This Chicken Broccoli and Mushroom in Brown Sauce is a quick and easy healthy Chinese inspired mid week meal. This stir fry is saucy, savoury, and a little bit spicy with big bold flavours of ginger, garlic and oyster sauce. This can easily be a meal on its own or pair with your favourite rice or noodle to make it go further.

overhead photo of a bowl of saucy chicken broccoli stir fry

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Recipe Highlights

Minimal prep and on the table in under 20 minutes
Thick, delicious, rich savoury brown sauce perfectly coats the chicken and vegetables
Easy to make ahead, and makes for great leftovers for lunch the following day
Perfect for big batch meal prep and under 500 calories
Its all made in one pan so minimal clean up
Its quick and simple with basic ingredients
Easy to make it extra saucy by doubling the sauce ingredients
It's a meal on its own or add brown rice to soak up the sauce

Check out this Beef in Garlic Sauce, and this Lemon Chicken Stir Fry for a couple for Chinese inspired quick dinner ideas.

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes

Chicken: skinless chicken breast is ideal to use. Cut it into bite sized pieces so that it cooks evenly. If you prefer, chicken breast can be substituted with turkey breast. If using skinless chicken thigh, it make take a couple minutes longer to cook through
Broccoli: One large head or two medium heads of fresh broccoli are best. You can also use frozen (instructions below in recipe tips)
Mushrooms: Whilst you can use any type of mushroom, my favourites are small round cup mushrooms sliced, although you can also quarter them for a chunkier stir fry
Bell Pepper/Red Capsicum: this adds colour and texture. Green or yellow can be subbed, or you can peel and slice a carrot into matchsticks
Ginger/Garlic: whilst fresh is best, you can certainly use crushed garlic and minced ginger that comes in a jar or tube, however you may need to use a little more as it may not be as strong.
Sesame Oil: adds earthiness and flavour and I highly recommend not skipping. Toasted or untoasted sesame oil is fine to use.
Soy Sauce and Oyster Sauce: these form the basis of the brown sauce. Tamari can be used instead of soy sauce, and hoisin sauce can be used instead of oyster sauce.
Pepper/Chilli Flakes: adds heat and spice (but not too much) to the dish.
Cornstarch or cornflour: this thickens the sauce

Making dinners under 500 calories is my specialty, with many of my most popular being low calorie chicken recipes, low calorie meal prepping recipes and low calorie slow cooker recipes.

How To Make Chicken Broccoli in Brown Sauce

Sauce: Combine oyster sauce, soy sauce, water, ground black pepper, sesame oil, and chili flakes and cornflour/cornstarch in a small bowl. Whisk together and then set aside. (note: you can omit the cornstarch/cornflour and it wont affect the taste, however the sauce will have a thinner consistency)

Prepare and cook Chicken: Chop chicken breast into bite-sized pieces. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large wok and cook chicken for two minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Transfer the chicken to a plate and cover.

Cooking chicken in a wok until its golden brown

Cook and season Vegies: Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil into the wok, followed by sliced red bell pepper/red capsicum and broccoli florets and stir until just tender. Add sliced mushrooms and cook for a further minute or until they are cooked to your liking. Add minced garlic and stir for one to two minutes.

Cooking broccoli, bell pepper and mushrooms in a wok

Add Chicken back into the Wok: With both chicken and veges in the wok, whisk the sauce first, and then pour over, stirring quickly to combine the sauce, chicken and veges. It will thicken quickly if using cornflour/cornstarch.

cooking chicken broccoli, mushroom and bell pepper with brown sauce

Taste Test: Taste the sauce and add salt if needed. Remove wok from heat as soon as the sauce has reached the consistency you want. (if it becomes too thick, add little more water to loosen).

Recipe Tips

Other Proteins: Instead of chicken breast, you can substitute with diced turkey breast or thinly sliced beef strips.
Chicken Shortcut: Instead of using skinless chicken breast, you can use a rotisserie chicken and shred the chicken breast meat using two forks
Hate Mushrooms? If mushrooms are not your thing, you can leave them out, or add canned baby corn, or canned water chestnuts (drained) which will add a nice extra crunch.

Using Frozen Broccoli? Steam it first in the microwave to soften, then drain off excess water and add to the wok. It won't need much time on the heat as it should already be cooked. Be sure to put it in at the end to avoid it overcooking and going soft.
Using Fresh Broccoli? Cook until you can poke a fork into it so that it still has some firmness but is not soft or soggy.
Extra Saucy: Increase the sauce by doubling all the sauce ingredients, and keeping the original quantity of chicken and veges. This is a great option if you're eating this recipe with rice or noodles and want extra sauce to soak up.

a bowl of chicken broccolli with brown sauce and sesame seeds on top

Extra Spicy: add some fresh diced red chilli (seeds removed) into the sauce, or at the end to garnish. Alternatively, additional dried red chilli flakes on top to garish will also add extra spice. Or, add a teaspoon or tablespoon or sriracha sauce to the brown sauce.
Less Spicy: Omit all chilli flakes to a mild flavoured sauce.
Meal Prep: Double the recipe (chicken, vegetables, and sauce) to make 6 to 8 meals for easy grab and go mid week dinners. Make sure to prepare individual portions in air tight containers and store in the fridge for 4 days, or freeze for 8 weeks.
Reheating: reheat in the microwave for 2 minutes on high. If sauce is on the thicker side, add a little water, and mix through with a spoon to thin the sauce.

What to Eat with Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry

Brown Rice or white rice: If using rice and making it from scratch, make sure to cook it before making the stir fry, or put your rice cooker on before getting started so that the rice is cooked by the time the stir fry is ready. Alternatively you could use quick cook microwave rice.
Pre-Cooked Noodles: These are the packet noodles that you toss through the stir fry at the last minute to heat through and separate. This is a good option when you've doubled the sauce as the noodles can soak it up. Or these Spicy Peanut Butter Noodles!

Cauliflower Rice: This is a great option to increase the vegetable intake even more, or if you're leaving out the mushrooms.
Zucchini Noodles: these work a treat when you want to maximize your vegetables and are looking to keep the dish low carb and low calorie

This dish comes together very quickly so it's a good idea to have everything chopped beforehand so you're not rushing to chop and cook at the same time.

Sauce Flavour Enhancers

Extra Savoury: add 1 extra teaspoon for a more savoury flavour and deep earthy notes
Extra Zing: for more zing, add ½ to 1 teaspoon of fresh minced ginger, or a little finely sliced matchsticks
Extra Heat: Add a fresh diced long red chilli (seeds removed)
Extra Umami: Add 1 tablespoon of Sriracha stirred through the sauce
More Balance: a little lemon or lime juice, or even fresh lemon zest
More Sweetness: a little honey

I make a lot of healthy Asian Inspired quick dinner dishes because they suit my busy lifestyle, and I how easy it is to create big bold flavours with such little effort. You can personalize a dish and boost its flavour by adding more of an ingredient that you're already using, or by adding an additional ingredient.

Using Chicken Broccoli and Mushroom as a base for a stir fry is a simple way to create a balanced dinner and using a simple stir fry sauce, or even my popular sugar free stir fry sauce or teriyaki sauce is a great way to have dinner on the table in under 20 minutes.