Simple Chicken and Vegetable Stir-Fry

I love making stir-fry dishes after a long day. It’s ready to go in 20 minutes total and it’s always delicious. Stir-fry is an especially good thing to make if you’re trying to watch your carbohydrates and/or calories because you can add in as many vegetables as you like and you don’t need to add any noodles or rice. The main flavor that comes through in this particular stir-fry is Hoisin sauce. For the uninitiated, Hoisin sauce is, most often, made from soy, vinegar, garlic, sugar, red chili peppers, and sesame oil. It’s a wonderful sauce that is a bit sweet, a bit salty, and very mildly spicy (but not enough for anyone to actually call it spicy). It accompanies all proteins very well, and it’s a great change from just using soy sauce in your stir-fry recipes. It just adds a little something extra. My husband, who is a fairly picky eater, even went back to seconds and declared, “I could eat this three times a week.” I was shocked because this is a fairly simple recipe. The lemon juice adds some much needed acid, and the water chestnuts add a lovely crunch to the whole dish. The green beans that I got were amazing, as well; I hadn’t had them in a long time, and the produce at my local grocery store isn’t always the best, so I was really happy to find these bright, plump green beans. I had a can of mushrooms in my pantry for a rainy day; you know, those days where you are all out of produce and don’t feel like going all the way down to the store just for one ingredient, so I added those as well. The sauce for this stir-fry was something that anyone can make at home and any number of adjustments can be made. The beauty of stir-fry is that you can add whatever you like and it will always taste good. If you’re not trying to watch your carbs and calories, I highly recommend serving this over rice, but if you are, it’s just as good without. If you’ve never made stir-fry, do it! It’s something you can make in one pan, quickly, and with minimal effort.

The ingredients. You can really use any vegetables that you like.

Heat your olive oil in a large skillet or wok and saute your diced onion and bell pepper for 5 minutes or so, until softened, over medium-high heat.

Add in your chicken and cook until almost all of the pink is gone, but not quite.

Add in the green beans, cook for another 5 minutes or so, then add the combined sauce ingredients, toss to coat, then add in the water chestnuts and mushrooms. Cook until heated through and the sauce has thickened slightly. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Simple Chicken and Vegetable Stir-Fry
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2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup green beans
juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon Sriracha
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon Hoisin sauce (if you’ve never had it before, start with 2 teaspoons and add 1 more if it’s not too strong)
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons water
1/2 cup canned mushrooms, rinsed and drained
1 can water chestnuts, rinsed and drained

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or wok. Add in the diced onion and bell pepper and saute for 5 minutes over medium-high heat until softened. Toss in the minced garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add in the chicken and cook until almost all of the pink is gone, but not quite.

2. Add in the green beans and cook for another 3-5 minutes, then add in the combined lemon juice, sugar, Sriracha, soy sauce, and Hoisin sauce. Combine the cornstarch and water and add that in as well. Cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes, then add in the mushrooms and water chestnuts and cook until heated through. Serves 3 on its own, serves 4 when served with rice.

Tagged as: Asian, chicken, dinner, one-pot, poultry, recipe, savory, stir-fry, vegetable