Lemon and Ginger Honey Chicken Stir Fry

 
This is a quick and simple lemon, ginger and honey chicken stir-fry recipe that's sure to become a weekday favourite in your house. It'll be clean plates all around, even with fussy kids!

This honey chicken dish is deliciously sweet and sticky with some lovely flavours from the ingredients, without being too strong or spicy.

At its heart it's a simple stir-fry chicken with a honey based coating that you can easily change up with different vegetables and serving options. This recipe will include simple boiled rice in the method but we'll cover some alternatives and options at the end.

There's enough here for 4 people - especially if complimented with some additional vegetables. We will only be using pots and pans that most people will have in the cupboard already. 

To make this lemon, ginger, honey chicken stir-fry you will need:

• 3 fresh skinless chicken breasts

• 2 teaspoons of garlic puree

• 4 tablespoons of Just Bee Lemon & Ginger Honey

• 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar

• 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce

• 1 teaspoon of sesame seeds

• 1 teaspoon of cornflour

• 1 teaspoon of vegetable (or sunflower) oil

• A small bunch of chopped coriander

• 200g of rice

• A large frying pan or wok

• A large saucepan

• A small saucepan

Serves 4

Time to prepare and cook: around 20 minutes

1. Toast the sesame seeds

First heat the sesame seeds gently in a dry frying pan or wok (no oil) on a low heat for a minute or two. We want to toast them just slightly until they are very lightly browned and you can just see a little oil being released. Once they are at this stage put them aside on a small dish or saucer.

2. Cook the rice

Wash and prepare the rice as per the instructions on the packet. My favourite Basmati takes 12 minutes once boiling, so that is plenty of time for me to get the chicken prepared and cooked while the rice is cooking. If you are using quicker cooking rice or microwavable rice then you should delay putting the rice on until later.

3. Prepare the chicken breasts

Cut the chicken breasts into nice bite sized pieces and remove any yucky bits of sinew, there probably won't be much (if any) on most pre-prepared breasts but you might find a little. After preparing the chicken, put a teaspoon of vegetable oil in your frying pan or wok and start heating that up to a good and hot temperature.

4. Stir-fry the chicken

Once the pan is hot add the chicken pieces and stir-fry until all sides of the chicken pieces are starting to cook and look white, then turn the heat down a little and leave it to continue cooking through. Make sure to keep an eye on the chicken and give it a move around occasionally if it starts browning too much on one side.

5. Create the honey stir-fry sauce

Next up we'll start making the honey stir fry sauce for the chicken. Add the garlic puree to the smaller pan and cook on a low heat for a minute or two until you start to smell the aromas from the garlic wafting up from the pan; this means it's starting to cook and we won't taste raw garlic in the finished sauce. Continue to heat the pan gently and then add the soy sauce, cider vinegar and honey into the pan, making sure to stir occasionally while we turn our attention back to the chicken.

6. Check the chicken is cooked

Continue frying the chicken until there's no pink in the middle and starting to brown on the outside. The best way to check is to just cut one of the larger pieces in half- it should be obvious when it's cooked through, which won't take long when it's in small pieces.

7. Finish your honey stir-fry sauce

Once your chicken is cooked through and has some nice browning to some of the sides and edges, lower the hob and go back to the honey sauce. If the sauce is hot and bubbling, turn off the heat and stir in the teaspoon of cornflour. This will help thicken the sauce even more so it really sticks to the chicken. Stir in the sesame seeds that were toasted earlier and transfer the sauce to the frying pan or wok with the cooked chicken in. Toss gently until all the chicken is well covered.

8. Serve up your honey chicken stir-fry!

If your rice is ready then you can serve up now, if not then turn the chicken down to the lowest heat you can and leave it for a few minutes while the rice finishes cooking. This can add some extra caramelisation to the chicken pieces which you might actually prefer!
 
To serve simply plate up your rice and put your delicious sticky chicken on top and sprinkle with some chopped coriander for decoration!

Ideas and alternatives:

This lemon and ginger honey chicken is also fantastic with egg fried rice or noodles.

You can also use a little of the soy sauce to flavour and colour the rice if you wish.

If you want to add stir fry vegetables to the chicken I would recommend cooking them beforehand, putting aside and adding to the pan or wok once the chicken is cooked and just warming through in the pan. This takes a lot of the timing work out and will ensure that your vegetables are cooked how you like them. Maybe it's just me but I always seem to end up with some vegetables too crunchy and undercooked and others too soft and mushy otherwise!

If you don't want to add vegetables to the chicken then peas or onions are nice stirred through the plain rice to make it a little more exciting!

If you want to enhance the lemon and ginger flavour to make it more powerful then add a tablespoon of lemon juice and ½ teaspoon of ground ginger to the sauce before adding it to the chicken.