If you are looking for a quick & easy yet tasty weeknight meal to ease out your overall stress a little, then this chicken and broccoli stir fry is right up your alley!
Stir-frying is one of my favorite technique of cooking simply because it churns out amazing food in a jiffy and in a speedy age like this, what else would you want with our food, right? So today’s recipe of chicken and broccoli stir fry was my love at first sight or shall we say ‘love at first taste’? This stir fry is appropriately smoky as well as contains that deep umami flavor which is the essence of Asian cooking. If you like Oriental food and cook it quite often at home, then I’m sure you are all set for whipping this miracle stir fry at home. All you need is your favorite type of soy sauce, light or dark, oyster sauce, which is not an absolutely necessary ingredient if I be honest with you and finally vinegar, which can be distilled white vinegar or rice wine vinegar whichever you have handy.
Now let’s talk about chicken and broccoli which are the protagonists of this dish! If you don’t like broccoli at all, it’s all right! I would try to convince you to give this super-healthy cruciferous veggie a try in this chicken and broccoli stir fry recipe as I feel you will love the nutty flavor of stir-fried broccoli in soy sauce as much as we do; but if you are still in your zone of denial, then you can replace broccoli with bell peppers, green beans, zucchini or a combination of all assorted veggies (don’t forget to throw in a floret or two of broccoli though)! If you already like broccoli, then this recipe is a keeper for you. I personally prefer to steam the broccoli florets before stir frying them as I like my broccoli somewhat softer and since stir-frying happens quite quickly on high heat, broccoli hardly gets time to soften.
If you feel it’s too many steps and too many pots & pans that we are talking about here, then I promise I will make things easier for you using just one wok! Just stay with me! In terms of chicken, the popular choice is boneless & skinless chicken breasts which you can use too as it cooks quite fast. If you are a sucker for taste like me, then I recommend using chicken thighs, boneless & skinless of course. They take a tad bit longer time to cook but bring in immense flavor to the dish and thankfully you don’t need to do anything extra to use chicken thighs as opposed to chicken breast except to let them cook in the wok for a little longer. Since chicken breast is totally fatless, flavors cannot penetrate the meat as much which is why I find it bland to my preferable taste, but as I said please feel free to use whichever meat you like to eat most!
Like any stir-fry recipe, this one runs fast too. So prep all your ingredients before lighting up the flame. You will just need to mince few garlic cloves, a little piece of ginger and chop couple of stalks of spring onion/scallion. If you are pressed for time, you can substitute fresh garlic with garlic powder (but not fresh ginger with ginger powder as that will impart completely different flavor). Then chop up your chicken, breast or thighs, and broccoli. If you wanna steam the broccoli before, then simply put the florets in a glass bowl, fill it half with water, cover with a plate or microwave-safe cling film and microwave them on highest power for 2-3 minutes. Take the bowl out carefully as the water will be very hot and take out the broccoli florets carefully using a spoon. Now they are ready for stir-fry.
But not you as yet! You still need to make the sauce before you hit the stove! Mix the sauces and vinegar in a small bowl and give them a good whisk using a fork. In another small bowl, whisk the cornflour/cornstarch with ¼ cup of water to make a smooth & lump-free mixture which is also called cornflour slurry. This will give your chicken and broccoli stir fry that glossy shine at the very end which will take your homemade stir fry to the next level giving tough competition to your favorite takeaway diner! Once you are all sorted with your veggies prepped and sauce whisked, now it’s time to fire up the wok! If you are into Asian cooking or like the technique of stir-frying, then I highly recommend investing into a good quality wok as it’s impossible to achieve that restaurant style smoky flavor in your stir-fry dishes otherwise!
Once you are done cooking your chicken and broccoli stir fry, you may wonder what to serve it with! Or just enjoy it on its own! Well, my pictures suggest that I served it with plain white rice which proved to be an amazing combination and because we Indians love to eat rice, it was indeed a winner for us! But if you like to cut down carbs, then you can relish this protein and fiber packed meal on its own; just make an appropriate portion to fill yourself up! If serving with rice, I recommend to leave some pan sauce to be mixed with rice which tastes amazing together; otherwise you can cook it until most of the sauce is absorbed by the chicken and broccoli. Finally, sprinkle some finely chopped greens of spring onion/scallions on top and few gem-like seeds of white & black sesame seeds to give that Insta-worthy gourmet look and you are done! Your 30 minute weeknight chicken and broccoli stir fry is ready to devour! Enjoy!
Check out my other Asian recipes –
- Upgraded Instant Ramen Noodles with Chicken, Broccoli & Mushrooms
- Veg Manchurian Restaurant Style
- Indo-Asian Chilli Fish Restaurant Style
- Chicken – 400 gms, skinless & boneless
- Broccoli – 1 head, about 400 gms
- Garlic – 6 to 8 cloves, minced
- Garlic – 1-inch piece, minced
- Spring onion/scallion – 2 stalks, chopped, green and white part separated
- Soy sauce – 2 tbsp
- Oyster sauce – 1 tbsp
- Vinegar – 1 tbsp
- Sugar – ½ tsp (optional)
- Corn flour/cornstarch – 1 tbsp
- Canola/vegetable oil – 2 tbsp
- Salt if required
- Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces, about 1-inch cubes. Cut the broccoli into similar bite-sized pieces.
- If you have time then steam the broccoli in microwave as described above. Otherwise, proceed to the next step.
- Heat the wok to high heat and add the oil. Once the oil is hot, tip in white part of scallions, minced garlic & ginger. Stir-fry them on medium-high for 2 minutes.
- Then throw in the broccoli florets and stir well. Then splash couple of tablespoons of water around the broccoli and quickly cover it with a lid, preferably dome-shaped, making sure that no steam is escaping out. This way you can steam the broccoli in the same wok. Leave it undisturbed for 2 minutes keeping the flame on medium-low.
- Uncover the lid and give the broccoli a stir. Check if the florets have softened by trying to poke one with your stirrer. If it’s still not softened to your liking, repeat the steaming step with little more water. But do not make them completely mushy as they will continue to cook with chicken too.
- Next add in the chicken cubes and continue stir-frying on high for 5 minutes or until all the chicken pieces are cooked through and there is no pink left in the chicken. If you are using chicken thighs, it will take little longer to cook. Just keep an eye to check the doneness of chicken while you are stir-frying.
- Finally, drizzle the sauce over the chicken and broccoli. Give a good mix to evenly coat each piece with the sauce. Meanwhile, make the cornflour slurry by whisking the cornflour in ¼ cup of water in a small bowl.
- Once the sauce is mostly absorbed by the chicken and veggie, drizzle the corn flour slurry. This will immediately thicken the sauce and impart a glossy shine to the dish. Give a final mix, check and adjust seasoning by adding salt only if needed and you are done with your delicious chicken and broccoli stir fry!
- Transfer the stir-fried chicken & veggie to a serving platter, sprinkle spring onion greens and sesame seeds to garnish! Serve it warm with plain white rice or just on its own! Enjoy!
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