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You are here: Home / Main dish / Best Healthy Chicken Stir Fry Recipe

Best Healthy Chicken Stir Fry Recipe

June 22, 2017 By Joe 9 Comments

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This healthy chicken stir fry recipe is full of spicy Asian flavors. It has delicious fresh vegetables, perfectly cooked chicken, and even some high-protein firm tofu. The whole family will enjoy this easy-to-prepare healthy meal.

Plate of chicken stir fry.

 

When it comes to easy to prepare, there is nothing like a delicious healthy chicken stir-fry recipe. It contains only healthy ingredients and is so versatile that you can use pretty much whatever cooked seasonal veggies you would like.

The fresh veggies are softened and then mixed with the delicious stir fry sauce. Make this for easy weeknight dinners.

Ingredients For Chicken Stir Fry

The lean protein that I used for this recipe was boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Chicken thighs can also be used if you prefer.

My daughter Amy is a vegetarian so a block of firm tofu was also cut into cubes, coated with oil and low sodium soy sauce, and baked until browned.

The vegetables that I used were broccoli, red bell peppers, celery, crisp carrots, garlic, and green onions. These were all fresh vegetables, but frozen could be substituted and the only thing that would be different is the cooking time. Since these are blanched before freezing they just require heating up.

We ate this delicious stir fry recipe with white rice. You could also use brown rice, cauliflower rice, or even rice noodles.

For a garnish for this healthy dinner recipe, chop up some green onions and sprinkle them with sesame seeds. For a little more heat you could add some red pepper flakes.

Raw chopped vegetables for stir fry.

 

Other Ingredients to Consider Using

Along with what I used in this healthy recipe, you could use bok choy, water chestnuts, baby corn, Mung bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, snap peas, snow peas, cauliflower, green beans, and Brussels sprouts.

It pretty much depends on what you like or have on hand at the time. I would shy away from Lima Beans though, (lol).

The Savory Sauce Ingredients

The flavorful sauce was made with low sodium chicken broth, low sodium soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, sriracha sauce, and corn starch for thickening.

This combination really makes a flavorful stir-fry sauce but you could also try adding grated ginger, a small amount of brown sugar, and oyster sauce for some added umami.

Putting It All Together

Once all the vegetables have been prepped, place them in a large skillet on medium heat with a bit of oil. I used olive oil but you could also mix in a slight bit of sesame oil as both are high smoke point oils. Saute these vegetables while occasionally stirring to mix and turn.

In 12 to 15 minutes the veggies should be quite soft. I prefer to have the vegetables pretty soft but if you would like a bit of crunch, lessen the cooking time to your liking. Remove them from the heat and place the cooked vegetables in a bowl.

In the same skillet, add 1/2 cup of chicken broth, (or substitute vegetable broth), soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, sriracha sauce, and minced garlic.

Bring this to a simmer, mix the corn starch with the remaining 1/4 cup of broth, and stir this into the sauce mixture. Bring this to a slow boil to thicken, then lower the temperature on your stove and add the cooked vegetables stirring to coat.

Close-up view of broccoli, carrots, and chicken.

In a separate skillet, cook the chicken pieces with a little olive oil on medium to medium-high heat to brown. Stir the chicken to brown the pieces evenly then add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and finish cooking until the chicken is cooked through which will take 2 or 3 more minutes.

If you would like to add the tofu to your meal, here is how Amy prepped and baked it. She used a 14-ounce block of firm tofu and the excess liquid from the tofu was squeezed out using paper towels between two plates and gently pressing liquid out. The tofu was then cut into one-inch cubes.

She then put the cubes into a small bowl and added about 2 teaspoons of olive oil and 1 or 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and mixed it well. Next, the cubes were placed on a baking sheet and placed in a 350° oven for 20 or 25 minutes until they started to brown.

Stir fried chicken with vegetables on a plate.

 

Vegetarian Friendly

The cut-up chicken breast pieces and tofu were cooked separately and added to the plated vegetables to keep them split up from one other. Amy didn’t mind having chicken broth but to keep this totally vegetarian, vegetable broth could be used instead.

This whole thing comes together in 40 or 45 minutes. It also allows you to use up some of those got-to-get-it-out-of-the-fridge-now vegetables. It’s all good.

We even added a few cooked baby potatoes leftover from the night before. Serve this with a side of basmati rice.

Below are the vitals for making this great healthy chicken stir fry recipe.

Here are some more tasty recipes to try:

  • Tangy Vegetarian Minestrone Soup  
  • Broccoli Cheddar cheese Soup   
  • Spinach Potato Quiche.
  • Hearty Vegetarian Chili Recipe
  • 8 Dinner Ideas with Hamburger and Potatoes

 

Chicken and vegetables stir-fry on a plate.

Best Healthy Chicken Stir Fry

Easy meal idea features perfectly seasoned vegetables and tasty chicken bites.
4.86 from 7 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Asian inspired
Keyword: chicken and tofu recipe, chicken and tofu stir fry, healthy chicken stir fry recipe
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 304kcal
Author: Joe Boyle

Ingredients

Tofu

  • 1 14 oz. Extra firm tofu sqeezed dry and cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce

Vegetables

  • 1 head broccoli cut into florets
  • 1 red bell pepper cut into bite sized strips
  • 4 celery stalks chopped bite sized
  • 4 medium carrots peeled and cut into 2 to 3 in. strips
  • 1 lg. garlic clove minced
  • 1 tbsp olive oil for sauteing vegetables
  • 4 green onions chopped for garnish

Chicken

  • 12 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or boneless, skinless thigh meat) cut into bite sized pieces
  • 1 or 2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce for cooking chicken

Sauce

  • 3/4 cup low salt chicken broth (substitute vegetable broth) divided
  • 3 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
  • 1 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp sriracha sauce
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup chicken broth
  • 1 cup basmati rice or other rice cooked to package directions
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Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°.
  • Drain and dry tofu, cut into 1" cubes and place in a bowl with olive oil and soy sauce. Mix well and place on a baking sheet and put in the oven 20 to 25 minutes until browned. Remove and keep warm.
  • Place broccoli, celery, bell pepper and carrots into a skillet with 1 tbsp olive oil on medium heat and saute until softened, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove to a bowl.
  • In the same skillet, add 1/2 cup broth, soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, sriracha, and minced garlic bring to a simmer then stir in the cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup broth. Bring to a low boil 2 minutes and add the vegetables back to the skillet and combine well.
  • In a separate non-stick skillet on medium heat, place chicken and stir to brown, 2 minutes. Add 1 or 2 tbsp. soy sauce and cook until the chicken is done, 2 to 3 more minutes.
  • Plate the vegetables with desired protein with rice on the side. Add green onion for garnish and additional soy sauce.

Notes

  1. Store leftovers in your refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Reheat in a microwave oven.
  2. Frozen vegetables could also be used but you would have to adjust the warming time so that you don't overcook them. They would just need to be thawed and heated up.
  3. Substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth if desired.

Nutrition

Calories: 304kcal
 

This recipe post was updated on June 16, 2022.

stir fried vegetables with browned tofu and chicken bites
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Filed Under: Chicken, Main dish, meats

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. David

    January 8, 2023 at 8:00 pm

    5 stars
    Delicious. I did the tofu in the pan before sautéing the chicken both with a little Asian spices. The sauce I used a little gochujang instead of sriracha and it was awesome.

    Reply
    • Joe

      January 8, 2023 at 8:14 pm

      Hey David. Thanks for the comment and glad you liked the recipe. Joe

      Reply
  2. Emily

    February 23, 2022 at 5:16 pm

    5 stars
    Really delicious! I’m trying to eat more vegan and my husband isn’t so this was perfect. The tofu was so delicious with it all! Used a number of dishes to cook but was mostly foods I always have at home 🙂

    Reply
    • Joe

      February 23, 2022 at 5:38 pm

      Hi Emily,

      Meat-eaters shouldn’t give a pass on tofu. It is really good when prepared right. Glad the recipe worked for you and thanks for the comment.

      Joe

      Reply
  3. Ellen

    December 4, 2017 at 11:54 pm

    4 stars
    Thank you! We enjoyed this. I made half the recipe, and my husband ate two servings and I was happy with one. My only change was a heaping spoonfull of sambal oleek, the chili paste. Loved the mixture of tofu and chicken breast.

    Reply
    • Joe

      December 5, 2017 at 12:03 am

      Thanks Ellen. The hot sauce sounds perfect with this.

      Reply
  4. MaryJo

    June 23, 2017 at 12:12 am

    5 stars
    This was a delicious meal and the tofu was so good that I kept popping plain cubes of the cooked tofu in my mouth when no one was looking when we were cleaning up from dinner. It was the tastiest tofu I’ve had!

    Reply
  5. Alan Howie

    June 22, 2017 at 6:31 pm

    5 stars
    Sounds good, looks good, and and tastes good. This is a perfect go to recipe for stir fry. Instead of using “got-to-get-it-out-of-the-fridge-now vegetables”, we look in the fridge and use “musgoes”.

    Reply
    • Joe

      June 22, 2017 at 9:16 pm

      Hey Alan, Amy’s stir fry sauce is quite good.

      Reply

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