This Chinese chicken stir fry is one of our favorite Friday night meals after a long week. My kids love to order takeout from our local Chinese restaurant. But when I’m looking to use up vegetables in the fridge and also a healthier alternative, this stir fry is my go-to option. It’s quick to prepare (it’s finished in less time than the takeout plate) and made in one skillet for easy cleanup.
We always serve it with white rice and our delicious stir fry sauce we have in the fridge most weeks for simple meal prep. Chicken tends to be our go-to protein in this stir fry, but we also love thinly sliced steak, pork, or cubed tofu too. Let us know how you like this stir fry, it’s one of the most reliable recipes in our house!
Why you’ll love this Chinese chicken stir fry recipe
- Perfect to make-ahead for an easy dinner. If you know your evening will be extra busy, you can make the stir-fry sauce in advance and meal prep your veggies!
- More flavor than your local takeout. The 10-minute stir fry sauce features a well-balanced blend of salty-sweet flavors with must-have ingredients like garlic, ginger, and sesame oil.
- A healthy dinner that makes for great leftovers too. Serve this Chinese chicken stir fry over white rice for a well-rounded meal, or use cauliflower rice for a low-carb option.
Tips for Busy Cooks
The beauty of this Chinese chicken stir-fry recipe is you can change it up with a variety of different vegetables. When substituting, cook vegetables from hard to soft to avoid overcooking. Hard vegetables, like broccoli and carrots, require a longer cooking time compared to soft, quick-cooking veggies, like spinach and napa cabbage.
Key Ingredient Notes
- Chicken breast – Boneless, skinless chicken breast is best. If your wok/pan is on the smaller side, cook the chicken in batches to avoid overcrowding. Otherwise, you’ll steam the meat instead of searing it, and it won’t develop a flavorful, golden-brown crust on the outside.
- Chinese stir fry sauce – You can make this up to a week in advance! It only takes 10 minutes to mix together and calls for just 7 ingredients.
- Baby bok choy – This is a tender, mild-tasting Chinese cabbage that cooks quickly. If you can’t find bok choy, napa cabbage and baby spinach are good substitutes.
- Bell pepper – You can use any combination of different colored bell peppers. We used half red and half yellow.
- Green onions – For a fresh, subtle onion taste. We’re only stir-frying the white bulb. You can save the green tops for garnishing.
- Avocado oil – Use any neutral-tasting, high-heat cooking oil you have on hand. Avocado, vegetable, peanut, coconut, and grapeseed oil are all great options.
- Cooked white rice – For serving, we like to use this stovetop fluffy white rice or Instant Pot rice.
How to make this Chinese chicken stir fry
1. Prepare the chicken and vegetables
- Thinly slice the chicken breast.
- Place the sliced chicken breast in a mixing bowl, and pour half of the stir-fry sauce over it.
- Mix well, and let the chicken rest while you prepare the vegetables.
- Meanwhile, slice the bok choy, bell peppers, and green onions, keeping the white and green parts of the green onion separated.
2. Stir fry the chicken
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add the oil to the pan.
- Once the oil is hot and simmering, add the chicken, and spread it into an even layer. Let it cook undisturbed for 1-2 minutes or until nicely browned on the bottom.
- Gently stir to cook the other side of the chicken for another 2 minutes. Once cooked through, transfer the chicken to a clean plate.
3. Stir fry the vegetables
- Add the white part of the green onions, bok choy, and bell peppers to the skillet. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes.
- Pour in the remaining half of the stir fry sauce, and cook until thickened, about 1 minute.
4. Assemble the Chinese chicken stir fry
- Stir in the chicken, and cook until it is heated through, about another minute or so.
- Serve immediately, and enjoy! I like to serve Chinese chicken stir fry over white rice, garnished with the green part of the chopped green onions.
Expert Tips:
- Use the correct pan. Although woks are perfect for stir-fries, a regular skillet will cook a delicious stir-fry, too. Just make sure you use the biggest one you have with a wide cooking surface. For this recipe, we recommend using a 12-inch skillet.
- Cook the chicken in batches for even browning. You don’t want to overcrowd the pan or else this will steam the meat rather than give it a nice golden brown sear.
- You can prepare the stir-fry sauce up to 1 week in advance. Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator, and give it a good shake before using it.
- Use whatever leftover veggies you have in the fridge for this Chinese chicken stir fry. That’s the beauty of this kind of recipe, it’s a great way to use up anything at the end of the week that is about to go bad.
- Don’t overcook the chicken, this can make it dry or rubbery in texture. Once it’s cooked through, remove it to a plate, this is the key to a good stir fry recipe.
- If your stir fry sauce is too thin, simply mix 1 teaspoon cornstarch with 1 teaspoon of water and add it to the stir fry. Continue to cook for a few minutes until thickened to the right consistency.
What to serve with this stir fry:
Stir fry is traditionally served with fluffy white rice, but you can also pair it with egg rolls, dumplings, Instant Pot egg fried rice, or spring rolls. Other serving options include:
Storing Tips
To keep your leftover Chinese chicken stir fry fresh, store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
When it coms to reheating, the microwave is great. Or, you can warm leftover Chinese chicken stir fry on the stove over medium-low heat until warmed through.
If you want to freeze the stir fry to enjoy at a later date, no problem! To freeze, allow leftover portions to fully cool. Then, transfer them to a plastic ziplock freezer bag or freezer-safe container. Freeze for up to 3 months.
FAQs:
Homemade Chinese stir fry sauce usually contains soy sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger, and sesame oil. Soy sauce is often the foundation of stir-fry sauce, and ingredients like brown sugar and rice vinegar create a well-balanced flavor profile.
The best thing about stir-fry is you can transform it into a completely different meal simply by switching up the proteins! Shrimp, pork tenderloin, tofu, or sirloin steak are all great options. Just be sure to adjust your cooking time as needed.
You can slice, julienne, or cube chicken for Chinese chicken stir fry. To slice, cut the chicken into 1/4-inch thick slices using long, even strokes of the knife. To julienne, take the sliced chicken pieces, stack a few, and cut them lengthwise. In the end, they should look like uniform match sticks. To cube, chop the chicken into wider strips, then cut them crosswise into squares.
Chinese Chicken Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts boneless and skinless
- 1 cup Chinese stir-fry sauce Note 1
- 4 baby bok choys washed (Note 2)
- 1 bell pepper Note 3
- 2 green onions
- 1 teaspoon avocado oil or any cooking oil
- Cooked white rice for serving
Instructions
- Thinly slice the chicken breast.2 chicken breasts
- In a bowl, place sliced chicken breast and pour half of the sauce. Mix well and rest while you prepare the vegetables.1 cup Chinese stir-fry sauce
- Meanwhile, slice bok choy’s. Core and slice bell peppers into thin strips. Cut the green onions.4 baby bok choys, 1 bell pepper
- Heat a large skillet (I use 12-inch skillet) over medium high heat.2 green onions
- Add oil. When it’s simmering add the chicken and spread it out evenly all over the skillet. Cook the meat, undisturbed, for 1-2 minutes, or until they’re nicely browned on the bottom. Then gently stir to cook other side, another 2 minutes. Transfer the chicken onto a clean plate.1 teaspoon avocado oil
- Add the white part of green onions, bok choy, and bell pepper and stir fry for 2-3 minutes.
- Pour in the remaining half of the stir-fry sauce and cook until thickened, about a minute.
- Stir in the chicken and cook until chicken is heated through, about another minute or so.
- Serve immediately with some rice and green part of green onions.Cooked white rice for serving
Share your thoughts! If you make this please leave a review letting me know how it was!
Notes
-Store leftover stir fry in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
-Freeze the cooked and cooled stir fry in a freezer bag for up to 3 months.
– Thaw leftovers in the fridge overnight, and reheat them in the microwave or in a skillet on the stove over medium-low heat.
Nutrition
* Disclaimer: All nutrition information are estimates only. Read full nutrition disclosure.
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