as some I’ve had. Maybe it was my soy sauce faux paux ? Also used sherry in place of chinese wine.
Hi Surati, have a look at the brand of soy sauces that we use :-)