Kung Po Prawns

Name: Kung Po Prawns
Prep time: 7 min
Cook time: 14 min
Total time: 21 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 400g Prawns; 2 tbs Soy Sauce; 1 tsp Tomato Puree; 1 tsp Corn Flour; 1 tsp Caster Sugar; 1 tsp Sunflower Oil; 85g Peanuts; 3 Large Chilli; 1 tbs Brown Sugar; 6 cloves Garlic Clove; 450g Water Chestnut; to taste Ginger

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Seafood recipe with Chinese flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 41 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings · 21 min total

400g Prawns
2 tbs Soy Sauce
1 tsp Tomato Puree
1 tsp Corn Flour
1 tsp Caster Sugar
1 tsp Sunflower Oil
85g Peanuts
3 Large Chilli
1 tbs Brown Sugar
6 cloves Garlic Clove
450g Water Chestnut
to taste Ginger

Step-by-step instructions

Mix the cornflour and 1 tbsp soy sauce, toss in the prawns and set aside for 10 mins. Stir the vinegar, remaining soy sauce, tomato purée, sugar and 2 tbsp water together to make a sauce.
When you’re ready to cook, heat a large frying pan or wok until very hot, then add 1 tbsp oil. Fry the prawns until they are golden in places and have opened out– then tip them out of the pan.
Heat the remaining oil and add the peanuts, chillies and water chestnuts. Stir-fry for 2 mins or until the peanuts start to colour, then add the ginger and garlic and fry for 1 more min. Tip in the prawns and sauce and simmer for 2 mins until thickened slightly. Serve with rice.

Why this works on a weeknight

Kung Po Prawns genuinely fits a 30-minute weeknight window, which is why it earned a spot in our Stir-Fry collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Kung Po Prawns actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🥢 Stir-Fry Seafood Chinese ⚡ 30-Min Dinner BBQ