The sauce in this broccoli chicken stir fry is perfectly “saucy,” making it ideal for serving over steamy white 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 Mushroom Stir Fry:
Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry satisfies the craving for takeout and you’ll feel good about serving this to your family because it’s healthier than going out. If you loved our 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!
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.
- Chicken Broth – this adds more flavor, but water can easily be substituted.
- Low Sodium 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 Tbsp to 2 Tbsp of liquid sweetener like honey, or add it to taste.
- Corn Starch – using cornstarch as a thickener helps keep this gluten-free.
Pro Tip: It’s easiest to peel fresh ginger using the edge of a teaspoon. Simply scrape the skin away. Try it – it’s so easy.
Watch the Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry Video:
How to Make Broccoli and Chicken Stir Fry:
- Make the Sauce: Combine all of the sauce ingredients and stir to dissolve the sugar. The warm broth will help the sugar to 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.
- Sautee 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 softened then reduce heat.
- 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 Cooking Stir Fry:
A stir fry is essentially flash cooked on a very hot skillet (less than 15 minutes of cooking time). 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.
More Easy Chicken Recipes (Reader Favorites!):
- Chicken Fried Rice – the best way to use leftover rice
- Lemon Chicken – 30-min chicken dinner packed with flavor
- Chicken Parmesan – easy and classic family favorite
- Chicken Chow Mein – adding chicken makes it a meal
- Chicken Tetrazzini – a creamy cheesy pasta bake
Print-friendly Recipe for Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry:
Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry Recipe
Ingredients
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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
This recipe was first published in October 2014. We updated it April 2020, using corn starch instead of flour to make it gluten-free chicken broccoli stir fry, improved the flavor of the sauce and re-photographed the recipe.
Kids absolutely loved this! I followed it exactly with 1.5x the sauce because we like things saucy! This is now a regular in the rotation. Kids even asked to have it for lunch the next day!
That is the best when kids love what we parents make. That’s so great!
We felt it was missing a richness. Not bad, but not great for us. Followed the recipe and exactly..
Missing a richness
Delicious! I added more veggies and some fried tofu. Love the sauce. Thank you.
I am here just to echo all the other reviews. This recipe is a keeper! Chinese food recipes intimate me, but this was so easy and the end result was so delicious. The key, as you mentioned, is to have all the ingredients prepped and ready to go. I can’t wait to make it again, and will be looking for other recipes to try!
Hi Lupe! Thank you so much for the wonderful review.
So delish and so easy!! Thank you!! Perfect for a quick weeknight meal. My husband and kids loved it
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Lacey!
So tasty. One of my favorite recipes to follow when making food for family and friends. Have only received 10/10s from them with this recipe.
I’m so glad you loved it, Kevin!
Excellent! Easy & soooo delicious. I had to “up” the veggies for my partner so I sliced some green, red and yellow bell peppers into the sautéed veggie mix. I also did a 1.5 sauce since we love extra over rice.
Followed the recipe. Sorry, buy not very flavorful. Love your recipes generally.
Hi Shauna, did you swap out any of the ingredients or make any substitutions? Also sometimes using frozen broccoli can water down the sauce.
This is an excellent recipe. Still, I can’t leave any recipe alone. It was a busy day, so I had time for prep in the morning and very little time in the evening, so I let the chicken marinate in the sauce while I did the gym and errands. I also added gojuchang paste to it, along with szechuan peppercorns and 5-spice powder. Along with the broccoli, mushrooms, and oninon I threw in water chesnuts and baby corn.
Sounds great! Im glad you enjoyed it!
Love this recipe and a lot of other ones…. Lasagna Roll ups….. Beef and broccoli Ramen Stir fry just to name a couple!!
I forgot to rate on my previous comment.
Thank you! I’m so happy to know that you have enjoyed the recipes that you have tried from me.
I love this I’ve made more times than I can count. Right now I only have frozen broccoli and I’m craving this. I seen on other comments that they said it was bland (which is crazy to me) lol. You mentioned that if they are using frozen broccoli that could cause it. Is there any way to prevent this?
HI Jerri, when you add the broccoli, make sure all of the excess steam and water evaporates out before adding the sauce, otherwise the liquid from the brocoli can water down the sauce.
This was excellent. Great instructions and worked perfectly
Thank you
You’re so welcome! Good to know that it was a success!
Natasha, this recipe is definitely a keeper. It is soooooo good. But really every recipes of yours I think are super good. I tried many and it is always a keeper. THANK you so much for sharing. 🥰
Thank you for that wonderful compliment and comment, Corinne!
Very tasty! I used thighs, I was thinking I still had some sesame oil but I did not, so I subbed some hoison sauce, i also used powdered ground ginger. I used home canned chicken stock in the sauce and in the rice, which I rinsed several times. I omitted the mushrooms. I’ve added this recipe to my bookmarks and will be writing it in my recipe book that will be passed to my daughter.
Thank you.
Thanks for sharing that with us! That’s a good idea compiling all the recipes that you love for your daughter. So sweet!
I have to thank you, Natasha, for this recipe. Have had friends over twice and made it, and they absolutely loved it. I am not an experienced cook, but this was just the best, so easy and the sauce is truly fabulous!! It made me look like a really good cook!! You are right, the sesame oil in the sauce is the game changer, and cannot be omitted. I used “Toasted Sesame Oil”. Terrific! (I just ordered your cookbook, and cannot wait to get it!
Thank you for sharing that with us, Karen! Good to know that your friends love this recipe!
This is a fantastic recipe. I recently found it and now it’s part of our menu rotation!.
Great to hear that, glad you love it!
Wow, much much better than I expected! Lots of flavor and I was worried because I had powdered ginger not fresh. Easy to make and will be making it again!
That’s great, Susie! I’m glad it did not disappoint.
Every one of Natasha’s recipe that I’ve made are keepers. This is an excellent dish. There is only one recipe I’ve had to modify and that one is also a keeper after the mash nor modification.
I’m so happy to hear that Dennis! Thank you so much for sharing.
This is the best stir fry ever. I love all your recipes. Thank you for sharing your expertise on cooking.
You’re welcome! Thank you too for your excellent review!