Chicken Stiry Fry

Lately I've been in the mood for a few of our "old faithful" recipes - stir fry being my current top fave. I made this two times last week, once with steak, and the other time with chicken. It's quick and easy to make, very healthy and we never get tired of it. I used to make stir fry a lot back in my early cooking days, when I didn't quite know how to cook. Louis and I were laughing about this the other night - I used to pour in tons of red wine, butter, some flour every now and then, probably cheese and anything else that I thought would add to the flavor. Seriously, what was I thinking?! The best thing about making a stir fry in a wok, is that you hardly have to add any ingredients at all and really get to take advantage of not just the fresh taste, but the nutritional qualities of the vegetables as well.

 

I have a few bits of advice when using a wok:

1. Cook in stages, don't try to make everything in one batch. Each batch of vegetables should take 3 minutes or less, so don't worry, it won't take long. Even if you want to mix everything together, try to add a small portion to the wok at once, this way the cook time is kept to a minimum and you won't cook out all of the nutrients!

 

2. Don't let the food "sit" in the wok. You should constantly move the ingredients around to ensure even distribution of heat. Pretend you are one of the guys at the Japanese steakhouse, that's what I do!

 

3. Season meat before putting it into the wok. You don't need much. About a tablespoon of grapeseed oil, lots of pepper, and any other kind of seasoning that you like. I also add a touch of soy sauce - 1 tbsp at most.

 

4. Keep the temperature high! I keep mine set to 12 (out of 14). I only lower the heat when I make sweet potatoes because those take a bit longer to cook. For every other meat and veggie, I use high heat.

 

And now for this recipe....

 

Here's what you need:

2-4 tbsp coconut oil

1 tbsp grapeseed oil

chicken or steak tips (I use thin chicken breast filets and then cut into bit size pieces before cooking. I cut the steak tips into smaller pieces as well.)

veggies....any kind! My choices this week were snow peas, 1/2 sweet potato, sliced mushrooms, brussel sprouts, zucchini, and garlic

sliced almonds, optional!

 

Here's what you do:

Cut meat into bite sized pieces and add grapeseed oil, pepper, and any other seasoning you like. Also add a tiny bit of soy sauce - about 1 tsp

Chop veggies into small pieces, except the snow peas those are fine

Heat wok to a high setting

Add about a teaspoon of coconut oil for the first batch of veggies, and only add more for each additional batch if needed

I made sweet potatoes first since I needed a lower heat setting. Stir fry for about 6 minutes. Then turn up heat for the rest of the ingredients.

Add each of the other vegetables seperately (again, add coconut oil when needed)  and stir constantly for 2-3 minutes. During the last minute of each batch, add a tiny bit of soy sauce. About a teaspoon or less is all you need.

Add meat last, and stir constantly for about 5 minutes or until done. Chicken takes me about 5 minutes and the steak I did for about 6-7 minutes.

 

*When I make chicken, I add a small handful of sliced almonds during the last minute of cooking. When I make steak, I add the almonds to the brussel sprouts during the last minute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like to top with sriracha because it's spicy and delicious! I never need to add any additional soy sauce and recommend that you try to use as little as possible when cooking and while enjoying your meal. It only takes a tiny bit to get the flavor and overloading tends to be way too much salt and will cause bloating and dehydration.

 

I have a lot of fun cooking this meal and love that there is very little clean up. It saves well too, so sometimes I make extra for lunch the next day.

 

Hope you enjoy!