We love this easy chicken broccoli stir fry recipe! It’s incredible with tender, juicy chicken breasts, and perfectly cooked broccoli. The stir-fry sauce is amazing, packed with fresh garlic and ginger.
I’m so excited to share this chicken broccoli stir fry recipe with you! We’ve been making it a lot lately. The chicken turns out perfectly tender, the broccoli cooks crisp-tender, and the sauce is so good!
We use our ginger stir-fry sauce for this chicken stir-fry. It’s loaded with fresh garlic and ginger, and the flavor absolutely knocks the socks off of anything you can buy at the store. I also use it when making this veggie stir fry. For more like this, see this easy egg roll in a bowl!
Key Ingredients
- Chicken: Chicken breasts and thighs work well in this stir fry recipe. For the most tender chicken breast, slice it against the grain into thin strips.
- Broccoli: I use broccoli florets for this recipe. I love the simplicity of the chicken and broccoli, but feel free to toss in more veggies as we do in this vegetable stir fry.
- Easy chicken marinade: Our simple recipe uses soy sauce, cornstarch, and oil and guarantees juicy, flavorful, tender chicken.
- Stir-fry sauce: We use this homemade stir-fry sauce, which is as close to authentic as possible. It combines fresh garlic, ginger, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, sugar, and white pepper. The recipe also calls for Shaoxing wine, a Chinese rice wine. I highly recommend it in this recipe, but I have provided substitutes below.
How to Make Chicken Stir Fry
We use simple (and authentic) tricks to make this the best chicken broccoli stir fry! I highly recommend marinating your chicken. Stir your chicken with soy sauce, cornstarch, and oil. It sounds too simple to work, but trust me. This three-ingredient marinade does wonders for the flavor and texture of your chicken. I marinate for at least 30 minutes, but you can leave the chicken overnight in the fridge if needed.
As my chicken marinates, I make the homemade stir-fry sauce. It’s quick and simple. The most time-consuming part is mincing the fresh garlic and ginger, which you can do in a food processor if needed.
Now, we can cook our stir fry. It goes FAST. For this chicken and broccoli stir fry, we quickly cook the chicken and broccoli separately. This way, the chicken cooks perfectly without forcing us to overcook the broccoli.
Cooking the chicken for our stir fry takes about 5 minutes. Toss it into a little bit of hot oil, spread it into one layer, and cook without moving until the underside starts to brown. Then flip and cook until done. Transfer to a plate, and move on to the broccoli.
Add more oil to the wok or skillet, then toss in the broccoli. Stir the broccoli around the pan and watch it turn bright green. After 3 to 5 minutes, the florets will be crisp-tender.
Now, combine the chicken, broccoli, and the stir-fry sauce. To make your stir fry rival the ones you get at your favorite Chinese restaurants, use a mixture of cornstarch and cold water to thicken the sauce until it’s a perfect consistency, saucy, and sticks to the broccoli and chicken.
What to Serve with Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry
I love serving this chicken broccoli stir fry over plain rice (Jasmine or Basmati), brown rice, or fried rice. It’s also great with our fluffy quinoa or noodles. This is also really tasty served on the same table as these amazing homemade crab Rangoon, egg rolls, spring rolls, or try our irresistible hoisin sticky ribs!
Best Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
We love this chicken and broccoli stir fry recipe, which features tender and juicy chicken, perfectly cooked broccoli, and the most delicious homemade stir fry sauce. We call for Shaoxing wine (Chinese rice wine) in this recipe. I highly recommend it in this recipe, but I have provided substitutes below.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
Chicken and Broccoli1 ¼ pounds boneless and skinless chicken breast or thighs
1 pound broccoli florets, cut into small pieces, 5 to 6 cups
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons neutral oil like vegetable or avocado oil
Stir Fry Sauce6 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons minced fresh ginger (thumb-size piece)
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce or tamari
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine, see tips for substitutes
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
Directions
- Marinate Chicken
1Slice the chicken against the grain into thin strips, then add to a bowl with 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 1 tablespoon light soy sauce, and 1 tablespoon oil. Mix well. Marinate for at least 30 minutes. If marinating for longer, do so in the refrigerator.
- Make Stir Fry Sauce
1Make the stir-fry sauce by combining all the sauce ingredients in a medium saucepan and placing it over medium heat. Heat the sauce while stirring until the sugar dissolves.
- Make the Stir Fry
1In a small bowl, stir 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 3 tablespoons of cold water. Set aside.
2Heat a large, heavy skillet or wok over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of high-heat oil (like vegetable or avocado oil).
3Add the marinated chicken in a single layer. Let it cook for one minute without moving until the underside starts to brown.
4Toss the chicken and continue cooking until it’s almost cooked, 3 to 5 more minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
5Add another tablespoon of oil to the hot pan. Stir in the broccoli florets and cook, stirring frequently, until bright green and crisp-tender, 3 to 5 minutes.
6Return the chicken to the pan and toss with the broccoli for about a minute.
7Pour in the stir-fry sauce. Give the cornstarch mixture another quick stir, then slowly add it to the pan.
8Stir constantly until the sauce thickens and coats the chicken and broccoli. Serve immediately.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Leftover chicken broccoli stir fry lasts in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. The broccoli may lose some crispness over time, but it’s still safe to eat. You can freeze this, but the texture of the broccoli will change. Freeze in freezer-safe containers for up to 3 months.
- Shaoxing wine: A Chinese rice wine used in Chinese cuisine. It’s the most authentic choice in this stir fry recipe, so we highly recommend adding it to your pantry if you can find it. However, if you cannot find it, we have two alternatives: dry sherry or mirin. Mirin is sweeter than Shaoxing wine, so you will likely need to reduce the sugar by 1 tablespoon. One more option is to use rice wine vinegar, which makes the sauce taste slightly different, and you may need more sugar.
- Gluten-free tips: When shopping for the ingredients listed above (especially the soy sauce), look for gluten-free on the label. If you cannot find gluten-free soy sauce, look for gluten-free tamari, which, unlike soy sauce, is traditionally made without or with very little wheat.
- The best pan to use: While a wok is ideal for stir-fries, any heavy-bottomed skillet will work for this chicken broccoli recipe. Cast iron, stainless steel, and carbon steel are great choices, as they handle high heat well. Avoid nonstick pans for stir-frying. If you experience sticking, keep the heat high and add more oil to help the ingredients move freely in the pan.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
This was so good!! I velveted the chicken so it would be super tender. This recipe is a definite keeper!!
Glad you liked it! When we were testing the recipe we were blown away with how much of a difference velveting the chicken makes.
thank you for making the recipe so easy to follow! we devoured it! thank you! 🙂
Delicious! Very tasty recipe
Chopping the fresh ginger and garlic was time consuming but worth it. Delicious dish!
Do you think I could add beef with the chicken?
Definitely!