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.
This recipe is certainly going in my favourites. It is so delicious you would think it was from a Chinese shop.
Easy to make and full of nutrition. I didn’t use the honey as didn’t have any in my cupboard but it definitely didn’t take away from the taste.
Thanks Natasha for this amazing recipe, I look forward to trying some more
You are welcome Nicola, I’m very happy that you enjoyed it :).
I think this dish has too much liquid. I should cut the broth from 1 cup to 1/3 cup next time, reduce the honey from 1/4 cup to 2 Tablespoons. Otherwise, the flavor is good. I will make it again.
Meiling, you can definetely cut those down but make sure to cut down on the flour as well, otherwise the sauce might be too thick.
I love this recipe I found it very easy and had all ingredient on hand so yum and healthy
Thank you for the great review Sandra, I’m glad you enjoyed it :).
Made this tonight for dinner. It was delicious! A 10 out of 10! Everyone loved it.
Thank you for the great review Sheri, I’m glad everyone loved it :).
I just made this for dinner tonight!!! I didn’t have mushrooms, do I used green beans instead! So awesome! Great flavor! glad I found this!! #yummy
I’m so happy you enjoyed it! Thanks Jolene 🙂
This is the BEST!!! I have made this about 3 times since coming across the recipe on Pinterest and it is perfect every time. I would rather make this than hit my favorite Chinese restaurant. The sauce is perfect- thick, sweet, salty…I could go on and on. My favorite part is the simplicity of ingredients- I always have them on hand and can whip this up. Thanks you so much for sharing! And I will be checking the rest of your recipes soon.
I’m so glad you like the recipe!
I made this last night for my family.
They gobbled it up and there was plenty left over for seconds for my Husband, plus his lunch today. This will be a future staple at our house for sure. Thank you!!
Love your before and after (raw then cooked)of the ingredients. Very easy to follow.
I’m so happy you find it useful 🙂 Thanks Dolores!
My whole family loved it!! Great receipe!!
Thank you for the great review Anna, I’m happy to hear that you all loved it :).
Best chicken stir fry recipie I ever made! Great directions and pictures! Big hit with my whole family!
Laura, I’m so happy you all loved it. Thank you for stopping by and sharing your review :).
I am making this tonight & was curious of the sesame seed oil is detrimental to the recipe? To have to buy a bottle when I only need 2 tsps of it & will most likely never use it again doesn’t make sense to me. I just need to know if the consistency will be affected & is there something else I can do to fix it. Thanks! Amy
You’ll be ok without the sesame oil. It just gives the dish a little more authentic flavor and I like to add it to all my stir-fry dishes.
I caved and got the the sesame seed oil. IT WAS DELICIOUS!!! Huge hit!! Can’t wait to have it again for lunch tomorrow!!
Amy, I’m so glad you liked it and if you like stir fry, add sesame oil to all of them :).
Hi Natasha
I made your very yummy Chicken and Broccoli stir fry. I enjoyed the concept you apply with making a really yummy chicken stock, grated ginger and garlic sauce to our over. It really enhances the flavor.
Will make this again. I must go out and buy normal honey though and not use Leather wood honey. The flavor of leather wood honey here in Australia is very strong.thank you Baerbel
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe! I’ve never tried leather wood honey. Sounds interesting! I wonder if I could find it in the states?
This recipe is sooooo good. I have made it twice in the past week…the whole family loves it!! Easy and delicious. Thanks!!!
I’m so glad to hear you all enjoy the stir fry! 🙂
This is the best stir fry ive ever had and I LOVE stir fry. My fiance loved it too and now this is a regular dinner in my house. Thank you so much for this recipe – GREAT JOB!!
Thank you so much! I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂
My 11 year old son and I made this for lunch today. It was so quick, easy and delicious! We will definitely make this again, everyone loved it.
Thank you for such a great review Amy, I’m very happy to hear that you guys loved the recipe :).
just finished eating this for lunch. Really good. Made just as directed except used mixes veggies and brown rice. Yum
Your version sounds delicious and even healthier! 😉
I made this recipe with gluten-free flour, gluten-free soy sauce, and vermicelli rice noodles. Absolutely delicious! Next time I will double the sauce to allow for more flavorful noodles. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Thank you so much for sharing your variations! I’m sure someone else will have questions about the gluten-free option. 🙂
i just made this after a long day at work and it is amazing! Quick, simple, fresh and delicious. Even my boyfriend is devouring the broccoli, and that never happens! 😀
Ellie, thank you for such a great review, music to my ears :).
Thanks for the awesome recipe Natashinka! Just made it and it turned out great! Blessings to you!
I’m so happy you loved it! 🙂 Blessings to you also!
This is excellent. Made it a week ago and my family has been craving it so I’m making it again tonight. I omitted the honey because I forgot to buy some but it still turned out fantastic!
Brittany, thank you for the great review and its good to know that they still turned out great without honey :).