This quick and simple Chinese chicken onion stir fry dinner is a real winner because it is ready in under 30 minutes which is exactly what you need after all the post-holiday exhaustion!
To be absolutely honest, I didn’t intend to open my blog in the new year with this recipe! Wondering why?
This chicken onion stir fry recipe is definitely a keeper and I can guarantee that you will reach out for it more often than not after you try it once!
This is a good recipe and will please everyone in the family for sure; then what is my reluctance for?
This delicious recipe of chicken onion stir fry is an everyday recipe that must be part of your weekly meals thanks to its ease of prep and incredible taste!
But all I wanted was a showstopper recipe to open my blog this new year! You know, that party-kinda recipe?
Unfortunately I could not make that on time and there was no way I could delay sharing a new recipe for another day! So here I am with this delish chicken onion stir fry with all its glory!
What is Chicken Onion stir fry?
Chicken onion stir fry is a quick & easy chicken dinner where thinly sliced chicken is cooked over high heat with regular onions and spring onions!
Chicken and onions are flavored with simple sauces and/or seasonings until everything is tender, slightly caramelized and flavorful while onions are left crunchy!
This dish has a flavor profile of savory & mild sweetness thanks to the oyster sauce and onions; but can be made spicy if you like them that way by adding any hot sauce of your choice.
You can relish this chicken onion stir fry with plain white rice or stir fry noodles as this pairs with both beautifully!
Ingredients for Chicken Onion stir fry
Chicken: For any quintessential Chinese chicken stir fry, you will need skinless & boneless chicken which can be either chicken breasts or chicken thighs.
On most days I am a chicken thigh kinda girl; so I made my chicken onion stir fry with boneless & skinless chicken thighs; but you can surely use chicken breasts if that’s your vibe!
Onion: Onion is the key ingredient in this stir fry recipe. You can use any onion of your choice – red or white.
Just make sure to cut them into thick slices so that they retain their shape and crunch. Also only stir fry them briefly for 5 minutes.
Disclaimer: You may be wondering why the crunchy onions are not visible in my onion chicken stir fry dish! That’s because I made a mistake of not thickly slicing my onions and the thin slices just melted into the sauce!
Spring Onion: I love the flavor of spring onions aka scallions in any of my Chinese chicken stir fry recipes. It adds a burst of freshness and the vibrant greens make the dish way too appetizing!
Aromatics: No stir fry is complete without a generous amount of aromatics that is ginger and garlic. You can thinly slice the garlic or finely chop them.
The amount of garlic depends entirely on your fondness of garlicky flavor; I used about 2 tablespoons of minced garlic but if that’s too much of garlic for you, cut it into half.
Sauce: This is where the magic happens for your chicken onion stir fry! For that classic restaurant style authentic Chinese flavors, you will need to combine two sauces.
The combination of deep dark soy sauce for that umami and oyster sauce for that depth of sweetness & savoriness is what makes this chicken onion stir fry absolutely irresistible!
Vinegar: To balance the deep savoriness of the sauces used here, add a splash of Chinese rice wine vinegar for that subtle amount of tartness.
Pro tip: If you don’t have rice wine vinegar, use the regular distilled white vinegar as I wouldn’t suggest that you buy a full bottle of wine vinegar if you do not cook Chinese food frequently at home.
Sugar: A small sprinkle of sugar is what you need to bind together all the flavors and bring the best out from each ingredient.
Seasoning: While seasoning your chicken onion stir fry, be a little careful because all the sauces we used here already have salt added in them.
I have added a bit of salt while frying the chicken to ensure the meat is seasoned well. For the sauce, add salt after tasting it only if needed.
Oil: First, you will need oil for frying up the chicken and onions separately. I didn’t deep fry my chicken as that is honestly unnecessary.
A good shallow fry will cook the chicken completely while still keeping them crispy outside and soft & succulent inside.
For quickly sauteing the aromatics, try to use whatever oil is left over in the wok after frying the chicken & onions. If the wok is too dry, just add a teaspoon of oil and get going.
How to make Chicken Onion stir fry?
Before starting the cooking process, we will have to prepare all the ingredients so that they are ready to go to the wok in the right sequence.
Step 1: First, wash and pat dry the chicken thighs. Then chop each chicken thigh into long thin slices of about 2-inch length.
Step 2: Take the sliced chicken in a large mixing bowl and add half a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of black pepper powder. Give a quick toss.
Step 3: Then add the remaining marinating ingredients to the chicken – soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, cornflour, sesame oil and water.
Step 4: Give everything a good mix ensuring each piece is evenly coated with the marinate on all sides. Set them aside for chicken to absorb all the flavors while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
Step 5: Peel the onions and first cut each into half. Then chop each half of the onion into thick slices and separate the slices from each other. Make sure to keep the onion slices thick for the right texture.
Step 6: Now for spring onions (aka scallion), first separate the greens and whites. Then finely chop the whites and set aside.
Step 7: Chop the greens into 2-inch long pieces and keep them separate from the whites. We will add the greens at the end of the cooking process.
Step 8: Prepare a cornflour slurry by dissolving the remaining cornflour in half a cup of water. Give a good mix and set aside until needed.
Step 9: Now heat a large wok over medium high heat. Once hot, add a couple of tablespoons of oil to it and also add half a teaspoon each of salt & sugar.
Step 10: Then add the thickly sliced onions to the wok and stir fry them on medium-high heat for 2 to 3 minutes until the slices are somewhat translucent. Take them out on a plate and set aside.
Pro tip: Onions will still remain crunchy at this stage and that’s what you need in your chicken onion stir fry.
Step 11: Add the remaining oil to the wok and once it warms up, add the marinated chicken pieces one by one making sure they are in a single layer and not on top of each other.
Pro tip: If your wok is not too big, fry the chicken in batches to make sure they come out crispy instead of soggy.
Step 12: Cook the chicken undisturbed on medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes. Then flip them over and let the other side cook undisturbed for another 5 minutes until the meat is completely cooked through.
Step 13: Take the fried chicken pieces out on a plate and set them aside while you make the sauce.
Step 14: Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing together dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar, sugar and a couple of tablespoons of water in a small bowl. Give a good whisk & set aside.
Step 15: Into the same wok, if there is no oil left, add just another teaspoon of oil and let it warm up. Then add the sliced ginger and minced garlic.
Step 16: Stir fry them for one minute on medium high heat. Then add the chopped spring onion whites. Cook them for another 2 to 3 minutes until they soften.
Step 17: Then pour the prepared stir fry sauce into the wok. Give a stir. Then return the fried chicken back to the wok.
Step 18: Stir fry everything using a spatula keeping the heat on medium-low. Make sure each piece of chicken is coated with the sauce. This would take about 2 minutes.
Step 19: Now drizzle the prepared cornflour slurry after giving it a good stir as cornflour settles down at the bottom.
Step 20: Cornflour will thicken the sauce and make it glossy. Also add the sautéed onion and spring onion greens to the wok and continue to stir fry at medium heat for just one more minute.
Step 21: Switch off the flame at this point and sprinkle a little more freshly crushed black pepper for an earthy kick.
Step 22: Give a final toss and your chicken and onion stir fry is ready! Serve it over plain white rice and enjoy!
More delicious chicken stir fry recipe from Flavor Quotient
Chinese Chicken & Onion Stir Fry | Best Ever Restaurant Style Onion & Chicken Stir Fry
Author: Priyanka
Recipe type: Side
Cuisine: Chinese
Serves: 2-3 Servings
Ingredients
- Chicken thigh – 500 gms, boneless & skinless
- Ginger – 2-inch piece, thinly sliced
- Garlic – 8 to 10 cloves, minced
- Spring onion – 6 to 8
- Onion – 2, medium
- Sugar – ½ tsp
- Salt – ½ tsp
For chicken marinate:
- Dark soy sauce – 1 tbsp
- Oyster sauce – 1 tbsp
- Cornflour / cornstarch – 4 tbsp
- Sugar – ½ tsp
- Sesame oil – 1 tsp
- Salt – ½ tsp
- Black pepper powder – ½ tsp
- Water – 4 tbsp
For sauce:
- Flavorless oil – 4 tbsp
- Cornflour / cornstarch – 2 tbsp
- Dark soy sauce – 2 tsp
- Oyster sauce – 3 tsp
- Rice wine vinegar – 1 tsp
- Sugar – ½ tsp
- Black pepper powder – ¼ tsp
Instructions
- Before starting the cooking process, we will have to prepare all the ingredients so that they are ready to go to the wok in the right sequence.
- First, wash and pat dry the chicken thighs. Then chop each chicken thigh into long thin slices of about 2-inch length.
- Take the sliced chicken in a large mixing bowl and add half a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of black pepper powder. Give a quick toss.
- Then add the remaining marinating ingredients to the chicken – soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, cornflour, sesame oil and water.
- Give everything a good mix ensuring each piece is evenly coated with the marinate on all sides. Set them aside for chicken to absorb all the flavors while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
- Peel the onions and first cut each into half. Then chop each half of the onion into thick slices and separate the slices from each other. Make sure to keep the onion slices thick for the right texture.
- Now for spring onions (aka scallion), first separate the greens and whites. Then finely chop the whites and set aside.
- Chop the greens into 2-inch long pieces and keep them separate from the whites. We will add the greens at the end of the cooking process.
- Prepare a cornflour slurry by dissolving the remaining cornflour in half a cup of water. Give a good mix and set aside until needed.
- Now heat a large wok over medium high heat. Once hot, add a couple of tablespoons of oil to it and also add half a teaspoon each of salt & sugar.
- Then add the thickly sliced onions to the wok and stir fry them on medium-high heat for 2 to 3 minutes until the slices are somewhat translucent. Take them out on a plate and set aside.
- Add the remaining oil to the wok and once it warms up, add the marinated chicken pieces one by one making sure they are in a single layer and not on top of each other.
- Cook the chicken undisturbed on medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes. Then flip them over and let the other side cook undisturbed for another 5 minutes until the meat is completely cooked through.
- Take the fried chicken pieces out on a plate and set them aside while you make the sauce.
- Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing together dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar, sugar and a couple of tablespoons of water in a small bowl. Give a good whisk & set aside.
- Into the same wok, if there is no oil left, add just another teaspoon of oil and let it warm up. Then add the sliced ginger and minced garlic.
- Stir fry them for one minute on medium high heat. Then add the chopped spring onion whites. Cook them for another 2 to 3 minutes until they soften.
- Then pour the prepared stir fry sauce into the wok. Give a stir. Then return the fried chicken back to the wok.
- Stir fry everything using a spatula keeping the heat on medium-low. Make sure each piece of chicken is coated with the sauce. This would take about 2 minutes.
- Now drizzle the prepared cornflour slurry after giving it a good stir as cornflour settles down at the bottom.
- Cornflour will thicken the sauce and make it glossy. Also add the sautéed onion and spring onion greens to the wok and continue to stir fry at medium heat for just one more minute.
- Switch off the flame at this point and sprinkle a little more freshly crushed black pepper for an earthy kick.
- Give a final toss and your chicken and onion stir fry is ready! Serve it over plain white rice and enjoy!
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