- If you love Chinese takeout food,
you've gotta try my homemade Kung Pao chicken recipe.
And if you like this video,
don't forget to hit that like button and subscribe.
(bell dings)
Hey, you're watching Preppy Kitchen,
where I, John Kanell,
teach you how to make delicious,
homemade dishes to share
with your family and friends.
This Kung Pao chicken
will be ready before you know it.
So let's get started.
Into a medium bowl,
I'm adding a 1/3 of a cup of water,
a tablespoon of Shaoxing,
or you could also use rice cooking wine
or even a dry white wine.
One tablespoon of cornstarch.
It's gonna help crisp it up a little bit.
1 1/2 tablespoons of soy sauce.
We're going to whisk this together,
and set aside.
It's time to cut the chicken.
Two breasts of chicken.
You could also use dark meat if you like, of course.
Gonna cut this up into bite sized pieces.
It's really up to you.
I like smaller pieces in this.
So by the way,
this recipe doubles up really easily.
I make this all the time for my family
'cause Brian loves this recipe.
Why do you like it so much, Brian?
- [Brian] It tastes really good.
(John chuckles)
- I think, - There is no Chinese food
anywhere here. (John laughs)
- I think he likes the peanuts in it as well.
They add like a nice crunch.
Let's dump our chicken into our marinade right now.
You want to turn it around
so everything is evenly coated.
It's gonna develop a wonderful flavor
and cook up just like that.
This can be set aside,
just hang out for a few minutes
while we do the rest of the chopping.
Get that garlic out.
Now for the chopping,
I have six cloves of garlic in this recipe.
Normally, if you read a recipe,
double, triple, quadruple the garlic,
but I think six cloves is a good amount.
That's what I called for.
We're gonna give these a good smash.
It helps you release the oils
and also release the skin.
Smash, smash, smash.
Flat side of your knife.
And now we're gonna mince it up.
Don't worry about it being super fine.
You can have larger pieces in there if you want.
I love this recipe,
not just because it's delicious,
but it's so easy to make.
And like I said, when you double it,
you have a lot leftover for the next day,
'cause this makes amazing leftovers.
Set that aside and come over here.
I wanna show you how to peel ginger,
just in case you don't.
Use a spoon,
and just scrape the edge off.
It's really easy.
The papery skin comes off right away.
Ginger can be a bit intimidating,
just because of all the nubs
and nooks and crannies,
but it's really just super easy.
Now we have this delicious,
(sniffs)
very fragrant ginger root.
We're gonna mince this up,
and again, smallish pieces.
It doesn't have to be perfect.
(knife chopping)
And as you know,
if you're ever sick,
this makes the best tea.
A little fresh ginger and honey.
Once your ginger is all minced up,
we just have a bell pepper,
open it up, deseed it,
and then we're gonna cut it
into you know, roughly,
rough, big, diced pieces.
You can use whatever color you want.
I think in the recipe
I specify for a couple of different colors,
but all bell peppers are exactly the same.
It's just at different stages of ripeness.
Did you know that Brian?
- [Brian] No. (John chuckles)
- Some people think they taste different.
Okay.
Take. (whisk clatters)
Take the ribs out. (laughs)
Take the seeds out,
and we're just gonna chop this into pieces.
You can flatten it out if you want.
It makes it easier.
The thing that makes it the most easy
is having a sharp knife by the way.
A sharp knife is your best friend.
The very last thing we have
are these dried chilies,
and here's the deal.
One, they look super pretty in here,
but they also add heat to this.
If your family is a little bit heat adverse,
just don't cut as many in half.
You can leave them in whole,
take them out afterwards,
and they infuse just a little bit of heat.
I'll be chopping most of these in half,
'cause Brian and the kids
don't like things super spicy.
And you can see they totally come apart.
All those spicy seeds explode.
Leave one whole one.
Before we get things onto the skillet
and cook this up,
all we have to do is make our sauce
and have it ready.
So get a big bowl out
or even a mixing cup.
For the sauce,
I'm gonna add a 1/3 of a cup of water
into my measuring mixing cup.
One teaspoon of cornstarch.
It'll help thicken it up.
(spoon clinks)
A tablespoon of our rice wine.
Be a little bit generous with that if you want.
Two teaspoons of hoisin sauce.
This is gonna add a ton of flavor to the sauce.
So if you have it,
definitely use it.
Two tablespoons of sugar.
It'll add just the right amount
of sweetness to this,
and 1/3 of a cup of soy sauce.
I'm using low sodium.
Let's give that a mix.
We're all ready to go onto the skillet.
Get a big one out,
and set it over medium-high heat.
Add in about a tablespoon of oil.
Get it nice and hot.
You want to see it dancing on the surface
before you add the chicken,
and you're probably gonna cook the chicken
in a couple of different batches,
depending on how big your pan is.
So judge accordingly.
So if my oil is dancing on the surface,
swirl it around a bit.
I'm gonna add half of the chicken in,
and it'll cook up so quickly.
(pan sizzling)
Give it a little room so the chicken can breathe,
so to speak.
Let that sizzle away for a couple of minutes
before we flip the chicken over
and then set it aside
into a clean bowl.
You may need to add a little bit more oil,
and you're gonna notice
there is gonna be some sticking happening
on your pan.
That's okay,
because it's delicious caramelized bits
and it'll be all worked into the sauce at the end.
So I finally bought a splatter guard.
You can set them over,
they're mesh on top so everything can breathe,
but you don't get burns,
but it's not the best for on-camera work.
So I'll take it off.
While the chicken finishes up,
I'm just gonna chop some green onions,
mix them in at the end.
These are so delicious,
and one of my favorite things
to add to everything.
My chicken's cooked through.
I'm gonna separate this
into my bowl and get to the veggies.
Add a couple more tablespoons of oil
to your hot pan.
We're going to add our peppers in now.
So these just need to soften up really quickly.
And while they're softening up,
we're gonna add our chilis in.
I'm going to be careful with this
and not get any in my eye.
Stir these up.
We're just gonna cook these
for one to two minutes
until you notice the color changes slightly
in your bell peppers,
and they've begun softening a little bit.
You do not want them to be like smushy.
I see the edges of my peppers
are just getting charred,
so I'm gonna add in my garlic and ginger right now.
Now we're just gonna cook this up really, really quickly.
You do not want to burn your garlic as you know,
so move it around
and just wait for the fragrance to hit you,
and then it's time to add the sauce.
While those are cooking,
I'm going to add in about 3/4 of a cup of roasted peanuts.
I like to add extra though,
'cause they're my favorite part, so.
Cup and change.
Mix those in.
Now we're gonna add the sauce.
I'll give it one final stir
because the cornstarch settles,
and pour it right in there.
(sauce sizzling)
Okay, it's gonna sizzle up.
Let it boil, it'll thicken up slightly,
and then we're gonna add the chicken in.
And this sauce is so easy.
(coughs) The peppers.
The sauce is so easy.
If you want it to be even
a little bit more saucier and looser,
just add an extra 1/3 of a cup of water in there,
and it'll just be perfect.
Okay, this sauce is thickened up.
Let's dump our chicken back in.
We're gonna mix that
so the chicken is really just perfectly coated
by the sauce.
The smell is so nice.
It's like,
sticky, sweet, spicy, savory, everything.
And the peanuts add so much crunch.
I love it.
Toss those green onions in.
Oh, the color is so beautiful.
Just mix them up.
They're just gonna partially cook
right at the end of this.
And as it is right now,
we can take the heat off.
Serve with rice and your favorite veggies,
and you will be in heaven.
If you like this video,
check out my Chinese food playlist.
That is so good.
I'll see you in the next video.