I love this light and healthy Szechuan Chicken Stir-Fry! Chicken is quickly stir-fried with garlic, ginger, vegetables in a delicious sauce. Who needs take-out when you can have healthy Szechuan chicken in the comfort of your own home!
I have been craving all things stir fry.
I just love them– Mondays, Saturdays… basically any day that ends in y. Stir fry recipes are my go-to on weeknights, because they’re super quick to cook and are typically loaded with veggies and served with noodles or rice and chopsticks.
Not that I claim to be an expert when it comes to using chopsticks. I do like to pretend for a hot second that I’m a pro, until I accidentally fling something at someone. This usually ends with me giving up and just spearing the pieces of chicken until those are gone and then I reach for a fork and go for the rest.
This spicy stir-fry is soooo incredibly easy. Did I mention that? I like to prepped my sauce, meat, all my veggies and garnishes while everyone was at work and school. Doing this allows me to make dinner fast. You could easily do this the night before, so you can easily pull dinner together while you make the rice.
Easy-peasy.
To start, preheat your wok or a 12-inch chef’s pan on high heat. Once hot, add in a tablespoon of the toasted sesame oil. Meanwhile, season the chicken pieces with a pinch or two of white pepper and kosher salt, toss to combine.
Working in batches of two, add half of the chicken in an even layer and stir-fry for about 2-4 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Transfer to a plate and repeat with the remaining chicken.
Once the chicken is cooked, add in the minced ginger and garlic to the remaining oil in the pan. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Next, drop in all of the vegetables at once.
Toss them in the ginger and garlic and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until the vegetables start to glisten.
Add the chicken back in and cook for a couple of minutes more. The veggies should still be colorful, firm yet tender.
Pour in the Szechuan sauce and bring it to a boil.
Meanwhile, quickly combine 1 tablespoon of corn starch with 1 tablespoon cool water. Pour in the slurry and stir until the sauce has thickened (about 1 to 2 minutes).
I think this Szechuan chicken stir fry has the perfect level of spice.
My husband likes to add sriracha to his bowl because he’s a glutton for punishment, and to him, there’s no such thing as too spicy.
Whichever way you choose, don’t forget to sprinkle each bowl with fresh sliced green onions and chopped peanuts. This is absolutely one of my favorite weeknight meals, and it’s healthy too!
Winner-winner Szechuan Chicken Stir-fry for dinner!
Enjoy! And if you give this Szechuan Chicken Stir-Fry recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!
Spicy Szechuan Chicken Stir-Fry
Ingredients
FOR THE SAUCE:
- 5 teaspoons toasted sesame oil, divided
- 2/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium tamari, or low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons chili paste, like sambal oelek
FOR THE STIR-FRY:
- 2 pinches kosher salt
- 2 pinches ground white pepper
- 1½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
- 2 heaping tablespoons peeled and finely minced fresh ginger, or a 2 inch piece
- 1 tablespoon fresh garlic, pressed or minced (about 4 cloves)
- 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced into strips
- 1/2 orange bell pepper, sliced into strips
- 1/2 yellow bell pepper, sliced into strips
- 1/3 pound snow peas, or about 1 cup, cleaned and ends trimmed
- 1/2 medium red onion, sliced vertically
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch, plus 1 tablespoon cool water to make slurry
- 3 cups cooked long grain white or brown rice, for serving
- 1/4 cup sliced green onions, for garnish
- 1/4 cup lightly salted peanuts, roughly chopped (for garnish)
Instructions
- In a small bowl or measuring cup; add two teaspoons of the toasted sesame oil, the broth, tamari, rice vinegar and chili paste. Whisk to combine.
- Heat up your wok over medium-high heat. Add a tablespoon of sesame seed oil and swirl the pan to coat.
- Season the chicken with a few pinches of kosher salt and white pepper. Working in batches of two, add in half of the chicken in a single layer and stir-fry 2-3 minutes or until golden and fully cooked. Remove to a clean plate and repeat with the remaining chicken.
- Next, add in the ginger and garlic. Cook for 1 minute before adding in the peppers, snow peas and onion. Stir-fry the veggies for 2-3 minutes or until they glisten. Add the chicken back in and toss together with the vegetables.
- Next add broth mixture and bring to a boil. Quickly stir the corn starch with the water and add to the stir-fry, cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.
- Serve the Szechuan chicken stir-fry over rice and garnish with a few green onions and chopped peanuts.
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THANK YOU in advance for your support!
I love quick stir fries! I don't have a wok so I just use a regular pan. I haven't made chicken stir fry in a while though, so I'm glad I found this. I also like things super spicy so this sounds perfect.
SEEEEERIOUSLY. need.need.need.
This looks amazing! I love spicy stirfry dishes….yum!!!
This looks yummy laurie..Perfectly made..
Aarthi
http://www.yummytummyaarthi.com/
I have been exactly that way lately. We've eaten at least three Asian-style meals in the last week and I have one more planned this week. LOVE this. The flavors are perfect!
I tore this recipe out of the magazine. It looked so good! Ingredient list was super long, but I'm going to have to try it sometime. I just love all those bright vibrant colors! I bet this was amazing!
What a lovely and colorful recipe! Simple, too. Love your vibrant and cheerful photos, Laurie. Thanks for sharing!
Use your garlic press to press sliced "coins" of the ginger root, it minces it into small pieces but leaves the woody pulp behind. Do this over the bowl for the sauce to catch all awesome ginger juice while squeezing. I learned how to do this when a recipe called for ginger juice and suggested using a garlic press to get it out.
You stir fry looks amazing!
That looks brilliant–so colorful, and love all the photos! I am now craving stir-fry for lunch.
This might be a little forward…but…will you marry me? 🙂
I definitely crave bright, fresh flavours like this!
Yum. I love easy dinners. Added bonus when they are filled with my favorite healthy foods!
We are big fans of stir fry in this house, and this looks wonderful. The sauce sounds great, and all those beautiful veggies!
Ooooh I didn't know I was craving Chinese until right this very minute. I think I'll wait till tomorrow because getting out the wok at 10:30 at night seems odd.
It's a colorful and flavorful dish. I am already planning to cook it for dinner in next few weeks 🙂
Your Szechan chicken looks perfect. It is very bold in flavour and sounds really healthy, too. I will definitely cook this for dinner some day 🙂
Mmm, sambal olek! Looks like a wonderfully, spicy dish 🙂
I could seriously eat stir fry every day of the week. I love your addition of the heat and chopped peanuts!
Wow…I was just searching for this yesterday!!! L.O.V.E. your salt grinder…share where to find?? thanks!
Anonymous~ I bought them at our major grocery store (Meijer) here in Michigan. BUT I believe you can buy them online http://www.meijer.com They are Katie Brown and are about $17 each 🙂
I made this last week and it was SUCH a hit!! Yours looks incredible 🙂
We get on wok kicks in my house. I try to remember to use it often because it packs so many more crispy vegetables into us then we normally eat (actually, we could really use some now!). I see a menu change in the near future to sneak this in. 🙂
Such a wonderful blend of flavor and heat…just delicious and so healthy ..definitely a "keeper"…thank you, Laurie
Glad I saw this post as we are going to attempt some Szechuan Shrimp tonight. Hope it comes out as well as yours looks.
I made this tonight with shrimp and it wonderful. My husband and I are trying to eat healthier and this will be a regular addition. Thanks!
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Hi – just a “heads up” that I used your recipe for one of my cooking sessions – here’s a Shout Out to you on my blog today. They really liked this one, as this is the 2nd time they’ve asked me to cook it for them. Take care!
Susan
http://ourkitcheninventions.wordpress.com/2013/04/30/healthy-home-cooking-at-someone-elses-home/
Thanks Susan! I’m off to check it out! 🙂
I really like your photo presentation – it was so easy to see what goes in, and what it looks like coming. Nice clear photos, too! It’s so much easier to absorb than an endless list of ingredients!
Just made this recipe tonight and it turned out great! I wanted to use what I had on hand, so I substituted a block of tofu for the chicken (I may have upset the order of the universe by putting tofu in chicken broth sauce!), a roughly equal amount of veggies consisting of broccoli (cut into florets), red cabbage (cut into shreds) and carrots (cut into matchsticks), cashews for peanuts (due to allergy), and udon noodles for rice. I stir-fried the veggies a bit longer because I used crunchier ones, and gently stirred in the cooked noodles just before serving to coat them with the sauce.
This is so simple, thanks for sharing this recipe with pictures which make it easy to know.
Amazing! I’m pretty sure this is the best Asian dish I’ve ever made. My husband loves me a little extra today 🙂 THANK YOU