What does Kung Po taste like?

Take out style Kung Pao Chicken with marinated chicken, the signature sweet-sour-salty Kung Pao sauce with the addictive tingling heat from sichuan pepper.

It’s an explosion of big, BIG flavours – and it’s a really quick and easy recipe.

Kung Pao Chicken is a Chinese takeout favourite that is mouthwateringly good and highly addictive – so it’s a good thing it’s easy to make at home so we don’t need to order takeout every time we crave it!! We love the strong flavoured sweet-sour-savoury sauce with the signature tingle of numbing heat from the Sichuan pepper!

If you’re wondering whether Kung Pao Chicken is authentic Chinese, the dish as we know it outside of China is a slightly westernised version of an authentic Chinese Sichuan dish.

Traditionally in China, Kung Pao Chicken is a dry stir fry. Which means, unlike 99% of other Asian stir fries on my site like Chop Suey and Cashew Chicken, it’s not swimming in loads of sauce.

But with Kung Pao Chicken, the sauce is very intense flavoured so you don’t need loads of it. When it mixes in with the rice, just a bit of sauce goes a long way.

What goes in Kung Pao Chicken

Most of these ingredients are pretty mainstream Asian cooking ingredients. I’ve provided substitutes for the Chinese cooking wine in the recipe.

The ingredients I describe in a little more detail below are:

• Sichuan pepper

• Chinese vinegar

• Dried chillies

I like to use chicken thigh because it’s juicier than breast and tenderloin. If I make this with chicken breast, I always tenderise it using a Chinese restaurant technique using baking soda (bi-carb). It’s super simple, see directions here: How to Velvet Chicken.

Sichuan Pepper

This is the ingredient in Kung Pao sauce that makes it Kung Pao and not just any type of stir fry sauce. I describe it as a little bit lemony with a numbing spiciness, rather than hot spiciness like almost every other chilli.

I used to use whole peppercorns but nowadays I tend to use pre ground both for the convenience and also because it’s finely ground. In contrast, if you grind your own, there tends to be little gritty bits in it – albeit the flavour is a bit better.

Best substitute for Sichuan pepper is white pepper.

Dried Chillies

Not all dried chillies are created equal and in fact, the same type of chillies can vary in spiciness throughout the year. So for dried chillies, always taste them and make a judgement call on how much you can handle! Most of the heat is in the seeds which are removed.

If you really don’t think you can handle any chilli at all, use them when cooking but don’t eat them. The chillies add flavour to to sauce so don’t skip them.

What does Kung Pao Sauce taste like?

Kung Pao sauce has a strong flavour that is sweet, sour, savoury and with the signature tingle of heat from Sichuan pepper. It’s glossy and thickened with cornstarch / cornflour, and because it has such a strong flavour, this stir fry has less sauce than other Chinese favourites like Cashew Chicken and Beef and Broccoli.

Here’s what goes in Kung Pao Sauce:

• Sichuan Pepper – described above

• Chinese Black Vinegar – described below

• Cornstarch / cornflour – to thicken the sauce
•  – subs available

• Soy sauce, sugar and water

Chinese Black Vinegar

Looks like balsamic vinegar and, surprisingly, tastes vaguely like it. Available in Asian stores and costs only a couple of dollars for a big bottle. Be sure not to get Taiwanese or another Asian black vinegar (some taste completely different), make sure you get Chinese black vinegar (read the label!).

If you can’t find it, don’t worry, you can use rice wine vinegar, plain white vinegar or even balsamic vinegar. I’ve made Kung Pao Sauce so many times and tried it with each of these, and it’s actually quite similar.

Quick to cook

As with most stir fries, once you start cooking, things move quickly! It takes about 6 minutes to cook. So make sure you have all ingredients prepared and ready to toss in.

Key Tip: Cook the Kung Pao sauce down until it reduces to a syrupy consistency with quite an intense flavour. That’s the Kung Pao way!!

Phew! I don’t usually end up writing so much stuff about ingredients in a post! So I’m signing off here and handing over the recipe. Don’t forget the recipe video below! I think it’s especially useful to see the consistency of the sauce at the end – it should be thick and syrupy, and intense dark brown colour. Enjoy! – Nagi x

More Chinese takeout favourites

• Chow Mein

• General Tso’s Chicken

• Sweet and Sour Pork

• Crispy Honey Chicken

• Cashew Chicken
• Beef & Broccoli
• Chop Suey (Chicken Stir Fry)
• Spring Rolls
• Chinese BBQ Pork (Char Siu)
• See all Chinese recipes

WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT

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Servings4

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Recipe video above. Kung Pao chicken - done right! The flavour of this sauce is very similar to proper restaurant versions, with a great balance of savoury-sweet and sour with the numbing tingle from Sichuan pepper. Use whole Sichuan peppercorns if you have them, otherwise ground is fine (which is what I use).

Chicken

• ▢ 1 lb / 500g chicken thigh , cut into bite size pieces

Sauce

• ▢ 2 tsp cornflour / cornstarch
• ▢ 1 tbsp light soy sauce (Note 2)
• ▢ 1.5 tbsp dark soy sauce (Note 3)
• ▢ 2 tbsp Chinese black vinegar (Note 4)
• ▢ 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (Note 5)
• ▢ 3 tbsp sugar , any
• ▢ 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• ▢ 1/3 cup water

Stir Fry

• ▢ 2 tbsp peanut oil (or other cooking oil)
• ▢ 2 garlic cloves , minced
• ▢ 1 tsp ginger , finely chopped
• ▢ 6 - 10 dried chillies (adjust to taste), cut into 2cm/ 3/4" pieces, most seeds discarded (Note 7)
• ▢ 3 green onions , cut into 2cm/ 3/4" pieces, white parts separated from green
• ▢ 1.5 tsp ground sichuan peppercorns , adjust to taste (Note 6)
• ▢ 3/4 cup whole peanuts (or 1/2 cup halved) , roasted unsalted

Sauce & Marinade Chicken:

• Mix cornflour and soy sauce in a small bowl until cornflour is dissolved. Then mix in remaining Sauce ingredients EXCEPT water.

• Pour 1.5 tbsp Sauce over chicken. Toss to coat, set aside for 10 - 20 minutes.

• Add water into remaining Sauce.

Stir Fry:

• Heat oil in wok over high heat. Add garlic, ginger and chillies. Cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant.

• Add chicken, cook until it turns white, then add the white part of the green onions. Cook until chicken is cooked through - about 2 minutes.

• Add Sauce and Sichuan pepper. Bring to simmer, mixing constantly, until almost all the sauce reduces to a thick syrup.

• Just before the end, mix through peanuts and green part of the green onions. Also check spiciness - add more Sichuan pepper if you can handle the heat!

• Serve immediately with rice - or for a low carb, low cal option, try Cauliflower Rice!

1. Chicken - I prefer making this with thigh because it's juicier, but it can be made with breast or tenderloin. If using breast, option to tenderise using the Chinese method so it's super tender and juicy like you get at Chinese restaurants - see How to tenderise chicken the Chinese way (Velveting)

2. Light Soy Sauce is saltier and lighter in colour than all purpose soy sauce (like Kikkoman). The bottle will have "light soy sauce" written on it. It's available in large supermarkets - e.g. Coles and Woolworths in Australia. It can be substituted with all purpose soy sauce - like Kikkoman.

3. Dark Soy Sauce is much darker in colour than Light Soy Sauce has has more flavour. The bottle has "dark soy sauce" written on the label. This is mainly to darken the colour of the sauce so if you don't have it, you can substitute with all purpose soy sauce or even with light soy sauce.

4. Chinese black vinegar for the sour is the authentic way of making it. It looks like balsamic vinegar, tastes like it too but with a slight savoury edge. It's available at Asian stores and some large supermarkets. Substitute with 1.5 tbsp of rice wine vinegar, or 1 tbsp white vinegar or even a mild balsamic vinegar (plain one).

Do not use Taiwanese black vinegar (which is also sold at some Asian grocery stores), it tastes like sour Worcestershire sauce and it changes the flavour of this recipe. Bottle label will say "made in Taiwan".

5. Chinese Cooking Wine is also called shaosing / shoaxing wine, see here for more information. It's the ingredient that makes recipes truly taste like what you get at Chinese restaurants.

Substitutions: dry sherry or mirin (if using mirin, skip the sugar) or Japanese cooking sake (rice wine). If you can't consume alcohol, then skip it but use chicken broth in place of water.

6. Sichuan peppercorns are not that spicy, they sort of make your mouth numb. In a pleasant way! I used to grind my own but nowadays I just buy ground. If you grind your own, toast them in a dry pan first then grind - it will have slightly better flavour but you get grittiness. 

Taste first for spiciness as I find that the spiciness varies. Add more at the end if you want more heat.

They can be purchased at Asian grocery stores, fruit & veg stores that stock spices and some supermarkets. In Australia, they can be purchased at Harris Farms. In America, I am told that sichuan pepper is sold at Wholefoods!

7. Dried chillies: I find that the spiciness of dried chillies drastically differs from brand to brand! So adjust this to taste. Cut off a tiny bit of the chilli and check how hot it is, then decide how many to use. I typically use 6 dried chillies that are around 6 - 7cm/ 2.5" long, deseeded.

8. Nutrition per serving, Kung Pao Chicken only assuming chicken thigh is used. 150 calories of this is attributable to the peanuts.

9. Republished recipe - This Kung Pao Chicken recipe was original posted in April 2016. Recipe has been slightly modified so there's a touch more sauce - by reader demand! 🙂

Serving: 195gCalories: 555cal (28%)Carbohydrates: 18g (6%)Protein: 28g (56%)Fat: 41g (63%)Saturated Fat: 8g (50%)Cholesterol: 122mg (41%)Sodium: 604mg (26%)Potassium: 480mg (14%)Fiber: 2g (8%)Sugar: 10g (11%)Vitamin A: 185IU (4%)Vitamin C: 2.1mg (3%)Calcium: 34mg (3%)Iron: 1.8mg (10%)

Keywords: Kung Pao Chicken

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