12-Minute Chicken and Broccoli
This 12-Minute Chicken and Broccoli recipe is ultra-quick and easy to make, and tastes SO delicious!
For those nights when you just need dinner on the table…like that. 💨 ✨ 🙌
This easy Chicken and Broccoli recipe won’t let you down.
It’s been one of my go-to quick and healthy dinner standbys for years and years now. And, since I first posted this recipe on the blog four years ago, thousands of you have now also made and loved it, and reported back that it’s one of your faves too. Understandably! This one is incredibly quick and easy to make, the zesty stir-fry sauce is made with simple ingredients you like keep stocked your pantry, and that classic duo of chicken and broccoli always has a way of hitting the spot. Simple and healthy stir-fry FTW!
That said, as much as I love the classic chicken and broccoli combo, I should note that this recipe’s incredibly versatile if you want to mix things up. For example, feel like subbing in a different protein? Go for it. Have some leftover zucchini or onions or bell peppers or other veggies on hand? By all means, toss ’em in too. Feel like serving it up over quinoa or noodles, or even just some sautéed greens? Use whatever you have! The sky’s the limit for customizing here. But…this base recipe is an excellent one to bookmark as a good place to begin.
So that when life gets busy, yet you still want a healthy homemade dinner you can feel good about, this winner winner of a chicken dinner can be on the table in no time. 👊
12-Minute Chicken and Broccoli | 1-Minute Video
As I shared in my original post about this recipe, the inspiration for this one came back in the day from my Burmese friend, Si Si, who loaded me up one summer morning with a CSA bag overflowing with fresh broccoli, since she knew it was my fave.
Years later, I still always think about her whenever I make this recipe. Especially now that Barclay’s in my life, whom she affectionately always calls “Broccoli” with a smile and a laugh, since his name was hard to pronounce when she was first learning English. Love this girl and her broccoli…and my Broccoli. 😉
That said, since the initial photos of this post were looking a little tired, I decided to snap some new ones this month to give this post a little update. Plus, we have two snazzy new videos ready for you too!
First, a quick tutorial on how to chop broccoli, in case you need a refresher. 👆
As you can see, there’s not much to it. Just cut up a few chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces. Sauté them in a skillet until cooked through. Then add the chopped broccoli and sauté for a few more minutes with the chicken, until it turns bright green and slightly tender (but I like mine to still be very crisp).
Then meanwhile, as the chicken and broccoli are cooking, whisk together a simple stir-fry sauce. As I mentioned above, I’ve kept the ingredients for this one limited to a short list of pantry staples. So (hopefully!) it should be an easy one to whip out, without having to make an extra trip to the store. Just stir it in at the last second and stir for a minute or so, until thickened.
Then this quick and easy dinner will be ready to go! And as the title promises, if you have those ingredients ready to go and are moving at a lively pace, this one really can be ready in just 12 minutes. Boom.
Enjoy, everyone!
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12-Minute Chicken and Broccoli
This quick Chicken and Broccoli Stir-Fry recipe is full of zesty flavors, it’s easy to customize, and it can be ready to go in just about 12 minutes!
Ingredients:
Stir-Fry Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
- salt and pepper
- 1 batch Stir-Fry Sauce (see below)
- 1 bunch broccoli, chopped into small florets, stem discarded
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- toppings: sliced green onions, toasted sesame seeds
Stir-Fry Sauce Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/3 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
Directions:
To Make The Stir-Fry:
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts, and season with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is browned and mostly cooked through.
- While the chicken is cooking, make your sauce. (See below.)
- Once the chicken is browned, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and broccoli, and stir to combine. Continue cooking for an additional 3 minutes, until the broccoli is bright green. Stir in the sauce, and cook for an additional 1 minute until the sauce has thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the sesame oil until combined.
- Serve warm, garnished with green onions and toasted sesame seeds. Or transfer to a sealed container and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
To Make The Sauce:
- Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl until combined.
I slightly tweaked the sauce recipe in 2017, to add just a bit more to the recipe. But it should still taste the same! :)
If you make this recipe, be sure to snap a photo and hashtag it #gimmesomeoven. I'd love to see what you cook!
Just saw this and made it…simple and delicious!!
Thanks, Keila, we’re so glad you enjoyed it!
Very good! I made it the way the recipe said. And it was very good. Added some pepper and hot sauce to the finished product. It was great. Thank you
Thank you, Kurt, we’re so glad you enjoyed this!
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This was very tasty, and I’ll make it again but took me MUCH longer than 12 minutes!
I got everything I needed out on the counter, and that took all of the 3 min prep time before I even measured things. I had a package of fresh broccoli florets already cut, but had to google to learn that a head of broccoli = 3.5 cups. Then had to cut 2 chicken breasts in small pieces, toast the sesame seeds, mince the garlic, and get my crystallized honey out of the squeeze bottle (30 sec in microwave). Had I made brown rice, that would have taken 40-50 minutes to cook. Next time, I will make the sauce first. And I won’t worry about browning the chicken, since the sauce makes it look nice and brown. It really is delicious and hubby likes it, so I recommend it, but don’t plan on 12 minutes the first time.
I am hopeless at cooking, but this was reasonably successful! The only problem is that when I added the sauce, it immediately burned in the pan. I’m assuming this is because the heat was too high, but I had it on medium-high as instructed. Any tips? Thanks so much!
I have different pans that cook differently at different temperatures. You just have to kind of figure out how your pans cook. Sounds like you can definitely turn your burner down. Some of mine heat so well I can boil on medium. I have to cook things much lower than the recipe says. Just something you learn with your pans as you go along :-)
I needed a quick recipe, but one to satisfy some picky eaters! This was the perfect meal and I had the ingredients on hand! The sauce was a huge hit!
Absolutely fantastic recipe, I added 1 tsp of sambal oelek this time for a little extra zing. Thank you for this, so easy and nutritious!!!
Love it! So glad you enjoyed it.
Just made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious! I did add some red pepper flakes. Thanks for the recipe.
Forgot to rate it.
This recipe was really great, with a few small (and logical) tweaks. 1 – I tripled the sauce because it didn’t look like enough, though I knew I was doubling the recipe. 2- Maybe I added too much cornstarch (entirely possible!), but I needed to add a little chicken stock to loosen up the sauce.
Apart from those minor adjustments, the kids and I agree this is a GREAT recipe, and a definite keeper! Thanks for sharing!
Yum! My rice took 45 minutes but the chicken and broccoli itself was pretty fast Next time I might make sure I have a higher proportion of broccoli. But it is fine as is!
So easy and quick. And pretty healthy. I only had frozen broccoli and it still turned out great! Everyone liked it! Would definitely make again. Thanks for the recipe!
Awesome!! So glad you all enjoyed it! :)
This dish met all our requirements: quick, yummy and made with readily available ingredients. I definitely recommend!
Yay!! So glad to hear it!
Our family adores this recipe!! I like to add in other random veggies too in addition to the broccoli, and it’s s success every time!
It was delicious and my husband who is very picky, loved it so much. We made a 1 pound of chicken, was not enough. The problem was When I doubled the recipe used white vinegar instead of rice vinegar. It tasted like there was too much vinegar. Please tell me what I did wrong.
My family loved this recipe !
Added other veggies .. Forgot to rate
Delicious and oh so easy! I didn’t have just broccoli, so I made it with a frozen package of cut broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. The sauce itself is sooo delcious that I think it would be great with chicken and just about any vegetable.
Can the 12 minute chicken & broccoli be frozen? Made it last night for my husband’s birthday and very good. Nice to have in the freezer.
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We just made this and it was so good!!
Even my kids loved it!!
Thanks Ali!
Easy! And delicious.
I modified it to make it more diabetic friendly. I used half the honey and cornstarch and more ginger. I didn’t have sesame seeds but next time I might add cashews. I put it over cauliflower rice and we loved it.
Really good and really 12 minutes! I might do two teaspoons of rice vinegar instead of threee next time. I will be making this again.
Hi! Did you change your recipe? I’m used to doing it, and I don’t remember the 2/3 cup of water.
It is one of our favorites in our family :)
She did! There is note at the bottom of the instructions. I have his recipe bookmarked in my phone and I was thrown off by the water too. I just made it per the new recipe and it tastes exactly the same, but had a little bit of additional sauce which is great if serving over rice!
This is one of my favorite recipes of yours. We’ve been making it for years, and love it with your fried rice!
i don”t have rice vinegar or sesame oil. what can i substitute/
I made a low carb version of this substituting liquid Splenda for the honey and Xanthar Gum for the cornstarch. I also added the garlic and fresh, minced ginger to the chicken just before adding the broccoli. This is a very tasty recipe…definitely helped to curve a craving for Asian food! Will certainly make again.
What a delicious dish and fast too? Yum!
Love this!! Used a combo of broccoli, onions and bell peppers to add more veggies and use up what I had on hand. Super quick, super simple, nice and light, looking forward to having my leftovers for lunch.
You are my go to recipe ‘book’. Everything we have tried my family and I have loved!!!! Fresh, tasty and easy to make. The absolute trifecta. I stumbled upon your website about a year ago and have several staple meals we use every month. Keep up the great work!! One comment would be that if you have a couple of growing teens, there aren’t leftovers, which is good, but I’d recommend if you are cooking for a couple of days of meals, double a couple of the recipes. Kathy from St. Louis
This has been one I have consistantly made over the past few years. Soooo good, quick, and easy!!! Love this one, Ali!!!
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Made this with some mods – added a sliced onion to the stir fry and red pepper flakes too. Added extra garlic cloves to the sauce. Fussy kids loved it. Well done! They said I could make it again. That’s big. And the recipe was easy to follow, and quick to make. A real school night winner. Thanks!
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Oh wow! I just made this and my husband and I are enjoying it for dinner. Is this ever wonderful! I will make it again often. Thank you so much for this easy and delicious dinner! I might even feel a little adventurous next time and throw in some peanuts. Yum!
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This was so easy to make. So delicious and will be making this again soon!!
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This is indeed a go-to-recipe for those times your hands are tied up yet you still want to make a sumptuous meal, Ali. Thank you for sharing this! I always like how you placed how-to-videos in the post. It really helps to learn how to properly chop broccolis! Can I omit the ground ginger in the recipe?
Ingredients read TOASTED sesame OIL? You must mean seeds as the recipe instructions read. MAKING THIS tonight!
Brocolli chicken is one of my favorite recipe, especially for my diet.
Can you make the sauce in advance and keep it in the fridge for a few days?
THANKS!
I love the changes to the sauce! It was always one of my husband’s complaints that it didn’t “soak” the rice enough. We were both pleasantly surprised when I made it for dinner tonight.
This was delicious and I’ll definitely make it again; will experiment with addt’l veggies and other protein choices :) Do you have nutritional information posted (maybe I missed it)? Thank you for an easy crowd pleasing recipe!!!
Was up at the hospital for a good 12hours me and the wife were super tired when we came in, made this (adding onion as well) and it’s gone down a treat