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If you’re craving Chinese food, this Moo Goo Gai Pan recipe with tender pieces of boneless skinless chicken breast, vegetables including mushrooms, snow peas, and bok choy, complete with a savory sauce, is quick and easy dinner to make! This recipe is not spicy and has mild flavors.
Why this recipe is so great:
- Tender chicken – Moo Goo Gai Pan is similar to Hunan Chicken in that you take very thinly sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts and marinate them in a cornstarch mixture. This process is called velveting and makes every bite of chicken incredibly tender.
- Mild flavor – Love ordering Chinese takeout but don’t like the heat? Although you can always add a little spice, this is the most mile Asian inspired dinner I’ve ever made.
- Better than takeout: You may have never made Moo Goo Gai Pan, but you’ve most likely seen it on the menu at your favorite Chinese-American restaurant. Sliced or cubed chicken (known as gai pin in Cantonese) with button mushrooms (mohgu in Cantonese), with some extra vegetables and sauce mixed in is actually very easy to make at home.
Ingredients needed:
Exact quantities are listed in the recipe card below, but here is a summary.
Marinade:
- Cornstarch, soy sauce, and rice vinegar are mixed together to coat the chicken breasts
Sauce:
- Chicken stock
- Soy sauce
- Rice Vinegar
- Oyster Sauce
- Sesame oil
- Cornstarch for thickening
Moo Goo Gai Pan:
- Mushrooms – you can use any kind, but I always use regular button or baby bellas that are easily found at any grocery store
- Snow peas – I had just picked mine from the garden!
- Baby bok choy
- Bamboo Shoots and water chestnuts – these are both canned and found in the Asian cooking section of any grocery store
- Garlic and ginger
How to make Moo Goo Gai Pan:
Detailed step by step instructions are listed in the recipe card below, but here is a summary.
- Velvet chicken: Mix together marinade ingredients and coat thinly sliced chicken breasts. Let sit for at least a half an hour.
- Prepare remaining ingredients: Stir fry recipes are fast cooking, so it is always best practice to prepare the sauce and chop the vegetables ahead of time.
- Cook chicken: In a hot saute or wok pan, cook chicken until golden brown and set aside.
- Cook vegetables: Start with the mushrooms and snow peas, then add the bok choy, then finish with the bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, garlic and ginger.
- Add chicken: Return chicken to the pan with the remaining ingredients.
- Add sauce: Pour sauce over entire mixture, stir, and allow to cook for a couple minutes until it thickens.
Recipe tips for perfect results:
- To get the best sear: Always ensure the oil and pan are extremely hot, spread ingredients out as much as possible, and only stir to prevent burning.
- Serve with: short grain white rice or Ramen Noodles.
- Modify ingredients: This is a versatile dish that can be altered however you wish. Additional ingredients you can add or swap include:
- sliced carrots
- fresh broccoli
- canned straw mushrooms
- scallions
- peanuts or cashews
Similar recipes:
Stir fry recipes are almost always quick, easy, and delicious. If you love cooking Asian inspired dinners at home, you’ll love these favorites:
- Beef Stir-Fry
- Shrimp Stir Fry
- Kimchi Fried Rice
- Pork Fried Rice
- General Tso’s Chicken
- Teriyaki Chicken
- Shrimp Chow Mein
- Perfect Cashew Chicken
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If you're craving Chinese food, this Moo Goo Gai Pan recipe with tender pieces of boneless skinless chicken breast, vegetables including mushrooms, snow peas, and bok choy, complete with a savory sauce, is quick and easy dinner to make! This recipe is not spicy and has mild flavors.
Equipment
Ingredients
MARINADE:
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast (sliced thin)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
SAUCE:
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
MOO GOO GAI PAN:
- 1 tablespoon oil peanut, avocado, or vegetable
- 2 cups mushrooms sliced (stems removed before slicing, equivalent to about 6 large button or mini bella mushrooms)
- 2 cups snow peas
- 1 head baby bok choy roughly chopped with stem removed
- 8 ounces bamboo shoots (one can, drained)
- 8 ounces water chestnuts (one can, drained)
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon ginger minced
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Marinate (velvet) the chicken:
- Thinly slice chicken breast against the grain. An extremely sharp fillet knife and almost frozen chicken is recommended for easy slicing.
- In a shallow dish or resealable plastic bag, whisk together soy sauce, corn starch, and rice vinegar until the corn start dissolves. Add the chicken breast and stir to coat. Allow to sit, refrigerated, for at least 20 minutes.
Moo Goo Gai Pan sauce:
- While chicken is marinating, whisk together sauce ingredients and set aside. Since this is a fast cooking recipe, prepare remaining ingredients.
Cook the Moo Goo Gai Pan:
- In a wok or large saute pan over high heat, add oil. When oil is so hot that it begins to smoke, add marinated chicken and spread out to avoid crowding. Cook for about 5 minutes, turning or tossing occasionally only to avoid burning. Transfer browned chicken to a clean plate and set aside.
- Using the same pan, add mushrooms and snow peas and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring only occasionally to prevent burning. When the vegetables start to sear, add the bok choy, stir, and continue cooking.
- Add bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, garlic, ginger, and cooked chicken to the pan. Stir well to combine and allow to cook for a couple minutes minutes.
- Add sauce, stir well to combine, and allow to cook for a few minutes until sauce thickens. Taste and add salt and pepper, to taste (I found that it definitely needed additional salt).
- Remove from heat and serve immediately.
Notes
- To get the best sear: Always ensure the oil and pan are extremely hot, spread ingredients out as much as possible, and only stir to prevent burning.
- Modify ingredients: This is a versatile dish that can be altered however you wish. Additional ingredients you can add or swap include:
- sliced carrots
- fresh broccoli
- canned straw mushrooms
- scallions
- peanuts or cashews
Nutrition
Calories: 254kcal, Carbohydrates: 15g, Protein: 29g, Fat: 8g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 73mg, Sodium: 1127mg, Potassium: 725mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 402IU, Vitamin C: 23mg, Calcium: 33mg, Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did you make this? Leave me a comment below
Made this for dinner and it was excellent! Great flavors and pretty easy. Can’t wait to make it again!
Delicious! The sauce is divine. I will definitely make this again.
This moo goo gai pan was terrific, and the recipe was super easy to follow. Thank you!