CPK’s Kung Pao Spaghetti
A copycat recipe that you can make right at home in less than 20 minutes. And it tastes even better than the restaurant version!
Have you ever had California Pizza Kitchen’s Kung Pao Spaghetti? I’ve had it on many occasions but as good as it is, I’m just not comfortable spending $15 on a lunch dish for myself, especially when it’s during my lunch break. But now, I never have to order this because I can make it right at home in just 20 minutes!
Now if you’ve never had the CPK version, this is really a Chinese take-out favorite tossed in spaghetti noodles. It’s wonderfully flavorful and savory with that extra spicy kick to it, and there’s plenty of chicken to go around for everyone, unlike CPK who adds in a couple of pieces of chicken and then charges an additional $3 for it.
And f you want it completely vegetarian, you could even add some fried tofu cubes. That actually sounds better than the chicken. I’ll definitely be trying that next time!
CPK's Kung Pao Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 boneless, skinless thin-sliced chicken breasts
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup dry roasted peanuts
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
For the sauce
- ½ cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- ½ cup chicken broth
- ½ cup dry sherry
- 2 tablespoons red chili paste with garlic, or more, to taste
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, chicken broth, dry sherry, red chili paste, sugar, red wine vinegar, cornstarch and sesame oil; set aside.
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper, to taste. Add to skillet and cook, flipping once, until cooked through, about 3-4 minutes per side. Let cool before dicing into bite-size pieces; set aside.
- Add garlic to the skillet and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in soy sauce mixture and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until thickened, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in pasta, chicken, peanuts and green onions.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Maybe my chili paste is hotter than your chili paste… but it was way too hot.
Next time, I’ll start with less than 1 tablespoon and add from there.
Made this last night and found it far too thick and salty even using the reduced sodium soy sauce, couldn’t taste much else and all that sherry! Should have knocked the sherry back with a cracker and cheese.
this was awful, my family said it was the worst thing I ever made. it was a too much vinegar. I love CPK but this was o comparison!!!!!
I’m sorry that this recipe did not turn out the way you had imagined. I only post recipes that have been successfully (and professionally) tested and re-tested by my team, and as you can see from the comments here, many of these readers have had great outcomes in the final dish as well. If there was too much vinegar, you can simply reduce the amount, to taste. Hope that helps!
This is one amazing dish! Just made for 2nd time in a couple weeks and we’ve been craving it since we ate the last leftover bite. Nothing thrown away with this one. Reheats perfectly in my microwave on Dinner Plate setting. Can’t wait to try some of your other delicious looking recipes. Chungah you ROCK !!!
I made this recipe tonight to the tee….no substitutes….complete exact measurements….omg!!! Absolutely amazing. The only real thing I did different is cook my chicken with a George foreman grill but otherwise followed the recipe and could not be more happy with it. Beyond delicious.
What kind of dry sherry do you use? I wouldn’t know what to buy!
Any brand should work just fine.
With all due respect, I don’t see exactly how tofu is better than chicken. It’s a matter of preference, isn’t it?
good grief! use your preference, no reason to comment out of “due respect” lol
for the record both is fine. Go with your vegetarian preference.
This recipe is delicious, and is also great as a meatless dish! I’ve made it a handful of times and it’s always a hit. Thanks!
Can I use egg noodles for this recipe?
Yes.
This is heavenly!! We have been making it using a thinly sliced sirloin steak dredged w/cornstarch and fried crisp. Subbing beef stock for chicken broth. And adding some sautéed baby bellas and julienned carrots. Our new favorite!
I’ve never had the CPK version, but this was FANTASTIC! Just the right amount of heat. I used whole grain linguini which worked really well. With the leftovers (which were just as delicious!) I added sugar snap peas & edamame.
Will definitely make again!
Hi! We enjoyed this recipe; thank you for developing and sharing it!
A few changes I made to suit our tastes that others might like–
I very thinly sliced the chicken breast and cooked it quickly in two batches over medium high, then returned all chicken to the skillet and added the sauce ingredients, like for a stir fry. This I felt made the chicken cook more quickly and was it was much easier to gauge doneness than whole breasts.
I also decreased the sugar to two tablespoons, and added almost a cup of pasta cooking water to the sauce as it bubbled up pretty thick and glossy. Just our taste to have it a bit looser.
We had sriracha at the table for those who like it hot 😀
I served it with spicy pickled carrots*–yummy! Was good the next day, too. Thanks for such a fun addition to our repertoire!
(*parboil a 1 pound bag of crinkle cut carrots until just crisp tender. Meanwhile dissolve 1/2 cup sugar in 1/2 cup white vinegar along with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Add red pepper flakes to taste but be generous. Drain carrots and cover with sugar/vinegar mixture and refrigerate, stirring often, for a few hours.)
Am I missing something? 1/4 cup of sugar made this dish taste like dessert!! Trying again sometime but adding sugar slowly to taste.
If it is too sweet to taste, you can always reduce the amount of sugar as needed to suit your preferences.
Oh Gosh…SODIUM overload….I love these recipes on Damn Delicious and I’ve NEVER found one I disliked until this one…Goodness Gracious this was so bloody salty I couldn’t eat it…it was a good thing that the boys were starving 🙂 I guess that Kung Pao or even maybe CPKs just isn’t my thing…No worries it would never detract me from pigging out on this site 🙂
Oh no! Did you use reduced sodium soy sauce?
Hi there, Chung Ah!
Another winner! Have made this twice now, and it’s pretty easy and straightforward. Only thing, I can’t seem to do it
in the 20 minutes. LOL. But, it’s still a delish dish! TY very much for your wonderful Asian inspired recipes……
I’d like to try this but am a bit confused….Are chili sauce and chili paste the same thing? I have sriracha and SWEET red chili sauce but I’m not sure if either of these is what you’re asking for. Thanks for your help.
This is what you’re looking for – hope that helps!
Very helpful….THANK YOU!
I had a terrible migraine headache and I needed a meal I could make in a hurry before I collapsed. I made this and subbed broccoli for the chicken for speed’s sake. Though not all my kids loved it, I think they would all agree that it was much better than cold cereal, which was the alternative. Two of my kids thought it was amazing and my picky 4yo declared that it was “too much yummy” and said that she was going to eat it all night. I think she had 4 helpings. I can’t wait to try it again with the chicken and some more veggies. Thanks for saving me on a really bad day.
This was absolutely delicious! Thank you! I found this on Pintrest and made this today.. will definitely make it again. I followed all the directions, didn’t change a thing, and don’t think it needs any tweaking at all. I will need to peruse your other recipes to see what you have here.
Haven’t been to a CPK in forever and wasn’t quite sure I remembered what this tastes like.
It’s pretty good as is but I ended up adding some brown sugar to sweeten it up a bit more and cover the strong sesame oil taste. Might do a teaspoon of sesame oil instead of a whole tablespoon next time.
Thanks for the recipe though!
Quick question. Can I use sherry cooking wine instead of dry sherry for kung pao spaghetti?
Yes, absolutely.
This will definitely be on our supper plates tomorrow night! Thanks so much for sharing!
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