Moo goo gai pan is a simple chicken and vegetable stir fry served in a sour, savory, and gooey sauce. This recipe is family and budget friendly and perfect for a weeknight meal. Serve this delicious Chinese stir fry in 25 minutes from start to finish.
About This Recipe
My favorite types of stir fries are made with chicken or tofu because of their mild flavor and tender texture, and come dressed in a thick gooey sauce, that’s more savory than sweet (I love the gooeyness of sweet and sour tofu and general Tso chicken).
That’s why I love this moo goo gai pan recipe so much – because it contains all of the textures and flavors that make my palate dance. The sauce is savory and nutty but also has a slight acidic and pungent element. It’s a simple chicken and vegetable dish that is kid friendly and a good introduction into Chinese cooking for those unfamiliar with the basic flavors.
Table of contents
Ingredients Needed
- Oil: Use any neutral cooking oil. Peanut oil is a great choice, but you can use vegetable oil and grapeseed oil as well.
- Chicken: I’m using boneless skinless chicken breasts because that’s my go to whenever I use poultry in my cooking. But feel free to use chicken thighs as well.
- Garlic: Garlic is essential to Chinese cooking and is used to flavor the oil.
- Mushrooms: Any type of mushrooms such as shiitake or wood ear can be used here. I opted for white button mushrooms because they are easy to find.
- Snow Peas: I prefer snow peas over sugar snap peas because of their softer texture, but you can swap one for the other.
- Bamboo Shoots: canned bamboo shoots are savory – and a little crunchy and meaty in texture.
- Water Chestnuts: Water chestnuts don’t have a lot of flavor but are often used in stir fries as a contrast in texture because they are so crunchy.
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch is essential to thickening the sauce and will give it that restaurant caliber gooey texture we’ve come to associate with Chinese food.
- Ground White Pepper: Ground white pepper has a sharp and floral kick.
- Chicken Marinade: This is a simple mixture of soy sauce, rice vinegar and cornstarch that will infuse extra flavor to your chicken. Plus, marinating chicken in cornstarch gives is a lovely silky texture.
- Moo Goo Gai Pan Sauce: A mixture of chicken broth, soy sauce, rice vinegar, oyster sauce, and sesame oil.
Popular Vegetables To Use In Moo Goo Gai Pan
As previously mentioned, there are many ways to adapt this recipe to your liking. If you are not fond of a vegetable that’s listed in the recipe, feel free to switch it with another one.
Common vegetables used in stir fries are: Bok choy, baby bok choy, broccoli, cabbage, celery, scallions, carrots, and onions.
How To Make It
- Marinate the chicken: Whisk the ingredients for the marinade and add the chicken. Set aside for at least 20 minutes.
- Cook the chicken: Place the chicken in a large skillet over medium-high heat and saute until it’s cooked through and tender. Transfer the chicken to a plate.
- Cook the vegetables: Cook the vegetables and reintroduce the cooked chicken to the pan.
- Add the sauce: Add the ingredients for the sauce and stir. Once the sauce is hot and bubbling, slowly add the cornstarch slurry, stirring the entire time – until the sauce thickens.
- Serve: Serve with white rice and season with a little salt and white ground pepper if needed.
Best Water Temperature For Cornstarch Slurry
When making the cornstarch slurry, always use cold or room temperature water. This prevents the cornstarch from clumping. When it’s time to add the slurry to the stir fry, stir it one more time to loosen it up again, right before adding it to the skillet.
Expert Cooking Tip
- Slice the chicken into thinner and smaller pieces. Think of a regular one bite piece of chicken you enjoy chewing on. That’s the size you want to go for. This will speed up the stir frying process because the chicken will cook faster. This also helps the vegetables retain a little crunch and prevent them from overcooking and getting too soft.
Easy Way To Tenderize Meat
A great Chinese cooking technique for achieving great texture for chicken, beef, and pork, is called velveting. Velveting does two important things in this recipe:
- It locks in the flavor and the moisture from the marinade – and creates a barrier from the heat of the wok, so your chicken is always juicy.
- It tenderizes the chicken, resulting in soft, silky and almost glossy meat once cooked.
For this recipe I’m marinating the chicken in a mixture of rice vinegar, soy sauce and cornstarch. While 20 minutes is enough to give the flavor and tenderize the chicken, I recommend leaving it for longer if you have the time. 30 to 40 minutes yields super moist chicken pieces.
Storage And Reheating
Store leftovers in an airtight food storage container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
- Reheating. Reheat leftovers in the microwave, or in a hot pan on the stovetop with a little oil. If the flavors have dulled a bit in the fridge, a dash of soy sauce and a little white pepper should reignite them.
- Freezing: To freeze the stir fry, first let it cool until it reaches room temperature. Divide the stir fry into individual portions and save them in small glass containers or sealable airtight storage bags. Freeze for up to 2 months.
What to Serve With It
Moo goo gai pan is a main dish that is usually served with a side of rice. But it can also be served with noodles and a few side dishes to keep dinner fun and extra flavorful. Some of my favorite dishes are:
Other stir fry recipes you might like to try: Shrimp stir fry, napa cabbage stir fry, stir fried bean sprouts with tofu and garlic chives, fish, pepper and leek stir fry, quick bok choy stir fry, stir fried glass noodles with shrimp, chicken chop suey.
Frequently Asked Questions
The name is pretty much a direct translation from the two main ingredients – chicken and mushrooms. The literal translation for mòh-gū gāi-pin is ‘mushrooms with chicken slices.’
This is normal because cornstarch can only retain its consistency for about an hour and a half at most. If the sauce has become watery, make a cornstarch slurry (1 teaspoon of cornstarch mixed with 2 teaspoons of water). After reheating the moo goo gai pan in a frying pan, slowly add the slurry, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens again.
Yes you can! Use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth, swap chicken for firm tofu, and use hoisin sauce instead of oyster sauce. I have made this recipe vegan many times and the result is just as delicious!
Did you try this recipe? Are there changes you made that you would like to share? Share your tips and recommendations in the comments section below!
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Moo Goo Gai Pan
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 9 minutes
- Total Time: 24 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: Main
- Method: Stir frying
- Cuisine: Chinese
- Diet: Low Calorie
Description
Better than takeout moo goo gai pan recipe that’s savory and a little sour. Ready in less than 25 minutes!
Ingredients
Moo Goo Gai Pan Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil
- 1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped into thin bite size pieces
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 cup button mushrooms, sliced in half
- 1 1/2 cup snow peas
- 1/2 cup canned bamboo shoots, drained
- 1/4 cup canned water chestnuts, drained
- 1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water
- ground white pepper
Marinade
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
Sauce
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
Instructions
- Marinate the chicken. Put all the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl, add the chicken and mix well. Let sit for 20 minutes.
- Cook the chicken. In a wok or deep skillet over medium high heat, add the oil and when the oil is hot, add the chicken. Saute for about 4 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Transfer the chicken on a plate and set aside.
- Add vegetables. In the same wok or deep skillet, add the garlic, mushrooms and snow peas and cook for 3 minutes.
- Add the chicken and more vegetables. Add the bamboo shoots, chestnuts, and chicken, and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the sauce. Add the ingredients for the sauce and stir. Add the cornstarch slurry and stir until the sauce thickens.
- Serve. Turn the heat off, season with ground white pepper and serve immediately with a side of rice.
Notes
Store the leftover moo goo gai pan in a storage container and refrigerate for up to 4 days. Using a wok with a handle for stir fries makes the process of tossing the ingredients easier and helps to evenly coat and spread the sauce.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 328
- Sugar: 6.5yg
- Sodium: 610mg
- Fat: 13.5g
- Saturated Fat: 1.8g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3.8g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 19.9g
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 32.1g
- Cholesterol: 84.5mg
Excellent recipe! No modifications needed.
Great recipe! I didn’t have snow peas so I subbed bok choy but no other modifications were needed. Great flavor and texture.
Can’t wait to try it!
Nice, easy, adaptable recipe. Fast and full of flavour. Served with coconut Jasmine rice. A real hit in our house.
Seems as though this sauce and marinade would be GREAT with beef, kind of like Pepper Steak. Just sub green peppers and onions for the other vegies.