Kung pao chicken from Cook's Illustrated Annual Edition 2018 (page 13) by Cook's Illustrated Magazine

  • toasted sesame oil
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    Dried berries of Xanthoxylum species plants. Although there is a Xanthoxylum fagara, it is native to Florida and Caribbean, and not used in Chinese cuisine. Buy Now
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  • EYB Comments

    Can substitute dry sherry for Chinese rice wine.

Where’s the full recipe - why can I only see the ingredients?

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Notes about this recipe

  • Eat Your Books

    Can substitute dry sherry for Chinese rice wine.

  • ashallen on November 10, 2021

    Due to an oversupply of peanuts, I've made several versions of kung pao chicken recently - my husband said this was his favorite to date. Good, intense flavors and a really nice crunch from the celery and peanuts. I deviated from the recipe in a few substantive ways, however. Recipe provides instructions for cooking in a skillet on the stovetop, but I used my wok on a gas burner and roughly followed the cooking steps from Grace Young's Kung Pao Chicken recipe in "Stir Frying to the Sky's Edge" (also a good recipe!). I used only 1 pound chicken, 3 chilies (=hot enough for us!), and substituted balsamic vinegar for Chinese black. Instead of cutting scallions into 1/2-inch chunks, I cut them into thin rings so they'd cook more thoroughly. I minced the fresh ginger instead of grating it and added an extra teaspoon.

  • jayg312 on December 02, 2018

    First time I made this I used 8 arbol chiles as opposed to the recommended 10-15 and it was just a bit too hot for my tastes. I backed off to 3 chiles the second time and it needed more heat, so I'm guessing somewhere around 5 chiles might be the right number for me. The base recipe is great though. I could see mushrooms or carrots working as an addition for this.

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