Kung Pao originated from southwest China and is pretty popular in the states. The classic version has peanuts, but I like substituting cashews for their crunch and flavor. A pinch of ground Szechuan peppercorn powder is traditional. Add it if you have it, but you’ll be fine without it! Also you can substitute any meat, seafood, or tofu for the shrimp.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 20 min |
| Active: | 20 min |
| Yield: | 4 to 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 4 to 6 chiles de arbol or other dried chiles
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml) vegetable or canola oil
- 2/3 cup (150 g) whole roasted cashews
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 3 pounds (600 g) large shrimp, about 21 to 25, peeled and deveined
- 1 red bell pepper, cut like French fries
- 1 medium onion, cut into large dice
- 1/3 cup (90 ml) oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) sambal oelek (an Asian chile paste), or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) chicken stock or water
- 3 scallions, sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- Ground white pepper
- Steamed rice, for serving
Instructions
- In a small dry skillet, toast the dry chiles until they have deepened in color and have begun to release a toasty aroma, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove from the skillet and set aside.
- Heat a large saute pan over high heat for about 1 minute. When you see the first wisps of white smoke, swirl in the vegetable oil, cashews, garlic, and toasted chiles. Stir and scrape the pan until the garlic is light brown, about 30 seconds.
- Toss the shrimp into the pan, stirring constantly, until the shrimp just starts to turn pink and everything starts to smell amazing, about 1 more minute. Add the bell pepper and onions, and cook, stirring, until the onion starts to turn translucent, about 1 minute.
- Add the oyster sauce and sambal. Stir the cornstarch into the chicken stock to make a slurry, then add it to the pan. Stir well, scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan to deglaze and incorporate them into the sauce. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. When the shrimp have just turned pink and opaque, meaning the shrimp are cooked through, turn off the heat. Sprinkle in the scallions, add the sesame oil and a pinch of white pepper. Stir everything in the pan to coat all the ingredients.
- Serve immediately with steamed rice.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 478 |
| Total Fat | 20 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Carbohydrates | 25 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 4 g |
| Protein | 52 g |
| Cholesterol | 365 mg |
| Sodium | 948 mg |
Reviews
The best Kung Pao I ever ate. Love it, will make again and again.
This is the best kung pao I’ve ever had!
What a waste of ingredients. Doesn’t taste like Kung Pao at all. No depth of flavor. Just spicy oyster sauce flavor.
This is a very easy and delicious recipe! It is one of the dishes I prepared and served at my Lunar New Year dinner. Received lots of compliments from my guests and there were no leftovers. Love watching Jet Tila cook–he is a great teacher and I’ve learned quit a few lessons and techniques while watching his shows. Thank you!!
Absolutely delicious! Very easy.
oh man! This was such an easy dish, and so tasty! I used a little bit more oyster sauce to round it out. Super tasty and crispy!
This recipe is amazing. I LOVE it and so did my family. Will definitely be making this again and changing up the protein and veggies. Thank you!
This was amazing! I had to sub chicken for the shrimp and used peanuts instead of cashews. Love that the recipe didn’t call for soy sauce. Can’t wait to make this again.
I make this all the time, I love it! I change up the veggies sometimes, using snow peas too.
Outstanding!!! I made mine with chicken instead of shrimp, and marinated the chicken in equal parts soy sauce and rice vinegar (3 tbs each) and 2 tsp cornstarch. I also added some sugar snap peas that we had from the garden, but other wise followed the recipe as written. The spice was perfect!!! Looking forward to the shrimp version!!