Chicken & Aspargus Stir Fry

This chicken and asparagus stir fry is an excellent weeknight meal. It has a (fairly) short ingredient list and takes under 30 minutes to prepare from start to finish. Served with some brown rice or quinoa it is a healthy, well balanced meal, and it doesn’t sacrifice any flavor!

Why do kids hate to eat vegetables?

As I’ve been writing up this recipe and looking through the photos I keep thinking of the dichotomy of my eating life. As a child I hated vegetables. Like, really, really hated. I had some awful (well, awful in the mind of an 8 year old) dinners when my Dad decided to pull out his wok and do some stir frying.

My Dad, like me, enjoys to cook and bake. He used to have this bright red electric wok and boy was I unhappy when it came out of the cupboard. It usually meant I was going to be served up a big plate of veggies, and, like I said, I really hated veggies.

Now, I’m pretty good about eating my vegetables! I think this healthy stir fry recipe is a total winner. I can imagine though, that if my Mom found this recipe 20 years ago she probably would have been thinking “Yeah right, that’s not going to fly with my kids”.

I hope this is a meal your family would enjoy. If not, here’s to hoping your children end up like me and come around to vegetables eventually!

Chicken & Asparagus Stir Fry

Ingredients

• 1.5 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 bunch asparagus, cut into 1 inch lengths
• 1 Tbs soy sauce (or Bragg’s Amino Acids)
• 1 Tbs honey
• 1 tsp sriracha
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 bunch green onions, slice
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
• 2 Tbs sesame oil
• sesame seeds for garnish (optional)

Directions

1. Before you start cooking cut the chicken and asparagus into bite sized pieces, mince the garlic and ginger, and slice the green onions.
2. In a medium sized bowl mix the soy sauce, honey, and sriracha. Add the chicken to the bowl and stir until the chicken is coated with the sauce.
3. In a large skillet, heat the sesame oil over medium high heat. When the oil is hot add the asparagus to the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes (or until the asparagus reaches the desired level of tenderness), stirring frequently so that the asparagus does not burn. Remove cooked asparagus from the pan and set aside.
4. Add the chicken to the same skillet, along with any sauce left in the bottom on the bowl. Cook the chicken for 3 – 4 minutes on each side, or until it is cooked through.
5. Push the chicken off to one side of the skillet. Put the garlic, ginger, and green onions in the empty space in the skillet and stir it around a bit so that everything gets coated with the sauce, then stir into the chicken.
6. Stir the asparagus into the skillet again, and cook just a minute or two more, until the asparagus has heated up.
7. Garnish with sesame seeds, if desired. I serve this with rice or quinoa.