CHICKEN STIR FRY

Chicken Stir Fry with Asian flavors

A great meatless meal also

This chicken stir fry is an easy way to bring the flavors of Asian cooking to your dinner table without paying for take out. It combines some easily found ingredients to make a delicious vegetable packed stir fry with a sauce full of flavor.

Just as good without the chicken

This stir fry recipe can be made with or without chicken. The variety of tastes and textures of the vegetables and it’s savory sauce make it a meal on it’s own without chicken.

Stir frying has a lot going for it

Stir frying started to surge in popularity many years ago as part of the healthy eating movement. It is an excellent way to cook quick, cook easy, and cook smart. Quick because stir frying only takes you minutes at the stove. Easy because you cook everything in one skillet. Smart because a lot of the flavor and nutrients of your fresh produce is preserved using this cooking technique.

Be prepared

After years of cooking dinner, I have learned that preparation saves time, energy and most of all frustration.

Preparing your ingredients before you start to cook will always make things easier. But in recipes like this one that cook up quickly it is almost impossible to get it right if you are not prepared.

This stir fry is only going to take about 20 minutes on the stove. Once you have started cooking you won’t have time to get the next ingredient(s) ready without overcooking what is already in the skillet.

Spare yourself some grief. Look at it this way; no matter what it is that you are cooking, you need to get the ingredients out and ready at some point anyway, right? You might as well have them ready before you cook and ensure a successful result.

Cooking made easy

One of the big reasons people don’t cook dinner at home is they think it’s big deal. It’s far less intimidating if you utilize some simple strategies to make it easier. Having your ingredients prepared before you start cooking is one of those simple strategies.

A word to the wise

Before you use fresh vegetables in your cooking, rinse them off thoroughly with warm water and dry them with a clean cloth or paper towel. It’s important. We have a lighthearted post about why you might want to make this practice in Wash Before You Eat.

Consider this. If you are using an unwashed chopped bell pepper in a sauce you are going to simmer, everything on the outside of that pepper is going to become part of your sauce. I bet you don’t need our post to spark your imagination about where that pepper has been and what it has picked up along the way. You might not want to eat what’s lurking on it. 🤔

And all you have to do to get the crud off is give it a good rinse.

So let’s get to it

Here’s what YOU WILL NEED:

For the sauce

Our Asian flavorings

Ginger

You can use ground dried ginger from the spice section of the grocery store or chopped and/or jarred fresh ginger found in the produce section in this stir fry. Want to read a little more about using ginger in your cooking, the difference between fresh and ground? We have a tidbit on that too Using Ginger fresh and ground.

The vegetables and sesame seed oil

Sesame seed oil

The flavor of sesame seed oil and a sauce made of chicken broth, soy sauce and ginger give this chicken stir fry tastes found in Asian cooking.

Sesame seed oil is a naturally sourced specialty oil. So like other high quality oils it’s a little pricey, but well worth the investment in nutrients and flavor.

There are two types of sesame seed oil, one is made from oil pressed from sesame seeds. The other type is made from sesame seeds that have been toasted. The oil made of toasted seeds has a deeper more intense flavor than it’s counterpart. Like other oils there is a whole range of qualities and flavors and therefore price. You can learn more about the difference in the oils in our cooking tidbit Using Sesame Oil. Once you have made the initial investment, we have all sorts of other recipes you can use it in.

When cooking it is better to use sesame oil, sometimes also labeled sesame seed oil rather then a toasted sesame seed oil.

Bean sprouts

Are you familiar with bean sprouts? Have you ever cooked with them? I always associate bean sprouts with Asian cooking. I like the little crunch they add to a dish. They don’t have a lot of flavor of their own, so they don’t compete with other ingredients when you use them in a recipe, but they certainly do add another texture. And they are good for you.

Although most stores I shop at carry bean sprouts, I have had to hunt them down. So I will share where I have found them. They need to be refrigerated but I haven’t been able to find them in the regular refrigerated section where heads of lettuce and fresh herbs are found. I can only find them in small clear bags in a refrigerated section of organic produce. Given the nature of growing and cultivating sprouts, it’s not surprising they are organic.

Not everyone likes bean sprouts. If you don’t like them, leave them out. But if you want to try them, this is a great recipe to use them in.

Water chestnuts

It amazes me how many people don’t like water chestnuts. They don’t have a lot of flavor of their own. It must be a texture thing. They are even crunchier than bean sprouts, so they also add another layer of texture to this recipe or any other dish you are using them in. I have added chopped water chestnuts to dips to add some crunch.

If you haven’t bought water chestnuts before, they can be found in the section of the store featuring Asian cooking products. I have only seen them canned. Buy a small can of maybe 3 to 4 ounces. Sometimes I can only find an 8 ounce can. That’s more than I need for this recipe so I use as much as I want and toss out the rest. (Although I hate throwing food away. They give me no choice)

If you don’t like water chestnuts or you don’t have them on hand just leave them out.

Boneless chicken breast

Have you noticed how BIG some of the boneless chicken breasts are these days? I have seen some that look more like a turkey’s breast than a chicken’s. Sometimes I look at the size of the breast and picture in my mind just how big this chicken must have been. I wouldn’t want to be in a pen with one of these overgrown chickens on a day they felt ornery. 🐔😲 🏃‍♀️

Finding such large chicken breasts is a fairly new thing. Years ago, chicken farmers were not growing their meat birds to be that large.

With the booming popularity of chicken wings, lots of things have changed when it comes to buying chicken. The biggest change is pricing.

Breast meat used to be the most expensive part of a chicken, especially a boneless breast, and chicken wings were almost a give away. I used to get a 20 pound bag of chicken wings at a meat market for 5 bucks! Now the breasts are the give away and wings cost a fortune. I shutter to think what it would cost to walk out of a meat market with a 20 pound bag of wings today!

Anyway, as far at this recipe goes, if you have a huge chicken breast you will only need one half of the breast. Not both sides.

This is WHAT TO DO:

Chop the vegetables

Cut the celery stalks into 1/4 inch slices, the red pepper into bite sized pieces. Cut the garlic and scallion up pretty small. Use the green stems of the scallions as well as the white bulb.

If your water chestnuts were purchased whole, you may want to chop them in half or quarters. I do.

Cut the chicken

Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces. The size of the pieces aren’t as important as getting them as uniform in size as possible. The uniform size will ensure all your chicken will be done at the same time.

Remember that size = cooking time. I cut my pieces about 3/4 of an inch square. They will cook up pretty quickly. And they need to for this recipe. There’s another thing to consider (for this recipe or any other) when you are deciding how large to make your pieces. The smaller you chop the chicken the more pieces per serving you will have.

Mix the sauce ingredients together

If you haven’t already mixed up your sauce ingredients now is the time. Just mix the chicken broth, soy sauce and ginger together.

Have the sesame oil close by

Pour 1/3 cup sesame oil into a measuring cup. You will be adding the oil to the skillet as needed while you are cooking.

Are you serving over a bed of rice or noodles?

If you are going to be serving the stir fry over a starch, such has rice, pasta or noodles, you need to factor in the time it will take to cook the starch. Brown rice could take up to 45 minutes to cook. If you are using ramen noodles they will take only a few minutes. The vegetables and chicken will be done in about 20 minutes so try to time it so the starch is done about the same time.

We are ready to cook

Use a large skillet with a heavy bottom. The heavy bottom will keep things from burning.

Get all your ingredients together

You are going to be adding your ingredients at different times according to how long they take to cook. Keep all the ingredients and the sesame oil within arms reach. Remember: You need to stir the ingredients in the skillet continuously while you are cooking. There’s no time to go hunt something down.

Sauté

Warm up a large skillet on medium high heat and then cover the bottom with sesame oil. You are not going to add all the oil at this point. You will be adding the rest of the oil as you cook.

If your ingredients start sticking to the pan while you are cooking, add more sesame oil and turn the heat down a bit. In this recipe you are not looking for any of these ingredients to be browned. No harm if something does get browned, just reduce the heat, add some oil and keep going.

Add the red pepper and celery first. They will take the longest to cook.

You have a lot of ingredients to go, so don’t cook them until they are tender, just cook until they are not crisp anymore. It should take about 6 minutes.

KEEP STIRRING

Then add the scallions and garlic.

Add the bean sprouts and water chestnuts to the skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes until the bean sprouts start to get a little limp.

KEEP STIRRING

Want a meatless meal?

You can serve this stir fry without chicken for a delicious meatless meal or a tasty vegetable side dish.

If you want to make this meatless, skip the next section and jump down to adding the sauce.

Doesn’t this meatless vegetable stir fry look delicious!

Time to add the chicken

Sprinkle a little salt on your chicken pieces before adding them to the skillet.

Add the rest of the sesame oil to the skillet before adding the chicken.

Your skillet is pretty full at this point, and you need to cook the chicken evenly, so continue to move your ingredients around frequently. If you find your ingredients are no longer sizzling after the chicken has been added, turn the heat up until you hear it sizzling again, then bring the heat back down to medium high.

Maintaining a hot temperature is important. The chicken needs to cook quickly because you want it to stay moist and tender. If the chicken is allowed to cook slowly, it will steam instead of sauté and become chewy and tasteless.

Chicken should always be cooked thoroughly. Cut it with a fork to make sure there is no pink in the middle. Be vigilant in checking, don’t overcook the chicken. Overcooked chicken breast is very dry.

It will usually take about 5-6 minutes to cook the chicken through. But the actual time it will take is based on many variables like how cold the chicken was when it went in the skillet, how big your pieces are and the heat maintained in the skillet. A cast iron skillet maintains hot heat very well. A lightweight skillet is more likely to need adjustments to the heat so that you are cooking quickly but not burning anything. I am using a stainless steel pan with a heavy bottom. That is always a good choice.

Time to add the sauce

When the chicken is done, add the broth/soy sauce/ginger mix and bring it to a boil. It should not take long, your skillet is already hot. When the sauce has reached the boiling point, take the skillet off the heat. Let the stir fry sit for a few minutes so everything can soak up that yummy sauce.

Serve

You can serve your chicken stir fry over rice, noodles, pasta or you can skip the starch and eat it as it is.

Some other recipes to try

We have several recipes made with the flavors used in this stir fry.

The marinade used in MARINATED CHICKEN THIGHS uses these Asian flavorings in a different way.

A couple of other quick stir fry recipes with the same flavor profile and lots of healthy vegetables are BEEF AND VEGETABLE STIR FRY, which can be made with or without meat, and CHICKEN PINEAPPLE STIR FRY.

These are all great recipes and though using the same flavors, each dinner is very different from the others.