Quick Chicken Stir Fry
This quick chicken stir fry is perfect for a weeknight meal, and different types of vegetables can be swapped in depending on what you have in the fridge!
You know that “icky” feeling you get after you’ve eaten too many goodies? I get that feeling from time to time, and my guess is you probably do too.
It’s fun to go a little nuts with the desserts, maybe indulge on chips, dip, and fried finger foods at a party, but after days like that you could wave a homemade peanut butter cup in my face and I would be completely uninterested.
In times like that, I want something fresh.
(So maybe you should wave broccoli in my face? WOW. That’s weird).
And it’s not like I need to go on one of those crazy 1 week juice detox diets. I just need something with a ton of fresh vegetables.
My favorite thing to make on one of those days is a chicken stir fry.
There are a bazillion different renditions of stir fry out there in the food universe, but that’s what makes stir fry so awesome.
Use whatever looks good at the store, or whatever you’ve got in the fridge. On this particular day, I decided to use bell peppers, carrots, and zucchini sticks, with a little baby corn (a must for stir fry, in my opinion), and my favorite ever crunchy item…water chestnuts!
Once your veggies are prepped and ready to go, take a couple of chicken breasts and slice them up super thin:
Then marinate them in some soy sauce, corn starch, and rice wine vinegar.
Get a hot pan going, and add some oil, garlic, red chili flakes, and fresh grated ginger:
Add your chicken to the hot pan:
Then start tossing the chicken to cook for a couple minutes, then add your vegetables:
Toss the veggies and chicken around for a few more minutes until it’s all a big happy family, and serve with steamed rice or fried rice. Mmm!
Quick Chicken Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken breast sliced thinly, seasoned with a pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp freshly grated ginger
- 1 large carrot cut into coins
- 1 bell pepper cut into strips
- 1 zucchini cut into sticks
- 4 scallions sliced
- 15 oz can baby corn
- 8 oz can water chestnuts
- 1/2 cup peanuts
- drizzle of sesame oil for garnish
- salt and pepper
- chicken stock if needed
Instructions
- The key to success with a stir fry is to have all of the ingredients prepped ahead of time and lined up next to your cooking area. Vegetables cut, chicken sliced, garlic minced, and other ingredients measured out. The actual cooking will happen very quickly over very high heat, over a period of about 5 minutes.
- Start by tossing the thinly sliced chicken breast in the soy sauce, cornstarch, and rice vinegar. Let this sit for 2 minutes.
- Heat up a large skillet for a few minutes over high heat for electric, medium high for a gas stove. Add the vegetable oil (it should shimmer in the pan, not smoke), garlic, red chili flakes, and grated ginger to the pan, then immediately add the chicken with its marinade. Let the chicken sit for 1 minute, then toss and stir it around for another minute longer. Add all of the vegetables (carrots, peppers, zucchini, scallions, baby corn, and water chestnuts) and the peanuts to the pan. Add a little sprinkle of salt and pepper, then stir and toss the vegetables in the hot pan for another 2-3 minutes. If the sauce gets too thin, add a couple tablespoons of chicken stock to reconstitute the sauce. Check that the chicken is cooked through, then taste the chicken and vegetables. Make any necessary seasoning adjustments, drizzle on some sesame oil to taste, then serve with rice. Enjoy!
