Szechuan Kung Pao Chicken

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Truly a fan favorite at Chinese restaurants all around the world is the famous Szechuan Kung Pao Chicken Recipe. It is a dish that consists of a sweet and spicy sauce that is drenched overly perfectly cooked, tender pieces of Chicken and finished with Roast Peanuts. There are a few different variations you can make with this dish, but the core flavors are sweet and spicy. This recipe utilizes the Szechuan-style cooking, which includes those wonderful Szechuan Peppercorns which add a wonderful spicy, tingly flavor

The cornerstone to a great Kung Pao Chicken is Spice

For a truly authentic tasting Kung Pao Chicken you’ll need to get this dish spicy! If you are a big fan of spice then this dish is for you. If you’re cooking for a few folks who don’t enjoy spice, you can still make this dish but scale back the spice a bit. However, we wouldn’t recommend that, as the true flavor in a Szechuan Kung Pao Chicken comes from the spice!

Spice is introduced to the dish in two unique ways, from Szechuan Peppercorns, and from Dried Red Chilis. The Red Chilis are perhaps the most famous element of the dish, as their bright, bold, vibrant red color is unmissable in the dish

What is perhaps unique about the inclusion of Dried Chilis in the dish is that they aren’t eaten, yet they are still served in the bowl. This may defy many chefs logic that you should only put edible food on the plate. Usually, we would subscribe to this notion. But when it comes to Kung Pao Chicken we’re happy to make the exception. The Red Chilis have such a striking visual appearance on the plate, that it just wouldn’t be right if they didn’t make the dish

Control the Spice with the Red Chilis

The key to spice levels in this dish really comes down to the Red Chilis. Namely, how many to put into the dish, and whether to include the seeds. Like all Chilis, the real heat to Dried Red Chilis comes from the Seeds. If you’re a die-hard spice fiend then you can simply add the Chilis as they are straight into the stir fry

You can completely scale back the spice by cutting the Chilis in half and removing the Seeds. Personally, we’d recommend a combination of the two extremes. Meet somewhere in the middle, where you include a handful of the seeds to give the dish a kick, but not too much where the spice makes the dish unpleasant to enjoy

It wouldn’t be Szechuan Kung Pao Chicken without including Szechuan Peppercorns

Easily the most famous ingredient from the Chinese province of Szechuan is their famous peppercorns. Szechuan Peppercorns are a unique type of Pepper that has the most amazing ‘tingly’ sensation when eaten. There is truly nothing like it, and they are amazing!

They are relatively spicy when it comes to Pepper, so the combination of Szechuan Peppercorns and Red Chilis in the dish will add more than enough heat for you. Szechuan Peppercorns are so popular these days and can be found everywhere. If your local grocery store doesn’t stock them, then we guarantee you’ll find them at a specialty Asian grocery store

They’ll likely come as whole peppercorns, so you will need to grind them down into a relatively fine powder before adding them to the dish. We recommend using a Mortar and Pestle to do this, as it’ll be a lot quicker than relying on any kind of Peppercorn grinder. For our recipe we’re adding 1 tbsp., which may seem like a lot, but you do need that much to ensure that tingly Szechuan-style flavor really comes through in the dish

Don’t skimp on the Sugar

With the spicy elements covered, it’s time to move to the sweet flavors. Simply put, sweetness is added to this dish with good old Brown Sugar. A classic ingredient in Asian savory cuisine, it doesn’t disappoint in Kung Pao Chicken

It is important that you have a strong sweet flavor coming through in the dish. The sweetness not only gives the dish it’s famous rich flavors, but it helps to counteract the spiciness of the Chilis and Peppercorns. So, while adding 2 tbsp. of Brown Sugar may seem like a lot, it is needed. The are a load of ingredients added to the dish, and the only element of sweetness is Sugar (ok, Onions add a bit too), so you do need to rely on the Sugar to get the right contrast of flavors

Preparing and cooking the Szechuan Kung Pao Chicken

This dish is cooked as a Stir Fry, which means high heat, fast! Whenever I’m making a stir fry I always ensure that I’ve got all the elements of the dish ready before I start cooking. Once you start cooking the dish comes together very quickly. In fact, from start to finish it’ll be a maximum of 10 minutes of cooking. With 18 Ingredients in the dish, it’ll be chaos in the kitchen if you don’t prepare everything at the beginning!

There are three elements to the dish: Chicken, Sauce, and the Stir Fry. We recommend preparing the Chicken and Sauce in advance, and then chopping up all your Veggies before you turn on the Wok or Frying Pan

The Chicken will need about 30 minutes to marinade, so start with that first. Combine a few classic Asian ingredients like Soy Sauce, Chinese Cooking Wine (otherwise known as Shaoxing Wine), Corn Starch, and Baking Soda in a bowl. Cut the Chicken into bite-sized pieces and give it a good mix through before leaving to marinade

The Sauce is a simply a combination of Soy Sauce, Vinegar, Sesame Oil, Sugar, and Corn Starch. The Sauce also uses a little bit of Chicken Broth. You can replace it with Water if you like, but Chicken Broth is always going to add more flavor overall

Finally for the Stir Fry – we like to add Onions and Scallions, along with some aromatics like Garlic and Ginger. The classic Kung Pao Chicken finishes off the dish with roasted whole Peanuts, which add a beautiful crunchy texture to the dish

Once cooked, serve the Szechuan Kung Pao Chicken with Rice or Noodles

While you can enjoy the dish on its own, we much prefer to serve it alongside a starch like Rice or Noodles. Try to avoid heavily flavored sides, as the immense sweet and spicy flavors in the Kung Pao Chicken will be more than enough. In fact, Rice or Noodles are best served to help mellow out the flavor a bit, making for a well-rounded meal

If you do opt for Rice, we recommend you check out our dedicated Homemade Rice article here. It’s a basic, step-by-step guide to perfecting homemade Steamed Rice every time. Once you’ve read that article you’ll never need to worry about over cooking or under cooking Rice ever again!

Szechuan Kung Pao Chicken Recipe

Ingredients

Chicken Marinade Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs. Chicken Thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 ½ tbsp. Soy Sauce
• 1 ½ tsp. Shaoxing Wine (Chinese Cooking Wine)
• 1 tsp. Corn Starch
• 1 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 tsp. Salt
  
  

Sauce Ingredients

• ½ cup Chicken Broth
• 2 tbsp. Soy Sauce
• 1 tbsp. Dark Soy Sauce
• 1 tbsp. Chinese Cooking Wine
• 1 tbsp. Chinese Vinegar / Rice Wine Vinegar
• 2 tbsp. Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp. Sesame Oil
• 1 tsp. Corn Starch
  
  

Stir Fry Ingredients

• ½ Red or Yellow Onion, roughly chopped
• 4 Scallions, roughly sliced
• 1 tbsp. Szechuan Peppercorns, finely ground
• 12 Dried Chilis (remove seeds for less spice)
• 3 tbsp. Vegetable Oil
• 4 Garlic Cloves, finely diced
• 1 tsp. Fresh Ginger, finely diced
• ½ cup Roasted Peanuts
  
  

Instructions

1. Mix the marinade ingredients into a large bowl then add the Chicken. Coat the Chicken well (using a chopstick is a good method to move it all around), and then leave at room temperature for 30 minutes
2. Combine the Sauce ingredients into a bowl and mix well and set aside
3. Add half the Vegetable Oil into a large frying pan or Wok over high heat. Once hot, add the Chicken and cook for about 3 – 4 minute until fully cooked. Remove the Chicken from the pan and set aside
4. Add the remaining Oil into the pan then add the Onion. Stir Fry for 2 minutes, then add the Garlic, Ginger, Chilis, and Ground Szechuan Peppercorns. Cook for 30 seconds until fragrant, then return the Chicken to the Pan along with the Sauce
5. Mix through well and cook for about 2 more minutes until the Sauce starts to thicken. Add the Scallions and Peanuts and mix well then turn off the heat. Serve immediately with some Noodles or Steamed Rice
   
   

Recipe Notes

• Please do not eat the Red Chilis. They are purely there for presentation. They don’t have a nice texture so eating them will not be pleasant
• To scale back the heat in the dish, remove the seeds from the dried Red Chilis
  
  

We guarantee you will be obsessed with the huge flavors in this delicious Szechuan Kung Pao Chicken recipe. It’s packed full of hot and sweet flavors that are truly unique to this famous recipe

If you enjoyed this dish then please feel free to check out some of these awesome Chinese recipes on our website:

• Chinese Hand Pulled Noodles
• Homemade Shrimp Toast
• Peking Chicken
• Authentic General Tso’s Chicken
  
  

Happy Cooking!