Stir-fried ground chicken is a very popular dish around the world. The versatility and adaptability of chicken with the simple process of stir fry make it a very easy-to-cook dish. Chicken is also a healthier substitute for other meats for its low calorie and fat content. You can experiment with ground chicken stir fry as much as you want. Add your own flavours and ingredients and customise the dish to your taste. This is what makes ground chicken stir fry such a common and yet loved dish around the world.
Ground Chicken Stir Fry Ingredients
The main ingredient for ground chicken stir fry is not difficult to guess; it is ground chicken of course. People might wonder what is ground chicken. It is nothing very difficult to prepare. It is just minced chicken, ideally boneless chicken and it often serves as a leaner alternative to minced beef. You can use chicken legs and chicken thighs interchangeably to prepare it. Because you mince the flesh into very fine pieces and put it together, the part barely matters as long as it does not contain other parts like bones and skin. Ground chicken is not just an ingredient for ground chicken stir fry. The versatility of ground chicken allows it the ability to do wonders in any dish. As a leaner and protein-packed alternative to almost every sort of meat, especially ground beef and ground pork, ground chicken is relatively lighter in fat, calories, and taste.
Ground chicken stir fry is a simple dish with a simple process (stir fry) and a superbly versatile main component: ground chicken. This makes it available for experimentation. There are various ingredients in various proportions people use according to their tastes and preferences developed over time and place. Stir fry essentially includes seasonings and vegetables. As long as they complement ground chicken and each other in the recipe, they can be used as ingredients. Furthermore, you can even add sauces of your choice to add flavour to this dish. Ground chicken has very less taste of its own and it needs to be cooked at low temperatures, lower than those for ground beef or ground pork. This is because ground chicken has less fat. And make sure you season it well as per the dish, and so for stir-fried ground chicken, season it accordingly.
Ground Chicken Stir Fry Recipe
The dish ground chicken stir fry has no single recipe or dish, let alone any benchmark flavouring and cooking method that one must strive to achieve. The adaptability of chicken to almost all seasonings and cooking styles does half of the job. However, there are certain tried and tested ground chicken stir fry dishes which you must try. One is Bok Choy with ground chicken stir fry. Bok choy is a type of Chinese cabbage, essentially a leafy vegetable. It is pretty nutritious and teams up well with ground chicken. Other ingredients include 2 tsp fresh ginger, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 tsp soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, and a stalk of green onion.
Another dish is Asian ground chicken stir fry. It is surprisingly easy to make. The first thing you do is brown the chicken. Make sure you cook it properly. Then, add shiitake mushrooms, garlic, cayenne, salt, and black pepper. Lastly, mix soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, and chopped green onions well and serve hot.
Finally, you can try spicy ground chicken stir fry. For the stir fry, take ground chicken, snow peas, red bell pepper, broccoli, carrots, and onion for vegetables, some cashew nuts, and rice (if you want) and stir fry them in olive oil. To make the sauce, use ginger, garlic, hoisin sauce, sriracha sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, chicken broth, red pepper flakes, and cornstarch (to thicken the sauce). Finally, add the sauce ingredients together in a bowl and whisk them. Then cook the chicken. Saute the onions and then the rest of the vegetables. Cook them until tender-crisp. Finally, stir the cashews, mix the chicken and vegetables, pour the sauce, and mix everything well.
Ground Chicken Stir Fry Keto
Ketogenic diet or Keto refers to a low-carb diet. The diet targets getting the body more calories from fat and protein and fewer calories from carbohydrates. The Keto diet is very effective in losing weight, even better than the mostly-recommended low-fat diet. However, that the keto diet is extremely healthy does not mean it has to taste bad. Thankfully, several dishes are both keto-compliant and tasty. One is the well-known ground chicken stir fry which can be made keeping in mind keto-diet requirements too. We call this ground chicken and broccoli stir fry meal.
The ingredients are 3 tbsp peanut oil, 200 g raw broccoli, a garlic clove, 1 garlic slice (approximately 1” in diameter), 0.5 tsp chilli powder, 500 g ground chicken, 4 tbsp tamari sauce, 1 tbsp hot chilli sauce (sriracha), 1 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 5 drops liquid stevia, 1 medium scallion (approximately 4” long), 2 tsp sesame seeds, and 1 tsp nigella seeds.
Add 1 tbsp oil to a skillet over medium heat. Add small florets of broccoli and leave for two minutes until they become golden on the bottom. Then stir and cook for another three minutes. Once done, transfer them to a plate. Add the remaining oil to the skillet and cook the ginger and garlic (both finely chopped) for a minute until fragrant. Now, add the ground chicken to the pan and turn the heat up. Stir continuously for 5 to 7 minutes. Add chilli powder.
For the sauce, whisk the tamari, sriracha, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and stevia in a small bowl.
Finally, pour the sauce and broccoli over ground chicken in the skillet and mix until no liquid remains. Sprinkle thinly sliced scallion, nigella seeds, and sesame seeds over the chicken and your dish is ready.
Ground Chicken with Noodles Stir Fry
It is no doubt that ground chicken stir fry is very a very tasty and wholesome meal, but adding noodles or rice often makes it a complete meal, or at least adds a good variation to the food in terms of main ingredients. Let us see how to make ground chicken with noodles stir fry.
The ingredients we need are 1 pound ground chicken, 2 packets of ramen noodles, 1/2 cup hoisin sauce, 1 small lime squeezed, 2 tablespoons Sriracha, 2 handfuls green beans, 4 garlic cloves minced, 3 green onions sliced, and 1 tablespoon vegetable oil.
First, cook the green beans in boiling water for 7-10 minutes. During the last 3 minutes of cooking, add the noodles to the pot. Once cooked, drain and set aside. Now, take a bowl and combine hoisin sauce, sriracha, and lime juice. Take a pan, add vegetable oil to it, and cook the chicken over medium heat. Cook it thoroughly. Next, add garlic and cook for another minute. Now, add the sauce mixture to the pan, mix, and continue to cook until the sauce reaches the desired consistency. Stir the noodles, green beans, and green onions. Finally, garnish with sesame seeds and add more sriracha to taste. Your ground chicken stir fry with noodles is ready.
Ground Chicken Thai Stir Fry
Thai foods have a reputation for being one of the most eaten and loved Asian cuisines. The exotic flavours and spices give you a taste you won’t forget soon. One dish that you will love for sure is ground chicken stir fry in Thai style. So without much ado, let us dive into the ingredients. After that, we look into the procedure of preparation once you have all the ingredients in place.
The ingredients you need are 1 tbsp soy sauce (or as you need), 2 tsp fish sauce, 1 tsp white sugar and brown sugar each, 2 tbsp vegetable oil, 1 pound coarsely chopped skinless and boneless chicken, one-fourth cup sliced shallots, 4 cloves of garlic, minced, 2 tbsp minced Thai chillies (or Serrano or any other hot pepper), 1 cup very thinly sliced basil leaves, and 2 cups hot cooked rice.
For the procedure, whisk chicken broth, oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, white sugar, and brown sugar until well blended. Heat a large skillet over high heat and add oil to it. Add the chicken and stir fry it until it loses its oil (so for about 2-3 minutes). Stir in shallots, garlic, and sliced chillies and continue cooking until some juices caramelise at the bottom of the pan (again for about 2 to 3 minutes). Add about a tablespoon of the sauce mixture and cook and stir for about a minute until the sauce also starts to caramelise. Pour the rest of the sauce into the skillet and keep cooking and stirring until the sauce deglazes the bottom of the skillet and glazes onto the meat. Now, remove the skillet from the heat. Finally, stir in basil for about 20 seconds until the basil wilts. Serve with rice.
Ground Chicken and Spinach Stir Fry
Spinach is a very healthy leafy vegetable. It contains a lot of nutrients like vitamin A, vitamin K, vitamin C, iron, folate, potassium, and others. Moreover, it has a lot of fibre. Spinach helps prevent cancer, lowers blood glucose, strengthens bones, lowers weight, improves eye health, lowers hypertension, and aids the body in many other ways. Therefore, using spinach with ground chicken for a stir fry is no doubt a healthy choice. It tastes good too. The dish is called ground chicken and spinach stir fry.
The recipe is simple. The ingredients you need are 1 pound of ground chicken breast, ½ pound of baby spinach, ½ tsp of ginger, a few red pepper flakes, 2 tbsps of soy sauce, and canola oil for frying. For the process, bring peeled and minced ginger to the cutting board. Wash and dry baby spinach. Take a pan and heat oil in it. Add the chicken to it and stir fry for a few minutes. Now add pepper flakes and ginger and stir fry for another minute. Add spinach and cook until the spinach wilts. Pour soy sauce and keep cooking. You need to cook the chicken properly. Your dish is ready. Serve it with rice.
Ground Chicken and Eggplant Stir Fry
Ground chicken stir fry can be prepared with ground chicken as the only principal ingredient, or with some other food. The other food can be any vegetable too. How about eggplant? You must have had eggplant sometime in your life. But have you ever tried eggplant with ground chicken stir fry? If not, it is about time you do. It is fairly easy to prepare. We call this ground chicken and eggplant stir fry.
The ingredients are 1 eggplant chopped about 1” pieces, 2 tbsp olive oil, and 1 tbsp soy sauce. For the sauce, you need 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp water, ½ tbsp granulated sugar, 1 tsp corn starch, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, and ½ tbsp (or according to taste) sambal (or sriracha). For the stir-fry, take 1 tbsp olive oil, 4 cloves garlic (chopped), 1 tsp fresh ginger (minced), 1 pound ground chicken, and 2 scallions (thinly sliced), and salt, ground black pepper, and sesame seeds as per taste.
Roast the chopped eggplants coated in olive oil and soy sauce for 20 minutes until well-browned on a baking sheet lined with foil and oil in an oven preheated to 450 degrees F (or 230 degrees C). Meanwhile, for the sauce, mix soy sauce, water, granulated sugar, corn starch, oyster sauce, and sambal. Now heat a large skillet and add olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the ginger and garlic and stir continuously for 30 seconds until fragrant. In a skillet, cook the ground chicken for about five minutes with salt and pepper. Stir occasionally. When the eggplant is ready, add it to the skillet with sauce and cook, stirring well for 2 minutes. Finally, top with scallions and sesame seeds and serve over rice. Your ground chicken and eggplant stir fry is ready.
Ground Chicken Stir Fry FAQs
How long should ground chicken be cooked for?
Ground chicken is leaner than other meat varieties so do not cook it for very long over medium heat. 5-7 minutes is enough to cook ground chicken which increases once you add other meats, oils, vegetables, and so on.
How do you cook ground chicken so it is not dry?
Ground chicken has a relatively less fat content and so it takes less time to cook than other meats. Cook ground chicken over medium heat and at temperatures lower than pork or beef such that it does not dry out.
Is ground chicken healthier than ground beef?
Due to its low fat content, ground chicken is good for those who have to take fewer calories than usual. It is also low in calorie, cholesterol, and saturated-fat content compared to other meats. Plus, chicken is the most versatile and adaptable meat.
Do you wash ground chicken?
Washing ground chicken or any meat before cooking is not healthy. The bacteria in raw meat can spread to other foods, utensils and surfaces and cause contamination. The name for this type of contamination is cross-contamination.
Why is ground chicken so mushy?
Ground chicken is ideally a little wet, but not mushy. If it is mushy or slimy, then it is not edible anymore and not good to cook. Ground chicken running sticky and gooey indicates it has turned bad.
