Why you’ll love this chicken and broccoli recipe
Ever since I was little, my favorite thing to get when we ordered Chinese or went to a Chinese restaurant was chicken and broccoli. I love love love it. I love the sauce and the freshness of the broccoli. I even love the way the sticky white rice tastes all by itself. It’s something I really miss now that we live in France, and I must say – French Chinese food is just not the same as American Chinese food.
Over the past year or so, I’ve been testing out all sorts of Chinese recipes from Pinterest and other places on the internet, but I never found one that I thought stood its ground against the real deal. Finally, I think I’ve found the ONE. The sauce has the perfect texture and creaminess, and the broccoli – which needs to be cooked just right – is the perfect amount of crispness.
More takeout-inspired recipes: Chinese cashew chicken / quick peanut noodles / glazed snow peas / Thai chicken meatballs / slow cooker pepper steak
Ingredients:
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed below are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
- Chicken – I use boneless, skinless chicken breast for this, but you could use boneless chicken thighs, or a combination of the two instead.
- Baking soda – This gives the sauce it’s classic takeout texture. I don’t recommend skipping it unless you’re in a pinch.
- Soy sauce – I normally use reduced-sodium soy sauce, but you can use regular – just adjust your salt accordingly.
- Brown sugar – Don’t leave this out. It makes a major difference in the flavor. If you don’t have brown sugar, the best swap is going to be honey.
- Rice vinegar – The closest swap for this will be white wine vinegar, but you can use almost any kind of vinegar (with the exception of balsamic) if needed.
Tips for making Chinese chicken and broccoli at home:
- Slice the chicken against the grain. This gives chicken the perfect texture and makes it more like restaurant style chicken and broccoli.
- Steam the broccoli. It needs to be cooked just right. I used a vegetable steamer, but you can steam it in the microwave, too. Just make sure you don’t steam it too long because it’s going to be cooked a little more when it’s added to the sauce.
- Add water chestnuts. You don’t need to add them, but they’re almost always included in takeout. So if you have them, add them.
Frequently asked questions
More chicken recipes worth trying: coconut chicken tenders / sweet chili chicken skewers / hot honey chicken sandwiches / panko crusted chicken
Chinese Chicken and Broccoli
Ingredients
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast, (about 1 1/2 pounds)
- 4 cups broccoli florets
- 1 8-ounce can sliced water chestnuts, optional
Marinade:
- 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce, or tamari for gluten free
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
Sauce:
- 1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce, or tamari for gluten free
- 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons flour, or 1 tablespoon cornstarch for gluten free
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Marinate your chicken. Whisk the marinade ingredients together in a small bowl. Pour over sliced chicken and let marinate while you prep the rest of the recipe.
- Steam the broccoli. Cut the broccoli into bite sized florets and place in a large, microwave safe bowl. Cook, uncovered, for 3 minutes in the microwave. Remove from the microwave and set aside.
- Make the sauce. Whisk the sauce ingredients together in a second medium bowl. Set aside.
- Cook the chicken. Heat a large, non-stick skillet to medium-high (add 1 tablespoon of oil if not using a nonstick pan). Add chicken with its marinade. Sauté until chicken is golden brown, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes.
- Add the rest. Add the sauce, steamed broccoli and water chestnuts to pan. Stir to evenly coat the ingredients with sauce and cook until sauce has thickened – about 2 minutes.For a thinner sauce, add about 1 tablespoon of water at a time until desired thickness has been reached.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
I dont have rice wine vinegar. Would I be able to use something else as a substitution?
You can use almost any vinegar, I would choose white wine or plain white vinegar over others though. And definitely don’t use balsamic. Other than that any basic vinegar should work!
What a terrible recipe. Everything congealed when it went in the pan into a brown mess. I’m a decent cook too so I followed it carefully.
I’m sorry you didn’t like the recipe! If you think the sauce is too thick, you can whisk in a little extra water. It thins it out pretty good!
We recently moved from NJ to the mountains of NC. Needless to say, good Chinese food is non existent here. This is sooo good, I can say I don’t crave Chinese food from Jersey any more. Thank you!
I made this w/ pre-grilled chicken breasts. I like to add diced red pepper for color and taste, as well as a can of sliced mushrooms.
I found the soy sauce too strong, though.
On my second effort, I used 1/4 cup of chicken broth, and 2T of teriyaki sauce in the sauce; and the soy sauce in the marinade. Eliminated all the sugar and oil, except for 1 T oil to cook w/ in the wok.
A few shots of hot sauce and a dash of cayenne made it into Hunan style!!
Thank you for sharing!! Loved this recipe!!
Thanks! I’m so glad you liked it!
This is my favorite recipe on Pinterest. I’ve been making it for a few years now. My picky husband loves this over brown rice! I always add an extra bit of brown sugar & rice vinegar. I also tried marinating over night & made the sauce the night before too to save time making it after work the next night & it’s great!! Thank you for a regular meal in our home! Love!!!
Wow, made this tonight after finding it on Pinterest and it was delicious!! I relocated to Hong Kong last summer and have been craving American-style Chinese food but haven’t found any similar recipes until today. This was amazing, thanks so much for posting! 🙂 This will be a go-to for weeknight dinners and weekend hangovers :p
This was great and very easy to make. Definitely a keeper.
Thank You,
Kerri ????