This Hunan Chicken is a colorful and flavorful dish made with chicken, vegetables and savory sauce. This dish is ready in 3 simple steps and ingredients can be adapted to what you have on hand.
The cooking method is similar to the Korean Chicken and perfect served with my fluffy rice.
Hunan chicken is a Chinese-American dish made with thinly-sliced and fried chicken and sauteed vegetables. In three simple steps, this dish is done and ready to be served: fry the chicken, saute veggies and simmer it all with a sauce. The sauce is savory, with a nice spicy kick from the chili sauce. You can use fresh vegetables and chop or slice them. If you really want to save on prep time, use a frozen Asian stir fry veggie mix. Most can be steamed in the microwave, then added to the pan and simmered with sauce. You can to serve it over rice or with noodles, or even in lettuce wraps.
Ingredients:
- chicken breasts
- cornstarch
- vegetable oil'
- garlic
- ginger
- bell peppers
- carrots
- mushrooms
- broccoli
- soy sauce
- hoisin sauce or oyster sauce
- sesame oil
- rice vinegar
- brown sugar
- Sambal oelek
How to make Hunan Chicken?
- Start by slicing the chicken into thin strips.
- Dredge chicken in cornstarch.
- Heat up oil in a skillet.
- Fry chicken in batches, set aside on a plate.
- Saute garlic and ginger in the same skillet.
- Add bell peppers, broccoli and carrots. Saute until the veggies soften.
- Add mushrooms and saute for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Mix sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
- Return chicken to skillet and add sauce mixture.
- Simmer until the sauce thickens.
- Serve over rice.
Oyster sauce substitutes:
If your diet does not allow for a use of oyster sauce (allergy, etc.), you don't like the taste of it or simply do not have it on hand, you can use the following in it's place:
- hoisin sauce
- sweet soy sauce (it's much thicker than regular soy sauce, and of course sweet)
- fish sauce.
Storing leftovers:
Any leftovers should be stored in a fridge, for up to 4 days. You can make this dish ahead of time, portion it out and enjoy for lunch or dinner over 4 days.
More easy Asian chicken dinners:
- General Tso's Chicken
- Sheet Pan Stir Fry
- Orange Chicken
- Easy Sesame Chicken
- Kimchi Fried Rice
- Hibachi Chicken
For more recipes like this one, feel free to browse our Asian Category.
If you like this recipe and make it, snap a photo and share it on INSTAGRAM! Tag me @crunchycreamysweet so I can check it out and leave a comment! 😀
Hunan Chicken
Ingredients
for the chicken:
- 2 lbs chicken breasts sliced thinly
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 1 bell pepper chopped (see note)
- 6 baby Bella mushrooms
- 1 cup thinly sliced carrots
- 1 ½ cups broccoli florets
for the sauce:
- ½ cup chicken stock
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons oyster sauce see note
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar or honey
- 2 to 4 teaspoons Sambal oelek chili sauce see note
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, toss chicken with cornstarch.2 lbs chicken breasts, ¼ cup cornstarch
- Heat up vegetable oil in a pan.3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- Fry chicken in batches, then remove onto a plate and set aside.
- Add ginger and garlic to pan and saute for 2 minutes over medium heat.3 teaspoons minced garlic, 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- Add peppers, broccoli and carrots. Saute until the peppers soften.1 bell pepper, 1 ½ cups broccoli florets, 1 cup thinly sliced carrots
- Add mushrooms and saute for 3 minutes, stirring often.6 baby Bella mushrooms
- In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, mix sauce ingredients.½ cup chicken stock, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce, 2 teaspoons oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar or honey, 2 to 4 teaspoons Sambal oelek chili sauce
- Return the chicken to skillet and mix with veggies.
- Pour sauce mixture into the skillet and stir in.
- Simmer until the sauce thickens.
- Serve over rice or noodles.
Notes
- I used half of red bell pepper and half of green bell pepper.
- If you don't have fresh ginger, use ½ teaspoon of ground ginger.
- If you don't want to use oyster sauce, use hoisin sauce or sweet soy sauce (it's much thicker than regular soy sauce).
- If you like spicy food, use 4 teaspoons of sambal oelek.
- Please note, that the nutrition value can vary depending on what product you use. The information below is an estimate. Always use calorie counter you are familiar with.
Gay S. says
I had to use canned mushrooms because I could not get to the store for fresh ones. I added zucchini and halved grape tomatoes. The rest of the dish was prepared as written. It was very delicious and made a lot so I will enjoy left overs for a couple more meals. Thank you for posting this.
Melissa says
YUM - amazing flavor! We plan on making this again soon.
Anna says
Thank you, Melissa!
Krissy Allori says
Love all the fresh vegetables in this recipe. So good for you and so tasty. Ginger and garlic of 2 of my favorites too.
wilhelmina says
This is fabulous! I am so happy I tried this recipe, it is beyond delicious!