Black Pepper Chicken – 🌶️🥢🥡 This better-than-takeout black pepper chicken stir fry recipe is EASY, ready in 30 minutes, and made in just ONE skillet – no wok required! The chicken is juicy, the bell peppers are crisp-tender, and everything is coated in a savory sticky black pepper sauce that includes soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and more so that the depth of flavor is INCREDIBLE!
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Easy Black Pepper Chicken Stir Fry Recipe
If you’ve never tried black pepper chicken at your local Chinese restaurant, you’ve been missing out. But now, you can recreate it at home using my easy better-than-takeout black pepper chicken recipe!
The chicken is tender, juicy, and is cooked in your skillet before removing it and working on the onions and bell peppers. This ensures the chicken sears and cooks properly, without being overcooked, and that the bell peppers are crisp-tender.
The black sauce that coats every inch of the chicken and veggies is made with soy sauce, oyster sauce, garlic, ginger, honey, salt, and of course black pepper. It thickens just a bit thanks to a bit of cornstarch.
This one skillet recipe comes together in less than 30 minutes total time, and only about half that time is actually cooking – faster than Chinese takeout!
Stir frys move quickly, which is how I like to do my weeknight dinner cooking! I don’t have time or energy for complicated recipes during the week. Plus just one skillet ensures that cleanup is quick and easy, too.
Ingredients in Garlic Black Pepper Chicken
High in protein, fairly low in carbohydrates, and likely lower in saturated fat than the Panda Express version of this recipe, here are the ingredients you’ll need:
Chicken and Veggies
- Oil – vegetable oil or another neutral oil
- Boneless skinless chicken breast – boneless chicken thighs may be swapped
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Bell peppers – red bell peppers and green bell peppers tend to be the traditional choices, but you can use any color
- Onion – white onion or yellow
- Garlic
- Ginger – fresh is ideal but dried or ground ginger is fine
Sauce
- Chicken broth – I use reduced sodium
- Lite soy sauce
- Oyster sauce
- Honey
- Cornstarch
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Chili powder
- Green onions, for garnishing
- Sesame seeds, for garnishing
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How To Make Black Pepper Chicken Stir Fry
Make sure to get everything chopped and prepped before you begin. Approximately 10 minutes of prep time is a worthwhile investment since the recipe will move quickly.
- Chicken: Add the oil of your choice to a large skillet, add the bite-sized pieces of chicken, season with salt and pepper, and cook for about 5 minutes over medium-high heat, flipping and tossing as it cooks. When it’s done, remove it from the pan, and set it aside.
- Veggies: Add the peppers, onion, and cook for about 3-4 minutes, or until vegetables are softening. Add the garlic, ginger, and cook for 1 minute while stirring the whole time. If you need to add more oil, add another tablespoon or so. If you like the flavor of sesame oil, it’s a great addition here, too.
- Sauce: Add the broth, soy sauce, oyster sauce, honey, cornstarch, pepper, chili powder, and stir nearly continuously as the mixture simmers for 2-3 minutes. It will thicken as time passes.
- Finish and Garnish: Add the chicken back in, toss to combine, and cook momentarily to warm it through. Garnish with green onions, sesame seeds, and serve immediately!
what to serve with black pepper chicken
More times than not, I serve this easy stir fried black pepper chicken and veggies over a bed of rice. The extra sauce sauce is mopped up perfectly by your favorite rice including white rice, jasmine rice, basmati, brown rice, or any of the other rice recipe I have, shown above.
Storage
In the Refrigerator: This recipe will keep in airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
In the Freezer: This recipe will keep airtight in the freezer for up to 3 months. The veggies will lose some of their crispness upon freezing and thawing but it’s fine for me.
Reheating: I use my microwave for quickness and ease and reheat my leftovers for about 30 seconds on high, or as needed. But you can use your stovetop or whatever is best suited for you.
Recipe FAQs
If you don’t have oyster sauce on hand and don’t want to use it for just 1 tbsp, you can omit it. Instead, add a bit more soy sauce. Oyster sauce does add another depth of flavor that you can’t get from soy sauce alone. It’s also a bit thicker than soy sauce. However, dark soy sauce is thicker like oyster sauce is and could work.
I always use reduced sodium chicken broth and light soy sauce (reduced sodium soy sauce) to control the sodium. You can always salt the dish at the end if you find it needs it. My fear with regular products (not low sodium) is that the stir fry could read overly salty. Tamari is an option if you want to keep this stir fry gluten-free.
While red and green bell peppers and onions are the most traditional veggies, if you have some mushrooms, broccoli florets, celery, shredded or sliced carrots, bok choy, bean sprouts or another veggie on hand you’re trying to use up or that you feel with ‘go’ well with this dish, add it. Take note that smaller is better (no big hunks of broccoli nor chunky cut carrots) because they will take longer to cook. Add them when you add the peppers and onions.
In my opinion, no, it’s not. The only spicy ingredient is the chili powder, but you’re only using 1 tsp to flavor 1 pound of chicken + 1 pound of veggies + lots of sauce. So it does not add any real heat to the dish. And without it, the dish would be bland.
To make the dish spicier, add more chili powder, a tiny pinch of cayenne pepper, or garnish with dried red chile flakes.
You can, although I haven’t tested this exact black pepper recipe using beef. I would just sear off the beef (instead of chicken) and do everything else the same. My Better-Than-Takeout Hunan Beef recipe is very similar black pepper recipe. You can read that over and mix and match elements of this one and that one if you’re feeling inspired.
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Black Pepper Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, or canola oil, or olive oil
- 1 pound chicken boneless skinless breasts, cut into segments about 1-inch wide and 3-inches long (or buy ‘chicken cutlets’)
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Veggies and Sauce
- 1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and sliced into thin vertical strips
- 1 green bell pepper, seeded and sliced into thin vertical strips
- ½ yellow onion, or white onion, sliced into thin vertical strips
- 3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely minced (or 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoon dried ground ginger)
- ½ cup reduced sodium chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons lite soy sauce, reduced sodium
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste if desired
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 2 green onions, sliced into thin rounds, for garnishing
- 2 teaspoons sesame seeds, optional for garnishing
Instructions
- Chicken – To a large nonstick skillet, add the chicken oil, evenly season with salt and pepper, and cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through, without overcooking it. Stir and flip chicken frequently as it cooks to ensure even browning. When it's done, remove it from the skillet using a tongs or slotted spoon, and set it aside.
- Veggies – To the skillet (don't wipe it out because you'll need the cooking juices and oil left behind), add the bell peppers, onions, and cook for about 3-4 minutes, or until veggies are beginning to soften and the onions are becoming translucent. Flip and toss veggies frequently as they cook. Tip – If the skillet is too dry, add a bit more oil, as necessary. If you like the flavor of sesame oil, adding a bit here too add an extra great depth of flavor to the final dish.
- Add the garlic, ginger, and cook for about 1 minute, or until fragrant. Stir continuously.
- Slowly pour in the chicken broth, soy sauce, oyster sauce (tip – No oyster sauce? Use 1 extra tablespoon of soy sauce instead), honey, cornstarch, black pepper, chili powder, stir to combine, and allow the mixture to simmer gently for about 2 to 3 minutes, or until the sauce begins to thicken.
- Add the chicken back into the skillet, stir to combine and coat evenly, and allow it to simmer for 1 to 2 minutes, or until warmed through.
- Taste the stir fry and make any necessary flavor adjustments, such as additional salt, pepper (if you can't taste much black pepper add more), or more chili powder for heat (or a pinch of cayenne pepper or sprinkle with red chili flakes), for more sweetness add a drizzle more of honey, etc.
- Garnish with green onions and optional sesame seeds before serving immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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