Our Easy Chicken Stir-fry Recipe is a basic recipe that uses pantry ingredients to make a tasty, healthy meal with tender chicken and fresh vegetables coated with a delicious sauce.
Ingredients
Chicken—chicken tenders, skinless boneless breasts, or thighs
Vegetables—broccoli, celery, carrots, bell peppers
Aromatics—onion and garlic
Chicken broth
Pantry ingredients—soy sauce, ground ginger, garlic powder, corn starch, and vegetable oil
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Featured comment from Patty C:
"Made this tonight…I have to rate this one a solid 5! Thanks Dr D!"
Our basic chicken stir-fry recipe is super easy and can be adjusted to what you have on hand. No need for special stir-fry sauce or other special ingredients. A quick and easy weeknight dinner—done in about 30 minutes.
Check out these other easy General Tso Chicken, Beef and Broccoli, Cashew Chicken, and Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken.
👨‍🍳How to Make Chicken Stir Fry—Step-by-Step
Note: images are for a double batch.
1. Trim and slice about 1 pound of skinless boneless chicken breast into thin slices or cubes.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a nonstick large skillet, or wok over medium-high heat and add the chicken when hot—stir frequently.
3. Combine soy sauce, ground ginger, and garlic powder in a small bowl—mix well. For a touch of heat, add a pinch of red pepper flakes.
4. After the chicken is cooked for about 5 minutes, add the soy sauce mixture and continue to cook until tender (about 6-8 minutes additional) and break it into bite-size pieces with a wooden spoon.
5, While the chicken is cooking, chop two stalks of celery, two medium carrots, and a medium onion. Prep 2 cups broccoli florets.
6. Add all the veggies to the pan. Add an 8 oz can of drained water chestnuts if you want. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes.
7. While the dish is cooking, whisk together 8 oz of chicken broth with 2-3 tablespoons of cornstarch until dissolved. After about 5 minutes of cooking, add the chicken broth/ cornstarch mixture.
8. Stir continuously until thickened and the vegetables are tender—about 5 minutes.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
Ingredient options and variations
There are not a lot of rules about what you can put in stir fry, so it is an excellent way to use up some of your “must-go” ingredients.
Chicken—skinless boneless chicken breast, skinless boneless chicken thighs, or chicken tenders.
Vegetables—broccoli, celery, carrots, bell peppers, but add other vegetables like water chestnuts, snow peas, snap peas, mushrooms, baby corn, frozen stir fry mix, or almost any vegetable you have on hand.
Aromatics—both onion and garlic, are needed but don't have to be fresh. If you don't have them, powder will do. I find using garlic powder works better than fresh for me to avoid that raw garlic flavor.
🥣What is Stir Fry?
Stir fry is an ancient Chinese cooking technique that uses a small amount of very hot oil in a wok to quickly cook ingredients that are added while being stirred. So, it is very similar to sauteing.
While stir-frying is an ancient Chinese technique, it has spread worldwide and has been known in the West as stir fry since the middle of the last century.
🍴How to serve stir fry
Generally, rice of some type—white or brown rice, cauliflower rice, and quinoa. And Chinese noodles and top with toasted Sesame seeds. Plain Fried Rice is also an easy and tasty companion dish.
Storage of leftovers and reheating
Store leftovers sealed airtight and refrigerated for 4 days or frozen for 3 months. By the way, you can freeze rice.
Reheat, after thawing overnight in the refrigerator if frozen, on the stovetop, or in the microwave.
âť“FAQs
Optional for more flavor—a dash of honey for sweetness. Toasted Sesame Oil for a more Asian taste—it is strong, so just a pinch.
Add a little tang with a touch of apple cider or rice vinegar.
Add a little heat with a pinch of crushed red peppers.
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
Have you tried this recipe, or have a question? Join the community discussion in the comments.
Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
đź“– Recipe
Easy Chicken Stir Fry Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound skinless boneless chicken breasts - cut into thin slices or cubes
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 stalks celery
- 1 bell pepper - chopped
- 2 carrots - medium
- 1 onion - medium
- 2 cups broccoli florets
- 8 oz chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons corn starch
Options
- Other Vegetables suggestions in the tips
- Options for more flavor in the tips
Instructions
- Trim and slice about 1 pound of skinless boneless chicken breast into thin slices or cubes.
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a nonstick large skillet, or wok over medium-high heat and add the chicken when hot—stir frequently.
- Combine soy sauce, ground ginger, and garlic powder in a small bowl—mix well. For a touch of heat, add a pinch of red pepper flakes.
- After the chicken is cooked for about 5 minutes, add the soy sauce mixture and continue to cook until tender (about 6-8 minutes additional) and break it into bite-size pieces with a wooden spoon.
- While the chicken is cooking, chop two stalks of celery, two medium carrots, and a medium onion. Prep 2 cups broccoli florets.
- Add all the veggies you are using to the pan. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes.
- While the dish is cooking, whisk together 8 oz of chicken broth with 2-3 tablespoons of cornstarch until dissolved. After about 5 minutes of cooking, add the chicken broth/ cornstarch mixture and stir continuously until thickened and the vegetables are tender—about 5 minutes.
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Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- This is just a basic recipe to get you started. Add or subtract what you want.
- I used skinless boneless chicken breast, but thighs would work well. Also, change it out for different meat or fish. Add a bit more or less. Skip the meat if you want.
- All amounts of meat and veggies are just for reference. Adjust to what you have or want.
- Two cups of broccoli is about a medium head of broccoli.
- Other Vegetables—water chestnuts, snow peas, snap peas, mushrooms, baby corn, frozen stir fry mix. Or almost any vegetable you have on hand.
- Optional for more flavor—a dash of honey for sweetness. Toasted Sesame Oil for a more Asian taste—it is strong, so just a pinch. Some crushed red pepper for some heat.
- Good in the refrigerator for a few days. But due to the corn starch, the texture will be a bit different, and I do not suggest freezing.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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The recipe is based on one from Allrecipes. I did simplify and used chicken broth to replace some water and bouillon.
Editor's Note: Originally published December 17, 2011. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Harry Nimmergut says
We just moved and our food processor is among a hundred boxes. I had all of the ingredients at hand, however, substituting snow peas for the broccoli. Prep time took an hour, not 10 minutes. It definitely needed double the soy sauce and ginger paste, for 1.25 pounds of chicken tenders, cut up. I should have added some minced garlic. I served it on white, sticky rice. My biggest issue was the lack of liquid for the rice to absorb. Maybe 1/2 the cornstarch? It had great flavor but the consistency left something to be desired. Almost gelatinous. Too fussy for what I was looking for, considering our situation. Not quick&easy.
Marcy says
Dr. Dan, what happened to your stir fry broccoli recipe! I can’t find it anywhere. Help. Thanks
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Marcy,
I have never had a broccoli stir fry recipe on the site.
Dan
Sb says
This is a keeper. Love the way the soy sauce mixture flavored the meat, though I did precut the chicken instead of breaking it up in the pan. I also added a scrambled egg, fish sauce and sesame oil. I plan to try a beef version of this.
Anner says
Awesome, easy recipe! Doubled it for my family and they loved it! Liked that all ingredients were already in the cupboard, no time to speclalty shop after work!
Katie says
This is an old post but I just wanted to say that this is one of my family's favorites! Since finding the recipe I've made it countless times. The only things I change up is adding more soy sauce and we usually do the frozen stir fry mix. I'm not a cook at all so this really has helped me with an easy fix for dinner! Thank you!
DrDan says
I leave all my older posts open for comments so readers can still contribute and ask questions. It helps everybody.
Thanks for the note
DrDan
Rebecca says
Looking forward to trying this soon!
DrDan says
Thanks for the comment
DrDan
maribel gomez says
This looks delicious. I'm going to try this. I hope it taste as it looks. I like trying different variety of recipes. Thank you
DrDan says
Thanks for the note. I like the taste and many have told me this is a favorite.
Hope it works well for you.
DrDan
maribel gomez says
Thank you, I loved it but family always a critic. They said a little tad bit on the ginger but, their going for leftovers today. Yeah for me. Definitely do over for my house. Thanks
DrDan says
My wife is not a ginger person so I leave it out sometimes or at least cut it in half. But the recipe lacks a little Chinese taste without it.
Thanks for the note
DrDan
Melissa McKinney says
Made this last night and was delicious, also added snow peas, green pepper and onions. Will for sure make again and again!
Dan Mikesell says
The additions sound great. I just used what I had on hand at the time but the variety of what you could add is endless.
Allen Harris says
This looks very tasty! I love how you've mixed the ingredients! I would like to cook this so that I can taste this interesting recipe. Anyway, thank you for sharing!
Easy Stir Fry
Dan Mikesell says
Thanks. I like cooking with fewer ingredients like this. It gets down to the soy, garlic and ginger which is what my "American" taste wants. It is not "weekly" just because I have so many other things I love and I tend to make General Tso Chicken when I want Chinese.
Saryna says
This is amazing and absolutely delicious! Im usually not a huge fan of soy sauce, but because of the ginger it makes it the perfect and I ended up adding more then recommended because I love a good sauce. I know it says up there that this isnt something that would be put into a weekly rotation, but it will be for me because its that good. I love that I can add more veggies to it as well so it an easy, quick and yummy way for me to use up my veggies at the end of the week. Again, this dish is simply amazing and extremely delicious. I highly recommend it!
Try It With Carmella says
i'm just serving it over rice!
Try It With Carmella says
doing this right now and it looks great! thanks
Unknown says
I made this yesterday because I had a spare bag of stir fry veggies that was about to go to waste. It was darn tasty! The only thing I was missing was the ginger and I could definitely feel it missing, but still, it was very, very good. Very easy to make, very simple, very tasty. I'll cut down on the soy sauce just a wee bit though, maybe by a tsp or two. Thanks for the recipe!! I'll be making it again today for my whole family.