Homemade Kung Pao Chicken Recipe

My taste buds are always ready for an Americanized Asian dish. Yes, I love genuine Asian food, but let’s face it, most of us grew up on the American version of General Tso’s Chicken. Likewise, I grew up with Kung Pao Chicken and love the Chinese inspired sauces mixed with peanuts!

Thankfully, this recipe for Kung Pao Chicken means you don’t have to order out anymore. You can make this delicious meal straight from the comfort of your kitchen. 

Healthy Kung Pao Chicken!

If you want to skip to the recipe below feel free! I want to add that there were some specific things we did to prepare this meal and what makes it a little different than the usual recipe for this dish. 

First, we use chicken breasts and filet them into thin 1/2 inch slices. Those slices are then diced into cook-able squares. Yes you can just cut the chicken breast into 1 inch cubes, but we cook in bulk and tend to make other things out of leftover filet’s. 

Another specific aspect of this recipe is that we don’t use normal salted peanuts. During the first attempt at cooking Kung Pao Chicken, all we had were honey roasted peanuts, so we decided to give it a shot! Now, anytime we make this recipe we use honey roasted peanuts as it adds a nice zest. Feel free to add normal salted peanuts to your meal though.

Homemade Kung Pao Chicken

A healthy kung pao chicken recipe, inspired by Chinese sauces and spices.

5 from 3 votes

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine American, Chinese

Servings 6

Calories 750 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 1 1/2 ponds boneless chicken breasts (chopped into cubes)
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbsp red cooking wine
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 red bell pepper (chopped julienne style)
• 3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
• 1 tbsp ginger
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1/3 cup honey roasted peanuts

Instructions

 

Sauce prep

• Combine water, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1 tablespoon red cooking wine, balsamic vinegar, hoisin sauce, honey, and 1 teaspoon of cornstarch.

Cooking chicken

• In medium sized bowl, mix together chicken and cornstarch.
• Once chicken is evenly coated, add in 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of red cooking wine.
• Heat olive oil in pan for 1 minute over medium heat.
• Add chicken to pan and toss to cook until crispy.
• Once chicken is crispy (roughly 5 minutes), add in bell peppers, garlic, and ginger, cooking for another 3 minutes.
• Pour in sauce from preparation and cook until the sauce thickens and is evenly coated around the chicken.
• Finally, stir in the sesame oil and peanuts, cooking for another 2-3 minutes.
• Serve with rice.

Keyword asian chicken recipes, healthy kung pao chicken, homemade kung pao chicken

Be sure to check out more recipes if this doesn’t fit your needs!

Need help converting measurements in the kitchen? Check out our articles on a Grams to Cups Conversion Table and our Tablespoons to Cups Conversion Chart!