Kung Pao Chicken

A few tweaks will produce an OUTSTANDING dish!

TRACER - September 6, 2007 09:47:56 AM PST

This was a wonderful recipe that I can’t wait to make again! I used the helpful hints from these reviews to make one outstanding dish! I doubled the entire ingredients list and added snow peas, carrots (sliced in ½), broccoli, red bell pepper slices and mushrooms to the mix. I also cooked up a package of rice noodles to go with it. I sautéed the veggies in a separate pan, made the main recipe in its own pan and another pan for the noodles. When it was all done I served it in layers; a layer of noodles, a layer of Kung Pao and a layer of veggies. It turned out PERFECT! All-in-all everything took me about an hours to complete and, if you know anything about cooking, this recipe isn’t complex at all. So it wasn’t your typical “Kung Pao Chicken” – this was by far better.

11 of 11 found this review helpful.

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Lower salt and fat; still tasty

lanes1300%40sbcglobal.net - December 7, 2006 09:43:00 PM PST

I made this with less soy sauce, less sugar, and no peanuts. I also added a bunch of veggies; therefore, I doubled the sauce portion (except for soy and sugar) to accomodate. It turned out great! Not as good as my favorite Chinese restaurant, but good enough. I served it with quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) instead of rice and a nice Sauvignon Blanc from Mendocino, CA. All went well together!

8 of 12 found this review helpful.

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Kung Pao Chicken does have veggies

Luv2kook - September 11, 2007 04:50:52 AM PST

Sorry, but Kung Pao Chicken, or Kung Bao Ji DIng as it is known in Mainland China does have veggies, mainly carrots and celery. The store bought stuff is a quick escape but nothing comes close to the real thing and this recipe is really good.

Thanks for the snowpeas idea and the layer idea sounds wonderful!

You can also try putting the chicken with extra sauce in a puff pastry cup (vol-au-vent) and make an east-meets-west fusion dish.

6 of 9 found this review helpful.

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Loved It!!!!

THE_TOY_GIRL - December 7, 2006 09:32:27 AM PST

I just made this, it was easy and fast. Used 1 cup peanuts instead the flavor was just awesome everyone wanted more. Next time I will have to make a double batched. I think I will throw mushroom quarters in it next time also.

4 of 6 found this review helpful.

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Easy and delicious.

bigandbald62 - December 6, 2006 11:02:23 PM PST

I substituted beer for sherry, and almonds for peanuts. It was as good as any restaurant and almost as fast. I was able to prepare this dish in about 30 minutes.

4 of 6 found this review helpful.

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too much sauce and sugar

peonyssaw - August 26, 2008 07:05:46 PM PST

I'm a Chinese, I like cooking very much. In the recipe,the soy sauce and sugar is too much, I think 2 tablespoons soy sauce and 1 teaspoon sugar is enough. In China, only the people in Shanghai and Hangzhou like sugar, for most people in other part of China, we don't put any sugar or only put very little in food.

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Popular with my wife ... and even tolerated by the kids!

burghardtg - August 10, 2008 02:43:26 AM PST

A tasty and fairly quick supper idea, I added a few extra chilli flakes ... and found that you probably need to simmer the chicken a bitter longer than the recipe states to ensure it is cooked throughout.

A tasty recipe which got me some good feedback from my wife, even the kids didn't turn up their noses (which is a rare event) although it was probably their shock at seeing Daddy cook which caused them to be a bit more polite than normal!

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GREAT MEAL.....

UMcanes008 - April 24, 2008 04:29:44 AM PST

We will be adding this meal to menu at our house!!!!!!! Should try it at lease once!!!

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Great Recipe

Teresa - April 10, 2008 07:51:11 AM PST

I made this for my husband the chef and two friends, everyone loved it. I added red peppers and pea pods, but left out the red pepper flakes (one of our guests can't eat spicey food). I will definately make this again.

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Tweak the Ingredients to Make it Authentic

kiacowboyvvp - January 19, 2008 09:01:40 PM PST

I read the recipe, but haven't tried to make it yet. Although, I will add that I add onions and green and/or red bell peppers to my KPC recipe. I highly recommend marinading the chicken for at least an hour before cooking. I also use the double black soy sauce. You can find that at most Asian food stores. The Kikkoman soy sauce and its copy cats are Japanese style soy sauce. Chinese soy sauce is different! And the double black is different even more. You should also add chili sauce with garlic into the sauce (at local Asian food stores), one to two table spoons to taste. And if you really like it SPICY, be sure to roast some chilies in your wok right before you throw everything back in. The majority of the "heat" comes from the seeds, so keep that in mind if you really want to make this dish spicy. If you follow my suggestions, you'll have some killer KPC that's more authentic!

1 of 3 found this review helpful.

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Good but not great.

JHarvW - January 2, 2008 06:10:16 AM PST

I just fixed this last night. It was good, but not great. However, I am not sure what real Kung Pao is supposed to taste like. I'll have to order it next time I go to a Chinese restaurant.

I'll probably make this again, but it won't be a favorite.

Also, the sauce didn't turn out as thick as shown in the photo.

0 of 1 found this review helpful.

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The Real Thing Is Easier.

Don G - September 4, 2007 01:46:46 PM PST

Ridiculously complex. Cube some chicken breasts, fry them in some canola oil with a few red chilis, drain, put them back into a wok with enough Lee Kum Kee Kung Pao Stir-fry sauce (available at any Asian Market) to coat, toss in some peanuts, and voila! Sure, you can add diced pepper, onions, carrots, snow peas, etc., but real Kung Pao doesn't have any vegetables except red chilis.

1 of 5 found this review helpful.

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Not Kung Pao

Shaoxing - September 3, 2007 03:20:14 PM PST

This might be delicious, but for sure this is not Kung Pao. See the wikipedia description http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_pao

0 of 5 found this review helpful.

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Not very good

sherryberry74 - February 18, 2007 07:05:31 PM PST

I was hopeful about this, but in the end, it didn't taste like Kung Pao chicken, or anything Chinese for that matter. You might like it just as a dish if you don't think of it being Chinese, but I wasn't crazy about it.

2 of 11 found this review helpful.

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