The sauce in this broccoli chicken stir fry is perfectly “saucy,” making it ideal for serving over steamy rice. Homemade Chicken and Broccoli is an easy 30-minute meal, and it has the best stir-fry sauce.
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Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry Recipe
Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry satisfies the craving for takeout, and you’ll feel good about serving this to your family. It’s healthier than going out, and it’s simple to make into a meal served over cooked white rice, brown rice, or even cooked quinoa.
If you loved my famous Beef and Broccoli, then you will love this chicken stir-fry. It’s loaded with tender chicken, mushrooms, and fresh broccoli. I hope you’re inspired to make this easy and tasty dinner!
Chicken & Broccoli Stir Fry Video
Ingredients & Substitutions for Stir Fry
- Chicken – we used boneless skinless chicken breast, but chicken tenders or even thighs would be delicious here.
- Stir Fry Veggies – We love the combination of broccoli, onions, and mushrooms for an authentic Chicken Broccoli Stir fry. You could sub the broccoli with snap peas or zucchini and sub onions with julienned carrots. I don’t recommend frozen veggies sicne they can get mushy and water down the sauce.
- Chicken Broth – this adds more flavor, but water can easily be substituted.
- Soy Sauce – Since different brands have different amounts of salt, add soy sauce to taste. You can always add more at the end, but you can’t take salt out of a dish. For gluten-free, use Tamari sauce.
- Sesame Oil – this one ingredient gives the sauce authentic Chinese stir fry flavor. Do not skip it.
- Ginger & Garlic – fresh is best for stir fry, but in a pinch, you can substitute 1 tsp fresh garlic for 1/2 tsp garlic powder and substitute 1 tsp fresh ginger for 1/8-1/4 tsp ground ginger.
- Brown Sugar – we used 2 Tablespoons of packed light brown sugar. You can substitute with 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of liquid sweetener, such as honey, or add it to taste.
- Corn Starch – using cornstarch as a thickener helps keep this gluten-free.
Pro Tip for Peeling Ginger:
The easiest way to peel ginger is to scrape the skin away with the side of a teaspoon. Once it’s peeled, finely grate it on a box grater or a microplane.
How to Make Broccoli and Chicken Stir Fry:
- Make the Sauce: Combine all of the sauce ingredients and stir to dissolve the sugar. Warm broth will help the sugar dissolve easily.
- Cook Chicken: Cut chicken into small 3/4″ bite-sized pieces and season lightly with black pepper. Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat with 1 Tbsp oil. Add chicken and cook 1 minute undisturbed then stir fry 5 minutes until golden and just cooked through. Remove chicken to a bowl.
- Stir-Fry Veggies: In the same skillet over medium-high heat, add 1 Tbsp oil, broccoli florets, sliced onion and mushrooms and stir fry 3 minutes until mushrooms are crisp and vibrant green then reduce heat. Do not overcook the veggies at this point or they can get mushy while cooking in the sauce.
- Add Stir Fry Sauce: Give the sauce a quick stir in case there was settling and add it to the skillet. Simmer the sauce over medium-low heat for 3-4 minutes until thickened and garlic and ginger have mellowed in flavor. To thin the sauce, add water as needed and you can add more soy sauce to taste.
- Return Chicken to the Pan and stir until heated through then serve over white rice garnished with sesame seeds if desired.
The KEY to Making the Best Stir Fry
A stir-fry is essentially flash-cooked on a very hot skillet, with a cooking time of less than 15 minutes. Since this recipe moves fast, you want to have every ingredient chopped, measured, prepped and ready to use before you fire up the skillet. If serving with white rice, you’ll want to put the rice on the stove first, then cook your stir fry. You’ll want to bookmark our tutorial for Perfect White Rice.
Storing and Reheating Stir Fry
Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry reheats well so it’s a great option for meal prepping.
- Refrigerate Leftovers – Once the chicken broccoli stir fry has cooled to room temperature, transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for 3-4 days. I prefer not to freeze since the broccoli can become mushy.
- Reheating – It’s always best to reheat in the same method that the dish was cooked. Reheat in a skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally until hot. You can also reheat in the microwave in 30-second increments until heated through. If needed, you can add a little splash of water when reheating to bring back some moisture.
Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry Recipe
The sauce in this stir fry is perfectly "saucy," making it ideal for serving over hot and fluffy white rice. This recipe moves fast so start cooking your rice first and be sure to prep and chop all of your stir fry ingredients and make the sauce before cooking the stir fry.
Ingredients
Servings: 4 people
Chicken and Broccoli:
- 1 lb chicken breast, (boneless skinless), cut into 3/4" pieces
- 2 Tbsp cooking oil, (I used extra light olive oil), divided
- 1 lb broccoli, cut into florets (about 5 cups)
- 1 small yellow onion, sliced into strips
- 1/2 lb white button mushrooms, thickly sliced
Stir Fry Sauce Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 3 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce, (use Tamari for gluten free), or added to taste
- 2 Tbsp light brown sugar, packed (or honey to taste)
- 1 Tbsp corn starch
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, peeled and grated (lightly packed)
- 1 tsp garlic (2 small cloves), grated
- 1/4 tsp black pepper, plus more to season chicken
Instructions
- Make the Sauce – In a small bowl, combine all of the sauce ingredients and whisk to dissolve sugar and corn starch (warm broth will help dissolve the sugar faster). Set sauce aside.
- Prepare Chicken – cut chicken into small bite-sized pieces (no more than 3/4” thick) and season lightly with pepper. Heat a large heavy skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add 1 Tbsp oil. Add chicken in a single layer and let it sit undisturbed for 1 minute to get a good sear then stir fry for another 5 minutes or until golden brown just cooked through then remove to a bowl and loosely cover to keep warm.
- Stir Fry Veggies – In the same skillet, add another 1 Tbsp oil along with broccoli florets, sliced onion and sliced mushrooms. Stir fry 3 minutes or until mushrooms are softened and broccoli is crisp-tender then reduce heat to medium/low.
- Add Sauce – Give the sauce a quick stir in case there was any settling of starch and pour all of it over the vegetables. Simmer 3-4 minutes or until sauce is thickened and garlic and ginger are mellowed in flavor. To thin the sauce, add water a tablespoon at a time.
- Combine and Serve – Return chicken to the pan and stir another 30 seconds or until heated through. Add more soy sauce to taste if needed and serve over hot rice.
Nutrition Per Serving
325kcal Calories21g Carbs31g Protein14g Fat
Nutrition Facts
Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry Recipe
Amount per Serving
Calories
325
% Daily Value*
Fat
14
g
22
%
Saturated Fat
2
g
13
%
Cholesterol
73
mg
24
%
Sodium
586
mg
25
%
Potassium
1039
mg
30
%
Carbohydrates
21
g
7
%
Fiber
4
g
17
%
Sugar
10
g
11
%
Protein
31
g
62
%
Vitamin A
740
IU
15
%
Vitamin C
105
mg
127
%
Calcium
68
mg
7
%
Iron
2
mg
11
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Filed Under
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Made it tonight…. Yummy , turned out just as you showed in your video. Served with rice noodles
Maybe next time I’ll add a few chill flakes
Cheers Natasha from Jane in south Australia
Hello Jane, thank you for your review. Yes, you can try adding some chili flakes next time I think that’s a good idea.
Let’s get real about stir frying! Mushrooms are sponges and will just absorb the liquid from the onions. Do mushrooms alone!!!! ALWAYS!
But they will taste even better if they absorb onion flavors. It works really well and it’s faster and easier.
This is perfect! Tastes better than takeout and very authentic.
Changed nothing and being a huge foodie with my own cooking page I usually add or do something to it. Not this time.
My only issue is if not served immediately the sayer gets like soup instead of thick. Please let me know Natasha how to avoid that ? Only thing I can think of is keeping the sauce separate until serving .
Thank you for your good feedback, Randi. Keeping the sauce separate until ready for serving is a good idea!
Lol, I wanted to try this as it looked so good. I didn’t have enough broccoli or mushrooms so added some asparagus and green peppers. The sauce was good even though I didn’t have sesame oil or ginger. It was good but definitely will,
Make sure I have the sesame oil and ginger so I can make it again. Loved how much sauce it made and the broccoli and asparagus was delicious. Thanks for all your awesome recipes. I always think it’s funny when people don’t follow recipes to a t but today I didn’t have a choice.
Sounds good, good to know that the substitutions that you used worked well too!
I made this for my family and everybody loved it! Everything you make is really good. You are my favorite food blogger/vlogger. Natasha’s Kitchen is my go to when I can’t think of anything to cook 🙂
That is the best when the family loves what we moms make. That’s so great!
I started with your Meatloaf recipe…Bamm! Then the Pork Chop in Creamy Mushroom sauce…Bamm! Bamm! Now this Chicken-Broccoli Stir Fry..Wow!!
Thank you for sharing your gift of great cooking. Looking forward to more yummy recipes.
Bamm! Thank you so much for sharing this excellent review with me, Tony! I can’t wait to try more of them!
Absolutely loved this! We can’t do onions so I added red bell pepper. Delicious addition. Also, stir fried rice noodles for my partner, he is trying to gain weight. Took my portion then added the noodles to his. He said it was amazing.
Hi Debra, good to know that you loved how it turned out. Thank you for sharing that with us!
I made the recipe and it was great!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
This recipe is sooooo good!!….. although I love mushrooms, I left them out and added red bell peppers (sliced lengthwise) this added even more flavor to this dish…… I also double up on the sauce, and add about 50% more meat and broccoli.
Glad you enjoyed this recipe, Shannon. Thank you for sharing!
Hey Natasha! What can I do to make This more saucy without ruining the flavor ? I like a lot of sauce : )
Hi Emy! You can definitely adjust it for more sauce! Several of our readers mentioned in the comments doing so successfully!
I LOVE your recipes. They are delicious, usually fast and always a hit. However, I could not stand the music playing during this video….it totally distracted me, and I kept going back to my computer to try to locate what was playing on top of your link. Couldn’t believe it was coming from YOUR video! No mas, no mas.
My husband is very picky! And he loves chicken and broccoli. Since we moved here in the Philippines, it’s hard to find good Chinese restaurants that fix good chicken and broccoli. This recipe saved my life! Lol. This is a perfect recipe! Thank you so much Natasha! ❤️❤️
Hi Tifany, that’s awesome! I’m happy that you both loved this recipe. Thank you for sharing your good feedback with us.
Easy and tasty. Sesame oil is key
Thanks for your review, Paula!
I tried this recipe and I absolutely loved the sauce! I added more vegetables such as carrots and zucchini, and I also tried this recipe with tofu. I prefer using chicken, but the tofu was pretty good. The tofu soaks the sauce which I really enjoyed. I recommend doubling the sauce recipe if you plan on having leftovers. I would add a few more pieces of garlic, but otherwise, this recipe is a keeper! Thank you, Natasha!
Yum! Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Jayaa! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Made this for the first time tonight. Simply delicious!! Moving it from my “recipes to try” board to my “favourites” board. Thanks for sharing
Awesome, great to hear that you loved it! Thank you for your wonderful review and feedback.
Made this for dinner tonight! It was terrific! Made it KETO by using Stevia instead of brown sugar and did not put it over rice. Shared this recipe with friends and will definitely be making this again! Great recipe. Thank You, Natasha
Very nice, great to hear that you were able to make it work using stevia. Thanks for sharing that with us, Sherrie!
Hi Natasha! I’m so excited to try this recipe this week. The calorie count you provided – is that for the whole recipe, or per serving? Thank you!
Hi Alicia, it is per serving and the serving size for the whole recipe is for 4 people.
It’s amazing recipe I always want to make good stir fried and thanks to you I did it. Thank you
You’re so welcome, Dorothy! I’m happy that you enjoyed it.
Amazing!! I even made it with frozen broccoli and canned mushrooms because I happened to have them when I saw this recipe…and it was still one of the best meals I’ve made. I can’t imagine how much better it’ll be with fresh ingredients! Thanks for sharing!
Perfect, I’m happy with your feedback and great review. Thank you for sharing that with us, Erika!
This looks delicious although, can you tell me how much is in a serving?
Amazing dish 🙂 i am staying at my grandmas currently, and i’ve been cooking all our dinners. i made this for her and she adored it. thank you so much!
That’s nice to know, Sierra. I hope you and your family will love all the recipes that you will try for them!
Why does my chicken end up dry I did exactly the way the recipe said
Hi Margie, it should not be dry. I recommend making sure you’re not crowding the pan, and the chicken is cooked just until it reaches 165. If using a smaller pan, this may take a few rounds.