This healthy honey garlic chicken stir fry is loaded with colourful vegetables, tender pieces of chicken, and the most delicious sweet and savoury sauce. It’s the perfect dairy free easy weeknight dinner that the whole family will love. Plus it comes together in just 30 minutes!
A chicken stir fry is an essential recipe in any collection of simple 30 minute meals. It’s the kind of recipe you can throw together on any night of the week and be satisfied with both a comforting and healthy dinner. It’s also very customisable based on your tastes and what you have available.
This version uses the same sauce from my honey garlic tofu as it’s so simple to make, but so incredibly packed with flavour. With the perfect balance of sweet and salty and a good kick from the garlic, It really is the highlight of this dish, making it one that you’ll want to repeat again and again.
The other thing that I love about this dish is that we can pack in so many vegetables in all the colours of the rainbow. I love veggies but I am someone that has to consciously make an effort to make sure I am including a wide variety in my diet, so recipes like this are a great option as they make eating a big bowl of veggies so much easier and also a little fun.
If you’re looking for more healthy stir fry dinners for busy weeknights then definitely try this hoisin pork stir fry, these chicken satay noodles, or try this honey soy chicken which is one of the most popular recipes on the site!
Key Ingredients
Chicken stir fry is always a great option for a simple weeknight dinner, and can be used as a base for all the leftover veggies in your fridge. The real key to this dish though is the homemade rich, sweet and savoury honey garlic sauce.
Note all ingredients and their quantities are laid out in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Chicken – for this stir fry, I like to use chicken breast but you can use chicken thigh if that’s what you prefer.
- Vegetables – I like to use a combination of broccoli, mushrooms, carrot, capsicum (bell pepper), and baby corn as it provides lots of colour and variety but you can use anything you like and have on hand. You can use fresh or frozen vegetables as well, just adjust the cooking time as needed depending on what you use. You’ll need roughly 3 cups of vegetables total.
- Cornflour – also known as cornstarch in the US, this is used to coat the chicken before frying and also thicken the sauce.
- Honey – makes the sauce deliciously sweet and sticky.
- Soy sauce – adds a salty, umami flavour for the sauce that balances the sweetness.
- Rice wine vinegar – adds a little tang that balances the sweet and salty flavours.
- Garlic and ginger – adds lots of flavour to the sauce. I tend to use fresh garlic and jarred ginger as that’s what I keep on hand, but you can use both fresh if you prefer.
Equipment and Tools
This section may contain affiliate links which means I make a small commission on any purchase made with no extra cost to you. If you’re considering purchasing on Amazon I’d be so grateful if you would do so by first clicking one of these links. Thank you for your ongoing support.
- Wok – a wok is going to help ensure you get a even, hot, heat distribution while cooking which is essential for stir fry. Plus the flavour is so much better when cooking with a wok!
- Wok Spatula – makes tossing and flipping the ingredients while stir frying super easy, while ensuring that they cook evenly.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Making a stir fry is so easy but the key to success is in the prep. Once you turn on that wok, things will move very fast so you want to make sure you have everything ready to go and in easy reach.
I like to start by making the sauce first as that’s what requires me to move around the kitchen a bit collecting things from the pantry, but once you’ve mixed everything together in a small bowl, you can sit that aside and move onto your veggie prep.
Depending on your vegetable choice, you can get started washing, peeling and chopping so everything is ready to go. You want your veggies to all be roughly the same size.
Next, chop up the chicken breast into 1 inch pieces and place them into a zip lock bag or a bowl. Season with salt and pepper and add in the cornflour and toss well to combine, ensuring each piece of chicken is coated.
🤓 Why coat the chicken in cornflour before cooking? This step serves a few purposes. It helps give the chicken a slightly crisp, golden exterior when fried while also locking in the chicken’s natural juices, keeping it tender and preventing it from drying out during cooking which can often be a problem when cooking with chicken breast. The cornflour coating will also help the sauce stick to the chicken. This all results in a much more delicious chicken stir fry!
Now that you’re prepped, it’s time to cook! Heat some oil in a wok or frying pan and once hot, add the chicken in batches as needed, ensuring not to overcrowd the pan, and fry until golden brown. The chicken should be sealed but it doesn’t need to be fully cooked yet as it will have time to cook through later. Remove the chicken from the wok and set aside.
Add a little bit more oil to the wok and add in the broccoli, carrot, mushrooms, capsicum, and baby corn and stir fry until tender.
Add the chicken back to the wok with the vegetables and pour in the honey garlic sauce. Stir well to coat everything evenly and cook for another couple of minutes or until the sauce thickens and the chicken is cooked through.
Serve the chicken and vegetable stir fry over some cooked white rice and enjoy immediately.
Recipe FAQs
You can! Chicken thighs will add more juiciness and flavour since they have a bit more fat. Just dice them the same way and follow the same method.
Yes, you can easily! Just swap the soy sauce for tamari or gluten free soy sauce.
Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days and reheat in a pan over medium heat with a splash of water to loosen the sauce, or microwave in short bursts, stirring in between. I don’t recommend freezing this one.
I like to simply serve it over steamed white rice but you can also use brown rice, quinoa or your favourite noodles. You can also try it with cauliflower rice for a low-carb option.
If you do make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below! And tag any of your creations on Instagram with @eightforestlane as I would love to see.
More easy weeknight meals:
Spicy Pork and Peanut Noodles
20 Minute Chilli Beef Noodles
One Pot Cajun Chicken Pasta
Creamy Lemon Risoni with Grilled Chicken
Healthy Honey Garlic Chicken Stir Fry
Equipment
Ingredients
For the honey garlic sauce:
- ½ cup honey
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 1 teaspoon cornflour
For the chicken and vegetable stir fry:
- 500 grams chicken breast diced
- Salt and pepper to season
- 2 tablespoons cornflour
- 2 tablespoons vegetable or peanut oil divided for cooking
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- 1 medium carrot peeled and sliced
- ½ cup sliced mushrooms
- ½ red capsicum cut into pieces
- 200 grams baby corn cut into pieces
Instructions
- In a small bowl, make the honey garlic sauce by whisking together the honey, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, garlic, ginger, and cornflour. Set aside.
- Add the diced chicken to a zip-lock bag, season with salt and pepper and add the cornflour. Shake to coat the chicken evenly.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a hot wok over medium-high heat. Add the chicken in batches as needed, ensuring not to overcrowd the pan, and fry until golden but not fully cooked through. Remove and set aside.
- Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to the wok. Toss in the broccoli, carrot, mushrooms, capsicum, and baby corn. Stir fry for 3–4 minutes or until just tender.
- Return the chicken to the wok and pour in the honey garlic sauce. Stir well to coat everything evenly. Cook for another 2–3 minutes until the sauce thickens and the chicken is cooked through.
- Spoon the stir fry over cooked white rice and enjoy immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a guide only and is calculated using automated online tools, therefore we cannot guarantee the accuracy. We encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe.
Made this recipe? Leave a review!