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
ELAINE JAKEMANMonday 31st January 2022
Made tonight as found pork in the freezer. Hubby loved it which is a first when making fakeaways so far. Added cashew nuts and swapped out veggies for what I had to hand. Will defo tag and make again. Thanks!
HollyTuesday 1st February 2022
Hey Elaine, thanks so much for your message. We are so glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe!
Sarah HillWednesday 8th September 2021
Absolutely love this recipe, so tasty! We switch pork for chicken.
HollyThursday 9th September 2021
Hey Sarah, thanks so much for your message we are so glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe!
MichFriday 14th May 2021
If using the lighter weight granulated sweetener, how much would I use?
HollyFriday 14th May 2021
We use a granulated sweetener that is crunchy and weighs like for like with sugar. Powdered sweeteners don’t work as well and the weight would need to be adjusted as you would need a lot less than we state in our recipes. Have a look at THIS article it explains the differences between the sweeteners so it might help!
AlisonFriday 12th February 2021
I plan on making this tomorrow night but I would rather use proper sugar rather than sweetener. Do I use the same amount of sugar as the recipe has for sweetener? Thank you.
HollyMonday 15th February 2021
Hi Alison, We use a granulated sweetener that is crunchy and weighs like for like with sugar so if you are swapping back to sugar then it is the same weight we have used. Have a look HERE at our article about sweeteners it’s full of tips and advice, hope that helps!
Victoria ElsmoreFriday 27th November 2020
Love love love This recipe ! It’s given time such a huge confidence boost when cooking Chinese recipes
HollyMonday 30th November 2020
Hi Victoria, so glad you enjoyed the Kung Po Pork! So glad you are feeling more confident too
MelanieFriday 25th September 2020
Had this for tea last night, delicious. I did reduce the chilli flakes a bit though! My husband really enjoyed it – who knew bamboo shoots have so few calories!!
HollyFriday 25th September 2020
Hey Melanie, so glad you and your husband enjoyed the Kung Po Pork!
LiseTuesday 8th February 2022
I made this tonight swap pork for chicken. I found there wasn’t much sauce and no way I could cook it as the recipe says to. Have I done something wrong here
HollyWednesday 9th February 2022
Hey Lise, The Kung Pao Pork should be more of a sticky glaze rather than a sauce so you’ve not really done anything wrong. A lot of members on our facebook group have doubled up on the sauce ingredients to get more of a sauce so you could try that if you prefer, hope that helps!
AliceSaturday 25th July 2020
Oh my goodness this was delicious! A hit with my whole family including my dad who is always difficult to please! I would add less chiliflakes unless you like a lot of spice. I’ll definitely be making this again thank you!
SharonMonday 27th July 2020
Hi Alice, thanks for your great feedback, we’re so pleased your whole family enjoyed this recipe! Thanks for taking the time to let us know.
Clare PopeMonday 13th July 2020
Can you substitute the pork for king prawns? And if so what would the cooking time be?
LisaMonday 20th July 2020
Hi Clare. This recipe would work well with prawns. You would need to cook them for less time, probably for around 10-12 minutes. Make sure they thoroughly cooked and are pink and opaque all the way through.
SallyThursday 2nd July 2020
Yet another brilliant takeaway although only added half the chilli flakes. Will be definitely making again.
HollyThursday 2nd July 2020
Hey Sally, so glad you enjoyed the Kung Po Pork!
Tracey raynorMonday 25th May 2020
Made this with chicken, the whole family loved it and my daughters work in a chinese takeaway!
Steve CowderoyTuesday 26th May 2020
Hi Tracey, thanks for getting in touch with us. So happy to hear that you and your family enjoyed this recipe.
Sarah SealFriday 15th May 2020
Just made this ! It was amazing !
Holly LevellMonday 18th May 2020
Hi Sarah, so glad you enjoyed the Kung Po Pork!
Sharon WalkerThursday 14th May 2020
Hi, should there be any more liquid in the sauce. It seems quite dry. Hopefully, it’ll be as fab as all your other recipes
LisaTuesday 19th May 2020
Hi Sharon. This sauce in this recipe is supposed to be a sticky glaze to coat the crispy pork rather than a more runny sauce. If you prefer a saucier sauce, you could reduce it for less time. Just keep an eye on it and stop cooking when it reaches a consistency you like. Hope you enjoyed it anyway.
Naomi LoweThursday 14th May 2020
I don’t have cornflour, can I use plain instead?
Holly LevellThursday 14th May 2020
Hi Naomi, plain flour will work fine!
AudreySunday 3rd May 2020
Hiya, just wondering – is the cider vinegar, apple cider vinegar or are they different things altogether?
Thanks
Audrey
LisaWednesday 6th May 2020
Hi Audrey. They are basically the same thing. You could even use white wine or rice vinegar as an alternative.
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