Easy Chicken Stir Fry
This Asian-inspired Chicken, Broccoli, and Bell Pepper Stir Fry is a quick, flavorful weekday supper! Your family will love every bite!
This Easy Chicken Stir Fry can be adapted to whatever you have in your fridge and can be on the table in about 30 minutes. Can’t beat that!
Why You Must Make
- The meat marinates while you chop the garlic, ginger, and veggies; and in about 30 minutes, the meal is ready.
- The stir-fry sauce has a delicious depth of flavor with garlic, ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, and sherry. Nothing too hard to procure.
- Once you master how to make a stir fry, it’s easy to shake this up with beef or pork and your favorite vegetables!
I had chicken in the freezer, some broccoli plus one tired-looking red bell pepper in the fridge, and plenty of Asian marinade ingredients in the pantry. This chicken, broccoli, and bell pepper stir fry was on the table in no time. Just right for a weekday supper.
Ingredient Notes
- Kitchen Staples – Sugar, Fresh Garlic, Soy Sauce, Cornstarch, Vegetable Oil, Salt
- Boneless Skinless Chicken – May use pork, beef, etc. instead
- Produce – Scallions, Fresh Ginger, Red Bell Pepper, Broccoli Florets
- Dry Sherry
- Toasted Sesame Oil
- Oyster Sauce
- Red Chili Flakes/Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
- Steamed Rice, to serve
How to Make
- Marinate your protein while you prep the other ingredients.
- Heat the oil and cook the aromatics to impart flavor.
- Start with the more firm vegetables first, like broccoli or carrots, as they will take longer to cook. Add the most tender vegetables last, like cabbage.
- Remove the vegetables when tender and cook the protein.
- Add back the vegetables and any sauce ingredients, stir, and then add the cornstarch slurry to thicken the juices.
- Check for seasonings and adjust as needed.
- Serve over rice.
Expert Tips
- Use a wok or another pan with a large surface area.
- Use an oil that can withstand high heat like peanut or canola oil, not olive oil.
- Marinate your meat/protein for at least 15 minutes before adding it to the stir fry.
- Cut your vegetables in similar sizes so they are done at the same time.
- Cook over high heat.
- Cook the hardest vegetables first, then add the more tender vegetables. If using Napa cabbage, that should be added last.
- Since this is a stir fry, stir continuously.
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s any dish made by quickly frying small pieces of food in a large pan over high heat while constantly stirring. This technique has Asian roots and results in a dish that still has crisp, vibrant vegetables, minimal fat, and a flavorful sauce.
Many stir-fries are made in woks, which are specialized pans, but other pans with large surface areas work well, too.
First, there should be a source of protein like chicken, beef, pork, seafood, or tofu. Vegetables and aromatics such as broccoli, peppers plus garlic, scallions, and fresh ginger in this recipe are the second component of a stir fry. And to complete the trio, there must be a flavorful sauce.
Often the garlic, ginger, etc. are added to the oil to impart flavor, then removed so they don’t burn. Then add the vegetables from the hardest to softest, giving ingredients like carrots and broccoli a longer time to cook. Finally, add the sauce. A thickener like cornstarch (mixed in water) is often added at the end to make a thick, glossy sauce.
Cornstarch is a powder and to make it easier to incorporate into the stir fry, it’s whisked with water creating a “slurry.” This makes it much easier to disperse and coat the ingredients.
Make sure to add aromatics like onions, scallions, garlic, and or ginger. Include flavorful ingredients in your sauce like toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, and sherry. Alcohol is a good flavor enhancer, like salt, so adding sherry is another tip.
All you need is rice to soak up the sauce. It can be white rice or even brown rice. Other grains will work well, too, like quinoa or farro, but rice is most traditional.
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- Plus More of the Best Entree Recipes
Chicken, Broccoli and Bell Pepper Stir Fry
An easy weeknight stir fry the whole family will love!
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, in thin slices
- 3 scallions (whites only) sliced on an angle
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 -inch piece peeled fresh ginger, minced
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon dry sherry
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- About 1/3 cup water
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
- 3-4 cups small broccoli florets
- 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes, optional
- 1-2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- Steamed rice, to serve
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, toss the chicken with the scallion whites, about half the garlic and ginger, the soy sauce, sugar, 1 teaspoon of the cornstarch, 1 teaspoon of the salt, the sherry, and the sesame oil. Marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes.
- Mix the remaining cornstarch with 1/3 cup water.
- Heat a large nonstick skillet or wok over high heat.
- Add 1 tablespoon of the oil and heat.
- Add the bell pepper, broccoli florets, and the remaining garlic, ginger, 2 tablespoons of water, and season with 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper.
- Stir-fry until the broccoli is bright green but is tender enough to be pierced easily with a knife. Transfer to a plate.
- Reheat the skillet again, and then add 2 more tablespoons of oil.
- Add the chicken and chili flakes, if using. Stir-fry until the chicken loses its raw color and gets a little brown, about 3 minutes.
- Add the oyster sauce, return the broccoli to the pan and toss to heat through.
- Stir in the reserved cornstarch mixture and bring to a boil to thicken.
- Add more water if need to thin the sauce if desired.
- Taste and season with salt and pepper, if needed.
- Serve with rice.
Notes
Inspired from the Food Network
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 572Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 96mgSodium: 1427mgCarbohydrates: 56gFiber: 16gSugar: 14gProtein: 48g
25 Comments on “Easy Chicken Stir Fry”
Quick and healthy, my favorite kind of meal:@) I see some broccoli in my near future!
I could eat this everyday, it’s one of my favorite meals!
Looks fantastic… you know I love stir fries. Mmmm.. YUM!
Do you ever find your pantry so full that you can’t find a darned thing? I have a crap pantry with poor lighting and I’m always getting the step stool to find things. I need a better system. 🙂 I even paid a professional organizer to come in and after the first grocery shop, I went back to my wicked ways of putting things in the first vacant spot.
I love a good stir-fry and this one looks good.
I agree – a well stocked pantry is the key to making dinner! In fact, today I made a “hash” of various vegetables I needed to use up. Wishing I had turned it into this stir fry!