Kung Pao Sauce Recipe (2024)

Kung Pao Sauce Recipe

We're cooking up a quick batch of Kung Pao Sauce in the Chili Pepper Madness kitchen today, my friends. This is a wonderful sauce to keep on hand for spicy food lovers.

If you enjoy the flavors of Chinese cuisine, but don't feel like ordering up from your local Chinese restaurant, this sauce will let you whip up dishes in practically no time.

Kung Pao sauce is a mix of sweet and spicy and savory, perfect in place of many of your stir fry sauces.

I use it to make quick and easy Chinese inspired dishes, like Kung Pao Chicken or Kung Pao Shrimp, or simple stir fries.

Making the sauce separately from your Chinese dishes isn't the traditional way to produce such dishes, but it's a big time saver, and the dishes come out tasting just as fantastic.

Let's talk about how to make Kung Pao Sauce, shall we?

Kung Pao Sauce Ingredients

• Sesame Oil. Or you can use peanut oil or vegetable oil.
• Dried Hot Chilies. Use Chinese hot chilies, or use dried chile de arbol, japones, or similar available to you. You can skip these or use milder chilies for a less spicy version.
• Sichuan peppercorns(aka Szechuanpeppercorns). Ground Sichuan peppercorns offer a distinctive tongue-numbing quality that characterizes Sichuan cuisine. So good!
• Minced Leek. Or use scallions, green onion, or a bit of shallot or white onion.
• Fresh Ginger.
• Fresh Garlic.
• Light Soy Sauce. This is the common soy sauce you find in most stores.
• Dark Soy Sauce. Dark soy sauce is thicker, aged longer, and less salty. It offers a deeper flavor. If you can't find it, use light soy sauce instead.
• Chili-Garlic Sauce. Try my homemade chili-garlic sauce recipe for this. Works great.
• Chinese Black Vinegar. Use balsamic vinegar as an alternative.
• Honey. For a sweet element. Brown sugar is a good substitute.
• Chicken Broth. Vegetable broth is good, too.
• Corn Starch. As a thickener mixed with a bit of water to form a slurry. This is optional.

How to Make Kung Pao Sauce - the Recipe Method

Cook the Chilies and Sichuan Peppercorns. Heat the oil in a wok or large pan to medium heat to medium high heat and add the dried chilies and Sichuan peppercorn (Szechuan pepper). Stir fry for 1 minute, or until the chilies darken a bit.

Stir Fry the Vegetables. Add the leek, garlic and ginger. Stir fry for 3-4 minutes to lightly brown. The mixture will become aromatic.

Add the Sauces. Stir in the light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, chili-garlic sauce, black vinegar, honey, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes to let the flavors develop.

Thicken, if Desired. Stir in the cornstarch slurry and heat until it thickens.

Recipe Tips & Notes

• Heat Factor. You can dial back the heat by using milder peppers. Up the heat factor by using hotter dried or fresh peppers, or including hot red pepper flakes or chili flakes to your preference.

What to Make with Kung Pao Sauce

You can use this Kung pao sauce recipe in any recipe that calls for stir fry sauce for more of a Chinese flair.

It's ideal for my quick and easy Kung Pao Chicken recipe, as well as Kung Pao shrimp, chicken fried rice, ramen noodles, and other stir fries.

You can also use it as a simple marinade for chicken, shrimp, pork, beef, or vegetables, then either grill or stir them for perfect flavor.

Storage

This recipe will last 1 week or longer in the refrigerator in a sealed container. Simply spoon 1/4 cup per serving or so into your hot wok or pan of cooked vegetables, meats, noodles, or rice, then toss to heat through.

You can also freeze it for 3 months or longer. Kung pao sauce is easy to freeze.

Cookbook Recommendation

If you enjoy Chinese cuisine, I recommend the following cookbook. It has a lot of simple, great recipes.

• 101 Asian Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die: Discover a New World of Flavors in Authentic Recipes - by Chef Jet Tila

Try Some of My Other Popular Recipes

• Sweet and Sour Sauce
• Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
• General Tso Sauce
• Szechuan Sauce
• Easy Hoisin Sauce
• Pad Thai Sauce
• Yakisoba Sauce
• Lo Mein Noodles
• Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao)
• Yakisoba Noodles
• Dan Dan Noodles
• Szechuan Chicken