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.
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I wish I could give this more stars. Quick, easy and fabulous I make this often and the family loves it. It’s better than what we get from the Chinese restaurant
I made this tonight. My family said it was a bit too sweet than they’re used to for Chinese food. I guess 1 TBSP would suffice for the sauce. I didn’t have chicken breast. I used thighs instead, but it probably would’ve been better to use chicken breast. I’ll definitely make this again.
I made this for Sunday dinner &it was amazing . I kinda surprised myself at how much it does taste like take out .
I’ve heard of “velveting” the chicken with baking soda to make it fork tender before . So I’m assuming that the baking soda in the marinade does the same thing.
The only thing I did was double up on the sauce because I used this massive chicken breasts we had in the freezer. (That were over 1 1/2 pds ).
I’ll definitely be making this again, thanks for the super easy&great recipe!
Have been using this recipe for years now, just getting around to commenting 😄 but my family and I and even our guests love this recipe! I love that I can prep my chicken and sauce hours early in the day and then throw together quickly right before dinner time. I usually double the amount of chicken and marinade and triple/ quadruple the amount of sauce just because we like our food saucy to top over the rice. I do add a little sesame oil, salt and pepper while I cook the chicken.
Oh, and red pepper flakes too 😊
This was terrific! Made it this evening. I did cut back a little on the soy sauce and vinegar, and then substituted low-sodium chicken broth in place of water. And I doubled the sauce. It was really good, and this recipe is definitely a keeper!!
I make this all the time.
Has anyone tried this with Shrimp too?
Thinking not to marinade it but cook with the chicken or separately and being together with the sauce?
We love this recipe – even my hard to please MIL. Do you think this recipe will work with beef? Or beef and broccoli is a different taste/recipe? If so, do you have one?! 😉
I don’t have another one published, but yes it would work with beef!