Easy Chicken Snow Pea Stir Fry
An easy chicken snow pea stir fry with bell peppers and flavored with a fresh ginger, garlic, sambal oelek, and soy sauce, this meal comes together in 30 minutes.
Easy Chicken Snow Pea Stir Fry
I’ve been on such a stir fry kick lately! My stir fry consumption these past few months has been fairly high. For whatever reason, I’m just really into them lately. One of my favorites is this easy shrimp stir fry. I’ve been wanting to make a simple chicken version of that dish for a while, and recently decided to go for it.
This dish comes together extremely quickly, making it an ideal weeknight dinner when you are looking for something flavorful, fast, and easy. Most of the flavors come from staple ingredients in my pantry and fridge, such as fresh garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sambal oelek (chili paste), and sesame oil.
The rest of the fresh produce in this chicken snow pea stir fry are easily accessible, and fairly interchangeable. Just be sure to use ingredients that will are ideal for a stir fry situation (ie. ones that cook quickly!).
I love, love, love to serve this with homemade coconut rice (recipe coming soon!).
While steamed jasmine or brown rice will complement this dish just as well, the creaminess and slight sweetness of coconut rice adds another dimension of flavor and kicks this entire dish up another notch.
Tips to Easy Chicken Stir Fry Recipe Success:
- Dark Soy Sauce is richer in flavor than regular soy sauce (ie. commonly referred to as ‘light’ soy sauce in Asian cooking – not to be confused with low-sodium soy sauce!). It has notes of mushroom and is far more syrup-y in texture to standard soy sauce. It can be a trickier to find, but is a wonderful ingredient to keep on hand if you wish to delve into more authentic Asian cooking. Dark soy sauce can be purchased online or found in most specialty Asian grocery stores. I recommend Pearl River Bridge brand (affiliate link). If you cannot find or don’t wish to purchase it, feel free to substitute with your average store-bought soy sauce, adjusting the amount as necessary to suit your taste – you might need a touch more!
- Sambal Oelek (ground chili paste) can be found in the Asian aisle of most super markets. Huy Fong Foods is a good everyday brand (affiliate link). If you are sensitive to spicy foods, feel free to reduce the quantity slightly. If you love spicy foods, increase as desired.
- Fresh herbs, such as cilantro, can take your average stir fry to another level. While I’ve listed cilantro in this recipe, Thai basil leaves and/or fresh torn mint leaves would be great as well.
Easy Chicken Snow Pea Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce or regular soy sauce; see notes
- 1 tablespoon sambal oelek
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil divided
- 1¼ lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts sliced crosswise into thin strips
- 2 tablespoons minced ginger
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 4 scallions, green and white parts separated thinly sliced on a bias
- 1 lb (16 oz) snow peas, trimmed sliced in half on a bias
- 1 red bell pepper seeded and sliced into thin strips
- dried red pepper flakes optional
- kosher salt to taste
- 1 lime cut into wedges
- fresh cilantro, roughly chopped for serving
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together the dark soy sauce, sambal oelek, water, and cornstarch.
- Heat a large skillet (or wok) over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add the chicken and stir fry until the pieces have separated and are lightly browned and nearly cooked, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a large plate.
- Wipe out the pan and heat the remaining tablespoon of sesame oil over medium-high heat. Add the ginger and sauté for a minute, or until softened slightly, stirring continuously. Add the garlic and white bottoms of the scallions, and sauté for an additional 30 seconds or so, or until fragrant. Add the snow peas and bell pepper. Sauté until they are just beginning to soften, roughly 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add the chicken back into the pan with the soy sauce-sambal oelek mixture and cook, stirringly continuously, until the sauce has thickened a bit and lightly coats the chicken. Continue cooking just until the chicken is cooked through. Sprinkle on the remaining sliced scallions. Season to taste with a pinch of red pepper flakes (optional), fresh lime juice, and salt as needed.
- Serve on top of rice with lime wedges and garnish with fresh cilantro leaves.
Tips for Success:
- Dark Soy Sauce is richer in flavor than regular soy sauce (ie. commonly referred to as 'light' soy sauce in Asian cooking - not to be confused with low-sodium soy sauce!). Dark soy sauce can be purchased online or found in most Asian grocery stores. I recommend Pearl River Bridge brand. If you cannot find or don't wish to purchase it, feel free to substitute with your average store-bought soy sauce, adjusting the amount as necessary to suit your taste.
- Sambal Oelek (ground chili paste) can be found in the Asian aisle of most super markets. Huy Fong Foods is a good everyday brand. If you are sensitive to spicy foods, feel free to reduce the quantity slightly. If you love spicy foods, increase as desired.
- Fresh herbs, such as cilantro, can take your average stir fry to another level. While I've listed cilantro in this recipe, Thai basil leaves and/or fresh torn mint leaves would be great as well.
8 Comments on “Easy Chicken Snow Pea Stir Fry”
Amazingly good and easy! Fam of four all went back for seconds and not a single bite left in the end!
Thank you for the great feedback!
I made this and my husband said it was the best dish he has ever had, being shocked by this comment after eating it , it was delish. I did double the sauce ingredients and added 1 cup of chicken broth to make it saucier. I like a lot of garlic so i used 5 cloves. I also added mushroom to this also with a creamy coconut rice. It was amazing and will be come a staple recipe. I am gluten free so I had to use tamari soy sauce. I love finding recipes for using veggies more than meat. Thanks
Wow! Yay! I’m so thrilled to hear that. I love garlic too, so I often break my own rules and add like 5 extra cloves to everything I make, ha! No shame there. I always feel weird even including an “amount” of garlic, because it could be limitless in my mind. Love the addition of mushrooms too. Thank you for taking the time to leave your review and adaptations.
I made it last night. I put about 3 tablespoons of peanut butter in the sauce, too. It was really great! I loved the cilantro on top. I’l l definitely be making this again.
Love this recipe! I used the snow peas, scallions, and cilantro, from my garden. The cilantro adds another layer of flavor that was delicious. I didn’t have a red pepper, so subbed a carrot. Great spring dish!
testy and delicious dish thanks for sharing.
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The thing about stir-fries is that you can make them as simple or complicated as you want. Additionally, they are a great way to empty out the fridge of veggies, if it is getting close to the time that they need to be gone! I, also, love stir fries and this particular recipe looks marvelous.