Chicken and Zucchini Stir Fry

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Yippee! My first two zucchinis in the garden have arrived this year!

I have a lot of zucchini recipes, but decided to make a simple, yet delicious chicken and zucchini stir fry that's ready in under 30 minutes. I used chicken breast meat to be a bit healthier, but breast meat can turn to cardboard real quick if you are not careful. Here's a technique my mom taught me a long time ago for keeping chicken breast slices moist and juicy in a stir fry.

The technique is easy.

You basically marinate the chicken slices with spices, water, oil, and cornstarch for 15 minutes. The water gets absorbed into the chicken during the marinating, and the cornstarch/oil helps to tenderize the chicken and seal in the juices when stir frying. You can actually use this technique with any type of sliced meat (i.e. pork, beef) and it'll keep the meat tender and juicy.

Here's the step by step pictures to make the dish:


Cut zucchini and place in bowl. Slice chicken & add marinade in a separate bowl.

Mix chicken with marinade until all the liquid has been absorbed. Let sit for 15 min

Get a frying pan nice & hot. Add chicken slices & cook under high heat for 2 min.

Transfer chicken to a plate. Chicken is not fully cooked, but that's OK.

Add cut zucchini to pan with a splash of water and stir fry until slightly softened.

Add the chicken back to the pan and stir under high heat for a few minutes until chicken is cooked through, and bit of sauce starts to form. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed. Serve hot.

Remember that as with all stir frying, everything comes together quick once you turn on the heat, so have everything all cut and prepped before turning on the heat to the pan.

Other zucchini recipes you may be interested in: Pan Fried Zucchini Coins, Zucchini Bites, Chow Chow Pancakes

Yields 4 servings

Ingredients:

  • 2 zucchinis, cut into bite size pieces (about 1 lb)
  • 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into slices (approximately 12 oz)
  • 3 T water
  • 2 t soy sauce
  • 1 t olive oil
  • 1 t mirin or cooking rice wine
  • ½ t sugar
  • ½ t salt
  • ¼ t ginger powder
  • ¼ t ground pepper
  • ½ t toasted sesame oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, sliced
  • 1 T cornstarch

Procedures:

1. Prepare zucchinis by washing, cutting and placing in a bowl.

2. In a separate bowl, marinate the sliced chicken with water, soy sauce, olive oil, mirin, sugar, salt, ginger powder, pepper, sesame oil, garlic and cornstarch. Mix the marinade into the chicken until all the water has been absorbed. Set aside and allow to marinate for 15 minutes at room temperature. (This 15 minute water/oil/cornstarch marinade helps the chicken retain its moisture when cooking, so don’t skip it.)

3. Heat a pan with 1 t olive oil under high heat. When the pan is hot, add marinated chicken and spread it so it is as close to a single layer on the pan as possible. Cook for about 2 minutes on high heat until a bit of brown forms on one side of the chicken pieces. Give it a stir, then transfer the chicken to a plate. The chicken is not fully cooked at this point, but it is OK because we will cook it again later. (This allows the chicken to get slightly caramelized on one side, but not get over cooked in the final dish.)

4. Add the cut zucchini into the pan and stir fry for 2 to 3 minutes. You may need to add a splash of water (about 2 to 3 T water) to help create some steam for the zucchinis to start to soften.

5. Once the zucchini starts to soften, add the chicken back into the pan. Stir to mix and cook for an additional few minutes until all the chicken are cooked through and the cornstarch has mixed with the liquid from the zucchini to form a slight amount of gravy. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed. Serve hot with rice.