This quick and easy Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry uses the minimum ingredients you can get away with but still deliver a dish that stacks up to Chinese restaurant standard! Plenty of savoury homemade stir fry sauce – because broccoli florets are a sponge for sauce plus I need extra for rice soaking. It’s essential!
Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry
If you descended upon your local Asian Market armed with my Asian Market Shopping List and stocked up on the Level 1 essential sauces, you have the 3 sauces you need to make this.
How good is that!!?
And if your weekly grocery shopping is as predictable as mine, then chicken and broccoli made it into your trolley on the weekend.
Which means you’re armed and dangerous, ready to cook up this big batch Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry. Complete with extra sauce!
Big batch??
I call this a “big batch” Chicken Broccoli stir fry because most of my stir fry recipes tend to be made on a smaller scale serving 2 to 4 people max, being that crowding the pan = stewed veggies which is one of the greatest sins of stir frying.
We don’t have that problem with this one because we steam the broccoli first before making the stir fry as it won’t cook in the short time it’s on the stove. So we can crowd the pan and make a big batch that easily serves 5, possibly even 6!
Also, broccoli holds up better than most vegetables with leftovers, so this is a terrific meal prep option (which I normally don’t recommend for stir fries) which is why I don’t mind having leftovers.
What you need for Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry
Here’s what you need for this:
Cooked broccoli – as noted above. Steamed or boiled, whichever you prefer.
Chicken – breast or thigh. If you’re using breast, I recommend tenderising the chicken using the secret Chinese restaurant method for “velveting chicken” – just toss sliced chicken in baking soda, leave to tenderise for 20 minutes, rinse, cook like normal chicken, marvel at how tender the meat is! Directions are included in the recipe card.
Soy sauce – use either light soy sauce or all purpose soy sauce. Do not use dark, flavour will be much too intense;
Chinese cooking wine OR Mirin – used by the gallon in Chinese restaurants, it’s the secret ingredient that makes stir fry sauces so good. Mirin or dry sherry are perfect substitutes, see recipe notes for non alcoholic option – just replace the water which chicken stock/broth;
Oyster sauce – adds a stack of flavour and a touch of sweet. Vegetarian option: Use Vegetarian Oyster Sauce, it’s pretty good! Ayam is a good brand, sold at large everyday grocery stores. Also, here’s a homemade Vegetarian Oyster Sauce recipe by Omnivore’s Cookbook, a Chinese recipe website. I was extremely impressed with it;
Sesame oil (toasted) – for a lovely hint of sesame flavour;
Cornflour/cornstarch – to thicken the sauce and make it shiny and glossy; and
Garlic and onion – stir fries rarely happen without these two essential flavour bases. Tip: Chop the garlic with a knife rather than using a garlic press (crushing makes it wet so it doesn’t sauté properly).
How to make Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry
It comes together in about 5 minutes on the stove, so make sure you have everything chopped, next to the stove, ready to toss in. This can be made in a (large!) wok though I find it easier just to use a skillet for this particular stir fry because it makes a big batch.
This recipe calls for 1 1/4 cups of water which sounds like a LOT! But extra sauce is essential here because the broccoli florets are a sponge for sauce.
Serve it over rice though if you’re pushing through a low carb phase, then try cauliflower rice instead. It really is not as bad as you think, it’s got a very neutral flavour and the tasty stir fry sauce does wonders to disguise any remnant of cauliflower flavour.
Also another good low carb option is Egg Foo Young (Chinese Omelette) which you could make then smother with this Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry instead of making the Egg Foo Young brown sauce.
And for fellow chicken and broccoli tragics, see below the recipe card for a somewhat lengthy list of various other chicken and broccoli this-and-that recipes I’ve shared. – Nagi x
PS I say “tragics”, but being that broccoli is a powerhouse veggie, we should give ourselves a pat on the back for packing so much broccoli into our diets! 💪🏼
Watch how to make it
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Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry (extra sauce!)
Ingredients
Tenderised chicken (Note 1)
- 500g/1 lb chicken breast, thinly sliced (or boneless thighs, do not tenderise)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda / bi-carb soda (Note 1)
Sauce (Note 6 for using Charlie all-purpose stir fry):
- 2 tbsp cornflour/cornstarch
- 3 tbsp light soy sauce , or all purpose soy (Note 2)
- 1 1/2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (shaoxing wine) or Mirin (Note 3)
- 3 tbsp oyster sauce (Note 4)
- 2 tsp sesame oil , toasted (Note 5)
- Dash of white pepper (sub black)
Stir Fry:
- 2 tbsp oil , peanut, vegetable or canola
- 1/2 onion , sliced
- 2 garlic cloves , finely minced with knife
- 400g/ 14 oz broccoli florets , broken/cut into small bite size pieces (2 medium heads, ~5 cups)
- 1 1/4 cups water
For serving:
Instructions
- Tenderise chicken: Consider tenderising chicken breast using this method. (Not needed for thigh)
- Broccoli: steam or boil using preferred method until cooked to your taste (it won't cook any further in the stir fry). I usually microwave steam 3 minutes on high. Drain well (waterlogged florets = diluted sauce).
- Sauce: Mix cornflour and soy sauce until lump free, then mix in remaining ingredients.
- Cook aromatics: Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add garlic and onion, stir for 10 seconds until garlic starts to go golden.
- Cook chicken: Add chicken and cook for 2 minutes or until the chicken is just cooked through.
- Thicken sauce: Add broccoli, Sauce and water. Stir well and cook for 1 to 2 minutes until the Sauce thickens and becomes glossy, and coats the ingredients.
- Serve over rice!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
More Chicken and Broccoli recipes
For fellow chicken and broccoli tragics.
And some of my favourite stir fries
Life of Dozer
Bed hair. Turns out nobody wakes up looking perfect – not even Dozer!
Wow,so easy and delicious 😋 whole family loved! Followed recipe no added extras and from now on will always velvet my meats!! Thank you for helping us make yummy food💐
Made this tonight was quick simply and amazing the sauce is top notch will be using it a bit more also added mushroom and julienned carrots
Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness, Wow. This is maybe my second favourite(my no.1 is Sweet and sour chicken). I have made it for work lunches and froze. Can’t wait to eat them!
Just made this.Most enjoyable
with authentic chinese flavour. I.ve saved recipe and will use it again.
Best ever Chinese recipe. Used broccoli, asparagus tips, sliced red pepper, onions, Chinese beans. Cooked velveted chicken breasts separately then tossed it all together. Added 1/8 tsp 5 spice powder to sauce.. Tossed in some peanuts. Amazing – no more going out for Chinese!!!
I made this for dinner last night and it was delicious and very easy to make. Your recipes never let me down. Thanks for sharing!
Wow! This is relatively easy and very good!!! Thank you for the recipe!
Can you use dry white wine instead of dry sherry?
I made this on my lunch break. Wow, it’s sooooo good. I only put in a few drops of the sesame oil because I wasn’t sure if it would overpower the dish. I couldn’t stop eating it and hadn’t cooked the rice yet. I will definitely make this again…and again…and again…etc.
This is a Fabo recipe. I use my broccoli water, 315mls to add to the sauce.
Love this recipe. Was a hit with the family. Followed the recipe. Next time I will add shiitake mushrooms.
Family loved the dish. Easy to cook .. win..win…
Delicious
Love this recipe!! I’ve made it a few times now and it never disappoints.
This is the first recipe I’ve made off of this website though I have been a lurker for a long time. I threw in some cashews as I didn’t have a lot of chicken. Besides that, I followed the recipes to the letter. It was delicious.
Such a great recipe! I added a pinch of sugar because it was a bit salty (I used regular all-purpose soy for this). I also added cabbage aside from the broccoli. Works really well. Thank you Nagi!
We love this! Kids scoffed down the broccoli, no problem 👍 Tender, tasty stir fry in 30 minutes (I’m slow at chopping)
I made this last night and the fmaily loved it. I used hot sesame oil which added a bit of a kick. I will definitely make this again. Love all the sauce. It took me about 20 minutes for prep but cooks up quickly.
I’m a poor student who bulk buys meat when it’s on special and I wasn’t looking forward to a dry, rubbery, overcooked chicken breast dinner when I realised it was the only meat I had left to use in my freezer
I found this recipe hoping to just mask my chicken breast woes with the sauce but that baking soda trick is WITCHCRAFT and the sauce is so simple but so good! I can defs reuse this recipe for meal prep and toss in more vegs to stretch that student budget
It is Cornflour not baking soda. Was it fizzy?
MG probably was referring to recipe note 4./velveting!
Delicious & easy! Probably my favourite stir fry