We’ve cracked the code on a beloved California Pizza Kitchen dish: Now you can Kung Pao your spaghetti at home in just 30 minutes. Tender chunks of stir-fried chicken are tossed with pasta, toasted peanuts and a sweet-and-spicy sauce.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 30 min |
| Active: | 30 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- Kosher salt
- 8 ounces spaghetti
- Canola oil, for drizzling and frying
- 1 tablespoon mirin
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 pound chicken tenders, sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup sweet chili sauce
- 1 tablespoon sambal
- 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1/2 cup plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/4 cup dry-roasted peanuts
- 6 scallions, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 3 dried chiles de arbol, stemmed and seeded
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the spaghetti according to the package instructions. Drain, then drizzle with 2 tablespoons canola oil and toss. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, whisk together the mirin and 2 tablespoons of the soy sauce in a large bowl. Add the chicken pieces and toss to coat.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the chicken broth, chili sauce, sambal, vinegar, sesame oil, 2 teaspoons of the cornstarch and remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce.
- Fill a large, heavy-bottomed skillet halfway with canola oil and heat over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking. Toss the chicken with the remaining 1/2 cup cornstarch until coated completely. Add the chicken to the hot oil in batches and cook until golden brown and cooked through, about 1 minute per side. Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate; cook the remaining chicken.
- Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the oil and return the skillet to medium-high heat. Add the peanuts and cook until toasted to a dark brown, about 1 minute. Add the scallions, chiles and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until lightly toasted, about 1 minute. Add the chicken broth mixture to the skillet and bring to a boil. Return the chicken to the skillet with the pasta and heat, tossing, until the pasta and chicken are fully coated and hot. Serve warm.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 4 servings |
| Calories | 755 |
| Total Fat | 30 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Carbohydrates | 88 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 7 g |
| Sugar | 7 g |
| Protein | 30 g |
| Cholesterol | 47 mg |
| Sodium | 1922 mg |
Reviews
Full of flavor, everyone loves it.
We used some quarantine substitutions: angel hair pasta. Red wine vinegar (not sherry). Subbed in a little sriracha for the dried chilies. It was phenomenal.
Very good; reminds me of CPK yummy!
Quite good. Husband loves it. I recommend marinating the chicken in the soy –
Mirin sauce for 15-20 minutes while you do the other prep. It will give the chicken the flavor it needs. The chicken should be drained in a colander before placing in cornstarch. That was probably the mess problem mentioned in other reviews. Roasted canned peanuts can be substituted. I skipped the dried chilies the 2nd time I made it. I used Red pepper flakes the first time, but that added more heat. I used angel hair pasta and that really was too much pasta. So cut back to about 6 oz. if using angel hair.
Overall a very good recipe.
I made this tonight and it was great. The cornstarch was an oozy, gooey mess. Lots of clean up. Uugh!
The sauce was awesome. The chicken was kind of bland. Not sure what it needed but it needs something. But I would put the sauce on noodles any day.
Mexican chilies? No. Use Serrano or Thai chilis. And sheeesh. At least use some kind of Chinese noodle found in the Asian isle. spaghetti is so tacky in this.
Hubby said best thing i ever made! Next time I will cut down on the heat and like other reviewer the cornstarch in the raw chicken was way too much.
1/2 cup of corn starch? Really?