Kung Pao Chicken
"Not for the timid! No wimpy veggies in here, just hot chicken. You decide how hot. If you know you can't handle 8 cloves of garlic and 16 hot red peppers then please, adjust to your taste. And don't drink and cook, there's enough hot oil here, as my dad would have said, to burn your gizzard. This recipe is easily doubled to serve 16-32 at a buffet. If you decide to double, don't increase the oil. It's not needed."
photo by patti k.
- Ready In:
- 50mins
- Ingredients:
- 14
- Serves:
-
6-8
ingredients
- 2 large whole boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds)
- 1 egg white
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- salt
- 1⁄4 cup black bean sauce
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons chili paste with garlic
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons dry sherry or 2 tablespoons shao-hsing wine
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 8 cloves garlic, peeled and flattened but not chopped
- 2 2 cups vegetable oil or 2 cups corn oil
- 3⁄4 cup raw shelled and hulled fresh unsalted peanuts
- 16 -21 dried hot red chili peppers, cut in half
directions
- Dice chicken into 3/4" cubes and combine with egg white, cornstarch and salt.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Combine next ingredients through garlic and set aside.
- Heat oil in wok and when it is almost boiling hot but not smoking, turn heat off and add peanuts in a wire sieve so that it and the peanuts inside can be easily removed.
- When peanuts turn golden remove from oil.
- They will continue to cook from retained heat after being removed.
- Don't burn them, they cook very quickly.
- Turn heat back on and when oil is hot add chicken mixture.
- Cook about 45 seconds until chicken is opaque but not browned.
- Remove and drain the chicken on paper toweling.
- Pour off all but 2 T of the oil from the wok.
- Add peppers and cook about 15 seconds, they should be dark.
- Add sauce and chicken and cook about 1 minute more.
- Serve garnished with the peanuts.
Questions & Replies
Got a question?
Share it with the community!
Reviews
-
We didn't like peanuts so we skipped those. -
this is avarage. My sister-in-law is Chinese and she does not put hoisin sauce in her recipe. I thought this one would be good, but I was wrong. Its nothing special. I will not make it again. Also, two cups of oil, does this make sense to anyone?
-
The best Kung Pao recipe I've had!!! I used crushed peppers as well, and also used regular party peanuts, and skipped the frying. All I had was rice wine and it worked fine. We will definately use this recipe again. Thanks for sharing. -
We loved this recipe!!! I used crushed red peppers in place of the other peppers and I just sauteed the chicken in a little canola oil (to cut calories/fat). It was awesome over rice!! will definately be making this again!! -
We really enjoyed this. I used a tsp of crushed red pepper instead of the dried chili peppers and it was soooo spicy, loved it. I doubled the sauce, but that was NOT necessary at all...in fact we scooped some out. This is slightly different that kung pao's I have had, but still wonderful and fabulous with the peanuts. Thanks for a keeper!
see 4 more reviews
Tweaks
-
We loved this recipe!!! I used crushed red peppers in place of the other peppers and I just sauteed the chicken in a little canola oil (to cut calories/fat). It was awesome over rice!! will definately be making this again!!
-
We really enjoyed this. I used a tsp of crushed red pepper instead of the dried chili peppers and it was soooo spicy, loved it. I doubled the sauce, but that was NOT necessary at all...in fact we scooped some out. This is slightly different that kung pao's I have had, but still wonderful and fabulous with the peanuts. Thanks for a keeper!
-
Wow - this is a great Kung POW! Chicken. Nice and spicy, just as promised. My family was very pleased with this (though I did spare the 8-year old by giving her some chicken before I seasoned it). I skipped the cornstarch and oil and just stir fried the chicken pieces and added the heat! I also added some bamboo shoots and shredded carrots and used cashews instead of peanuts. We will definitely have this again. Thanks for posting!
-
This is very close to the version of Kung Pao chicken that I use. However I alter it a bit by (1) omitting the salt; (2) substituting cream for dry sherry; (3) pressing the garlic; and (4) substituting to 1 t hot red pepper flakes for the halved dried red peppers.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
sugarpea
Snohomish, WA
I’m a former interior designer and landscape designer. At the moment I get to enjoy being at home and working only when I want to. I like rollerblading, hiking, backpacking and trips to the ocean. I grew up on a farm in the Midwest and moved to the Northwest when I was thirty, over twenty years ago. I’m afraid they’ll have to bury me here in WA. This is God’s country and I’m never leaving.
I have a smallish collection of cookbooks, preferring to use the library and a copy machine. Among my favorites though, are: Recipes 1-2-3, by Rozanne Gold, a collection of recipes containing no more than 3 ingredients (excepting water, salt and pepper); A Treasury of Great Recipes, by Mary and Vincent Price, recipes collected from friends and chefs of great restaurants around the world; The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook, by Nancy Harmon Jenkins, about a collection of cuisines I’m convinced are the healthiest in the world and The Low-Calorie Gourmet, by Pierre Franey.
Currently my passions are our dogs, the garden, cooking, the natural world and of course, Dh. I can now add Zaar to that list of passions (translate: addiction). We have three dogs, two rescued and one adopted. They are Sugarpea, a Golden Retriever, Chickpea, a Llasa Apso and Sweetpea, a Shih Tzu; small, medium and large. We’re quite a sight out on the trail. One of the things I am most fond of about living here is the ability to vegetable garden year ‘round.
