You should make black pepper chicken a regular part of your dinner menu
Not only is it easy to make and tastes great, but it also has a lot of healthy lean protein and colorful vegetables, which makes it a great one-pot meal.
At first, making restaurant stir fry might seem hard, but after you’ve followed a good recipe once, you’ll know how to do it and the whole thing will be much less scary. Also, once you’ve had a homemade stir fry, you’ll want to make it instead of getting takeout. The homemade version has less oil, sugar, and sodium, which is better for your health.
Ingredients for black pepper chicken
You probably already have most of the things you need to make black pepper chicken in your kitchen.
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken (breast or thigh), cut into uniform pieces
- Minced garlic, from 2-3 cloves
- Minced fresh ginger, 1 inch piece
- 1 recipe Black Pepper Sauce (e.g., soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar, black pepper, water)
- 2 cups mixed stir-fry vegetables (e.g., bell peppers, broccoli, onion)
- Chicken marinade ingredients (e.g., 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon oil)
Before you start cooking, make sure you cut up the ingredients, make the sauce, and let the chicken soak in the marinade. You need to move quickly when the stir fry starts so that the food doesn’t overcook.
Your table should have the following things when you’re ready to cook:
- A plate with minced garlic and ginger
- Mixed sauce (it’s nice to have a small spoon on the side because you’ll need to stir the sauce again before putting it in the pan)
- Chicken that has been marinated
I like to get my ingredients ready by putting them all together. This makes cooking easier and means you won’t have to clean as many bowls later.
How to cook chicken with black pepper
1. Put the chicken in a large skillet that is hot.
2. Take the chicken out of the pan when the outside is lightly charred and the inside is still pink.
3. Add the aromatics and cook them slowly.
4. Stir-fry the veggies.
5. Add the black pepper sauce and cook until it gets thicker.
6. Put the chicken back in and mix everything together.
Before you start the cooking steps, get your ingredients prepared as described above so everything is ready to move quickly during the stir fry process.
Notes on cooking
- The secret to juicy, tender chicken
This method will give you super tender chicken, just like you’d get at a Chinese restaurant, whether you use chicken breasts or thighs:- Always cut the meat against the grain. Try to keep each slice the same size and thickness.
- Marinate the chicken every time. The whole thing will make the chicken more tender and give it a lot of flavor.
- Before stirring the chicken, let it sear for 30 seconds. The cornstarch in the recipe will make the chicken stick to the pan if you try to stir it right away. If you let the chicken cook for a while before moving it, the meat will be well-seared and not fall apart.
- Why you should take the chicken out once
Moving the half-cooked chicken to a plate before adding the other ingredients is very important for two reasons.- The pan will get a lot cooler when you add the sauce and vegetables. The sauce will take a long time to reduce and the veggies won’t get the right amount of heat if you don’t take the chicken out first. Both make a soupy dish with steamed food.
- When you take the chicken out, it’s not quite done yet. When you put it back in, it’s fully cooked. If you leave the chicken in the skillet the whole time, it will be dry and chewy by the time the veggies are done.
- Get used to how fast stir frying goes
I learned that Chinese stir frying is much faster than most Western cooking. It takes me about five minutes (or less) to finish cooking a dish. This means that you only have a minute or less to add each ingredient. So read the recipe all the way through before you start cooking, and then get going right away.
That’s all! The chicken is juicy and tender, and the vegetables are crunchy and bright. You can eat it on its own or with steamed rice. Use steamed brown rice instead for a healthier meal.
Put leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days or in the freezer for a month or two. I hope you like it!