This minced chicken stir fry is incredibly flavorful and makes the perfect weeknight dinner. This dish is super saucy and delicious–everyone is sure to love it! The best part is that it all comes together in 20 minutes.
This minced (or ground) chicken stir fry starts with an easy, homemade, savory sauce with ingredients like soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, and ginger, and is added, along with convenient frozen bell pepper strips, to browned ground chicken and served over rice.
Your mouth will be watering as soon as it starts to come together. This recipe is one to keep on hand and make over and over again.
Ingredients
- Ground chicken: Ground chicken or minced chicken is one of my favorite easy proteins to add to weeknight meals lately. That’s what inspired this recipe, actually. It’s so quick and is a good change up from ground beef every once in a while.
- Sesame oil: Considering how lean ground chicken is, it’s essential to have some kind of fat when browning it. I love using sesame oil to sauté the chicken in because it starts the dish off with such good flavor for Asian dishes like this one.
- Frozen bell peppers: Frozen pre-sliced bell peppers are such a HUGE time save for cooking on weeknights. I don’t know why, but sometimes chopping a bell pepper just seems like too much. Trader Joe’s has my favorite frozen mix of red, green, and yellow sliced peppers, called Melange A Trois, which comes in a convenient 16 oz size. I love to keep a few bags of these on hand at all times.
- Rice: Instant rice is another common occurrence in our house on weeknights. You can’t beat having it ready in five minutes. It’s the perfect base for this saucy stir fry.
- Stir fry sauce: A combination of soy sauce, hoisin sauce, dark brown sugar, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes make the perfect umami sauce for this dish. These ingredients add different levels of depth, sweetness, acidity, fresh aromatics, and heat.
- Garlic & ginger: Here’s a little hack for these ingredients… First of all, I love using fresh ginger and garlic and I think it tastes so much better than any other form (dried/ground or pre-minced). However, these Gourmet Garden garlic and ginger paste tubes are such a life saver when I don’t feel like dirtying my garlic press or zester/grater.
How to Make Minced Chicken Stir Fry
- Make the stir-fry sauce. Combine the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, brown sugar, cornstarch slurry, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, and water. Set aside while the chicken cooks.
- Brown the ground chicken. Brown the chicken in a little bit of sesame oil until fully cooked.
- Add the sauce and peppers. Mix in that fragrant sauce and bring it back to a bubbling simmer. Then mix in those frozen bell peppers and simmer until thickened (about 8 minutes).
- Cook some rice. While the chicken and sauce is simmering, microwave your instant rice for just five minutes.
- Serve it up. Top the rice with the stir fry mixture and enjoy. This dish is so easy–you can have it on the table in just 20 minutes!
Notes & Tips
Substitutions/Additions
- Brown sugar: If you don’t have dark brown sugar on hand, light brown sugar is fine, too.
- Vinegar: You can substitute white vinegar for the rice vinegar in a pinch.
- Meat: This dish is really good with ground chicken, turkey, pork, or beef! This stir fry with ground chicken is my favorite, though.
- Bell peppers: If you’re starting with fresh bell peppers, I would recommend sautéing them separately before adding them to the sauce and chicken. However, if you decide to add them (raw) to the sauce, you may need to add another quarter cup or two of water and let it simmer for a little while longer until the peppers are perfectly soft.
- Add more veggies: mushrooms (canned are easiest), water chestnuts, broccoli, green beans, carrots, snap peas, and more! Keep in mind, the more bulk you add to this stir fry, you may want to add another half or full batch of sauce to keep it from being dry and bland.
- Noodles: If you aren’t feeling rice, you could definitely pair this stir fry with some udon or ramen noodles and it would be AMAZING.
What to Pair with Minced Chicken Stir Fry
This dish really is sufficient and satisfying on its own, but if you need a little more, you could pair it with:
- Vegetable on the side, like carrots, broccoli, or snap peas
- Steamed dumplings or potstickers
- Veggie spring rolls (here’s one you can make on your own)
- Homemade wonton soup
Storage & Reheating
This minced chicken stir fry is perfect for reheating as leftovers. Keep it refrigerated for up to five days and simply microwave to reheat. I like to store the rice in the same container underneath the stir fry to help prevent it from drying out. Additionally, you could freeze the chicken and sauce mixture for up to three months and thaw when ready to heat and use.
Minced Chicken Stir Fry
This 20-minute ground chicken stir fry starts with an easy, homemade, savory sauce with ingredients like soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, and ginger, and is added, along with convenient frozen bell pepper strips, to browned ground chicken and served over rice.
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 ½ tsp sesame oil
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 16 oz frozen sliced bell peppers (about 3-3 ½ cups)
- 2 cups instant white rice
- 2 cups water
Stir Fry Sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- ¼ cup hoisin sauce
- 3 tbsp dark brown sugar
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp cornstarch whisked into a tablespoon of warm water
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- ¼ cup water
Instructions
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Start by making the stir fry sauce. In a small bowl, add the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, cornstarch (make it into a slurry before adding by combining with 1 tbsp water), garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, and water. Mix well with a whisk or fork. Set aside.
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In a medium-sized skillet, add the sesame oil and heat on medium-high heat. Once heated, add the chicken and stir frequently, breaking apart larger pieces and browning evenly.
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Once cooked through, add the stir fry sauce and bring to a simmer. Add the frozen peppers and let everything simmer for another 8-10 minutes, or until thickens slightly.
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While the mixture is simmering, combine two cups instant rice with two cups water in a microwave-safe dish. Microwave on high for 5 minutes. Cover with a paper towel and let sit for 1-2 minutes after cooking.
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Serve the chicken stir fry mixture over rice. Enjoy!
