Chicken Asparagus Stir Fry

Making a simple stir fry is one of the best ways to get dinner on the table fast and use whatever happens to be in your fridge, potentially saving you the hassle and expense of yet another trip to the grocery store.

This particular combination of chicken and asparagus is healthy and filling. It’s absolutely ideal in the springtime, when fresh, bright green stalks of asparagus pop up at grocery stores and farmers markets everywhere.

Here are a few notes and shopping tips about the ingredients you’ll need to make this chicken asparagus stir fry, as well as possible substitutions. 

• Chicken Breasts: Of the boneless, skinless variety. I highly recommend using thin-sliced chicken breasts, as they cook more quickly and evenly. You can butterfly chicken breasts yourself, or buy them already thin-sliced, as is my preference for simplicity’s sake.
• Asparagus: Clearly!
• Bell pepper and Sliced Mushrooms: Both of these are optional additions, but add lovely color, texture, flavor, and nutrients — and little extra work — if you happen to enjoy them. You can use any type of bell peppers. Red, orange, and yellow are the most naturally sweet.
• Avocado or Canola Oil: These types of oils are particularly good for cooking at high heat, such as in a stir fry, because they have a high smoke point. This means they can come to a relatively high temperature and still glisten, before beginning to burn and impart an acrid aroma and flavor.
• Garlic and Ginger: First choice: freshly-minced or grated. Second choice, also very good: a jarred or frozen version. Distant third choice: only substitute dried garlic powder and ginger in a real pinch.
• Chicken Broth: Use a low-sodium chicken broth to give you more control over the salt content of your finished stir fry.
• Brown Sugar: The little sweetener our stir fry sauce needs to achieve its signature sweet-and-savory profile.
• Soy Sauce, Hoisin Sauce, and Toasted Sesame Oil: All pantry staples that punch far above their weight if you like making stir fry or other at-home versions of takeout. Toasted sesame oil, for example, is a delightful and important ingredient in teriyaki chicken and Korean ground beef, and a small bottle lasts a very long time.
• Cornstarch: To thicken the sauce. Arrowroot powder makes a good substitute.

Now that you’re convinced it’s important to do, let’s review the simplest way to trim fresh asparagus.

1. Lay out the stalks on your cutting board.
2. Pick up one stalk of an average thickness and length. Bend it in your hands to find the point where it naturally snaps in two, usually a few inches in from the flat bottom part of the stalk.
3. Snap that one, then lay it back alongside the bunch on your cutting board, and use a sharp chef’s knife to cut all of the stalks in roughly that place. Discard the tough ends, and chop the rest into roughly 2 inch pieces.

So here, after some trial and error on my part, is the way I always recommend cooking a stir fry for everyday home cooks:

1. Sauté veggies and aromatics in avocado or canola oil over medium-high heat, just until they are slightly tender but still vibrant in color and mostly crisp. Remove to a plate and set aside.
2. Brown chicken in the same skillet. Leave it in the pan.
3. Pour in your stir fry sauce, which you can whisk up while the veggies cook or the chicken browns, followed by a simple mix of cornstarch and water. Simmer until the sauce thickens and the chicken is fully cooked.
4. Return veggies, toss, and serve.