This Chicken and Broccoli recipe is ultra-quick and easy to make, and tastes SO delicious!
For those nights when you just need dinner on the table…like that…this easy chicken and broccoli recipe won’t let you down!
It’s been one of my go-to quick and healthy dinner standbys for years and years now. And, since I first posted this recipe on the blog four years ago, thousands of you have now also made and loved it, and reported back that it’s one of your faves too. Understandably! This one is incredibly quick and easy to make, the zesty stir-fry sauce is made with simple ingredients you like keep stocked your pantry, and that classic duo of chicken and broccoli always has a way of hitting the spot. Simple and healthy stir-fry FTW!
That said, as much as I love the classic chicken and broccoli combo, I should note that this recipe’s incredibly versatile if you want to mix things up. For example, feel like subbing in a different protein? Go for it. Have some leftover zucchini or onions or bell peppers or other veggies on hand? By all means, toss ’em in too. Feel like serving it up over quinoa or noodles, or even just some sautéed greens? Use whatever you have! The sky’s the limit for customizing here. But…this base recipe is an excellent one to bookmark as a good place to begin.
So that when life gets busy, yet you still want a healthy homemade dinner you can feel good about, this winner winner of a chicken dinner can be on the table in no time.
Chicken and Broccoli | 1-Minute Video
First, a quick tutorial on how to chop broccoli, in case you need a refresher.
As you can see, there’s not much to it. Just cut up a few chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces. Sauté them in a skillet until cooked through. Then add the chopped broccoli and sauté for a few more minutes with the chicken, until it turns bright green and slightly tender (but I like mine to still be very crisp).
Then meanwhile, as the chicken and broccoli are cooking, whisk together a simple stir-fry sauce. As I mentioned above, I’ve kept the ingredients for this one limited to a short list of pantry staples. So (hopefully!) it should be an easy one to whip out, without having to make an extra trip to the store. Just stir it in at the last second and stir for a minute or so, until thickened.
Then this quick and easy dinner will be ready to go! Enjoy, everyone!
Chicken and Broccoli
Ingredients
Stir-Fry Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
- salt and pepper
- 1 batch Stir-Fry Sauce (see below)
- 1 bunch broccoli, chopped into small florets, stem discarded
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- toppings: sliced green onions, toasted sesame seeds
Stir-Fry Sauce Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/3 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
Instructions
To Make The Stir-Fry:
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts, and season with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is browned and mostly cooked through.
- While the chicken is cooking, make your sauce. (See below.)
- Once the chicken is browned, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and broccoli, and stir to combine. Continue cooking for an additional 3 minutes, until the broccoli is bright green. Stir in the sauce, and cook for an additional 1 minute until the sauce has thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the sesame oil until combined.
- Serve warm, garnished with green onions and toasted sesame seeds. Or transfer to a sealed container and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
To Make The Sauce:
- Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl until combined.
Notes
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
We loved the recipe. Was fantastic! Only thing, next time I will double the sauce because it was so good! ??
Awesome, so glad you enjoyed it!
Made this tonight and absolutely adding it to the rotation. Both my 4 and 2.5 year olds ate it up, and the little guy is picky. I will absolutely add more veggies like water chestnuts and mini corn but my boys love broccoli so I’m happy regardless (I rarely use fresh veggies bc I stock up on frozen so that’s always more readily available to me and I can add more if I want extra and leave the rest frozen so it’s not TOO much and no waste. I just cooked it on the microwave until it was close to room temp and tossed it in the pan). I’m also going to double this as my ONLY complaint is there isn’t a lot leftover. We aren’t big eaters, either. This was SO fast and SO easy. Might tone down the rice vinegar bc it was a little strong but might not. I’ve been meaning to introduce brown rice into our diets and this dish really worked well with it. Thank you!
We’re so glad to hear that, Laura — thanks for sharing with us! :)
This is a great, basic stir fry that’s really easy to put together! In addition to the chicken and broccoli I added 8 oz of sliced mushrooms, a few bell peppers, and a small handful of shredded carrots because I like a variety of veggies in my stir fry. Delicious! Thanks for the recipe :)
Thank you, Stephanie — we’re so glad you enjoyed it and we love the veggies you added! :)
This is delicious!!! I have 2 small children so something easy and healthy is great, and this was!! I am for sure going to be making this often!! Thank you!
Thank you, Suzanna — we’re so happy you all loved it! :)
Kikkoman makes a gluten free, preservative free soy sauce ?
It’s great. I make a double batch so there’s plenty to go around.
Thanks, Jim — we’re happy you enjoyed it!
I really, really don’t like the flavor of soy sauce (I think I’m probably the only one on the planet who doesn’t). Would sweet and sour sauce suffice?
Hi Teresa! Do you like fish sauce by chance? That would be much closer to soy sauce (but maybe too close?) You could certainly do sweet and sour sauce if you prefer. We hope you enjoy!
Came across this last night. Just happened to have all ingredients, it was amazing and simple! Absolutely making again, thanx
Thanks for sharing with us, Brandon — we’re so happy you enjoyed it!
Did you know that you can peel the stems of broccoli with a paring knife or a peeler and the inside is just as good, if not better, than the florets themselves? Saw it on Jacque Pepin and been doing it ever since. He also says that when the inside of mushrooms gets black and you think they’ve gone bad, that’s when the flavor is at it’s very peak. I hate wasting good mushrooms!
Hi Mary Beth,thanks for sharing this info with us, we’ll have to try both of those tips! :)
Sorry I’m new to GF but I was told soy sauce was one thing I needed to stay away from and it’s an ingredient in this recipe. What am I missing?this sounds delicious and got great reviews but it’s listed as GF.
Hi Stacy! We’re not sure where you see the Gluten Free tag in the recipe, but you can just use Tamari instead of the soy sauce (it’s very, very similar and is gluten-free). We hope this helps!