Stir Fry W/Chicken Thighs

Is it just me or do you LOVE a good stir fry?  It's really the best tasty way to add a bunch of veggies to your diet.  I know it's not traditional, but I usually add kale to my stir fry too.  The best part about a stir fry is that you can put any veggies in you like and it always tastes amazing.  So here I'm going to give you a super easy stir fry recipe, but don't be afraid to swap out any of the veggies for whatever you have in your fridge.

I find it so important to have a balanced meal, so I always eat stir fry with some rice and a protein.  As I've shared with you before, chicken is my go-to protein for easy recipes.  These chicken thighs got super crispy in the cast iron skillet, which added a great texture to the dish.  We cook just about all of our proteins in cast iron because it gives the protein such a good color and crust.  If you don't have a cast iron skillet, this is something you 100% need to invest in.  The more you cook in it, the more seasoning it takes on.  Families literally pass down cast iron skillets from generation to generation because they take on so much flavor the more you cook with them.

Total Time: 30 minutes + 24 hour marinade

Servings: 6-7

Ingredients:

For the stir fry:

3 large carrots (about 2 cups, chopped)

2 crowns broccoli

6 cups sliced mushrooms

6 cups dinosaur kale

3 cups snap peas

3 lbs chicken thighs, marinated

For the marinade:

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 tbs olive oil

6 shakes of fish sauce

2 tbs hot sauce of choice

For the sauce:

3/4 cup soy sauce

2 tbs olive oil

1/2 tbs hot sauce

1/8 tsp paprika

1/8 tbs cumin

Instructions:

1. Add marinade ingredients to a zip top bag with chicken thighs and allow to marinade for at least 24 hours.
2. Chop your vegetables - carrots and mushrooms thinly sliced, broccoli in crowns, and kale de-ribbed.
3. Cook rice according to instructions on packaging.
4. Add your marinated chicken thighs to a hot cast iron pan.  Cook for about 5 minutes on the first side, then flip and cook for 2-4 additional minutes, until cooked through.
5. While the chicken thighs are cooking, add the carrots, broccoli, kale & snap peas with 2 tbs avocado oil to a wok.  Cook for about 3 minutes on medium-high heat before adding the mushrooms.  Cook for an additional 5 minutes, salting lightly.
6. To plate, add your rice on bottom, then top with vegetables and chicken.  Lightly dress your plate with sauce and enjoy!

I've mentioned before, I love to do mise en place.  So even though you don't have to separate all your veggies, this is how I typically get ready to cook a large meal.  By getting all this work done ahead of time, you save yourself the time and stress of prepping your veg while hungry.  I find that a lot of recipes tell you to use "chopped" ingredients and don't include the actual chopping of the ingredients in the total time.  I find that super deceiving because who has a bunch of pre-chopped veggies just laying around that they can use?

So once your veg is all chopped up and ready to go, you can add it to your wok.  Now, you may be wondering why I add my sauce separately and keep my stir fry fairly dry.  I've found that when you're meal prepping or planning on having leftovers, they keep better if you add the sauce after.  Otherwise, they can get a little soggy and nobody likes a soggy veggie stir fry!

And if you cook your chicken thighs in a cast iron pan, you'll get this amazing brown crust on them that's just totally unbeatable.  I've gotta say, ever since we got a cast iron pan, we cook just about everything in it.

Once you plate up, enjoy with some sake and some beautiful flowers (not for eating though).

What do you like to add to your stir fry?