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!
Wash the chicken better! Otherwise I discovered it tastes like bicarb 🤣
Delicious!
You know when you find the perfect sauce that you want to eat every day. This is it for me. I make this with tofu instead of chicken and vegetarian oyster sauce. I could lick the bowl clean. I’ve scaled it down to make a quick single serve with a steamer bag of frozen veg and some instant noodles, still amazing. Thank you so much Nagi for this absolute gem. Your recipes never fail me, I have loads in rotation, but this one, an absolute winner.
Nagi,
Like all of your recipes, this was perfect.
I love how you offer hints, tips and secrets!
Soooo tasty, just like take away.
Kind regards from Wagga Wagga.
This is a new favorite of my picky daughter. Taste exactly like takeout.
Excellent! Have made this a handful of times and now it’s in the dinner rotation. I double the sauce every time – we love our stir fry’s saucy!
Will try using thin slices of pork next time.
Oops! Forgot to rate my original comment.
Really sad to not be able to give this recipe full marks!
I’ll admit to massively overcooking the broccoli (we got it al dente, but by the time we remembered to do rice it has steamed into oblivion).
We tried the velveted chicken option (as we used breast), and it resulted in chicken that felt totally wrong. For anyone British I’d recommend skipping that step based on our palette profile.
The sauce also wasn’t for us, and will likely be giving a wide berth to recipes calling for Oyster sauce in future.
But otherwise a good recipe!
Made this again for the 3rd time – coz we love it! I only had about 1 tablespoon left of the oyster sauce, so added a tablespoon of sweet chilli – it was really nice. Thanks again Nagi – we love your recipes so much!! x
Can I use fish sauce instead?
Hi Ang, it’s just not quite the same flavour unfortunately! N x
Needs a bit more punch in the sauce. Pleasant but plain. Love the velveting technique! 👌🏽
Made this and it is so good. I added Champignon mushrooms cos i swear it spoke to me and told me to add it. So saucy and excellent. Thanks Nagi and Dozer
Easiest, tastiest weekday lunch ever 🙌
Hi made this last night and did everything you said, I made Charlie delicious, and tenderised the chicken. I will absolutely be making this again it was wonderful, my husband loved it as well. Will be my new favourite. Thank you so much 🤗🤗
Really easy to make and so delicious. I will definitely make this again.
Once again, delicious and ridiculously easy to make!
Hi Nagi,
I would just like to say that this recipe is honestly amaaazing!
Juicy chicken and that sauce is sooo flavourful!
Sending love to Dozer too! X
I cooked this because it sounded very similar to what my family often orders from the local Chinese restaurant and it was exactly that! So happy that I can cook this at home now and not have to worry about the cleanliness of the food
This was so good I sent it to my friends/family to make as well. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
Which brand of bottled oyster sauce do you recommend? Thank you.
Hi Deanna, you’ll find this post useful https://promotown.info/asian-market-grocery-store-shopping-list/%3C/a%3E 🙂 N x
This is so delicious Nagi. my family enjoyed. Thank you so much xx
You’re so welcome Hesala! N x