Quick Hoisin Chicken Stir Fry. This is a stir fry with common ingredients at my local grocery store, ready with about 15 minutes of stir frying. (The hard part is slicing the chicken and veggies for the stir fry, but if you cheat and buy them pre-cut for stir fry at your grocery store, you can be ready to cook in minutes.) This recipe has cooking instructions for both a wok and a 12-inch frypan. (I know the frypan is not authentic, but it's what I use on extra-busy weeknights.)
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One of my kids, who is in college, got an apartment with a kitchen this year. He asked: "Where's the recipe for the stir fry you always made us, the one with hoisin, chicken, peppers, and onions?" That stir fry is based on a technique that I learned from Pam Anderson's How to Cook Without a Book. I wrote up my version of the technique years ago for the blog, and included a recipe for stir fried chicken.
But, when he followed that old recipe, I kept saying "do this instead." My current technique has changed from what I wrote seventeen years ago. (Seventeen years? Yikes.) So, I wrote a new recipe, with updated instructions, and watched while he cooked the recipe. He cooked while I took notes about the instructions, especially where he had questions. (Thank you for being patient with me, Tim!)
What follows is the hoisin chicken stir fry I've actually been making all these years. This recipe is a family document, so the kids know how I made one of the dishes they loved growing up. (Hopefully you'll like it too.)
Equipment
You need a large pan for this - a 14-inch flat bottomed wok, or a 12-inch nonstick frypan, or a 12-inch carbon steel frypan that is well seasoned. I know, I know, using a frypan for stir fry is blasphemy. I have both; I bring the wok out most of the time, but when I'm in a big hurry on a weeknight, I'll go straight to the nonstick pan.
Ingredients Notes and Substitutions
- Chicken: For this recipe, a package of stir-fry cut chicken breast is quick and easy. Personally, I prefer boneless skinless chicken thighs, which I cut into strips myself. Other meat options are beef (a package of stir-fry beef is also easy), or pork tenderloin or pork loin chops, also cut into strips.
Onion and pepper: Another cheat is buying pre-sliced onions and peppers, which are sold as stir fry vegetables at my local grocery store. You can substitute any color bell pepper for the red bell pepper, but I find the red bell peppers are sweeter, so they're my preference for this recipe.
- Shaoxing rice wine: I buy Shaoxing rice wine at my local Asian market, but dry sherry is a great substitute. (Japanese Sake or Mirin are also good substitutes). If you're avoiding alcohol, substitute a teaspoon of rice wine vinegar - vinegar is more sour, so I use a lot less.
- Hoisin sauce: Hoisin sauce is my favorite stir fry sauce, because it's everything you need in one jar. Teriyaki sauce is next on my list, or if you have your own favorite bottle of stir fry sauce, use it. You can also make your own stir fry sauce - a simple one is to mix together:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
How to make Hoisin Chicken Stir Fry in pictures
Marinate the chicken, slice the vegetables
Get everything ready before you start heating the pan - the cooking goes quick.
Stir fry the chicken in two batches
Don't crowd the pan, get it nice and browned on the bottom, then transfer to a bowl
Stir fry the peppers and onions
Less worried about crowding here
Chicken back into the pan and add the hoisin sauce
Swirl in the sauce (carefully measured - just kidding, we're eyeballing the amount here)
Toss to coat
Make sure everything is coated with hoisin sauce, then serve and enjoy!
Tips and Tricks
- Prep everything ahead of time: Normally I multi-task my food prep when I'm making dinner, but stir-frying goes too quickly. Make sure to have the chicken and vegetables all chopped up and ready to go before turning on the burner.
- Don't crowd the pan with the chicken: The reason I'm cooking the chicken in two batches is so I don't crowd the pan. If there is no space between the pieces of chicken, then you're steaming, not frying.
- Doubling the recipe: If you want to double the recipe, you can, but you need to double the batches. That is, 4 batches of stir-frying for the chicken, two batches for the vegetables. And, unless you have a very deep frypan (or the 14-inch wok), split the chicken and vegetables into two platters, and do the final "everything in the pan and swirl in the sauce" in two batches as well. (If your frypan isn't deep, you'll overflow the pan.) Also, if I had two 12-inch frypans, I'd make two batches side-by-side to double the recipe.
- Wok vs nonstick frypan: A wok is the obvious cooking vessel for stir-fry, but ... (I'm going to get roasted by the Wok Mafia for this) ... a large nonstick skillet is also good. The downside to nonstick is it can't get as hot as a wok, so it's less of a stir-fry (with lots of flipping) and more of a quick sauté on two sides. That's why I have the split instructions below.
- Why put the oil in the nonstick pan before heating it, but heat the wok before adding the oil. What's the difference? This is another difference between a carbon steel wok and a nonstick pan. You can heat carbon steel as much as you want, but nonstick coatings will start to break down at 500°F and release dangerous fumes. I add the oil to nonstick pans first because it acts as a thermometer - oil will start to shimmer well below 500°F, and even high-heat cooking oils will start to smoke below 500°F. Once you add food to the pan the temperature will drop, and you won't be in any danger - that's why it's safe to cook with nonstick pans.
- Aren't nonstick pans dangerous? I know nonstick pans are controversial nowadays. I'm old school enough that I can't give them up quite yet. If you're concerned about nonstick pans for reasons other than high heat (PFOAs used in manufacture, microplastics, the fact that they're essentially disposable tools because they scratch so easily), then I recommend you get a wok or carbon steel skillet.
- Use this as a technique and improvise from there: As you can see from the ingredients substitutions, above, this recipe is actually a technique that will work with any tender protein cut into stir-fry sized strips, and ¼ cup of any Asian-inspired sauce. (While I'm thinking about it, chili crisp is a great substitute for the hoisin sauce, too.)
- Simplest version: Skip the cornstarch - it velvets the chicken and gives it a nice coating, but it's not necessary. Skip the ginger, red pepper flakes, and green onions - garlic is the only aromatic. And, if you're anti-vegetable, you can even skip the bell pepper and onion, and go with a chicken-only stir fry.
Quick Hoisin Chicken Stir Fry
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Quick Hoisin Chicken Stir Fry. This is a stir fry with common ingredients at my local grocery store, ready with about 10 minutes of stir frying
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine (or dry sherry)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into ½ inch by 2-inch strips ("stir fry cut")
- 1 small onion, sliced ½-inch thick
- 1 small red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and sliced ½-inch thick
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1 piece of ginger the size of a quarter, smashed
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 green onions, trimmed, sliced into thin rings, white and green parts separated
- 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil (divided)
- ¼ cup hoisin sauce
Serve with
Instructions
- Marinate the Chicken: In a medium bowl, whisk the soy sauce, rice wine, and cornstarch until the lumps of starch dissolve. Add the cut-up chicken and toss to coat with the marinade. Let the chicken sit in the marinade until you are ready to stir fry - up to half an hour ahead if you have the time - tossing the chicken occasionally to coat it with marinade.
- Prep the Vegetables: Slice the onion and the bell pepper and put in a bowl. Smash the garlic and ginger, and slice the green onion. Put the garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, and white part of the green onion in a small bowl, and the green part of the green onion in a separate bowl.
- Stir Fry the Chicken in 2 Batches: Turn on the fan on the oven hood. If using a carbon steel wok, heat over high heat, then swirl in one tablespoon of the vegetable oil. If using a nonstick pan, put the oil in the pan and heat over medium-high heat until the oil is shimmering. Add half of the chicken to the wok or pan:
- In a wok: toss to coat with oil, and then stir fry until it loses its pink color and browns a little on the edges, about 2 minutes.
- In a pan: Spread the chicken out in a single layer, and cook without moving until it browns on the bottom, about 1 minute, then flip and brown the chicken on the other side, about 1 more minute.Pour the chicken from the pan onto a serving platter.
- Stir Fry batch 2 (the rest of the chicken): Return the pan to the heat, add the second tablespoon of vegetable oil, and let it heat for a few seconds. Add the second batch of chicken to the pan:
- In a wok: toss to coat with oil, and then stir fry until the chicken loses its pink color and browns a little on the edges, about 2 minutes.
- In a pan: Spread the chicken out in a single layer, and cook without moving until it browns on the bottom, about 1 minute, then flip and brown the chicken on the other side, about 1 more minute.Add the 2nd batch of chicken to the serving platter.
- Stir Fry the Vegetables: Wipe out the pan with a wad of paper towels, put it back over the heat, and add the last tablespoon of oil. Let the oil heat until it starts shimmering, about 30 seconds. Add the garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, and white part of the green onions to the oil, and fry for a few seconds (you don't want the garlic to brown). Add the onion and bell pepper to the wok or pan:
- In a wok: toss to coat with oil, and then stir fry until the peppers and onions brown on the edges, about 4 minutes.
- In a pan: Spread the onions and peppers out in a single layer, and cook without moving until they brown on the bottom, about 2 minutes. Flip the onions and peppers and brown on the other side, about 2 more minutes. - Simmer Everything With the Sauce, Then Serve: Pour the platter of chicken and any juices back into the wok or pan, and toss with the onions and peppers. Swirl the hoisin sauce over everything, then toss and stir to coat the chicken and vegetables with the hoisin sauce. Keep tossing and stirring for a minute, or until the hoisin sauce starts to thicken up. Pour everything from the wok or pan onto the serving platter and sprinkle with the green parts of the green onions. Serve and enjoy!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
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Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 cups of chicken peppers and onions
- Calories: 363
- Sugar: 7.8 g
- Sodium: 862.5 mg
- Fat: 15.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 14.2 g
- Fiber: 1.4 g
- Protein: 40.3 g
- Cholesterol: 124.6 mg
Storage
Leftover stir fry will last for a few days in the refrigerator, or for a few months if frozen. It won't be as good as fresh from the pan - everything gets a bit soggy - but it's still good over rice as a leftover meal.
What to Serve with Hoisin Chicken Stir Fry
This is almost a one-pot meal; all it really needs is some white rice to go with it. That said, I'll usually make a green vegetable as a side dish, like Pressure Cooker Chinese Kale or Green Bean Stir-Fry.
Related Posts
If you want a fancier stir fry, try my Velveted Chicken Stir Fry - it takes this recipe and refines it. For other Asian-inspired main dishes, try my Instant Pot Chicken with Shiitake and Sesame, Grilled Chinese Chicken Wings, Pressure Cooker Chinese Red Cooked Chicken Thighs, Instant Pot Salmon and Rice (One-Pot Meal), Instant Pot Coconut Rice, or Weeknight Fried Rice.
If you're looking for something else, here is my index of Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes.
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