This recipe combines some of my favorite ingredients: chicken (my all-time favorite food is chicken caesar salad), vegetables (hello, baby corn!), and bourbon. Yes, bourbon. If you doubt my affinity for this Kentucky-made, corn-based, charred-oak-barrel-aged beverage, just search my blog. At least one dozen recipes using bourbon pop up. I love that stuff!
The secret to this stir-fry is definitely the sauce. One key ingredient in bourbon chicken is tamari sauce. While I used to think it was basically a gluten-free version of soy sauce, there are a few differences:
- Tamari sauce and soy sauce both contain fermented soy, but soy sauce also includes fermented wheat. Check the label to be sure, but tamari is usually free of any gluten.
- Tamari sauce has a darker color and richer flavor than soy sauce, so it’s not really a 1:1 swap-out.
- Tamari sauce has a more balanced flavor than ultra-salty soy sauce does.
- Tamari is typically used in Japanese cooking, and soy sauce is used in Chinese cooking.
And there you go! That’s all I know about the subject, other than the fact that my tongue and my tummy prefer gluten-free tamari over soy sauce.
This is a quick dish that can easily be doubled for a larger crowd. In fact, I would venture to say that the only thing limiting how many you can feed bourbon chicken and vegetable stir-fry is the size of your frying pan or wok. I don’t happen to have a wok — have never forked out the money for one that works well on my induction cooktop — but have a fantastic frying pan that is almost 12″ wide by 4″ deep. That is perfect size for a double recipe, and serves about 10 people.
I may be slightly crazy, but I like to take about 1/4 cup of rice, make a ring on my plate or in my bowl, then load it with stir fry. Fewer carbs, but still something to soak up all that lovely bourbon sauce.
The simplest way to make any stir fry is to – – –
- assemble all the ingredients
- make the sauce
- start cooking rice
- cook the meat
- prep veggies while the meat is cooking
- pour sauce over the meat
- add veggies
- serve all the hungry people seated at your table
There you go! About 30 minutes later, you will be hearing the first murmurings of “Mmmmmm!” and “Oh my….” and most likely, “May I have all the leftovers???”
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Bourbon Chicken & Vegetable Stir-fry
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 5 1x
Description
Quick, easy, delicious, and basically everything you want to serve friends and family
Ingredients
3 pounds chicken breast, cut into 1″ chunks
salt and pepper (a scant teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper works well)
1 Tbsp avocado oil
6 large cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thinly
1″ ginger root, peeled and sliced thinly
1/4 cup bourbon
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup tamari sauce
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp corn starch
1/4 tsp chili pepper flakes, crushed
Vegetables — broccoli, mushrooms, baby corn, baby zucchini, sugar snap peas, carrot matchsticks, cauliflower, whatever your little heart desires
Cashews for serving
Instructions
Assemble all ingredients first, because this moves quickly.
Stir together sauce: bourbon, brown sugar, tamari, water, corn starch, rice vinegar, crushed chili pepper flakes. Set aside.
Start cooking rice. Jasmine rice is our favorite, and 1 1/2 cups of rice with 3 cups of water makes about the right amount.
Cut chicken breasts and toss with salt and pepper. Heat avocado oil in large fry pan or wok, and sauté chicken over medium-high heat until just cooked.
While chicken is cooking, prep all the veggies, beginning with garlic and ginger. Add garlic and ginger to chicken, and cook about 30 seconds.
Pour sauce over chicken and simmer for about 5 minutes. Sauce will thicken.
Add in all the other veggies you are using, and cook another 2-3 minutes.
Serve on a bed of rice, and topped with cashews.
Notes
If you don’t have rice vinegar, apple cider vinegar works just as well.
If using carrot matchsticks, add them before the other veggies, as they take a few more moments to cook.
Vegetables should be bright colored, and retain their crunch.
If you are watching carbs, riced cauliflower is a good substitute.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
