Why go out for chicken stir fry when you can make it easily at home? This Thai-inspired stir fry chicken with peanut sauce recipe is ready in about 20 minutes. You get chicken, crisp-fried veggies, and a creamy peanut sauce over it all.
It’s just enough for one person. I made it with rice stick noodles, but you can use plain rice or brown rice if you prefer. I first tried a completely different recipe, from a usually reliable source, but I found it just lacked flavor.
This one has peanuts (naturally), honey, hoisin sauce, and a generous squirt of lime. The lime brightens up the flavor, and the honey adds a hint of sweetness.
I used freshly ground peanut butter (the sort of peanut butter they sell at health food stores), but the kind in the jar is fine too. If you use the freshly-ground peanut butter you may need to add more oil. That will make it easier to mix the ingredients together. It should spread easily and you should be able to toss it over the cooked chicken and the vegetables.
Use whatever vegetables you have on hand, such as: bell pepper, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, sugar snap peas, or onions. You can mix and match to suit your own taste. Whatever you use, you’ll need about 1 1/2 cups.
If you’re making regular rice, start that first. The rice stick noodles cook like pasta, just faster. Bring the water to a boil and then cook the noodles about three minutes.
For the rest of the recipe, make the sauce first. Then cook the chicken. Once the chicken is done, set that aside and cook the vegetables. Put the chicken back in the pan, and then add the sauce. Don’t let the sauce cook too much, just enough to heat everything up.
You can speed up the process by using mixed frozen veggies (not the bell peppers though, they tend to get soggy). That way, you save time cooking and chopping.
There is one “problem” though with this recipe. The kitchen still smells so good after you finish dinner that you want to eat it again.
Chicken Peanut Sauce Stir Fry Recipe
An easy Thai-inspired recipe for chicken with peanut sauce.
Notes
I tend to use bone-in thighs, cut the meat off the bone, and let the bone cook for a while after the chicken is done. Then I save it for homemade broth.
Ingredients
- Sauce
- 2 T peanut butter
- (1 tsp canola oil, if necessary)
- 1 T plus 1 1/2 tsp (or four and a half teaspoons, if that's easier) soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp hoisin sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp honey
- 1 1/2 tsp lime juice
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- Chicken
- 1 chicken thigh
- 1 T canola oil
- salt and pepper (easy on the salt, the soy sauce is salty)
- Veggies
- 1 1/2 C vegetables, cut up (such as broccoli, bell pepper, snap peas, mushrooms, or cauliflower)
Instructions
- Mix the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. If you use natural, grainy peanut butter, add some extra canola oil to make it easier to spread and mix together.
- Heat the oil in a small frying pan.
- Cut up the chicken into strips (you can use a boneless thigh or cut the meat off the bone)*
- Cook the chicken for a couple of minutes and then set it aside.
- Add the veggies and cook for 3-5 minutes. I like to put the broccoli and cauliflower in first, then save the peppers for last (so they retain some crunch).
- Put the chicken back in the pan.
- Add the sauce and mix everything together until the chicken and vegetables are thoroughly coated.
- Cook until the chicken is reheated.
- Serve with rice or rice noodles.
Substitutions and Variations for Stir Fry Chicken with Peanut Sauce
- Add some slivers of garlic and fresh ginger to the chicken when you cook it.
- Make it spicier with sriracha or cayenne flakes.
- Let the chicken cool, toss fresh, raw veggies in a bowl (use double the amount), and eat it cold as a salad.
- Skip the chicken, and just make it with the sauce, veggies, and rice stick noodles
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