Kung Pao Spaghetti

Wow. I've had this recipe pinned for quite a while and I've looked at it several times thinking I bet this dish is awesome. In the original posters blog post she mentioned that it was to mimic a dish found at California Pizza Kitchen. Well I had never been there when i first came across this recioe but a couple of months ago I decided to go with some girlfriends and my goal was to get this dish to decide whether I should make it at home. Super long and ridiculous story cut short, the dish I got at CPK  was way to spicy so I sent it back and opted to not try this recipe. Well finally last week I looked at it again because I knew I had all the ingredients on hand and I needed something to throw together. Wow. I'm really kicking myself for waiting so long to try this one out. It's so incredibly simple and full of amazing flavor. My husband asked that we keep this as one of our go  to dishes so that's saying a lot in our household.
This dish came from a blog I have visited quite a few times and have grown to trust that the recipes are always going to be delish. You can find the original recipe along with pictures here.

1 pound spaghetti
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 boneless, skinless thin-sliced chicken breasts
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts
2 green onions, thinly sliced

FOR THE SAUCE
2/3 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup dry sherry
2 tablespoons red chili paste with garlic, or more, to taste
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon sesame oil

1. In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, chicken broth, dry sherry, red chili paste, sugar, red wine vinegar, cornstarch and sesame oil; set aside.
2. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
3. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper, to taste. Add to skillet and cook, flipping once, until cooked through, about 3-4 minutes per side. Let cool before dicing into bite-size pieces; set aside.
4. Add garlic to the skillet and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in soy sauce mixture and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until thickened, about 1-2 minutes.
5. Stir in pasta, chicken, peanuts and green onions.
6. Serve immediately.

**Randi's Side Notes**
- For my chicken I cut it up into bite sized pieces before cooking the breasts instead of after.
- I didn't have any dry sherry nor do I really even know what it is to be honest so I just used extra chicken broth. I'm sure the sherry would have added a much deeper flavor but honestly I really enjoyed it the way I made it so I personally probably will not go out of my way to find some dry sherry.