Pepper Chicken Stir Fry recipe is ridiculously easy to make with ingredients that you already have in your pantry. Fast, full of flavour and best served with some steamed rice.
Stir fries are such a great way to make dinner because they are so quick to put together. Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry and Teriyaki Chicken stir fry are some of my favourites!
We usually have a couple of sauces like soy sauce and oyster sauce always in our pantry so that recipes like this can come together in a jiffy.
I know how hard it can be to think of unique dinner recipes every day which is why once in a while, you need a back pocket recipe that you can keep going back to. And this healthy chicken stir fry recipe is fast, easy, and is made with ingredients that don’t need a trip to the grocery store.
My family is always ready to give chicken a go, in every shape and form from Old Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings to Chicken Divan, so we always have a few chicken breasts in the freezer.
How to Make Chicken Stir Fry
This recipe starts with making the chicken stir fry marinade with soy sauce, minced garlic and ground pepper and marinating the chicken in it for at least fifteen minutes. This helps build more flavour in the chicken and creates a nice base for this recipe.
The total cooking and stir frying time is only 20 minutes, and you can chop up all your ingredients while the chicken is marinating. We add some finely chopped ginger and garlic, diced onions, green and red bell peppers and a few sauces to finish this off, once the chicken is cooked. And then you just toss everything together.
We coat the marinated chicken pieces in a little cornstarch to get them nice and crisp in the pan before stir frying them with the rest of the ingredients.
This adds a little crispness to the chicken and helps keep the flavours intact. The chicken is cooked on a high flame to get a nice sear, and since these are small pieces of chicken breasts, they cook in under ten minutes.
I love using both green and red bell peppers because they add a sharp flavour with a hint of sweetness to this recipe. But feel free to mix that up with yellow or just go with one variety. You could even make this a chicken broccoli stir fry if that’s what you fancy!
Once everything is tossed in that delicious easy chicken stir fry sauce, you’ll be going at it right from the pan itself. The sauce that coats the chicken is incredibly delicious, and spooned over some steamed rice, sichuan rice or even Cauliflower Rice, it makes for the perfect dinner!
MORE EASY ASIAN INSPIRED RECIPES!
- Chicken Pad Thai
- Easy Mongolian Beef
- Chicken Lo Mein
- Pineapple Teriyaki Shrimp Foil Packets
- General Tso’s Chicken
This chicken stir fry with vegetables also makes for great leftovers and actually tastes better as time goes by.
Easy Pepper Chicken Stir Fry
Ingredients
For the Marinade
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons less sodium soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
For the Stir Fry
- ¼ cup oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons less sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup water
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch divided
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil divided
- 1 large onion cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 medium green bell pepper cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 medium red bell pepper cut into 1 inch pieces
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients listed under marinade including the chicken and set aside for at least 15 minutes.
- Whisk together oyster sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, black pepper, half cup water and one tablespoon of cornstarch and set aside.
- Once the chicken has marinated, toss it in remaining two tablespoons cornstarch.
- Heat two tablespoons oil in a large pan and add the chicken pieces. Don't overcrowd the pan and if your pan is not large enough, do this in batches. Cook the chicken pieces on high heat for 3 minutes on each side. Remove the pieces from the pan and set aside.
- Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the pan on high heat, and add the onions and bell peppers. Toss them in the pan for a minute or two till they brighten up in colour and have cooked slightly. Toss in the ginger and garlic and cook for another minute.
- Add the chicken pieces and sauce mixture to the pan. Toss everything well, and simmer for a minute or two till the sauce thickens and coats the chicken well. Serve hot with steamed rice or veggies on the side.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner
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Repin this Simple Stir Fry Recipe
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Amazing!! I have tried numerous chicken and pepper recipes and this is by far the BEST. One modification, since I am a ginger lover I added some to the marinade. This recipe is a keeper
This is so good and I love the peppery flavor!!! Will be adding to my rotation!! I served over jasmine rice and steamed broccoli !! So flavorful!!!
Made this tonight, it was absolutely delicious.
All the time was in the prep…but doable.
Will do certainly do soon and often…great basics for someone adventuresome. Ty
This is delicious. However, I am not giving it the highest rating because the time was wildly underestimated. The prep time took at least 1/2 hour, excluding gathering all the ingredients.
When would you add the broccoli or other veggies?
Hi Laura, I would add them in Step 5. Depending on the vegetables you are adding you might want to add them in stages. Letting vegetables such as celery and carrots cook for a bit before adding in the broccoli and bell peppers.
not quite as simple as stated but not difficult either and it was delicious!
Love this web site
This recipe is soo easy and delicious!!! Will have this on my rotation!!!
Great recipe put together buy we didn’t like the flavor
Sorry to hear that Stacy. Thanks for trying it.
So good.
Really good!! I doubled the sauce because we like it saucy and added sliced water chestnuts and straw mushrooms. Definitely a keeper.
what kind of vinegar does distilled white work
Yes, that will work perfectly
thank you
What can you use as a substitute for oyster sauce? I cannot have that or the mushroom vegetarian substitute oyster sauce.
I’ve only made this as written but oyster sauce is a bit sweet so perhaps a bit of hoisin sauce if you have it on hand.
Thank you Holly. I wanted to try this tonight and didn’t have oyster sauce in. Going to try it with hoisin as you suggested. Oyster sauce going on the grocery list for future use
I just made this meal and it came out amazing!
I love a good healthy stirfry, it’s a quick and easy meal to prepare especially during a busy week. This recipe was very easy and quick to put together, and the sauce was very flavorful, however we found it very salty. I’m not sure where the salt came from, I didn’t use an ounce of salt at all to this recipe. Could it have been the oyster sauce? Other than the saltiness it was a very flavorful sauce.
Did you use light soy sauce, which has lower sodium, Justine?
This has become one of my favorite dishes of all time, making it again today!
I just made this recipe and it is delicious! It was super easyMy whole family loved it!!!!Soooooo GOOD!
The chicken was amazing and the flavor overall…simply delicious!
My husband said it was the best stir fry he has ever had!
I added sugar snap peas and broccoli in addition to the peppers and onions.
Can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
Thank you!
My husband and I loved this meal! So flavorful like most has said! And so easy to follow. Thank you so much for making our stomachs and tastebuds happy
So glad you love this stir fry Uheina!
After the chicken marinates for 15 minutes, is it then discarded?
Thank you.
Hi Laurie, once the chicken has marinated, then yes the marinate gets discarded. Let us know how the recipe turns out for you! :)
I finally made this recipe and the chicken actually absorbs all the marinade so there is nothing to discard.
Quite possibly the tastiest stir fry I have ever made!