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5-Ingredient Chicken Stir-Fry is that SUPER easy, delicious dinner to make again and again, when life is busy, but you want to serve a good homemade meal that everyone will love.
You need just 15 minutes of prep time — and only 8 minutes to cook this dinner!
Chicken Stir-Fry is great for Paleo, AIP, Keto, VAD, Gluten-free, Ancestral and Whole30 – plus most folks, those of you who don’t call your diet by any special name other than real food.
Also see the easy Low FODMAP variation.
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Ingredients in 5-Ingredient Chicken Stir-Fry
Only 5 main ingredients make up this recipe. You can add a few more for extra nuance and flavor if you have the time/want to, but they’re not needed, and many will prefer the original simple recipe!
- noodles — I have photographed this recipe with zoodles — zucchini noodles (here’s the spiralizer I have, love and recommend) — (because these fit ALL the diets), and the recipe is lovely with zoodles. But, you may certainly also use other noodles: daikon noodles, cabbage noodles OR any other noodle you love:
- AIP: Cassava noodles would be fine, or sweet potato noodles would be really good. Both of these noodles will need to be cooked first, before being added to this recipe. (Only zoodles cook quickly enough to be added raw to the recipe.)
- Keto, Palmini linguini will work nicely. No pre-cooking on these.
- For non-AIP or Keto, you may use a gluten-free or real pasta-type noodle. As I mention in the recipe below, these noodles will need to be cooked first, before being added to the recipe. (Only zoodles cook quickly enough to be added raw to the recipe.)
- Low FODMAP, use zoodles or cassava pasta.
- chicken — I use boneless, skinless thighs in this recipe. They’re the juiciest, and hold the sauce well, plus they cook quickly.
- broccoli — Happily available and in season year round. (For VAD, use green beans. Low FODMAP, use bok choy.)
- coconut aminos — In this recipe, I combine coconut aminos with sea salt to create the perfect quick sauce. While coconut aminos can be a little too sweet and light on its own, adding sea salt gives it that added flavor and oomph to carry the recipe. Then the thickener used adds viscosity, so it coats the meat and veggies nicely.
- thickener — either tapioca flour for Paleo, AIP, VAD, Whole30, Ancestral and Gluten-free, OR for Keto, xanthan gum. This ingredient nicely thickens the sauce and makes the whole dish perfect.
I did not include the cooking oil or sea salt in my 5 main ingredients calculation of this recipe. Technically, there are 7 ingredients.
This recipe uses your oil of choice to season the pan: avocado oil or olive oil.
Optional additional ingredients
Some nights it’s easy to add one more ingredient, or a few. If it feels fun to add a few more ingredients, they are:
- minced ginger or garlic (Leave out for Low FODMAP.)
- celery sliced at an angle, as with Asian cooking (or another veggie you love in Chinese cooking, such as asparagus or the greens of green onions)
Substitutions for 5-Ingredient Chicken Stir-Fry
Because this recipe is so simple, it’s easy to make a change here or there to accommodate your own preferences. I know a lot of home cooks do this. The main recipe is perfect as-is, so a substitution here or there can work well.
Plus, there’s plenty of sauce to cover a couple of additions — like more veggies.
Chicken
This recipe uses a lot of meat. I have three very active boys, who require a lot of protein, plus I love leftovers.
But if you prefer to eat a lot of veggies and less meat, yes: You may reduce the amount of overall meat and increase the amount of veggies you use.
Veggies
If there’s another veggie you’d like to add or sub into this recipe you certainly can. Just weigh in the cooking time, to be sure it will sub well.
For example, asparagus and the greens of green onions need shorter cooking times than broccoli, so add them later in the recipe.
Noodle options
The main recipe uses zoodles, or zucchini noodles (perfect for Low FODMAP). But 5-Ingredient Chicken Stir-Fry works well with many different types of pasta, depending on your personal preference.
I give a lot of details and instructions accordingly in the Notes section below the Recipe, if you’d like to sub in a different kind of noodle — so refer to those guidelines.
If you love veggies, or love zucchini like I do, you may also use both: keep the zoodles, and add one of the other noodle options, too. Obviously you can overdo this too much, because there’s only so much sauce, but there’s room to add a bit more!
5-Ingredient Chicken Stir Fry (Paleo, AIP, Keto, Whole30, Low FODMAP)
Equipment
- large deep skillet or wok
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken sliced into ½" slices, against the grain at an angle
- 4 peeled zucchini made into zoodles OR, if you wish to use another kind of noodles, see Recipe Notes below for details
- 1 to 2 heads broccoli cut into bite-size pieces OR for VAD, use ½-¾ 1b green beans; Low FODMAP, use bok choy only. (Optional: add 2 to 3 stalks of celery, sliced at an angle, if you want one extra veggie, or several green onions, sliced in 1" lengths, at an angle.)
- ½ cup coconut aminos
- 1 Tablespoon tapioca flour OR 1/32 teaspoon xanthan for Keto (A smidgen is 1/32 of a teaspoon.)
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 Tablespoons cooking oil: avocado or olive oil
Instructions
- Make sauce: In small bowl, whisk together coconut aminos, ½ teaspoon sea salt, and depending on your diet: tapioca flour for Paleo AIP -- OR -- xanthan gum for Keto. For xanthan version, fan it in while whisking, then whisk until you see the sauce thicken slightly. Set aside.
- Heat large wok or large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil, and swirl to coat the pan. Add broccoli and optional additional veggie. Stir and cook 2 minutes.
- Add chicken. Stir and cook 3 minutes, until most but not all of the visible pink is gone.
- Add sauce, and toss all the ingredients so they're coated with the sauce. Cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally. (If you're including ginger or garlic, add those now, too.)
- Add noodles. Toss and cook 1 minute, or up to 2 minutes. (Longer than this with zoodles will make them too watery, and they'll get a bit soggy, so keep them fresh tasting with a short cooking time.)
- Serve.
Notes
Noodle options if you don't use zoodles
Only zoodles cook quickly enough to be added raw to the recipe. Or, if you use Palmini's Linguini, they, too, will not need any pre-cooking. Otherwise you may use: Daikon Noodles or Cabbage Noodles (follow the recipe links for how to cook them), OR these options, depending on your diet:- AIP: Cassava noodles would be fine (<-follow link for cooking instructions), or sweet potato noodles would be really good (follow package instructions for cooking). Cook both of these noodles first, before adding to the recipe.
- NOTE: When using real pasta, like the cassava option, reserve some of the cooking water. You may need to add some to the finished dish, if it needs a bit more liquid, as real pasta absorbs the sauce in this recipe.
- Keto, Palmini linguini will work nicely. Just rinse well in colander, and drain, before using. No pre-cooking needed.
- For non-AIP or Keto, you may use a gluten-free or real pasta-type noodle. Follow package instructions to cook first, before adding to the recipe.
- Brown Rice Capellini
- Pad Thai Noodles
- NOTE: When using real pasta, like these Gluten-free options, reserve some of the cooking water. You may need to add some to the finished dish, if it needs a bit more liquid, as real pasta absorbs the sauce in the recipe.
The following nutritional facts are for the Keto version of this recipe.
Nutrition
You can Pin 5-Ingredient Chicken Stir-Fry here:
Alex says
Hello Megan,
I would love to try this recipe, as we are still going strong on VAD and this dish looks so good. We would omit the broccoli and use peeled zucchini. I have never used a spiralizer before, so would love your feedback as to how you go about making zoodles. Do you peel the zucchini first and then spiralize it and stop before you get to the seeded portion and then discard that part or do you peel and de-seed first and then spiralize?
Thanks.
Alex
Megan says
Hi Alex, great. Are you removing your zucchini seeds because you all are sensitive to lectins? (I’m sorry, I don’t remember.) I used to do this, but am no longer sensitive, so I don’t worry about the seeds anymore. Yes, what you said: Peel the zucchini, then run them through the spiralizer (this is the one I have , and you helped me realize that I should have linked to it for this reason), (then, omit the broccoli, and sub in green beans if you can have them). Hopefully you can eat the zucchini seeds if you have that style spiralizer, but if you can’t, that’s okay. There are a couple of other ways to spiralize and exclude the seeds. One is, they make a handheld spiralizer, where you just rake it down the length of each zucchini, after peeling, and you end up with noodles. They aren’t curly raw, but that’s fine. Or, the “poor man’s” spiralizer that I used to do, is to use a veggie peeler for long thin widths of the veggie, that you then layer on a cutting board before cutting them into strips. (Does that make sense lol?) And yes, with those methods, you just stop at the seeds, and then rotate the zucchini and do the next side, so you get zoodles from all four sides. I hope that helps and happy you have a new VAD recipe! 🙂
Alex says
Yes, we have lectin issues, but your reply gives us hope that we may eventually get over them. Love your links and simple explanation. Thank you for those and the super delicious recipe.
Megan says
So glad it was helpful, and yes, definitely hope in so many improvements and new freedoms in the future! 🙂
Gloria says
Zoodles are the best. This chicken stir fry is better than any takeout you can get. Making a double batch so I have leftovers for another meal.
Megan says
Zoodles are the best, Gloria; I agree. I love filling up on them. For leftovers, it’s great that these are only lightly cooked, so they won’t be soggy and falling apart when reheated. So happy you like the recipe! 🙂
Natalie says
Perfect and simple to make family meal! We loved your chicken stir fry, thanks!
Megan says
You’re welcome, Natalie, so glad!