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Copycat Kung Pao Chicken - It's easier to make then you think!

Kung Pao Chicken – Copycat Panda Express Recipe

Ingredients

  • FOR MARINADE
  • 2 tbsp rice wine
  • ¼ tsp white pepper
  • 5 tbsp soy sauce
  • 4 tbsp hoisin sauce
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 2 garlic cloves peeled and minced
  • 1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger peeled and grated
  • ½ tsp ground sechuan peppers optional – for those of you who like it hotter
  • REMAINING INGREDIENTS
  • 3 chicken breasts chopped into bite size pieces
  • 1 teaspoon cornflour/cornstarch
  • 1 tbsp vegetable Oil
  • 8 Dry Whole Chilli Peppers
  • 2 Red Bell Pepper chopped into squares
  • 1 medium sized courgette/zucchini chopped into chunks
  • 12 spring onions/scallions chopped roughly
  • ½ cup unsalted peanuts

Instructions

  1. Mix the marinade ingredients in a bowl.
  2. Place the chopped chicken in a separate bowl and mix with the cornflour/cornstarch, then stir in 1/3 of the marinade ingredients. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes (or up to 12 hours).
  3. Heat your wok or frying pan over a medium heat and add the whole chilli peppers. Dry cook for a couple of minutes – turning regularly until the chillies go darker in colour. They burn quite quickly, so keep a close eye on them. Remove from the pan when they’ve darkened and gone a little softer.
  4. Add the oil to your work, heat on a high heat and then add the chicken. Fry until cooked through – about 7-8 minutes.
  5. Add in the red peppers, courgette/zucchini and spring onions/scallions. Cook for a further 2-3 minutes until heated through, but still crunchy.
  6. Add in the remaining 2/3rds of the marinade and the chillies and cook until the sauce thickens slightly – about 2 minutes.
  7. If you’d prefer the sauce to thicken even more, you can mix a tbsp. of cornflour/cornstarch with a couple of tbsp. of cold water, then pour this mix in whilst stirring. The sauce will thicken very quickly.
  8. Add in the peanuts just before serving, and give them a quick stir. Serve over boiled rice (with a large glass of water if you intend to eat those chillies!)