If you love Chinese food as much as I do, you are going to instantly fall in love with this Low Carb Kung Pao Chicken! Prior to keto, I always ordered kung pao chicken when my family got Chinese take out. In fact, it is my dad’s favorite, which is what turned me on to it.
Now, you can have it again, guilt-free, knowing exactly what went into making this recipe! The combination of the crunch from the veggies, the tender, fatty chicken thighs, and the sweet and salty sauce make this the perfect Chinese food take-out replacement meal.
Your Favorite Kung Pao Chicken Ingredients
With this recipe, we went a more traditional route with onion, bell peppers, and peanuts, but the ingredient list is truly up to you! What are your favorite ingredients? Broccoli, cashews, asparagus, cauliflower? There are so many to choose from. You can change it up every time you make it. Your favorite kung pao recipe ingredients may not be the same as ours, but we guarantee if you use the base sauce we’ve provided below, it’ll be delicious every time!
The Best Asian Dinner Recipes!
We’ve got you covered on all Asian fronts from our keto butter chicken and low carb naan, to our keto sushi and easy cashew chicken. We are big proponents of not depriving yourself of your favorite foods. We want to make your life easier and this lifestyle more sustainable by giving you keto-friendly replacements for your favorite meals. We do our best to keep them simple, but flavorful, so you can whip them up on a busy night and feed the entire family with success!
Low Carb Kung Pao Chicken
There is always reason to order take-out. You’ve had a long day at work or you want to have night in date night with your special someone. Although those are great reasons, putting convenience before your health isn’t ever a great thing to do. You can whip up this recipe in less than 20 minutes and still treat your partner to a special “take-out” dinner date. If it were me, I would definitely start with our low carb pot stickers as appetizers and then move onto this incredibly flavorful, and delicious Low-Carb Kung Pao Chicken with cauliflower rice as the main course!
Recipe can be quickly added to MyFitnessPal – Search “KetoConnect – Low Carb Kung Pao Chicken”
Low Carb Kung Pao Chicken
Ingredients:
Chicken
- 1 lb Boneless/Skinless Chicken Thighs
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/3 medium red bell pepper
- 2 stalks celery
- 1/4 cup peanuts
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 1/4 tsp xanthan Gum (optional)
Sauce
- 1/4 cup liquid aminos
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 1.5 tbsp chili garlic sauce/sriracha sauce
- 1 tsp Sesame Oil
- 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
- 30 drops Liquid Stevia
Instructions:
- Cut the bell pepper and celery stalks into big chunks and set aside in a bowl.
- Heat a large skillet to medium-high heat and chop the boneless, skinless chicken thighs into bite sized chunks. Add coconut oil to the hot skillet and add in the chunks of chicken.
- As the chicken cooks, make the sauce. Add all the sauce ingredients above to a bowl and combine using a whisk. Set aside.
- Once the chicken is 90% cooked through add in the veggies and cook for a couple minutes until they are slightly tender.
- Add in the peanuts and stir and allow to cook for another minutes as they toast. Add in the ginger and garlic, stir once more and add in the sauce.
- Allow to cook for 3-5 minutes on high until the sauce has reduced to your liking. If desired, add the xanthan gum to thicken up the sauce even more.
- Serve with cauliflower rice or on its own and enjoy!
Notes
Written by
Megha Barot
Megha has always been a passionate cook, but she took this to a new level after starting her keo journey in 2015. She loves creating new recipes and producing educational content for KetoConnect, which she co-founded in 2016 with Matt. Her passion for healthy eating and personal development continues to thrive. She's the proud mom of two awesome kids.
The Kung Pow part means chiles! You gotta have some heat in there to make it Kung Pao. It’s important to note that mirin and is sweetened rice wine, so sugar. Otherwise looks great.
I bought regular rice vinegar instead of the sweet, and When I look at ingredients on the the planters dry roasted Peanuts I was appalled! I dont care if it was minimal or not, I dont like that planters adds “sugar, Maltodexrin, and dried corn syrup” to something that needs no sugar and You assume has none added! Thankfully My store brand had a legitimate option for dry roasted peanuts.
Made this tonight and it was delicious. Thank you for your delicious and simple-to-make recipes. I was so impressed with this meal. I substituted cashews for peanuts.
Thanks for the feedback and great swap for the peanut – cashews would be our second choice 🙂
Hi
This was so good. Unfortunately it had a lot of carbs per serving and servings are small. I used Coconut aminos for the sauce, as I don’t like using Soy, however, it has a lot of carbs. Do these have the same affect on sugar/ketones as regular carbs? I do love this recipe though.. I also used chicken breast, so fat was lower than ideal, but didn’t have thighs and wanted to try this. Any advise about the coconut aminos would be great. Thank you
Coconut Aminos are a fine alternative!
We made this tonight, excited to add to our at home Chinese recipes. I reduced the amount of Sriracha, as our family likes mild spice. Only complaint is that it was still too spicy for us! Otherwise the flavors were Great! I will definitely mak3 again and adjust the spice for our family! Thanks for sharing!
Sorry to hear about the spice level, but glad to hear you’ll be making it again!
Delicious! I was a bit worried about the 30 drops of Stevia, but they gave this a great flavour!
Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
I really want to PIN this but when I try it says that there is nothing to pin. Can you help?
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/848365648532086469/
Richard,
Slather on that coconut oil and don’t hesitate to slather some on yourself as well.
You’re Welcome,
John
I haven’t used xantham gum a lot, but do you add it at the end, or do you put it in the sauce before you cook it? (The recipe mentions adding it at the end, but I just want to be sure.)
Add it at the end and then stir it fully through for a minute or so over the heat!
Oh my this is so amazing. I have been craving Chinese since if been on the Keto life style and this was so satisfying. Thank you so much. If I was to rank this it is a 9.9999999 out of a ten. The only thing that would come to a ten would be rice. Well can’t have rice but I did pair it with cauliflower rice and it was close. Well heck I’ll just give it a 10. Perfect job.
My fav! I’m super excited about this one! ! I’m new to the keto lifestyle and you two have helped me through it all! Your recipes have been a lifesaver! Please keep it up! ?
I would like to know toobecause I do not care for thighs!
I made it tonight with chicken breasts and it was SO GOOD!
Hello, I got a small question regarding the sweetener. I just started using liquid stevia and swerve last weekend. But I am wondering if I should count all swerve’s carb as fiber or not. Seeing 4g carb per tsp still makes me worried. And I know it varies from person to person, but could you recommend the limit of sweetener should be used per day? Oh and suger-free pancake syrup too haha, I fell in love with it these days. So I normally use about 1-2 tbsp for my pancakes. Will it affect my keto diet?
I am so sorry for bothering,
Thank you so much
We don’t count swerve or erythritol in our carb count so consuming it in recipes shouldn’t be an issue. We are comfortable having stevia everyday, but we limit erythritol (Swerve) to once or twice a week.
Do you limit Swerve because of the expense, or is there some other reason?
Expense, but mostly because it contains erythritol and Matt & Megha like to limit sugar alcohols and use more natural sweeteners like stevia and monk fruit.
This sounds awesome, thanks for all ya’ll do ?
Thanks for your support 😉
Can i use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce? Also, how I can make this spicy? I love spicy Chinese food
Absolutely on the coconut aminos and you can add red pepper flakes, more chili garlic sauce or sriracha!
I enjoyed the recipe. Very tasty and the best. It was fast and simple. I completely liked that you didn’t waste time talking too much like so very many people do. ALL THE TIME. Thank you and I would love to try another one of your recipies..
Valeria
This looks delicious and I can’t wait to make it!! I’ve been missing Chinese food and needed a new recipe. I’ve loved just about all of your recipes that I’ve tried for myself. They aren’t super complicated with a ton of ingredients that are hard to find. Thanks for keeping it interesting!!!
I may have to give this a try tonight. If I opt to do chicken breast versus thighs (I’m funny about my chicken), should I add in extra coconut oil or MCT oil to it at the end to get the fat content up??
@ Richard, I’m not sure how much it might change the taste, but Megha adds toasted sesame oil to her “egg roll in a bowl” to up the fat and that’s delicious.
Fat is not necessary in any given amount. The important thing is getting enough protein – but not too much – and keeping your carbs as low as you need them too. Fat is something you adjust up or down to meet your caloric needs. Protein and carbs are fixed and fat determines the rest of your daily calories.
Thanks for this – can’t wait to try.
Just a suggestion but when you link to the products you prefer it should open in a new tab so that your recipe is still available.
Great tip!
Can I use coconut aminos instead of Soy?
Yes, you can!
This looks so delicious, I am going to the store to get Chicken Thighs and Bell Peppers within minutes of seeing this post so I can make for lunch or dinner tonight!
Yay! Hope you enjoyed it 🙂