Chicken Stir Fry
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Easy Chicken Stir Fry is a quick and healthy weeknight meal! Made with chicken, frozen stir fry vegetables and a flavorful sauce, the entire dish is ready in under 20 minutes!
Why you’ll love this family favorite recipe:
Quick: Uses frozen vegetables so there’s minimal chopping required.
Customizable: Can easily be customized based on what you have in your fridge and pantry.
Pairs well with grains: Serve it over jasmine rice, brown rice, quinoa, or cauliflower rice for a complete meal.
Recipe highlights:
- Serves: 4
- Cook method: stovetop
- Tools: skillet
- Difficulty: very easy
Table of Contents
Oh how I adore quick meals for throughout the week, and this chicken stir fry is perfect for those busy nights.
Some of my go-to weeknight meals are my teriyaki chicken, banh mi bowl and my chicken sausage pasta because they’re not only fast to prepare, but incredibly flavorful and both meals my husband adores. This stir fry fits into that category nicely as well.
Doubled the recipe and it was absolutely delicious. The entire family loved it!
-sadie
Ingredients
Chicken – I used boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into bite-size pieces; however, boneless chicken thighs work as well, just note that the cook time may vary a bit.
Vegetables – This recipe uses frozen stir fry vegetables, which makes it extra quick. They should be fairly easy to find in the frozen food aisle at the store. The kind I used consisted of broccoli, green beans, carrots, red bell pepper, and mushrooms.
Broth – Since this is a chicken recipe, chicken broth is the way to go.
Soy sauce – Or substitute tamari or even coconut aminos to keep it gluten free.
Honey – Or substitute maple syrup if you prefer.
Sesame oil – I love using toasted sesame oil because it has even more flavor.
Rice vinegar – A little bit goes a long way, and there really isn’t a good replacement for this. If you have to omit one sauce ingredient, this is probably the one you can leave out.
How to Make Chicken Stir Fry
Step 1: Cook the chicken. Begin by adding a splash of oil to a large, deep skillet and heat it over medium heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, then cook it in the skillet until it’s cooked through. Remove it with a slotted spoon and set it aside.
Step 2: Sauté the vegetables. Next, pour the frozen vegetables into that same pan, along with a little more oil as needed, then sauté for 3 minutes. Place a lid on the skillet and continue cooking until the vegetables are soft.
Step 3: Make the stir fry sauce. While the vegetables are cooking, whisk the chicken broth, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, rice vinegar, red pepper flakes, and cornstarch together in a bowl or glass measuring cup and set aside.
Step 4: Combine. Once the vegetables are soft, add in the garlic and sauté for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the chicken back in and stir to combine, then reduce the heat, pour in the sauce and toss until everything is coated and the sauce thickens slightly. Garnish with green onion and sesame seeds and enjoy!
Erin’s Expert Tips
- Frozen vs. fresh veggies: Frozen vegetables are great because they’re already cut, so all you have to do is warm them up and they’ll soften. Fresh vegetables you’ll have to chop by hand, but unlike frozen, they’ll get nice and charred when you sauté them. Either one works in this recipe! If you opt for fresh, look for mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, and/or green beans.
- If the frozen vegetables don’t seem to be softening, add 1-2 tablespoons of water to the skillet and that should do the trick. With that said, over overcooking the veggies or else they’ll become soggy.
- Want it to be spicy? Add extra red pepper flakes or a 1/2 teaspoon of sriracha to the sauce.
- Make it vegetarian by making my seitan stir fry instead!
My Pro Tip
Recipe Tip
Allow the sauce to simmer for 1-2 minutes in the pan after you pour it in. That way, it can thicken properly and really coat the chicken.
Yes! Follow the steps as-is, but wait to add the sauce. You can still make the sauce, but store it separately in a small container. Then, when you’re ready to eat this, heat it up in a skillet and once the chicken and veggies are warm, pour in the sauce and stir until it’s warm as well.
Yup! Besides the ones I already mentioned (carrots, broccoli, green beans, mushrooms, bell pepper), you could use snow peas, sugar snap peas, zucchini, and/or bok choy.
Storage
Refrigerator: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Freezer: Wait for the dish to cool, then transfer it to a freezer-safe bag or container for up to 4 months.
More easy chicken dinners
If you made this recipe, be sure to leave a comment and star rating below. Thanks!
Chicken Stir Fry
Video
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb. chicken breast, boneless, skinless; cut into bite-size pieces
- salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil, plus more as needed
- 16 oz. frozen stir fry vegetables
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 green onions, chopped
- sesame seeds for garnish, optional
for the sauce:
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp rice vinegar
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
Instructions
- Cut the chicken and season it with salt and pepper.
- Heat oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the chicken and cook it until it's cooked through, about 5 minutes; remove with a slotted spoon.
- To that same skillet, pour in the frozen vegetables, along with a splash of additional oil. Sauté for 3 minutes, stirring frequently, then place a lid on the skillet and continue cooking until the vegetables have softened. NOTE: you may need to add 1 tablespoon of water.
- While the vegetables are cooking, make the sauce. In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, whisk the broth, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, vinegar, red pepper flakes, and cornstarch together.
- Remove the lid from the skillet, then add in the garlic and sauté for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add the chicken back into the skillet, then reduce the heat to medium-low.
- Pour in the sauce and allow it to simmer for 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally until it's thickened, then toss the chicken and veggies into the sauce.
- Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Made it exactly as is and it was perfect (: Thank you!
This was fantastic! It took only 20 minutes or so and turned out great. My sauce was a bit salty, so I may change the amount of some of the ingredients next time. Looking forward to trying more of her recipes! 😍
Thanks Claire, I’m glad you liked the stir fry!
I made this tonight and it is delicious. My husband liked it and he’s a fussy eater. I definitely will make this again!!!!
Thanks Donna! Glad you and your husband loved the stir fry!
I made a stir fry with cut up chicken tenders. I used Trader Joe’s frozen multi grain with vegetables blend and mixed in a bag of farro. It was delicious. I’ll for sure be making it again. It’s hard to find a good stir fry recipe. I like this one because it’s adaptable
Thanks Marleen! Glad you enjoyed the stir fry!
So delicious. I used frozen broccoli and canned mushrooms onkyfor the veggies…so good!
Thanks Mary! Glad you loved the recipe!
Doubled the recipe and it was absolutely delicious. The entire family loved it. My husband said it was a definite make again meal.
Thanks so much Sadie! Glad you and the family loved the stir fry!
This recipe is delicious. I only had ground turkey on hand & it still turned out great 🙂
Thanks Jenny! Glad you enjoyed the stir fry!
made it last night.. It was yumm
Thanks Amrita! Glad you enjoyed the stir fry!
Loved this
Thanks Denise!
Love me a good stir fry and this Chicken Stir Fry was just what I was looking for. The sauce was so yummy and everything came together in just about 20 minutes. Amazing for a weeknight and can have leftovers for the week!