Looking for a very simple recipe for your busy day? There’s nothing faster than Chinese chicken broccoli. This recipe only requires the stir fry technique to get a delicious dish in brown sauce. Besides, it only takes thirty minutes to reach your dining table. Don’t you want to know how to bring this into your dining room? Fortunately, you’re about to see the best recipe of chicken broccoli in this page.
The formula that makes this menu special is the ginger, garlic, broccoli, and of course the chicken itself. If you don’t feel like those two ingredients are enough, you are always free to add any vegetables or meat you want. You might be wondering if this recipe is too complicated for a newbie in cooking like you. If you’re seasoned cook, cooking Chinese food might sound scary as well. But this recipe is truly the safest.
Preparation to Cook Chinese Chicken Broccoli
- 1 broccoli, the big headed one, cut it into florets
- 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
- 6 boneless and skinless chicken thighs
- 2 cloves of garlic that has been peeled and chopped finely
- 3 spring or green onions, trim and slice them
- 1 inch of ginger piece, peel and chop it
- 2 tablespoons of hoisin sauce
- 3 tablespoons of soy sauce (you can add more if you want extra taste)
- 6 tablespoons of honey
- 6 tablespoons of hot water
When you’re looking for broccoli, make sure you choose the one that has bright green color also strong and firm stalks. Do not buy and cook broccoli that has woody stems. This kind of broccoli is going to become chewy and hard when you cook it. Broccoli that has yellowing florets is also a bad one. The yellowing florets are sign that the broccoli isn’t fresh and healthy.
Another sign of broccoli that’s not fresh is the compactness of the florets. If the florets are not compact, the broccoli isn’t fresh. So it is always best to get broccoli that has compact florets. If you’re done choosing the right broccoli, it is time to start the cooking.
Chinese Chicken Broccoli Cooking Steps
- Sauté or steam your good broccoli in order to soften your broccoli but make sure that its softness is still a little firmer than the softness you desire. Set aside your broccoli.
- Heat the wok on high heat then add a little oil. Start coking the chickens until they turn brown on the entire sides. Set aside your chickens.
- Fry your ginger, garlic, and spring onion for about thirty seconds inside your hot wok. If necessary you can add more oil.
- Add the sautéed chicken back to the pan. Then add hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and hot water. Bring your chicken to boil then drizzle it with some honey.
- Cover your chicken and simmer it. Turn and drizzle our chicken with honey again for between 7 and 10 minutes. You can keep repeating this step until your chicken is thoroughly cooked while the sauce is reduced.
- Now add broccoli then toss it with sauce until your broccoli is cooked.
- Your chicken broccoli is now ready to serve.
The best way to enjoy this dish is by serving it with homemade fried rice or Chinese noodle soup. This is going to make you feel like you’re in China. Below are some cool tips you might like for your upcoming dinner with chicken broccoli.
Chinese Chicken Broccoli Extra Notes
- You should not heat your wok or pan if you’re not finish preparing the entire ingredients. Making a stir fry is extremely quick. If your ingredients are not ready yet, you’ll burn your onions and it ruins everything, believe me. So make sure everything has been measured and cut before the stoves on.
- Before adding oil to your wok, make sure you set your stove on high heat. This is going to prevent your ingredients to stick to your wok.
- After adding oil to your wok, spread it through your wok’s surface in order to coat your pan well. The higher the smoking-point of the oil the better. This is including the peanut oil and vegetable oil.
- For you who desire thicker sauce, mixing a tablespoon cornstarch with one tablespoon cold water is going to help. Make sure the cornstarch becomes smooth and thickened. Then stir this mixture in your simmering sauce. Boil it and simmer it again. It is going to thicken your sauce.
- Add more texture and crunch by adding water chestnuts or unsalted cashews.
- If you want more colors in your chicken broccoli, add snow peas, carrots, and mushrooms. Brown rice is going to be a great companion for this dish.
- If hoisin sauce cannot be found easily around you, you’re free to use oyster sauce or teriyaki sauce.
Those are the rules to follow if you want your chicken broccoli comes to your dining table in a perfect look and especially taste. Chicken broccoli recipe above isn’t just tasty but also healthy at once. Want to see how healthy it is? Here, let me show you the nutrition you’ll get by consuming each serving of this dish.
Nutrition Contained by Chinese Chicken Broccoli
- 408 kilocalories
- 24 grams of carbohydrates
- 38 grams of protein
- 18 grams of fat
- 10 grams of saturated fat
- 161 milligrams of cholesterol
- 1087 milligrams of sodium
- 958 milligrams of potassium
- 4 grams of fiber
- 13 grams of sugar
- 101 milligrams of calcium
- 3 milligrams of iron
Not sure yet that chicken broccoli is good for your family? Then what are you waiting for? Go get the ingredients, cut them, and start making your own chicken broccoli for your dinner.
No matter how many additional vegetable ingredients you add to this Chinese Chicken Broccoli, make sure that you don’t cook them together with the chicken. When the chicken is still cooking, your vegetables are going to be overcooked already. At the end, your broccoli and other veggies won’t be as crunchy as they should be and you won’t enjoy the meal the way you should.