Cook Like A Chef30 Minutes

Kung Pao Chicken

Name: Kung Pao Chicken
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients: For the sauce:; 100ml soy sauce; 1 tbsp veg oil; 2 tbsp honey; 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar; 1 tsp chilli flakes; 5 tbsp water; 3 tsp corn flour; For the rest of the dish:; 4 diced chicken thighs; Sea salt; Black pepper; 2 tbsp vegetable oil; 1 small red pepper, chopped; 3 Spring onions, chopped; 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed; 4cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated; 30g roasted peanuts; To garnish:; Sliced red chilli; 3 spring onions, tops sliced

Mark MoriartyFrom the series · Cook Like A Chef

30 min totalServes 2Easy

Kung Pao Chicken

Time30 min

Serves2

SkillEasy

ShowCook Like A Chef

Method

To make the sauce, add the soy sauce, vegetable oil, honey, vinegar, chilli flakes, water and 2 tsp of cornflour to a small bowl, combine well and set aside.

Place the diced chicken thighs in a bowl. Add 2 tsp of cornflour, a pinch of salt and black pepper and stir to coat the chicken pieces evenly.

Heat a non-stick frying pan and add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil. Add the chicken and fry 4-5 minutes until browned evenly, then remove from the pan and rest on a plate on a sheet of kitchen paper.

Into the same pan, add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil followed by the chopped red pepper and fry for 2-3 minutes until starting to brown. Add the garlic and ginger and fry for another 2 minutes. Add the chicken back into the pan followed by the peanuts and the sauce and stir. Allow to cook on a low heat for 2 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

Serve with some steamed rice and garnish with some sliced red chilli, if desired, and sliced spring onions.

Cook's notes

The cornflour is doing two jobs — it browns and crisps the chicken in the pan, and it's what thickens the sauce to that luxurious restaurant consistency, so don't skip it in either place.
Mix the sauce completely before anything hits the pan; once it goes in, the cornflour activates in a couple of minutes on a low heat and you want to catch it while it's still glossy.
Brown the chicken properly and rest it on kitchen paper before building the rest — crowding everything in together cools the pan and the meat steams instead of colouring.
Once the garlic and ginger go in, keep that pan moving — they scorch quickly over the heat and a couple of minutes is all they need.
Peanuts go in near the end so they keep their crunch; on the show I crush a few extra over the finished plate with the spring onion tops and sliced chilli.

Serve with Steamed rice is the natural partner, ready to soak up the sauce. A plate of quick-pickled cucumber or some plain steamed greens on the side cuts through the richness.

Make ahead & storage Best eaten straight away while the chicken is tender and the peanuts still have bite, but leftovers keep a day or two covered in the fridge and reheat well in a hot pan with a splash of water to loosen the sauce.

30 MinutesAsian

Recipe by Mark Moriarty · From the series Cook Like A Chef · Photography © Appetite Media
Published 13 July 2026 · Updated 15 July 2026

Nutrition

Per serving · estimated

983kcal

51gprotein

35gcarbs

73gfat

Approximate — calculated from the ingredient list using USDA food data. A guide, not a medical figure.

From the cookbook

Explore more of Mark's cooking in his latest book, Season

Get it on Amazon

Contains an affiliate link. This module only renders when a recipe has a linked book.

Made it? Leave a comment

Tell us how it went — swaps that worked, tips for the next cook, or just how it tasted. Comments appear once they've been checked by the team.

Keep cooking

More from Mark Moriarty

All Mark's recipes

Mongolian stir-fried beef mince with fried egg and steamed rice

30 min

Cook Like A ChefMongolian stir-fried beef mince with fried egg and steamed rice

Mark Moriarty

Argentinian empanadas with chimichurri

30 min

Cook Like A ChefArgentinian empanadas with chimichurri

Mark Moriarty

Tart pissaladière

30 min

Cook Like A ChefTart pissaladière

Mark Moriarty