Stir Fry Chicken with Broccoli and Peppers

Chicken stir-fried with broccoli and peppers

Takes 20-30 minutes to cook (after 40 mins marinating chicken)

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs. chicken breast (slivered)
  • 1 tsp Salt (or as desired)
  • 1 tsp Sugar (brown preferred)
  • Broccoli florets, separated
  • 4 or 5 carrots, diced or sliced or julienned
  • 3 tbs Olive oil
  • 2-3 red fresno peppers, julienned, for less spicy remove seeds
  • 3 serrano peppers, julienned, for less spicy remove seeds
  • 2 amarillo peppers, julienned (optional for variety)
  • 1 bell pepper, julienned (optional for sweetness)
  • 6 small scallions (spring onions), chopped (or regular onion if you like)
  • a tomato or two (optional) seeds removed
  • 1-3 tbs Potato starch or corn starch
  • 2 tbs Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing is best but any cooking wine will do.)
  • 2 tbs Soy Sauce (dark Tamari preferred)
  • 2 tbs Sesame Oil
  • 4 tbs Canola Oil
  • 2 cups rice

Instructions

Season the sliced chicken with salt and a little sugar, let sit in fridge for 20 minutes or more while you prep veggies.

Drizzle a little olive oil and salt on carrots and broccoli.

Make a slurry of starch and wine, pour over chicken, add soy sauce and a little sesame oil to chicken, mix well and marinate for 20 minutes or more while cooking rice.

Allow chicken and other ingredients to come to room temperature.

Heat a wok or large frying pan on high

Add a few tbs canola oil and heat until it just starts to smoke! Pan should be 375F or, preferably, hotter.

Fry chicken 90-120 seconds each side, adding a few more drizzles of sesame oil, wine and soy sauce to side of pan as desired, until golden and set aside. If your pan isn’t hot enough, cook chicken longer, thoroughly of course! Beware of hot oil spatter.

Stir fry the carrots and broccoli for 3-4 minutes until they start to brown, then a few minutes covered until soft. Set aside when done.

Stir fry remaining vegetables/peppers a minute or two. Beware pepper fumes, this is best done outdoors.

Add already-cooked chicken and vegetables to pan and stir fry for another minute or two.

Serve over rice.

Recipe for Costco Chicken

What do I do with a Costco Chicken? Here’s a recipe that uses rotisserie chicken as the base.

Every day, Costco sells millions of rotisserie chickens for $4.99 each, losing money on every one. They’re delicious if you eat them soon after you get home, while they’re still hot from the oven. They lose considerable appeal after they’ve cooled off. The fat congeals, the skin becomes rubbery, and slices are bland and unappealing after just a few hours. Sandwiches, salads and soup are all good ways to use up the chicken after the first day.

Chicken Dinner

If you buy a Costco chicken in the morning or afternoon, you’ll need to get creative to serve it for dinner in the evening. You could reheat the whole chicken and serve it as is, but that’s a little unexciting. Here’s an easy way to liven it up considerably with minimal effort. The key is a lovely red hot sauce called El Pato.

El Pato Hot Tomato Sauce

Spicy Costco Chicken El Pato

Preparing the chicken takes about 20 minutes, and may be done a few hours ahead of time. Cooking can take less than 30 minutes, while rice is cooking. Longer cooking time (90-120 minutes) will improve the flavor by reducing the sauce.

Ingredients

  • 1 Kirkland Seasoned Rotisserie Chicken
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 3 Tbsp lime juice, fresh preferred
  • 2 Serrano Peppers or Jalapenos to taste (remove seeds to reduce spiciness.)
  • 16 oz El Pato Hot Tomato Sauce (I suppose you can substitute the hot sauce of your choice.)
  • 3 Tbsp cooking wine (optional)
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 3 small scallions (spring onions) or 1/4 yellow/white onion, chopped
  • 1 Bell Pepper
  • 1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
  • 3 cups white rice
  • Cilantro for garnish

Marinate the chicken

  • Remove skin, fat and bones from the chicken, and cut large pieces of meat into smaller pieces.
  • Season chicken with kosher salt and pepper to taste. Remember, the chicken has already been “seasoned” but not really sufficiently.
  • Pour lime juice over chicken.
  • Slice serrano or jalapeno peppers (to taste) and mix into chicken.
  • Pour hot sauce over chicken (more to taste) and mix well.
  • Add wine if desired.
  • Marinate for at least 20 minutes. 1-2 hours preferred.

Start the rice

I assume you’ll be cooking rice in a rice cooker, Instant Pot or pressure cooker, which will take about 30 minutes.

Fry the onions and garlic

  • Use more or less onions and garlic to your taste.
  • Add olive oil to large saucepan and heat to medium-high.
  • Cook onions for 3-5 minutes until they soften and become transparent.
  • Add bell peppers to pan and sauté for a minute or two.
  • Add garlic and cook for 1-3 minutes until it begins to brown.

Add chicken mixture to saucepan and mix thoroughly.

Simmer for 15-20 minutes until thoroughly hot, stirring gently occasionally. Avoid shredding the chicken. You can cook longer if desired and it will get better as the sauce is reduced. 60-90 minutes is a good cooking time.

Serve over rice. Tortillas optional. Garnish with chopped scallions and cilantro.

I promise it tastes better than it looks.