Kung Pao Chicken
I always liked Kung Pao chicken but never made it at home. After scanning the internet and finding a lot of different recipes, none of which I had all the ingredients, I decided to take some ideas from many different recipes to come up with my own. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
- 2 lbs boneless chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
- 2 zucchini cut into bite size pieces
- 1 bell pepper cut into bite size pieces
- 3 green onions sliced thinly with green and white parts separated
- ½ c unsalted peanuts or cashews
- 5 Tbs sunflower or other cooking oil
- 1-many Thai peppers depending on heat level desired
For Marinade
- ¼ c low sodium soy sauce or tamari
- 2 Tbs rice vinegar
- 1 Tbs sesame oil
- 1 Tbs corn starch
For Kung Pao sauce
- ¼ c low sodium soy sauce or tamari
- 2 Tbs sugar or honey
- 4-6 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 Tbs corn starch
- 1 tsp powdered ginger
Instructions
- Whisk together all marinade ingredients.
- Cut-up chicken and add it to marinade. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- While chicken marinates, cut up remaining ingredients.
- Whisk together Kung Pao sauce ingredients and set aside.
- Once chicken has marinated, heat oil in wok until hot.
- Add chicken and stir fry until just cooked.
- Remove chicken from wok and set aside.
- Add more oil to wok and heat.
- Add zucchini and Thai peppers to wok. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add bell pepper to wok and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
- Add white part of onion to wok and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add a small amount of water if vegetables start to stick or burn. Don't overcook vegetables. They should remain firm.
- Add nuts and heat through.
- Add chicken and Kung Pao sauce. Heat through until sauce thickens.
- For thicker sauce, whisk together 1 Tbs corn starch and 2 Tbs water or soy sauce and stir into wok ingredients.
- Remove from heat and toss with the green parts of onions.
- Serve with cooked rice.
Notes
Don’t be shy about using other vegetables including but not limited to eggplant, cauliflower or broccoli.