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.
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
It was a great recipe! I love having recipes with photos so I know I’m doing it right. Great instructions too. The only thing I did different was add sliced mini carrots for color, otherwise I followed exactly as written. Thank you!
Robin, thank you for writing in and great review. I’m glad you enjoyed it :).
This was hands down the tastiest and easiest stir fry I have ever made…and I have made A LOT. Thank you for the recipe!
Gabrielle, thank you for such a great review, and you are very welcome :). I hope you’ll find more favorites on the site.
I made this recipe for my mom and I and it was good. However, I got confused with your directions Natasha. Was I suppose to remove the chicken from the pan or set it aside still in the pan? I ended up leaving the chicken in the pan and just threw the broccoli, onions and mushrooms in with the chicken. Also, my sauce was very thick when it was done cooking. My mother said next time if I make it that I should add water to thin out the sauce. Maybe you could make a note for beginners to add water. Overall, it was a very good recipe! I was just confused by how you worded some of the directions.
Thank you for sharing that with me. I can see how it would be confusing because I wrote to remove from heat rather than remove from pan. I updated the recipe to clarify. I’m thinking your sauce was thick probably because you left the chicken in the pan while cooking/thickening it. Thanks again! 🙂
This was a wonderfully easy and tasty recipe!
Magdalena, thank you for the great review, I hope you’ll find many more favorites on the site :).
What if I use frozen broccoli? what should i do differently?
I wouldn’t recommend frozen broccoli. I think they would make the sauce funny by letting off too much water and they might get mushy and dark.
It’s my only option :/ maybe if i defrost first?
Oh bummer :(. I”d probably add them frozen. You might saute your onions and mushrooms first then remove them to a plate and saute your frozen brocolli until they are crisp tender then combine both together and continue with the recipe. Let me know how it goes 🙂
Will frozen broccoli florets work? Would the cooking time still be the same? Look forward to trying this recipe.
I don’t think frozen broccoli would work well. They would probably get mushy and water down the sauce. I would recommend fresh for this recipe.
The dinner was excellent ! I had 5 people at the table, they all loved it. Thanks again.
That is fantastic! Thank you for an awesome review! 🙂
I’m trying to low carb it as much as possible..Can I substitute the flour for another kind like almond or coconut?
I haven’t experimented with those so I’m not sure how well they work for thickening. From what I’ve read online, coconut flour is the best option for thickening as a replacement for all-purpose flour. I hope that helps 🙂
Thank you natasha for your response..If I get around to buying the coconut flour I’ll make the recipe and let you know how it came out..
Easy and tastes great! Thank you!
You’re welcome Laura 🙂
This recipe is so delicious! I could eat it all day long. I used cornstarch instead of flour and used Tamari instead of the soy sauce. So, I suppose you could consider it Gluten free with my exchanges. I served it with quinoa and served in a bowl. I will definitely make this recipe again. I also really liked your photos of the step by step process. Make sure to use a really big pan to stir fry so all of the veggies don’t fall out.
Thanks again!
Jennifer, thank you for such a great review and great job improvising. Reading your comment is making me hungry :).
I made this for lunch today and I thought it was nice. My husband was never a fan of these kind of dishes but I really liked it.
I didn’t have fresh mushroom so I used canned button mushroom (I know, judge me all you want. Haha). I followed the rest of the recipe almost to the T. Thank you, Natasha!
No judgements here :). I use canned mushrooms for gravies when I’m in a time crunch. I’m so glad you liked it 🙂
An awesome recipe, the whole family enjoyed this, I coated the chicken in cornflour and it was really tender. Best stir fry I’ve made, thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing your modification. Great idea!
made this recipe tonight, it was delicious!! very pleased and would definitely make this again!!
Thank you for the great review Rachel, I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed it :).
Thank you for this awesome recipe! I’ve made it twice and love it. Just a quick question: how do I go about making the “sauce” thicker? Mines always seems to be quite runny. Still great though!
The flour is what contributes to the thickness of the sauce so you might add an extra teaspoon of flour when stirring the sauce in the bowl for a slightly thicker sauce. 🙂
OMG was this great! So much healthier than take out. I also made it with beef for hubby cause he loves broccoli beef Chinese take-out and it was also superb. So easy that I did not mind making both chicken (for me) and beef. I put this over some egg noodles (thin soup style) and it was superb! Thanks for a great recipe!
Thanks for sharing your modifications! I actually haven’t tried this with beef and now I’m excited to. Thanks Joyce!
Can’t wait to try
I made this for my daughter and I, she loved it! I’ll be making this one again. I added a couple of seeded and diced sirano peppers to spice it up a bit.
A spicier version of this does sound good! I’m so happy your daughter loved the recipe 🙂
I made this last night and it was so good! I used shitakes and added some red pepper flakes to give it an extra kick, but I’m sure it still would have been tasty as written.
Stephanie, thank you for the great review and great job on improvising :).
Made this tonight for my family and it was a hit. So glad I found this recipe, can’t wait to try more 🙂
Aeisha, thank you for the great review and I hope that you find many more favorites on the site :).
Thanks so much for this! I just made it and it is amazing! I did thicken the sauce a little with corn starch since I had next to no flour left in the bowl. I couldn’t believe how simple the recipe was – neither could my Chinese-food-snob husband who loved it!
Maryl, you are welcome, I’m glad you guys enjoyed it :).