Kung Pao Pork
Our Kung Pao Pork recipe has all the flavours and textures you'd expect, but with far less calories than the takeaway – perfect if you're counting calories or following a plan like Weight Watchers.
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NutritionPer Serving
- Calories298
- Carbs38g
- Protein25g
- Fat5.5g
- Saturates0.3g
- Sugars17g
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For the full list of ingredients and comprehensive instructions, please see the recipe card at the end of this post. Before you scroll, there’s important stuff to know in the blurb!
This spicy, sweet Chinese inspired dish has always been one of our favourite things to order from the takeaway, but unfortunately the takeaway version isn’t exactly slimming friendly.
Our Kung Pao Pork recipe uses baked pork instead of fried and a few clever ingredient swaps to create a dish that’s low on calories without sacrificing flavour – you’ll never need to order it from the takeaway again!
It’s no secret that we like our food with a bit of a spicy kick, but you can easily add less (or more!) chilli flakes to this recipe depending on your preferences. Serve with piles of fluffy rice or any of our other Fakeaway dishes!
What diets is this Kung Pao Pork suitable for?
This Kung Po Pork recipe is suitable for dairy free diets.
It can be made suitable for gluten free diets by swapping the following ingredients out for gluten free alternatives;
- Dark soy sauce
Please make sure to double or triple check all of your ingredients if you’re cooking for people with allergies.
Do you need any special ingredients to make this Kung Pao Pork?
You can find all of the ingredients for this Kung Po Pork recipe in your local supermarket. If you can’t get hold of cider vinegar, then you can just use white wine vinegar instead.
Hints & Tips
Below we added some of our communities most common hints and tips. We hope you find them useful.
Don't worry if you can't find bamboo shoots - swap them for a sliced pepper for crunch. Add a handful of cooked peas to the cooked rice if you like.
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You’ll need a baking tray like this one from Amazon to bake your pork – this will help to keep your dish low on calories!
You will also need a saucepan for this recipe and if you don’t already have one then you can pick one up over on Amazon as well.
How many calories are in this Kung Pao Pork?
There are 298 calories per portion in this Kung Pao Pork, which means it falls into our Everyday Light category.
This Kung Pao Pork is perfect if you’re following a calorie controlled diet and fits well with any one of the major diet plans such as Weight Watchers.
As a guide, an average man needs around 2,500kcal (10,500kJ) a day to maintain a healthy body weight. For an average woman, that figure is around 2,000kcal (8,400kJ) a day. Obviously, if your goal is to lose weight then you might want to adjust these slightly! You can read more about these recommendations on the NHS website.
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 180ºC and line a baking tray with baking parchment.
Step 2
Place the pork, cornflour, Chinese 5 spice and sesame oil into a sandwich bag and shake until the pork is completely coated in the cornflour mix. Spread across the baking tray and place into the oven for 35 minutes, turning after 20 minutes.
Step 3
While the pork is cooking, make the sauce. Sauté the onions, red pepper and carrot in a little low calorie cooking spray on a low heat, until they start to soften. This will take around 6-7 minutes.
Step 4
Once the vegetables have softened, add the garlic and bamboo shoots and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
Step 5
Add all of the remaining sauce ingredients (except the spring onions), mix well to combine and leave to simmer on a low heat for 10-15 minutes until the sauce has thickened and reduced.
Step 6
Once the pork has cooked and is crisp and golden, add it to the sauce and stir. Serve immediately with rice or your choice of accompaniment and garnish with the finely sliced spring onions.
What could I serve with this Kung Po Pork?
This Kung Po Pork would work really well when served with piles of fluffy rice or alongside any of the following Chinese fakeaway dishes:
How do you know when Kung Po Pork is cooked?
You’ll need to cook your pork for 35 minutes or until it’s crisp and golden.
The sauce needs to be cooked for around 18 – 24 minutes or until it has thickened and reduced and the vegetables are cooked through and tender.
Standard advice here in the UK is to cook food until it has reached 70°C and stayed at that temperature for 2 minutes. This is to keep your family safe.
How long can you keep Kung Po Pork in the fridge?
Once you’ve put this dish out, ideally you should eat it within 4 hours.
If you allow any leftovers to cool, make sure to refrigerate in a container with a lid and chill. You can keep leftovers of Kung Po Pork in the fridge for approximately 3 days or so.
Can I freeze Kung Po Pork?
Yes you can! If you plan to freeze this recipe then make sure that you freeze the cooked meat and sauce separately.
Please remember to do the following;
- Freeze it as soon as it is cold enough.
- Use a container or bag that is suitable for freezing.
Don’t forget to add a label with what it is, and on what date you put it in the freezer!
How do I reheat Kung Po Pork?
From chilled: Pop the pork into a moderately hot oven for 10-15 minutes. Reheat the sauce either in the microwave or on the hob until piping hot, and combine once the meat is hot.
From frozen: Defrost thoroughly and then pop the pork into a moderately hot oven for 10-15 minutes. Reheat the sauce either in the microwave or on the hob until piping hot, and combine once the meat is hot.
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Kung Pao Pork
Our Kung Pao Pork recipe has all the flavours and textures you'd expect, but with far less calories than the takeaway - perfect if you're counting calories or following a plan like Weight Watchers.
-
Prep Time
10 MINS
-
Cook Time
35 MINS
- KCals 298
- Carbs 38G
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC and line a baking tray with baking parchment.
- Place the pork, cornflour, Chinese 5 spice and sesame oil into a sandwich bag and shake until the pork is completely coated in the cornflour mix. Spread across the baking tray and place into the oven for 35 minutes, turning after 20 minutes.
- While the pork is cooking, make the sauce. Sauté the onions, red pepper and carrot in a little low calorie cooking spray, on a low heat, until they start to soften. This will take around 6-7 minutes.
- Once the vegetables have softened, add the garlic and bamboo shoots and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add all of the remaining sauce ingredients (except the spring onions), mix well to combine and leave to simmer on a low heat for 10-15 minutes until the sauce has thickened and reduced.
- Once the pork has cooked and is crisp and golden, add it to the sauce and stir. Serve immediately with rice or your choice of accompaniment and garnish with the finely sliced spring onions.
Looking for Slimming World Syns or Weight Watchers (WW) Points?
With ever-changing plans and point calculations, we have made the decision to remove WW Points from the website - referring to your individual plan or advice from your consultant is always going to give the most accurate results.
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44 comments
See what others have to say
Anita RangeleyMonday 14th August 2023
Could I replace the bamboo shoots with anything else as I don’t like them?
SharonFriday 20th October 2023
Hi Anita, you could try using bean sprouts or water chestnuts if you prefer. Enjoy the recipe!
KirstyMonday 13th March 2023
Is there anyway to make this in a slow cooker? Iv made it in a pan before and it’s really nice but have a 9month old that doesn’t like me cooking so would be easier in slow cooker
SharonFriday 12th May 2023
Hi Kirsty, unfortunately this recipe isn’t suitable for cooking in a slow cooker. It’s a stir-fried dish that needs to be crisp and freshly cooked; you wouldn’t achieve this result in a slow cooker.
LeighThursday 19th January 2023
I don’t like artificial sweeteners what can I use instead?
HollyFriday 20th January 2023
Hey Leigh, you can swap the sweetener for sugar and adjust the calories accordingly, hope that helps!
MsRadsThursday 16th June 2022
This was absolutely scrummy, better than a take away! Sweet, sticky and hard to believe it’s a low calorie recipe. We used chicken rather than pork and added mange tout and baby corn for some extra veg. Left out the chilli flakes as we were feeding a fussy 3 year old!
HollyFriday 17th June 2022
Hey Emma, so glad to hear you and your family enjoyed this recipe. The extra veggies sound great too!
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