I love Chinese food. Going to my local Chinese restaurant is good when I want something quick and tasty, but nothing beats homemade Chinese foods. I love getting fresh ingredients and making the food myself. I’ve compiled a list of my favorite foods to makes so that hopefully, you can make them too!
Chicken Fried Rice
Chinese fried rice is probably my go-to item to make when I’m tasting something Chinese. It’s great for my entire family, too. My husband and kids all love this one. Chinese fried rice is a common staple at pretty much any Chinese restaurant, but when you make it at home, you get to customize exactly what goes into the rice. Do you want chicken in it? Beef? Shrimp? You can add more or less of any of the vegetables, based on yours and your family’s preferences.
Here’s a list of what I use when I make fried rice: 3/4 of a cup of finely chopped onions, 2.5 tablespoons of oil, a lightly beaten egg, a few drops of soy sauce, a few drops of sesame oil, eight ounces of chopped chicken, half a cup of finely chopped carrots, a half cup of peas, four cups of cold, cooked rice, four chopped green onions, two cups of bean sprouts, and two table spoons of a light soy sauce.
In total, it takes me about half an hour to cook everything, including prep time. And like I said before, you can change up the ingredients a bit to fit yours and your family’s tastes.
P.F. Chang’s Lettuce Wraps
My husband loves going to P.F. Chang’s and getting their chicken lettuce wraps. Turns out, they’re not all that hard to make! So now instead of going there and spending a fortune when wants their lettuce wraps, I can make them myself for him to enjoy! He says mine taste way better than PF Chang’s do, but I don’t know if that’s true or if he’s just kissing up to the chef!
This is one of the harder recipes to make, simply because of the number of ingredients you need. There are around twenty different ingredients you’ll need and it takes around forty five minutes to make everything. You’ll have to look up the ingredients yourself for this one!
Kung Pao Chicken.
Kung Pao Chicken is probably my favorite dish to make. It’s something I’ve eaten ever since I was a child and I’ve always loved it. Now that I can make it at home, I find myself making it almost every week for dinner! I’m sure my kids are sick of it by now, but I could never have enough of this delicious piece of my past.
All it takes is a pound of boneless, skinless chicken cut into inch long pieces, a tablespoon of cornstarch, two teaspoons of vegetable oil, three tablespoons of green onion, two minced garlic cloves, anywhere from 1/4 to 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of crush red pepper flakes, based on your personal tastes, half a teaspoon of powdered ginger, two table spoons of rice wine vinegar, two tablespoons of soy sauce, two teaspoons of sugar, 1/3 of a dup of dry, roasted peanuts, and four cups of cooked rice.
It may seem like it’s a lot of ingredients, but it’s really not. In total, it only takes me about half an hour to prepare and cook the chicken!
General Tso’s Chicken
When it comes to Chinese, my boys absolutely love General Tso’s Chicken. Just like I can eat kung pao chicken every night, I’m pretty sure they could eat this every night as well! While my husband and I both enjoy it, neither of us love it as much as the kids do! But it’s still pretty fun and easy for me to make.
There’s only a handful of ingredients you’ll need for this one. You’ll need a pound of chicken thigh, boned and cubed, three beaten eggs, a half cup of cornstarch and two teaspoons of cornstarch, five dried chili pods, 1.5 tablespoons of rice vinegar, two tablespoons of rice wine or sake, three tablespoons of sugar, and three tablespoons of soy sauce.
This will give you enough General Tso’s Chicken to feed four people! It takes about forty minutes to prepare and cook, but it’s not too difficult to do. it’s pretty healthy too. It’s only about 410 calories for a single serving! Though it is fairly high in salt content, so I wouldn’t recommend making it too often.
Chinese Pot Stickers
Now, these aren’t exactly what most people would think of when you say Chinese food, but Chinese pot stickers are delicious nonetheless. My family absolutely loves these and they’re great to make when we’re having guests as well since we get so many of them.
There are a good number of ingredients you’re going to need for these. For the pot stickers themselves you’ll need two cups of finely chopped cabbage, a teaspoon of salt, a half pound of shrimp, a pound of lean pork, two tablespoons of light soy sauce, two tablespoons of rice wine, sherry, or white one, depending on your preference, a tablespoon of chopped green onion, a tablespoon of sesame oil, two teaspoons of chopped ginger, two minced garlic cloves, sixty four wonton wrappers, a quarter cup of vegetable oil, and a cup of chicken stock!
That’s a lot of ingredients! But we’re not done yet! For the dipping sauce you’re going to need two tablespoons of light soy sauce, a tablespoon of rice vinegar, and a teaspoon of minced fresh ginger!
It takes me over an hour to make everything, but it’s well worth the effort. They’re a little tedious to make, but trust me, once you try your homemade pot stickers, you’ll never want anything else!
These are my all time favorite Chinese foods to make homemade. If you love eating Chinese food, you really should try and make your own. I’m sure you’ll love it!
