My tasty chicken and veggie stir fry - a quick mid-week meal with a kick of chilli heat that you can get on the table in less than 20 minutes!

It’s very easy to fall into the stir fry trap - a few veggies, maybe some meat and a jar of stir fry sauce.
We all do it, but it can get boring very quickly! Sauces from a jar have their advantages, but making your own sauce can be just as quick and you can easily change it up to make an endless number of variations

This is a sweet and spicy version – made using sweet chilli sauce, chillies and brown sugar - plus a few other goodies. If you don’t want too much heat, then leave out the fresh chillies – my kids still eat every bite even with a little sweet chilli sauce!

What do we need

How to make it

Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.

Coat the chicken in a dusting of cornflour, salt and pepper, then fry in a wok with oil over a high heat until lightly browned and cooked through.
Add in sugar snap peas, peppers, garlic, soy sauce, Chinese rice vinegar, brown sugar, sweet chilli sauce and tomato ketchup.
Continue to heat on high, tossing everything together until heated through, then stir through chopped spring onions and chopped chilli, heat for one more minute until they're hot, but still crunchy.

Serve with rice or noodles.

Sauce Variations

You could add a little more sugar, plus the juice of a lime for a tangy-sweet sauce.
Try adding pineapple chunks and juice, a tablespoon of malt vinegar and sugar and an extra squirt of ketchup for a quick sweet and sour stir fry.
Add hoisin and oyster sauce for an earthier sweet/salty flavour

Pile in the veggies and watch the kids eat them up with no complaints! So much tastier than take-out!

More Stir Fry Recipes

Chinese Plum Chicken Stir Fry

Beef Chow Fun (Beef Stir Fry with Noodles)

Honey and Garlic Chicken Stir Fry with Cauliflower Egg Fried Rice

Quick Honey and Soy Chicken Stir Fry with Noodles (this one does use a shop-bought sauce)

Spicy Ginger Beef Stir Fry

Sticky Chicken Stir Fry

Chicken thighs or breast?

You can use either for this recipe. Coating the chicken in the cornflour helps to keep the chicken juicy and tender, so go with your own preference.

I use chicken breast for this recipe because I find chicken breast generally less fiddly to slice up.

Vegetarian version

Swap out the chicken for quorn, mushrooms or tofu for a vegetarian alternative.

Veggie swaps/additions

You can use whatever you've got in that will cook relatively quickly over a high heat. Such as:

Baby corn, beansprouts, bamboo shoots, tender stem brocolli, strips of carrot, asparagus, strips of cabbage (white or green), leeks, radish or courgette (zucchini).

What to serve with chicken stir fry

Boiled Rice – check out my full post on how to boil rice (the method I ALWAYS use)
Special Fried Rice – masterclass post on getting it perfect!
Just leave the chicken out of my Lo Mein recipe for a lovely noodle side dish

If you’ve tried my recipe then please rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing your thoughts and add-ons to my recipes!
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Watch how to make it

This post was first published in March 2016. Updated in May 2020 with new photos, video and recipe tips.

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Hi I’m Nicky

I love to cook and I want to share with you my favourite, delicious family friendly recipes. I want to inspire you to create fantastic food for your family every day.

Quick Chicken Stir Fry