Simple Stir Fry Recipe

Stir fry is one of my favorite week night go to’s. Especially when the kids are asking for Chinese take-out! This meal has saved me hundreds of dollars in expensive delivery or take-out food.

Paired with some of your favorite frozen egg rolls, the kids will get all the satisfaction of an expensive Chinese take-out night, with little expense! You will love this simple stir fry recipe!

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This is the link to the best Hexclad wok and pan you will ever use.I use this wok for just about anything I make on the stove. I mean anything! The beauty is you can use metal utensils, wooden, rubber, its just so versatile! I have made a ton of high heat dishes on this wok and it has not faded, lessened in its effectiveness or stopped being non stick at all! I promise, it will be your new go to pan.

I know some days I feel like something starchy and cheesy, like any kind of comfort food with potatoes and gravy. Then other days I feel like something lighter, maybe could be considered healthy. There is something about being able to put a really good dinner together in less than a half hour.

These are some of my favorite meals because they are so quick, but really something very tasty.

I remember a Wednesday night this past summer, I remember it was Wednesday because that is one of the days I actually have to go into the office to work, we had decided to get Chinese take-out and had it all planned out. I had the order listed out in my phone and was ready to make the call at 4pm to order the food so I could grab it on my way home. Well, 4pm rolls around and I go to make the call, and much to my dismay, they were not open!! On a Wednesday? In the Summer?

I was very frustrated about this because I am often tired on my in-office days and was looking forward to not cooking that evening. Anyways, I ended up giving up on the whole production and resigning to make dinner anyways. Still wanting to stick with the Chinese take-out theme, I decided to see what I had in the freezer for veggies and whip up a quick stir fry sauce.

I was in luck because I had a couple bags of the stir fry veggies in my freezer (I will admit, if I didn’t I have been known to simply use green peppers and onions in my stir fries) I always have rice, so that was easy enough to put together. While searching the freezer for the veggies, I lucked out and found some frozen chicken egg rolls in there too!

So I started my rice in the over (my favorite method of making rice) then I threw my egg rolls in the air fryer and went to work sautéing my veggies. I will note, it is very important to cook the frozen veggies until most of the water from the frozen veggies is evaporated. You can’t really even begin to sauté them until all that moisture is gone.

In minutes I had my stir fry sauce all whipped up. Thankfully, I had some chicken tenderloins in the fridge already thawed. I will admit, I did not let them marinate for quite an hour, but I did let them sit in the soy and cornstarch while I got everything ready and then I did cook them last, which is a little out of order.

In what seemed like no time, I had dinner on the table by 5:30pm! After all, this is a simple stir fry recipe! The kids were so excited that I just manufactured this awesome Chinese food and I had it ready so quick! Totally made up for the let down of not getting their favorite take-out. I will admit, the meal was grand, but my favorite part was not spending $55 on crappy Chinese take-out!

I think one of the big selling points for me is that I am also able to teach my kids that home cooking can be just as satisfying, dare I say more, than giving into the take-out foods all the time. Just because they are easier, doesn’t make them better and when you cook at home you know exactly what you’re getting!

Let’s Talk about Ingredients

I like to use chicken for this simple stir fry recipe, but really any protein including but not limited to shrimp, steak, tofu, mushrooms (I know not a protein, but it would work) even scallops or pork will work well for this dish.

When it comes to the spice aspect, I prefer siracha, it does not have to be siracha, it could be your favorite hot sauce, or no hot sauce at all. I find that if I do not use the hot sauce I like to increase the garlic so there is more of an enhanced flavor in the dish.

Making the Simple Stir Fry Recipe

We start by whipping up the super simple and easy in the ingredients stir fry sauce. I love this recipe because it’s not asking you to have a bunch of weird ingredients you may only use once a year or so on hand, no fish sauce or plum sauce needed! It really is a simple stir fry recipe!

When it comes to prepping the chicken, I think the longer you can leave it marinating the better. I think it’s important to cut your chicken into little bite size pieces before you do anything else, this will allow for more of the marinade to stick to more of the surfaces of the chicken. I am sure there is something scientifical about that, but I am no expert…or scientist.

You can do this step first to allow the chicken more time, but lets face it, the stir fry sauce really does only take a minute or two to get ready, so your not really adding a bunch of time doing this first.

When you are ready to put the “fry” in your stir fry, you really want to make sure that oil is good and hot, and don’t be skimpy with it either, you have a lot of chicken bits to fry and you do not want to crowd them or risk them sticking together in the pan!

Patience is your friend here, I know we all just want to dump it all in at once, but trust the process, the few extra minutes it takes to fry in batches is well worth it!

When it comes to frying up the veggies, you really want to make sure all that moisture cooks out of them and then maybe add a little more oil and get them good and sauteed. You don’t want them to be undercooked, and just because they are thawed in the pan doesn’t mean they are fully cooked yet!

Then comes my favorite part of combining everything together! Throw your chicken back in that pan with the veggies and cover with your sauce and watch the magic happen! All the cornstarch in both the sauce and the chicken will quickly cause your sauce to thicken and become this luxurious glaze all of the veggies and chicken.

I usually let it sit on the stove for a minute or two all combined to make sure everything melds together deliciously.

And now to everyone’s favorite part, the plating! Honestly, this simple stir fry recipe goes great over rice, noodles or even zucchini noodles. I have made it on all three depending on whatever health kick I may or not be on at the time. Very easy, very versatile stir fry.

If you like some crunchies in your stir fry, I would highly recommend some slightly crushed peanuts. Then I add my favorite topping, the fresh green onions, mostly just to be fancy, but I really do love the flavor!

I hope you enjoy this simple stir fry recipe as much as we do!

Check out some of my other easy Dinner Recipes!