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.
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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.
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Add in sugar snap peas, peppers, garlic, soy sauce, Chinese rice vinegar, brown sugar, sweet chilli sauce and tomato ketchup.
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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.
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
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)
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
Quick Chicken Stir Fry (without the shop-bought stir fry sauce!)
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breast fillets - sliced into bite-size pieces
- 2 tbsp cornflour/cornstarch
- pinch of salt
- pinch of pepper
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 cup sugar snap peas/snow peas
- 1 yellow pepper - deseeded and sliced
- 1 red pepper - deseeded and sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic - peeled and minced
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp Chinese rice vinegar
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
- 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 1 bunch spring onions/scallions - chopped
- 1 small red chilli - deseeded and sliced
To serve:
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place the chicken onto a plate, add the cornflour, salt and pepper, toss together to coat the chicken.
- Add the oil to a wok and heat on high. When the oil is very hot, add in the chicken and fry for 5-6 minutes – turning a couple of times until lightly browned.
- Add in the sugar snap peas and peppers and fry for a further two minutes
- Add in the garlic, soy sauce, Chinese rice vinegar, brown sugar, sweet chilli sauce and tomato ketchup. Continue to heat on high, tossing everything with a spatula, until heated through. Check the chicken is cooked by taking a large piece and slicing in half. If it’s no longer pink in the middle, it’s cooked.
- Stir through the chopped spring onions and the chopped chilli, heat for one more minute until they’re hot, but still crunchy
- Serve with rice or noodles.
Video
✎ Notes
- 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
Nutrition
This post was first published in March 2016. Updated in May 2020 with new photos, video and recipe tips.
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Jim Leunig says
Stuck to the recipe; turned out great; lovely taste; so easy; thanks Nicky.
Joanne says
This is so easy and quick to make and it’s delicious, my daughter said it was the nicest meal she has ever ate..WINNER!
Janet says
Very yummy. Easy to make. Also aded other veg sliced mushrooms, carrot sliced thin and a few broccoli floweretts. Was a win win with the family.