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 salt
- pinch pepper
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 85 g (1 cup) sugar snap peas/snow peas
- 1 yellow pepper deseeded and sliced
- 1 red pepper deseeded and sliced
- 2 cloves 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, and toss together to coat the chicken.3 chicken breast fillets, 2 tbsp cornflour/cornstarch, pinch salt, pinch pepper
- 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.2 tbsp vegetable oil
- Add in the sugar snap peas and peppers and fry for a further two minutes85 g (1 cup) sugar snap peas/snow peas, 1 yellow pepper, 1 red pepper
- 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 it in half. If it’s no longer pink in the middle, it’s cooked.2 cloves garlic, 4 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp Chinese rice vinegar, 3 tbsp brown sugar, 3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce, 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
- Stir through the chopped spring onions and the chopped chilli, and heat for one more minute until they’re hot, but still crunchy1 bunch spring onions/scallions, 1 small red chilli
- Serve with rice or noodles.boiled 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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This post was first published in March 2016. Updated in May 2020 with new photos, video and recipe tips.
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I’ve tried this today and it was great. Thank you
My whole family love this and they are picky eaters!
Thanks Kelly,
Really glad you and your family loved the recipe 🙂
Chris & Nicky
Thank you – I’ve made this several times now and it’s delicious!
I left out the sugar as I found that with the sweet chilli sauce and ketchup it was sweet enough. I also wanted a little more of the sauce so I now times the sauce ingredients by 1.5 x to create more of that lovely sticky sauce.
I have tried with both mange tout and sugar snaps and found mange tout work the best. I also did a variation where I added cubes of pineapple which took it to another level of deliciousness.
Great recipe – even a real beginner or terrible cook couldn’t get this wrong.
Thanks soo much Philippa, I’m really loving the idea of adding pineapple into this one. I’m definitely going to give that a try.
Thanks again
Chris & Nicky 🙂
This was awesome thank you!
I made this recipe, and it turned out great. Thank you!
Thanks Verore, so glad you liked it 🙂
Great recipe, worth it to buy the Thai sauce and Chinese vinegar (I used black vinegar, I think it’s the same) at an Asian Grocery. I had spinach, cauliflower and carrots in my fridge so I decided to cook them individually before the chicken. I quickly sauteed the washed spinach, removed it and squeezed out the water. I sauteed the cauliflower then decided to add some water to boil/steam it for 10 minutes. I took that out and sauteed the carrots. I added the vegetables back in after the chicken was cooked. I finally got perfectly cooked veggies in a stir fry recipe I ‘changed up’. Cooking vegetables correctly has always been difficult for me – either too soggy or too hard. I highly recommend cauliflower over broccoli – it’s texture is so much better the next day. Thanks for the recipe! Some day I’ll try your veggie combo, it looks so colorful!
Sounds awesome! Thanks so much Jackie 🙂
Tried this and it was very nice!!
Fab! Thanks for letting me know Tash 🙂
So glad to see you made your own sauce. Very impressive.
Thanks Nadia 🙂
Asian cooking is a passion of mine, this recipe looks easy and delicious, thanks!
Thanks Judy 🙂
I love a quick dinner idea and this looks like something my kids would love!
Excellent, glad you like it Karen 🙂