Kung Pao pork

Kung Pao pork is a staple of Chinese cuisine found in every Chinese restaurant in the world, known and appreciated for its peculiar taste by Asian food lovers. Tender, tasty, sweet-and-sour and covered in silky, glossy sauce, Kung Pao pork is the perfect course to amaze your hosts with new flavours an exotic preparations.

Kung Pao pork recipe is very simple: the sour taste is given by rice or wine vinegar, while the sweet one by sugar. Alternatively, some versions foresee the use of sugary fruit – such as pineapple – to sweeten the Kung Pao pork; my personal preference goes to the simpler version, in which the pork meat is accompanied by pretty common vegetables (bell peppers and spring onions) and then seasoned with soy sauce. As with other Chinese dishes (such as Cantonese fried rice, dumplings, …) also Kung Pao pork can be easily prepared at home with great results, provided that care is put in not overcooking the meat, which would then lose its tenderness.

Check out these recipes too:

kung pao pork original chinese recipe sweet and sour with vegetables by tasty corner
  • DifficultyEasy
  • CostVery cheap
  • Preparation time15 Minutes
  • Cooking time10 Minutes
  • Serving4 servings
  • Cooking methodStove
  • CuisineChinese
  • SeasonalityEvergreen

Kung Pao pork ingredients

25 oz pork loin (700 g)
1 spring onion (big, or 2 small)
1 bell pepper
3 tablespoons all purpose (AP) flour (or rice flour for a gluten-free dish)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 pinches salt
3 tablespoons sesame oil

Tools

1 Chopping Board
1 Knife
1 Wok
or1 Pan non-stick
1 Strainer
1 Tablespoon

How to make Chinese Kung Pao pork at home

Start preparing Kung Pao pork by chopping the spring onion and put it aside. Rinse and dry the bell pepper, then cut it open in half and remove the stem, seeds and pith. Cut and then dice it,

cut bell pepper for chinese kung pao pork recipe

Dice also the pork loin and put it in a bowl. Add the all-purpose flour and briefly mix it by hand, in order to cover well all the meat.

pork lion covered with flour for the chinese recipe

Put it in the strainer to remove excess flour. Heat the vegetable oil in the wok or a big and tall non-stick pan.

When it is hot add the vegetables (spring onion and bell pepper), slightly salt it and cook it on high heat for 2 minutes, stirring often.

cook bell pepper and spring onions for kung pao pork

Add then the meat, salt it as well and cook it until it’s brown an all sides, stirring often on keeping high heat. After 2 or 3 minutes the meat will be well seared. Now add the tomato paste.

add tomato past to chinese kung pao pork

Stir to distribute it evenly on the meat. Add the sugar and stir some more. Now raise the heat to the max and deglaze with the vinegar quickly mixing and letting it evaporate, until its typical smell has faded.

add rice vinegar to the chinese sweet and sour pork

Lower the heat and add the soy sauce. Cook for 2 more minutes, stirring often, until the gravy thickens.

chinese kung pao pork is ready when the sauce is thick

Remove the wok or pan from the heat and immediately serve your Kung Pao pork.

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Check out the video recipe on YouTube!

Conservation

Kung Pao pork should be immediately eaten after cooking, but if you want to keep some left-overs put them in the fridge, in an hermetic container, up to a couple of days.

Tips and variation

Kung Pao pork, beside spring onion and bell pepper which give it its peculiar taste, can be made adding also other vegetables: carrots, Chinese cabbage, leek… Just remember to chop the vegetables in small pieces, so that they will cook quickly.
If you want to use ready-made Kung Pao sauce, add it when the meat is seared, removing sugar, vinegar and tomato paste from the ingredient list.

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