Quick and Easy Stir Fry
Updated Aug 22, 2024
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I love this quick and easy stir-fry recipe so much! It tastes amazing and it’s so much healthier than take-out. This is the perfect recipe for hectic nights when you want something flavor-filled but don’t want to spend an hour cooking!
I got this recipe from my sister (hi, Lachelle!), and it is so very delicious. The idea is that you cook up a little chicken, and at the same time, throw all of the ingredients for the sauce in a mason jar and give it a shake. Then you just add the sauce to the chicken, add some frozen veggies (Costco has a fabulous organic frozen stir-fry vegetable medley that we love), and then serve it all over hot rice.
It takes less than a half-hour to throw together, and the whole family loves it. It’s always a winner in our house, and the recipe will go in your quick meal rotation with ease. I can’t get over the flavors and simplicity; you’d think it was takeout when you eat it but it’s even better! Enjoy and pin it for later!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- This recipe is so quick and simple and is so delicious, you’ll definitely want to be adding it to your weekly meal plans!
- You can customize this to your liking, do noodles instead of rice, add different veggies, try new sauces, and have fun with it.
- Because this recipe is so simple it tends to be very cost effective!
Recipe Ingredients
- Chicken — beef or shrimp are good too!
- Olive oil
- Stir fry vegetables — frozen or fresh
- Rice — or noodles if you’d prefer
- Cornstarch
- Garlic powder — or fresh
- Ground ginger — or fresh
- Honey
- Soy sauce
- Vinegar — rice vinegar goes great
- Chicken broth
- Red pepper flakes — optional
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How To Make Quick and Easy Stir-Fry
- Cook until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the center.
- While the chicken is cooking, add all of the sauce ingredients to a quart mason jar, add a lid, and shake well to combine.
- When the chicken is cooked through, pour the sauce over the chicken. Stirring continuously, cook until the sauce thickens.
- Add the frozen vegetables, and cook until the veggies are heated through.
If you’d like the sauce a bit spicier, make it a few hours ahead of time with the red pepper flakes. Let the sauce rest in the fridge and re-shake it before you are ready to use. Letting the pepper flakes sit in the sauce will give them time to release more of their heat.
To ensure there are no cornstarch lumps in the sauce, I recommend combining the cornstarch and the cold water and shaking those together well before adding the additional ingredients.
If you don’t want to make rice or want to try something else, another great option for a stir-fry is to serve it with salad, fruit, steamed veggies, egg rolls or dumplings, or noodles. You can even change your rice to fried rice if you want to try something different!
Expert Tips
- Add fresh herbs like cilantro or green onions at the end of cooking for added freshness and flavor.
- As the name suggests, stir-frying involves continuously stirring the ingredients to ensure even cooking and to prevent sticking or burning!
- When cooking the meat, it’s best to cook in batches. If you overcrowd the pan, the meat will steam rather than fry.
More Easy Dinner Recipes To Consider
Slow Cooker Recipes
Slow Cooker Recipes For Spring
Beef Recipes
Julia Child’s Beef Bourguignon
Pasta Dishes
Easy Slow Cooker Vegetable Lasagna
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
Quick and Easy Stir-fry
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 package frozen stir fry vegetables
- Hot cooked rice, about 6 cups cooked
For the sauce:
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup vinegar
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 pinch of red pepper flakes, optional
Instructions
- Heat a large nonstick or cast iron skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add the oil and heat for 30 seconds. Add the chicken and cook until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the center.
- While the chicken is cooking, add all of the sauce ingredients to a quart mason jar, add a lid, and shake well to combine.
- When the chicken is cooked through, reduce the heat to medium and pour the sauce over the chicken. Stirring continuously, cook until the sauce thickens and the color changes from a muddy brown to a cleaner, reddish color. This should take about 3 minutes.
- Add the frozen vegetables, and cook until the veggies are heated through.
- Serve the chicken, sauce, and veggie mixture over hot cooked rice, and garnish with chopped green onion and sesame seeds if desired. Enjoy!
Notes
- Feel free to use fresh chopped veggies if you’d like; frozen ones just make things really easy. This is an easy recipe to use for what veggies and meat you like or have on hand. It’s very flexible.
- Cut your vegetables and meats into thin, even pieces. This ensures they cook quickly and evenly.
- Use an oil with a high smoke point like peanut oil, grapeseed oil, or vegetable oil. These oils can withstand the high heat of stir-frying without burning!
- Use a combination of soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil to create a balanced and flavorful sauce. Customize the sauce to your taste preferences.
Really, really good!! I regularly make Asian dishes, but I was really tired and wanted something that I could pull together quickly! I used ingredients that I had on hand, zucchini, red peppers, mushrooms, onions and tofu. I also added sambal olek and dry sherry to the sauce. It was so very good….def going to use it again even with frozen veggies!!!
This was fantastic & so quick! Wish I’d read the comments & halved the sauce, but will do that next time. Will make this again, for sure. I used coconut aminos instead of soy sauce…best stir fry sauce I’ve made! Thanks!
OMG!! So delicious!!! My husband’s first bite was followed by “Mmmm!” which I took as a win! Cooked a chicken in the crock pot all day and used that meat with frozen stir fry veggies. Super easy & quick!!! Thank you for this!!!
I think this made too much sauce but my family loved it. I think I may 1/2 the sauce next time so the veggies and meat aren’t swimming in it. I used 2 packages of Birds Eye 10.8 oz frozen vegetables (broccoli, carrots, sugar snap peas and water chestnuts).
I made this tonite. I halfed the recipe since I had about 1 lb of chicken. The sauce does change right before your eyes from muddy brown to glossy and gorgeous! I’ll be making this again for sure. Super easy and fantastic!
Made this tonight, it was delicious! Excited to try allllllll the things here, thanks so much!
I have the Costco bag, it’s 5.5lbs. When you say “1 package frozen stir fry vegetables” do you really mean 16oz, like other recipes call for? Or is this really meant for the 5.5lb bag.
Thanks!
LOL, definitely more like 16 ounces. I’ll note that in the recipe.
Yummy, this sounds so yummy!!
Have a nice weekend!
Cheers, Lisa | sustainable solo travel blog
Love this recipe! It’s now in our rotation of family favorites. I did change one thing and that was to cut the amount of cornstarch in half (but all of the other sauce ingredients I used in the full amount in the recipe). I felt like the sauce wasn’t “saucy” enough with the full amount of cornstarch, but that is definitely personal preference. If you want a quick and easy stir fry recipe, this one is great!
Great tip on how to make the sauce a little more “saucy” thank you for commenting and sharing! It’s always so welcome, helpful, and appreciated!
I did the cornstartch in half and it was way too runny, like watery. Would not recommend.
This is a delicious, no-fuss stir fry that is quick to make. I used white wine vinegar, a pinch of red pepper flakes and put the marinade in the fridge as suggested. It turned out wonderfully. My family loved it!
So glad that you liked it! Thank you for coming back to let me know!