Copycat Panda Express Black Pepper Chicken Recipe [+Video] (2024)

Published: Apr 26, 2019 · Modified: Jan 3, 2024 by Helene Dsouza

The Panda Express Black Pepper Chicken Recipe with Celery is one of my favorite copycat recipes from the popular Asian food inspired franchise.

I recreated the panda express dish and dare say I even improved it by using quality ingredients at home.

For more Asian style meals, take a look at my cabbage and chicken, as well as this Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry Recipe

🍗 Ingredients

The black pepper chicken consists of a few ingredients only which include chicken, celery, green onion and ginger and garlic as main ingredients.

Besides the marination and seasoning ingredients.

Chicken

Use either boneless breast or leg chicken.

Leg tends to be more flavorful but I do like to use breast because it's faster to cut it up.

Celery

The celery is another main ingredient in this dish and compliments the chicken.

It surprised Paul who loves this dish now because of the flavor balance between the ingredients.

Use fresh green celery stalks cut into bite sized pieces.

Pick not all too old celery stalks because they tend to get more fibrous in age.

Green Onions

Green Onions are also known as Spring Onions.

They are small and mild and not that strong compared to red or white/yellow onions.

I separate the bulbs from the stalks which are all sliced.

The bulbs are stir-fried while the stalks are used as a garnish.

Ginger and Garlic

These two ingredients go hand in hand in Asian foods.

Ginger has meat tenderizing properties, besides enriching the dish with interesting flavors.

I'm a bit lazy because I hate to peel garlic, so I tend to use Ginger and Garlic paste.

This is actually a common Indian ingredient but I love ginger and garlic paste in all Asian dishes because it mixes in easily and saves me time.

You can also use fresh ginger and garlic by chopping them fine.

Black Pepper Chicken Marinade

The black pepper chicken marinate is made of:

• freshly ground black pepper
• soy sauce
• rice vinegar
• sugar
• corn flour

The soy sauce adds a salty rich aroma to the chicken and the rice vinegar adds a nice sour touch to it, while the sugar balances all these ingredients.

The black pepper needs to be of good quality.

That makes all the difference in this dish.

I got some organic sun-dried black pepper from Goa India and that black pepper is nothing compared to the already ground stuff that you get in packets.

The black pepper can make or break your panda express copycat black pepper chicken.

I add cornflour to add the shine that you see on your black pepper chicken form panda express.

You can skip that if you like, it's just for aesthetics.

🔪 How to make it?

To prepare this panda express copycat black pepper celery chicken, you will need to follow these easy 3 steps.

Step 1

Mix all the marination ingredients together and marinate your chicken pieces and add corn flour.

Step 2

Keep all the fresh produce ready peeled and cut.

Heat up a wok or shallow pan with oil and stir cook each ingredient for a minute, the onions, ginger garlic, celery pieces, and chicken pieces with marination.

Step 3

Stir cook and mix everything together before serving.

See Also

The Best Meal Train Ideas and 20 Recipes You Need to Try

📖 Recipe

💭 Pros

I have a few reasons for you why you would want to prepare your copycat panda express pepper chicken at home.

• quick and easy to prepare, cooking Asian style food couldn't be easier
• you get to adjust the flavors the way you like it
• you know what's in it, and hence you get to pick quality ingredients and the dish won't contain artificial ingredients.
• the next Panda Express is located miles away
• this is a low-carb friendly and keto panda express chicken recipe
• you can meal prep this Chinese pepper chicken to take it to work for lunch

👁️ More panda express recipes

• Panda Express Orange Chicken
• Panda Express Fried Rice
• Panda Express Chow Mein by copykat.com