Healthy Chicken And Broccoli Stir Fry
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An Easy Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry Recipe that is healthy and delicious. Gluten free and easily modified for a paleo/keto friendly dinner.
If you’re looking for a quick, healthy dinner – look no further.
This Chicken & Broccoli Stir Fry is so easy to make and customize depending on what you have on hand/ your diet!
We love quick and easy meals – and this ‘stir fry’ is something we make all the time for a simple weeknight dinner.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- high protein – 30g of protein per serving!
- healthy ingredients – We took traditional stir fry and chose cleaner ingredients that are paleo, keto and whole30 friendly so that anyone with any diet can enjoy
- less oil – Typical stir fry is heavy on the oil, which leads to a high fat meal. This recipe uses 1 tablespoon of oil to cook the chicken and 1 tablespoon for the sauce, making the whole dish less than 10g of fat per serving.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make chicken and broccoli stir fry:
- chicken breasts
- broccoli
- olive oil
- honey
- coconut aminos – this is a gluten free altenative to soy sauce that we love. You can substitute with low sodium soy sauce.
- toasted sesame oil
- fresh ginger
- garlic cloves
- chicken broth or any bone broth
- lime juice
Important Note: This is not an authentic stir fry recipe. My goal is always to share recipes that are a bit healthier and made with affordable, accessible ingredients so everyone can enjoy them regardless of their food allergies or dietary restrictions. If you are looking for an authentic stir fry recipe – check out this recipe!
How To Make Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry
Making this stir fry is so simple. Here’s how we do it:
- Heat olive oil. Add in chicken and sauté for 10 minutes.
- While chicken cooks, whisk together stir fry sauce & chop broccoli.
- Once chicken has cooked, add broccoli + stir fry sauce. Cover and cook for 10 more minutes. While broccoli cooks prep rice or cauliflower rice if serving with rice.
- The broccoli should be fork tender after 10 minutes. Serve over rice, cauliflower rice or enjoy on it’s own!
Substitutions for Healthy Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry
Chicken- You can substitute chicken breasts with chopped chicken tenders or boneless skinless chicken thighs. To use flank steak, follow this Beef Broccoli Stir Fry Recipe. For ground pork, try Ground Pork Stir Fry.
Vegetables: Any vegetables will work in this stir fry. Peppers, mushrooms, onions or even zucchini can be substituted for broccoli. This Chicken Veggie Stir Fry is loaded with multiple vegetables.
Coconut Aminos: You can sub coconut aminos with low sodium soy sauce or bragg’s liquid aminos – but the recipe will no longer be paleo. If using Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, use HALF the amount – bragg’s is much saltier.
Honey: I haven’t tried it but I think you can sub honey with maple syrup
Ginger: you can substitute fresh ginger with 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Garlic: You can substitute fresh garlic with 1 teaspoon garlic powder
Chicken Stock: Chicken stock can be substituted with any broth/stock. Vegetable or beef broth will be fine
Whole30: Sub date paste for honey or skip sweetener.
Keto: Sub honey for keto friendly sweetener or skip sweetener
Secrets to Cooking Broccoli Chicken Stir Fry
There are three secrets I have to cooking chicken and broccoli stir fry:
- Butterfly your chicken breasts if they are big -If you’re cooking with really thick chicken breasts, make sure to butterfly them. To butterfly the chicken breast, lay flat on a cutting board, take a knife and slice open like a book. Here’s a link to a tutorial.
- Pounding chicken -Pounding chicken helps keep it moist and tender. It also prevents the bouncy texture that chicken breasts can sometimes get. To pound your chicken simply take chicken breasts and put them in between plastic wrap. Use a meat mallet to tenderize the chicken.
- Cutting broccoli evenly– If you don’t cut your broccoli evenly it wont cook correctly and different pieces will wind up soft or hard. Make sure to cut evenly!
Storing and Serving Healthy Chicken and Broccoli
Storing: I keep this healthy chicken broccoli stir fry in the refrigerator for up to 4 days
Reheating: You can reheat this chicken broccoli stir fry in a pan or in the microwave.
Freezing: We have not tried freezing this chicken broccoli stir fry but I think it would work!
Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry FAQs
Most stir fry recipes have a ton of flavor as is. If you’re looking to add more flavor to a stir fry try adding in a little bit of: soy sauce/coconut aminos, sriracha, fresh ginger, garlic, scallions or rice wine vinegar.
To make stir fry chicken tender make sure to pound the chicken ahead of time. It helps the chicken remain moist. Also make sure to not overcook the chicken. Overcooking the chicken can make it dry and bouncy.
Yes, you don’t need to boil broccoli for stir fry. Simply add it to the pan with a little liquid and cover it. The broccoli will steam itself.
You don’t have to cook broccoli before stir fry. You can cook it if you’d like, but you don’t need to.
Chicken and broccoli sauce is usually made of soy sauce, ginger, garlic and toasted sesame oil.
Other healthy takeout recipes:
We love healthier takeout recipes. Here are some of our favorite lighter dishes:
- Healthy Orange Chicken
- Lighter Chicken Fried Rice
- Healthy Sesame Chicken
- Ginger Garlic Chicken
- Ground Beef Stir Fry
- Cashew Chicken
- Cauliflower Fried Rice
- Instant Pot Orange Chicken
- Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli
- Healthy Shrimp Stir Fry
- Instant Pot Fried Rice
- Healthy Chicken Pad Thai
- Healthy Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe
Love chicken? If so – here are some of our other favorite healthy chicken recipes!
Broccoli Chicken Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken breasts cut in 1 inch cubes
- 1 lb broccoli florets quartered, about 4 cups
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Stir Fry Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons coconut aminos
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated OR 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon garlic cloves ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/3 cup chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon lime juice half of a lime
- 1 cup brown rice
- Optional: 1 teaspoon tapioca starch or cornstarch
Instructions
- In a pan, heat olive oil. Add in chicken and saute for 10 minutes. The chicken should be browned on all sides
- While chicken cooks, whisk together stir fry sauce & chop broccoli.
- Once chicken has cooked, add broccoli + stir fry sauce. Cover and cook for 10 more minutes.
- While broccoli cooks prep rice or cauliflower rice if serving with rice.
- The broccoli should be fork tender after 10 minutes.
- Serve over rice, cauliflower rice or enjoy on it’s own!
- Optional: If you like a thicker stir fry sauce you can whisk in cornstarch before adding the sauce to the pot. This is totally unnecessary and it will be fine without it.
Never get take out again!!!!
This recipe is a must try. So simple to make but full of flavors
Can you omit the sesame oil? My daughter has a sesame allergy. Thanks!
It adds a lot of flavor. You can omit it but it might not taste as good!
This was pretty easy! And I actually felt good about eating it knowing everything was healthy. I made 6 servings so I can eat it throughout the week. Definitely making this again!
Very tasty! Easy to make too! I had some spinach I threw in.. so yummy!
Looks delicious
Thank you for always providing delicious and easy recipes. This is another great one! Your site is my first stop when looking for a recipe, I know you will have no fuss, quick, and delicious recipes that don’t need 20 weird ingredients I probably don’t have.
So simple and so delicious! I love how easy all of your recipes are to throw together. Also, I used frozen broccoli instead of fresh since it’s what I had on hand and it turned out great!
Thank you so much! So glad you liked it! I need to try this with the frozen broccoli – we always have that on hand too!
So tasty and simple to make! I made this for my family and we all enjoyed it. Including my toddler and picky preschooler! Love finding recipes that expose my kiddos to new flavors while also being clean and healthy. Will definitely be adding this to our weekly lineup.
So happy you liked it, Alina! Thank you so much!
Another DELICIOUS recipe!! Loved the stir fry sauce and the way it combined with the chicken and broccoli.
Thank you so much, Ashley!!
I just made this recipe! Not only was it quick and easy, it tastes FANTASTIC!! I will definitely be making this again soon!!
So glad you liked it, Lori!