Chicken "Insert" Stir-Fry

I love stir fry. They are easy, quick and versatile. I called this post Chicken "Insert" Stir-Fry because once you have the base recipe down, you can insert almost anything to take this stir fry recipe in the direction you want, with the flavors and vegetables you enjoy.

I will list the basic ingredients that I use for almost all of my stir fry recipes then I will suggest some modifications to get you started.

Base Ingredients:

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ medium onion

3 to 4 garlic cloves

Base Side Dish:

¾ cup rice (measure uncooked)

1. If you are having rice as a side dish, place into rice cooker and turn on. With my rice cooker, it takes about 30 minutes to cook, more than enough time to do the rest of the recipe.

2. If your chicken is frozen, begin defrosting in microwave while you dice onion and garlic.

3. Proceed to saute onion and garlic in olive oil, while chicken finishes defrosting.

4. Cube chicken, size preference is up to you, and place in pan with garlic and onion.

5. Cook until chicken is white. While chicken is cooking you will prepare additional vegetables.

The basic ingredients excluding rice yields 4 servings of approximately 190 calories, 10g fat, 2g carbs, 23g protein.

With the rice, you add an additional 120 calories, 0g fat, 28g carbs, and 2.5g protein per serving.

Chicken plus rice total serving:

310 calories, 10g fat, 30g carbs, 25.5g protein

Big eaters in your family? Add more rice. Watching carbs? Use less rice. Very easy to make adjustments.

What about flavor?

I am glad you asked, there are many directions you can take this base. Looking for some south of the border kick? Or maybe a more conventional stir fry? What about Indian?

I will give you three separate versions each with a fluid/sauce, 3 vegetables and 1 seasoning. Yes, some of the additions will also add a little bit of extra carbs, not that much to be honest, but something to keep in mind. Please do not feel constrained by these suggestions. One of the most fun things to do in the kitchen is to make a recipe your own.

Three possible versions:

Mexican - taco sauce plus tomatoes, black beans, green pepper seasoned with red pepper flakes

Indian - chicken broth plus cabbage, cauliflower, mushrooms seasoned with curry powder.

Asian - Teriyaki sauce plus broccoli, red pepper, carrots, seasoned with cumin.

6. Once chicken is white, add your sauce, diced/chopped vegetables and seasoning.

7. It will only need a few more minutes once you add the sauce and vegetables.

8. Enjoy!

I hope you can see the power of coming up with 1 or 2 healthy “base” meals. It makes the kitchen and healthy eating far less intimidating for those of you who feel like they never know what to cook. You can see that with just chicken and rice we made 3 separate meals that taste very different. And they can all be cooked in 30 minutes!

What if we did a steak stir fry instead and did brown rice or seasoned rice? Now our combinations just increased dramatically!

Easy Peasy, the only limit is your imagination. Now get cooking!