This chicken and pepper stir-fry is better than any takeaway you can find. Made with lean chicken breast, fresh crunchy bell peppers, and a few readymade sauces like soy and sesame. The best part is that it's so easy to prepare, and takes less than 15 minutes to make this whole dish.
Table of Content
Nothing beats a quick takeaway. Right? Especially on busy days. But, I don't get good Asian takeaway here. So, I have to make it myself. Having lived in Singapore for over ten years, Asian food has now becomes home food for me. So fried rice and stir-frys are like home cooked food. I miss it so much here in the middle east.
While I was living lived in Singapore, I had the opportunity to share the apartment with a lovely Chinese couple who always cooked home food. I often ate meals with them. Sometimes I'd treat them to Indian food and then I'd also share their Asian food. In addition, we taught each other how to cook Asian and Indian dishes because we shared the same kitchen.
It really was fun and that's when I got hooked onto home-cooked Asian food. I love stir-fry and all those Asian dishes from Chinese to Thai, as well as Malaysian and Indonesian. I do miss life in Singapore very much. Ah well.
So, when I need something quick and easy to cook I love stir-fry.
- First of all, they are the best thing for working moms like me that have no time to cook.
- Furthermore, you can use frozen veggies, so your prep time is almost zero.
- Most of all veggies stay crisp and retain all the nutrition unlike boiling them.
- Rice or noodles take barely any time to cook. Noodles 4 minutes - rice about 16 to 20 minutes.
- And chicken is a much healthy meat option and cooks faster.
- Stir fry is high heat cooking and cooks so fast!! H
ence dinner in less than 15 minutes is a possibility. - Asian cooking is usually dependent on a pre-made store brought sauces which have a long (really long) shelf life. You can use them for a long time for such easy quick dishes.
Ingredients and substitute
- Chicken - The breast meat works best for stir fry because it cooks quickly and absorbs the sauce well. You can also make this with beef as I have in this stir-fry recipe Beef and pepper Stir-fry.
- Peppers - A great veggie to stir-fry because it cooks quickly and still looks bright and vibrant. I've used two colors today, and yet use whatever color you can find and makes your dish really beautiful.
- Onions - Sliced thickly these add a nice bite to the dish. If you don't like onions you can slice them up thin which adds flavor to the sauce as well.
- Garlic and ginger - Ain't no stir-fry without these two flavor boosters.
- Herbs - I love cilantro but Chinese parsley is most common in stir-frys.
- Fish sauce or Dashi - Is a fish sauce and is available in most Asian stores. And, if you like Japanese food, you must try. Dashi powder, which is powdered Japanese fish stock, is often used to make Miso soup.
- Sesame oil - Most Asian foods use sesame oil. Adding just a few drops of this can really give your stir-fry an authentic flavor. It also has a long shelf life, so it will last in the pantry for a long time.
The three golden rules of stir-fry
A stir-fry, if done correctly, is an absolute treat. The meat has to be well cooked, yet smoky not steamed. The veggies have to be cooked al dente, meaning cooked but with a bite not soft and not mushy. Getting it right means following these three golden rules.
- The right pan for a stir-fry is a wok. If you don't have a wok use, a light
sauté pan that you can heat on medium to high. Never use non-stick pots or heavy bottom pans. Non-stick will get ruined, and the heavy bottom pan will create steam. - Mise en
plas or prepare before you stir-fry. A stir-fry is a quick dish, which means you have to get all the things ready before you turn that heat on. Cut the ingredients you need, prepare the sauce, have the garnish chopped. Keep that serving platter on hand so you can take it off the heat quickly. - Quick cooking - Most stir-fry dishes take not more than 7 to 10 minutes on the heat. The idea of stir-fry is to cook quickly on high heat so keep that flame on high or medium-high. Use a splash of water when necessary to bring down the temperature of the heat in the pan. Never leave the
wok unattended (yup, don't answer that phone).
Step by step instructions
Prepare
- Cut chicken into strips - season with salt and pepper.
- Clean and cut peppers into thick strips.
- Combine all the sauce ingredients - and set aside.
Stir-fry
- Heat a tablespoon canola oil in a wok or saute pan.
- Add the sliced ginger and garlic - saute 30 seconds.
- Followed by the sliced onions - saute a minute more.
- Add the chicken - saute for 3 to 4 minutes until almost cooked.
- Next, add the peppers - saute for 2 more minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Then, add the sauce mixture making sure to stir the mixture (as the cornstarch settles down).
- Keep tossing so it all combines well in the sauce.
- Check and adjust seasoning.
- Sprinkle the chopped cilantro and spring onion greens.
- Remove from heat.
- Enjoy!
Tips for perfect stir-fry
- Stir-fry is quick cooking so always have all your ingredients ready before you start.
- High heat is always recommended for stir-fry. And yet, some veggies like broccoli, carrots, and beans benefit better from medium-high with a slash of water. While mushrooms and leaves benefit from high heat to quickly evaporate the released moisture.
- Also, when adding any liquid turn the heat up and stir at the same time so everything is coated in the starch before the water evaporates.
- Take the pan off the heat when done to prevent overcooking.
- Sometimes it’s best to transfer the stir-fry to a serving plate to prevent veggies going mushy.
- Use salt sparingly because sauces used in stir-frys have salt added to them as a preservative.
Frequently asked questions
The best thing about stir-fry dishes is that they are so versatile and leave you so much freedom to add or subtract. In this chicken stir-fry, you can use fewer or more peppers if you want. Try using more green and yellow rather than pungent red peppers. You can also add lemongrass, Chinese parsley, or dill just for flavor.
Absolutely! Try adding some broccoli, green beans, or carrot as I have done in my recipes for Chicken and green bread stir-fry, chicken and broccoli stir-fry. I use what is in season and I love adding colorful bell peppers when they are in seasons like my Beef and pepper stir-fry.
Yes, beef is very popular in stir-fry recipes. You can even try thinly sliced pork, chopped sausages. Also, fish and seafood is always a great addition on its own or alongside the meat in a stir-fry. Asian cooking uses pork and seafood in stir-fry dishes very successfully.
It is recommended to use soybean oil, vegetable oil, peanut oil or sunflower oil. All of these have a high smoking point. Any oil that works well for deep frying is preferable for stir-fry because a stir-fry is cooked on high heat. Olive oil, in contrast, is best used raw on salad and when cooking with a light saute method.
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Printable Recipe
Quick Chicken Stir Fry with Peppers
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Conversions Used
1 lb = 453 grams, 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 stick = 113g, 1 tbsp= 15 ml, 1 tsp= 5 ml,
Ingredients
For the Stir Fry
- 1 lb (450 g) Chicken breast ((about 2 breast) cut into strips)
- 3 cups (450 g) Bell peppers ( cut into strips)
- 1 tbsp Garlic ( thinly sliced)
- ¼ inch Ginger ( thinly sliced)
- 1 med Onion (sliced and layers separated)
- ¼ cup Cilantro (chopped)
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Pepper
- 2 Scallion or green onions (chopped at an angle)
For the Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Fish sauce or Dashi powder
- ¼ cup Water
- 1 tablespoon Honey
- ½ teaspoon Sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon Dark soya sauce
- 1 teaspoon Cornstarch
Instructions
Prepare
- Cut chicken into strips - season with salt and pepper.
- Clean and cut peppers into thick strips.
- Combine all the sauce ingredients - and set aside.
Stir-fry
- Heat a tablespoon canola oil in a wok or saute pan.
- Add the sliced ginger and garlic - saute 30 seconds.
- Followed by the sliced onions - saute a minute more.
- Add the chicken - saute for 3 to 4 minutes until almost cooked.
- Next, add the peppers - saute for 2 more minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Then add the sauce mixture making sure to stir the mixture (as the cornstarch settles down).
- Keep tossing so it all combines well in the sauce.
- Check and adjust seasoning.
- Sprinkle the chopped cilantro and spring onion greens.
- Remove from heat.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
Christine loy
Hi, I’m going to try this recipe, but is it necessary to put fish sauce, because I usually use dark soy sauce. Thank you
Veena Azmanov
Hey Christine. You can certainly make it to your taste. If you don't like fish sauce - feel free to omit it.
Jenn
Bring on the peppers! We put pepper in just about everything around here. It's one of the veggies the whole family can agree on!
Veena Azmanov
We love peppers too.. ! especially my Rhea.. loves peppers.. thanks for commenting
swayam
love a quick stir fry like this
Veena Azmanov
Thank you so much Swayam