Chinese Spicy Kung Pao-Style Chicken
with Chicken Thighs, Bell Pepper, Peanuts & Jasmine Rice
- Sesame
- Soy
- Wheat
- Peanuts
Craving a carton of your favorite takeout to celebrate Asian Heritage Month? We’ve got you covered—no take-out menu required. You’ll toss tender diced chicken thighs with toasted peanuts, sautéed bell pepper, and scallions, and coat in a quick homemade spicy-sweet Szechuan sauce. Serve with fragrant jasmine rice and a pinch of chili flakes to finish, and we think you’ll agree: kung pao from your kitchen was an absolutely delicious idea.
Ingredients
¾ cup
Jasmine Rice
1 unit
Bell Pepper
2 unit
Scallions
4 tablespoon
Sweet Soy Glaze
(Contains: Sesame, Soy, Wheat)
5 teaspoon
Rice Wine Vinegar
2 tablespoon
Szechuan Paste
(Contains: Soy, Wheat, Sesame)
½ ounce
Peanuts
(Contains: Peanuts)
10 ounce
Diced Chicken Thighs
1 teaspoon
Garlic Powder
1 tablespoon
Cornstarch
1 teaspoon
Chili Flakes
Not included in your delivery
Salt
Pepper
2 teaspoon
Cooking Oil
1 teaspoon
Sugar
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• In a small pot, combine rice, 1¼ cups water (2¼ cups for 4 servings), and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a low simmer. Cook until rice is tender, 15-18 minutes. • Keep covered off heat until ready to serve.
• While rice cooks, wash and dry produce. • Core, deseed, and dice bell pepper into ½-inch pieces. Trim and thinly slice scallions, separating whites from greens. • In a small bowl, whisk together sweet soy glaze, half the vinegar, half the Szechuan paste, ¾ cup water, and 1 tsp sugar. (For 4 servings, use all the vinegar, all the Szechuan paste, 1½ cups water, and 2 tsp sugar.)
• Heat a large dry pan over mediumhigh heat. Add peanuts and toast, stirring often, until golden brown and fragrant, 2-4 minutes. Transfer to a second small bowl; set aside. • Heat a drizzle of oil in same pan over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper and scallion whites; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until browned and tender, 4-5 minutes. Transfer to a third small bowl; set aside.
• Open package of chicken* and drain off any excess liquid. • Heat a drizzle of oil in pan used for veggies over medium-high heat. Add chicken and garlic powder; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, 3-4 minutes (chicken will finish cooking in the next step).
• Return veggies to pan with chicken; stir in Szechuan sauce mixture and cook, stirring, until sauce begins to simmer and chicken is cooked through, 1-2 minutes. • In bowl used for sauce, mix cornstarch with 1 TBSP water (2 TBSP for 4 servings) until dissolved. Stir cornstarch mixture into chicken mixture until combined, then simmer until sauce has thickened slightly, 30-60 seconds. • Remove pan from heat. Stir in chili flakes to taste (we used ⅛ tsp). TIP: If sauce seems too thick, stir in a splash of water.
• Fluff rice with a fork; season with salt to taste. • Divide rice and chicken between bowls in separate sections. Garnish chicken with peanuts and scallion greens. Sprinkle with any remaining chili flakes to taste and serve.
Chicken is fully cooked when internal temperature reaches 165°.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Apr 2026- Flavor: Many loved the sweet-and-spicy balance, though some found it too sweet or bland compared to restaurant kung pao. Adding extra Szechuan paste, chili flakes, or sesame oil boosted authentic flavors.
- Ease of prep: Generally easy to make, but many noted it uses multiple bowls and takes longer than the stated 30 minutes.
- Suggestions: Double the peanuts for better crunch, reduce water in sauce by half to prevent watery consistency, and add celery or extra vegetables. Toast peanuts carefully to avoid burning.
- Leftovers: Tastes even better the next day and reheats well for lunch 🍲
Reviews from our home cooks
This one was so tasty! And really tasted like Kung Pao chicken. We are keeping the sauce recipe as we definitely want to make this one again. We also liked the portion of rice. It seems they typically send a 1/2 cup of rice but this one came with 3/4 cups of rice which was a welcome addition.
So delicious. This dish hit all the notes, crunchy, a little sweet, a little spicy, a little acidic. Wow! Loved how this turned out.
Tastes like restaurant-quality kung pao chicken minus any breading or heavy oils that fast-food restaurants add to make it less healthy.
The sweet red peppers were fantastic with the spicy sauce. Took very little time to throw together!
This was better than i expected. We subbed tomatoes for the red pepper and i had the family add the red pepper flakes to their liking since i don't like spicy food. It was tasty!
5 stars! Easy to make and Packed a Punch of Spicy Kung Pao! Loved it!
The texture of this dish with the rice, chicken and peanuts was really good! Great sauce too
Could use more peanuts, added celery we had too. Otherwise this just became a favorite.
While I loved the taste, I think the measurement of water in the sauce is too much and/or the chicken had too much liquid (even though I tried to not allow any of the excess liquid into the pan). I had to use corn starch from my own pantry two additional times to the corn starch provided to get the sauce to be thicker as it was almost like a soup.
Good a bit soupy will cook down the sauce more or use less liquid next time I like my kung pao a bit stickier
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