Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry – 🥢🥦🧅 This Chinese-inspired stir fry recipe includes tender pieces of chicken, along with crisp-tender broccoli and other veggies, all coated in the best stir fry sauce! Ready in under 30 minutes, healthier AND faster than calling for takeout, and PERFECT for busy weeknights! The whole family loves this easy stir fry recipe!
Table of Contents
- Easy Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry Recipe
- More Easy chicken and broccoli stir frys
- Ingredients in Chicken Stir Fry with Broccoli and Mushrooms
- How to Make a Chinese Chicken Stir Fry
- what to serve with chicken and broccoli stirfry
- Storage
- Recipe FAQs
- Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry Recipe
- More easy stir fry recipes
- More easy stir fry recipes
Easy Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry Recipe
A chicken broccoli stir fry with mushrooms and onions is such a classic Chinese stir fry recipe and was a favorite of mine growing up. It’s the type of stir fry recipe that everyone loves!
- Perfectly cooked pieces of chicken coated in the best stir fry sauce are everyone’s favorite. The sauce is overall savory with just a tiny bit of sweetness for the perfect balance.
- Loaded with crisp-tender broccoli florets that’ll make even the pickiest eaters eat their broccoli. The sauce soaks into every nook and cranny of the florets which is so good.
- Flexible recipe. Like most stir fry recipes, this one is very flexible in nature so if you’re not a fan of mushroom or you want to add other veggies, go for it. Or if you don’t have all the sauce ingredients, it’ll likely turn out. See the FAQs for more info on substitutions.
- Healthy recipe that focuses on lean protein + plenty of veggies. If you’re trying to watch what you eat, this is a great clean eating recipe and definitely healthier than takeout.
- Easy, ready in less than 30 minutes total time, and faster than you can call for takeout, making it great for busy weeknights.
- Made in one skillet, no wok required! Less dishes later, music to my ears.
More Easy chicken and broccoli stir frys
Ingredients in Chicken Stir Fry with Broccoli and Mushrooms
There are two main components to this stir fry: the sauce and then the chicken + veggies.
For the Sauce: (Wondering what to do if you don’t have all the ingredients? Discussed in the FAQs below)
- Reduced sodium soy sauce – You can use coconut aminos or tamari if you’re sensitive to soy sauce or are trying to keep this dish gluten-free.
- Reduced sodium chicken broth
- Garlic cloves – Finely mince them and add them to the sauce. You can use garlic powder if that’s what you have on hand.
- Honey – You need something to sweeten the sauce and honey does the trick as well as bulks up the volume of sauce in a way that adding sugar doesn’t. Instead of using honey, you can use 2 tablespoons brown sugar (light or dark).
- Hoisin sauce and oyster sauce – Both of these sauces are staples in Chinese cooking. For authentic tasting results, don’t skip them. Hoisin is sweeter yet still savory, while oyster sauce is saltier and not at all sweet. Note – Hoisin tends to not be gluten-free (whereas oyster sauce generally is GF) so take this into account if you’re trying to make this a GF dish.
- Rice vinegar – Lighter than other vinegars although if all you have is apple cider vinegar on hand, it’ll be fine.
- Cornstarch – This will ultimately thicken the stir fry sauce and give it body rather than be thin and runny. Just 1 tablespoon of cornstarch is all you need, and you should not skip this.
- Ginger – Freshly grated is the way to go. I use a heaping teaspoon. However, dried ground ginger works. Use about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon.
- Freshly ground black pepper – I only call out for pepper in this easy chicken stir fry, and not salt, since there’s salt in so many of the sauce ingredients, in order to not add to that, I don’t call for salt. However, if you stir fry needs it, salt to taste.
For the Stir Fry:
- Oil – I use olive oil but you can use another oil like canola or vegetable oil. Sesame oil will give a much more distinct flavor and isn’t the most common for a stir fry like this but you can give it a try if you know you like sesame oil.
- Chicken – I like to use boneless skinless chicken breasts but boneless skinless chicken thighs are also an option.
- Onions – Either white or yellow onions are fine.
- Sliced mushrooms – White mushrooms or baby portobello mushrooms are readily available and what I recommend. However, you can try more exotic mushrooms if you love them. Not a mushroom fan? Omit them. You can add more broccoli or another veggie of your choice such as peapods or baby corn.
- Broccoli florets – I only recommend fresh broccoli florets rather than frozen. It’s a key element in the recipe. Frozen broccoli is fine potentially for a soup but you’ll never get the crisp-tender texture you’re looking for in a stir fry if you use previously frozen broccoli.
- Sesame seeds – Optional for garnishing but makes the dish look so much more polished and professional.
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 a Chinese Chicken Stir Fry
- Whisk all the sauce ingredients together in a small or medium bowl and set aside.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet, add the chicken in a single layer, season with pepper, and cook over medium-high heat for about 6 minutes. When it’s done, take it out and set it on a plate.
- Add the onions, mushrooms, broccoli and saute for 4 minutes, or until vegetables have softened. Add the sauce and let it bubble for about 3 minutes.
- Add the chicken back in, toss to combine and coat, garnish with sesame seeds if desired and serve.
what to serve with chicken and broccoli stirfry
Whether you want to serve this stir fry with white rice, brown rice, cauliflower rice, quinoa, or of of the fried rice ideas above, they’ll all work with this better-than Chinese takeout stir fry!
Storage
In the Refrigerator: Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4-5 days. However, this broccoli stir fry with chicken is at its peak when freshly made. For that reason, this isn’t the type of recipe I’d purposefully try to create too many leftovers or batch cook.
In the Freezer: Perhaps it’ll keep airtight in the freezer for up to 3 months. Although, the texture of the broccoli will change dramatically after freezing/thawing/reheating and it’ll be very soft rather than crisp-tender.
To Reheat: I use my microwave for quickness and ease and reheat my leftovers for about 30 seconds on high, or as needed.
Recipe FAQs
Yes you sure can because stir frys are very flexible recipes in general. I suggest pea pods, snap peas, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, bell peppers, asparagus, green beans, zucchini, baby corn or other veggies commonly found in Chinese stir fry recipes. If you want to add sliced carrots, they’re fine but slice them quite thin, on the bias, because otherwise they may be a little overly crunchy in the finished dish.
The recipe was developed using all the ingredients and each serve a role in flavor, and in the case of cornstarch, it’s what thickens the sauce so if you are tempted to omit something, not the cornstarch. Soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and oyster sauce all have different flavors and I described them in more detail in the previous section above. If you don’t have either but only want to purchase one or two, for sure you need soy sauce. And personally, I will always go with hoisin since I love sweet-yet-savory sauces.
No, this stir fry is not spicy at all. While some may say that ginger can add some heat, it’s such a small amount overall that it doesn’t create heat here.
If you want to create a spicy stir fry, add red pepper flakes, a pinch of cayenne pepper, a dollop of chili garlic sauce, or another type of fresh chile pepper that you’re familiar with.
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Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry
Equipment
Ingredients
Sauce
- ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce, tamari or coconut aminos may be substituted to keep GF
- ¼ cup chicken broth, I use reduced sodium
- 2 to 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 2 tablespoons honey, (honey recommended, but 2 tbsp brown sugar may be substituted)
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 rounded teaspoon freshly grated ginger, (3/4 teaspoon ground dried ginger may be substituted)
Stir Fry
- 2 tablespoons oil, divided (I use olive oil; canola or vegetable oil may be substituted)
- 1 pound boneless chicken breast, diced into bite-sized pieces
- ¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 medium white onion, sliced into 1/2-inch wide pieces (yellow onion may be substituted)
- 8 ounces sliced white mushrooms or sliced baby bella mushrooms
- 14 to 16 ounces broccoli florets, (about 5 cups)
- 2 teaspoons sesame seeds, optional for garnishing
Instructions
- Sauce – To a small bowl, add all the ingredients, and whisk to combine; set aside. Tip – Wondering what to do if you don't have one of the ingredients on hand? See the FAQs in the blog post.
- Stir Fry – To a large skillet, add 1 tablespoon of the oil, add the chicken, season with pepper, and saute over medium-high heat for about 5-7 minutes, or until chicken is done. Stir and flip frequently to ensure even cooking. When chicken is done, use a slotted spoon to remove it and set it on a plate. Leave any grease or cooking juices in the bottom of the pan.
- Add the additional tablespoon of oil along with the onions, mushrooms, broccoli, and saute for about 4-5 minutes, or until vegetables are becoming tender. Stir and flip frequently to ensure even cooking.
- Evenly pour the sauce and allow it to bubble and simmer for about 3-4 minutes, or until beginning to thicken. Stir to combine and coat everything evenly.
- Add the chicken back in, stir to incorporate and to coat evenly, and rewarm, about 1 minute. Taste the dish, and if necessary you can add salt, to taste if desired or make any other seasoning adjustments.
- Optionally, garnish with sesame seeds and serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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