Kung Pao Chicken Burrito
Chicken cut down to peanut-sized cubes and velveted, thrown into a smoking wok with toasted Sichuan pepper and a soy-and-black-vinegar glaze, then rolled over brown rice into a wholewheat tortilla. Built for the day after a heavy session.
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Join HomecookedIngredients
- 1 Whole wheat tortillas
- 250 g Chicken breast
- 55 g Brown rice
- 18 g Peanuts
- 2 tsp Soy sauce
- 2 tsp Chinkiang black vinegar
- 1 tbsp Neutral oil
- ½ Bell pepper (optional)
- 25 g Scallions (optional)
- 2 cloves Garlic (optional)
- 8 g Ginger (optional)
- 2 Chili (optional)
- 1 tsp Sugar (optional)
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine (optional)
- ½ tsp Sichuan peppercorn (optional)
- 1 tsp Cornstarch (optional)
Method
- Put the brown rice on before anything else: rinse it, cover it by twice its depth of water and leave it sealed over the lowest flame for half an hour. Every other job in this burrito fits inside that window.
- Cut the chicken into cubes no bigger than the peanuts, then turn them through the cornflour and Shaoxing until every face is slick and pale.
- Mince the ginger and garlic, cut the spring onion into short lengths with the green tops kept aside, slice the chillies into rings and square off the pepper. Line the piles up beside the hob — once the wok is hot there is no time to go looking for anything.
- Stir the soy, the black vinegar and the sugar together in a saucer until no grit is left at the bottom; that saucer is the entire sauce and it goes in as one pour.
- Get the oil ripping in a wok, drop the Sichuan peppercorns in for ten seconds until they smell toasted, then lay the chicken down in one layer and leave it until it releases itself from the metal — then scoop it back out onto a plate.
- Into the oil that is left go the chillies, ginger, garlic, spring onion whites and pepper squares, over the same high flame, until the smell catches at the back of your throat.
- Tip the chicken back in with the saucer of sauce and the peanuts and keep everything moving until the liquid goes from thin to a glaze that hangs on each cube.
- While that glaze is tightening, leave the wholewheat tortilla on a second dry ring and turn it once — supple is what you are after, not crisp.
- Run the rice down the centre of the warm tortilla, heap the kung pao over it, scatter the spring onion greens on top, fold the two short ends inward and roll the parcel up tight.
- Cut it across the middle and start eating while the peanuts still rattle against the chicken.
About Kung Pao Chicken Burrito
Kung Pao Chicken Burrito is a Chinese lunch or dinner that comes together in about 35 minutes and serves 1. It fits anti-inflammatory eating.
Kung Pao Chicken Burrito: frequently asked questions
Is Kung Pao Chicken Burrito gluten-free?
As written, no — it contains Soy sauce. You'd need a certified gluten-free swap for that ingredient to make it gluten-free.
How long does Kung Pao Chicken Burrito take to make?
About 35 minutes start to finish, but only around 26 of those are hands-on — the rest is largely unattended cooking time you can step away from. In the Homecooked app the timers and parallel steps are sequenced for you so the hands-on part feels even shorter.
Do I need every ingredient to make Kung Pao Chicken Burrito?
The core ingredients are essential, but you can leave out bell pepper, scallions, garlic — they're optional and mainly there for extra flavor or finish.
How many servings does Kung Pao Chicken Burrito make?
This recipe makes 1 serving. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.