Quick and Easy Stir Fry
on Jun 03, 2013, Updated Aug 22, 2024
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I love this quick and easy stir-fry recipe so much! It tastes amazing and it’s so much healthier than take-out. This is the perfect recipe for hectic nights when you want something flavor-filled but don’t want to spend an hour cooking!
I got this recipe from my sister (hi, Lachelle!), and it is so very delicious. The idea is that you cook up a little chicken, and at the same time, throw all of the ingredients for the sauce in a mason jar and give it a shake. Then you just add the sauce to the chicken, add some frozen veggies (Costco has a fabulous organic frozen stir-fry vegetable medley that we love), and then serve it all over hot rice.
It takes less than a half-hour to throw together, and the whole family loves it. It’s always a winner in our house, and the recipe will go in your quick meal rotation with ease. I can’t get over the flavors and simplicity; you’d think it was takeout when you eat it but it’s even better! Enjoy and pin it for later!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- This recipe is so quick and simple and is so delicious, you’ll definitely want to be adding it to your weekly meal plans!
- You can customize this to your liking, do noodles instead of rice, add different veggies, try new sauces, and have fun with it.
- Because this recipe is so simple it tends to be very cost effective!
Recipe Ingredients
- Chicken — beef or shrimp are good too!
- Olive oil
- Stir fry vegetables — frozen or fresh
- Rice — or noodles if you’d prefer
- Cornstarch
- Garlic powder — or fresh
- Ground ginger — or fresh
- Honey
- Soy sauce
- Vinegar — rice vinegar goes great
- Chicken broth
- Red pepper flakes — optional
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How To Make Quick and Easy Stir-Fry
- Cook until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the center.
- While the chicken is cooking, add all of the sauce ingredients to a quart mason jar, add a lid, and shake well to combine.
- When the chicken is cooked through, pour the sauce over the chicken. Stirring continuously, cook until the sauce thickens.
- Add the frozen vegetables, and cook until the veggies are heated through.
If you’d like the sauce a bit spicier, make it a few hours ahead of time with the red pepper flakes. Let the sauce rest in the fridge and re-shake it before you are ready to use. Letting the pepper flakes sit in the sauce will give them time to release more of their heat.
To ensure there are no cornstarch lumps in the sauce, I recommend combining the cornstarch and the cold water and shaking those together well before adding the additional ingredients.
If you don’t want to make rice or want to try something else, another great option for a stir-fry is to serve it with salad, fruit, steamed veggies, egg rolls or dumplings, or noodles. You can even change your rice to fried rice if you want to try something different!
Expert Tips
- Add fresh herbs like cilantro or green onions at the end of cooking for added freshness and flavor.
- As the name suggests, stir-frying involves continuously stirring the ingredients to ensure even cooking and to prevent sticking or burning!
- When cooking the meat, it’s best to cook in batches. If you overcrowd the pan, the meat will steam rather than fry.
More Easy Dinner Recipes To Consider
Pasta Dishes
Easy Slow Cooker Vegetable Lasagna
Slow Cooker Recipes
Perfect Slow Cooker Pot Roast
Pasta Dishes
Pumpkin Alfredo
Dinner Ideas
One-Pot Sausage, Rice, and Peas Dinner
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
Quick and Easy Stir-fry
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 package frozen stir fry vegetables
- Hot cooked rice, about 6 cups cooked
For the sauce:
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup vinegar
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 pinch of red pepper flakes, optional
Instructions
- Heat a large nonstick or cast iron skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add the oil and heat for 30 seconds. Add the chicken and cook until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the center.
- While the chicken is cooking, add all of the sauce ingredients to a quart mason jar, add a lid, and shake well to combine.
- When the chicken is cooked through, reduce the heat to medium and pour the sauce over the chicken. Stirring continuously, cook until the sauce thickens and the color changes from a muddy brown to a cleaner, reddish color. This should take about 3 minutes.
- Add the frozen vegetables, and cook until the veggies are heated through.
- Serve the chicken, sauce, and veggie mixture over hot cooked rice, and garnish with chopped green onion and sesame seeds if desired. Enjoy!
Notes
- Feel free to use fresh chopped veggies if you’d like; frozen ones just make things really easy. This is an easy recipe to use for what veggies and meat you like or have on hand. It’s very flexible.
- Cut your vegetables and meats into thin, even pieces. This ensures they cook quickly and evenly.
- Use an oil with a high smoke point like peanut oil, grapeseed oil, or vegetable oil. These oils can withstand the high heat of stir-frying without burning!
- Use a combination of soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil to create a balanced and flavorful sauce. Customize the sauce to your taste preferences.
My husband cannot stop loving on this recipe – and he is picky! I made it tonight for the first time and halved the recipe as we only had 1lb of chicken and it was perfect. Everything about it. Consistency. Spice level (medium). Not too salty. Also not too sweet. We didn’t have regular white vinegar so used champagne vinegar. Beautiful. I can’t think of one change I would make! Thank you for sharing this recipe!!
Oooh that sound delicious! Thank you for the tip and coming back to let us know and leaving a great review, I really appreciate that!
Delicious! I didn’t have honey so I substituted with brown sugar. Loved it!
Great sub, thank you for sharing and leaving a review Lisa!
I made this tonight and it was so easy and delicious. I used almond flour instead of corn starch and the sauce still turned out great. It’s very sweet with all the honey, but we loved it.
What kind of vinegar do you use for this recepie?
I like rice vinegar or white best but apple cider works well too!
Got grumbled at by the hubby for experimenting…again. Its a no no to serve dinner that isn’t guaranteed yummy. So…I cut the recipe in half, served it with brown rice for me, and jasmine rice for him. He said it was pretty good! Lucky for him he liked it; there is plenty of goodness left for dinner tomorrow night….tee hee! Thank your sister for a great recipe!
When u use fresh veggies, do u cook the veggies first, or chicken, or all at once?
This is absolutely delicious! Made my grocery list using your Summer/Spring Clean Eating suggestions. If they’re all as good as this, you’re my hero!
-Chelsey (blissbychelsey.com)
This is phenomenal! My man loved it 🙂 (and he usually does not like new things!). Delicious! I also loved how easy and quick this was for my crazy on the go life. Will be come a staple in our meal routine. Thanks for sharing all your awesome recipes 🙂
recepie?
This is a guest post that I did earlier this year, so you just have to click on the link above the picture to get the recipe!
Your stir fry looks amazing Melissa!!
xo, Tanya
https://twelveoeight.blogspot.com/