Kung Pao Chicken is a classic Chinese stir-fry of chicken with spicy brown sauce, vegetables and peanuts.
Kung Pao Chicken
By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
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Kung Pao has been a longtime favorite of mine and is my recipe of the day with the blogging group Improv Cooking Challenge.
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We group monthly to share recipes that use two specific ingredients in the same recipe. This month we are using ginger and peanuts.
This particular recipe brings back memories of my mom and days when we worked together at the Bloomin’ Flowers factory in St. Louis, where we spent some time making everlasting flower arrangements for sale at local mall kiosks during the holiday season. At lunch we often went to a fried rice take-out nearby, and Kung Pao was our favorite.
And occasionally I would make this at home when we had dinner together. I made Chinese food a lot. She’d brag about my food- to the point some people thought it was all I cooked. Ha!
You can be the judge of whether or not you find my version worthy of Mom’s braggadocio. Let me know if you like it in the comments.
Improv Cooking Challenge: September 2021
Peanuts and Ginger
- Asian Noodle Salad by A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Kung Pao Chicken by Palatable Pastime
- Quinoa Dosa with Peanut Coconut Chutney by Sneha’s Recipe
- Minty Tomato Peanut Chutney by Magical Ingredients
- Haitian Tablet Pistach by Pandemonium Noshery
Kung Pao Chicken
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Kung Pao Chicken
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Kung Pao Chicken
Equipment
- Wok skillet
Ingredients
Stir-Fry:
- 1 pound boneless chicken breast (diced)
- cornstarch
- 1 cup diced carrot
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 3/4 cup unsalted peanuts
- 1/4 cup small dried hot red peppers
- peanut oil
Spicy Brown Sauce:
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger root
- 1 tablespoon hot chili oil
- 1-1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Mix ingredients for spicy brown sauce in a small bowl and set aside until needed.
- Velvet the chicken by coating in cornstarch and shaking off excess.
- Heat oil in wok or large skillet (enough to adequately fry the chicken, and stir-fry the chicken until lightly browned; remove chicken from the wok.
- Drain off excess oil and leave one tablespoon of it.
- Heat oil and stir fry the vegetables until crisp-tender.
- Stir in the peanuts and hot chili peppers, cooking about half a minute, then stir in the sauce mixture and cook until thickened.
- Serve with steamed rice.
Notes
Don’t Forget to Pin and Save the Recipe!
This recipe has been updated from 5.8.16 for a recipe card and photo update.
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