Chicken Stir-fry with Peanut Sauce

I had planned on making this dish last night, but Ryan's friend Ryann invited us over for dinner. She owns a pony ranch nearby. Normally, she's working the fair circuit this time of year, but she happened to be in town last night. The tri-tip she served was delicious! I love me some tri-tip. I also love me some baby ponies. So cute!

Back to the stir-fry, I've been making this recipe for years (since I was in college). I'm sorry I don't remember where I got the recipe from originally, but I have made a lot of adjustments to it since. I almost always double the batch when I make it, and triple the sauce. I like it saucy! This is one of the recipes that I think tastes even better reheated = great left-overs.

Chicken Stir-fry with Peanut Sauce

Marinade

• 1 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp. sesame oil
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 tbsp. vinegar
• 3 tbsp. sugar
• 2 boneless chicken breasts

Sauce

• 1/4 - 1/3 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you like it, you can add even less)
• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup hot water
• 1 tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. vinegar
• 1/4 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• a few dashes of hot sauce
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Veggies

• 1/2 cup onion, sliced
• 1 cup broccoli
• 1/2 cup carrot, julienne
• 1 cup button mushrooms

Start by whisking together the marinade. Slice or cube the chicken breast as you like it. Marinate the chicken for 30 min. room-temp or 1-2 hours in the fridge.

While the chicken is marinating, whisk together the ingredients for the sauce and set aside. Then chop the vegetables. You can increase the amount of vegetables if you'd like, I usually do.

Go ahead and laugh. Most people do. Last year, I asked Santa Claus for onion goggles. No matter what I did (believe me I tried all of the tricks), my eyes would water like crazy when I chopped onions. So now I use them and I gotta say...they work pretty well. Nothing is 100%, but they are much better than going bare-eyed. 

Heat some olive oil in a wok (or large pan if you don't have a wok) at med.-high heat. Drain chicken from marinade and cook for about 10 minutes or until done. Remove cooked chicken from wok and set aside, covered.

Reduce temperature to medium heat and add some more olive oil to the pan. Add the vegetables and cook until tender but still crisp. Return chicken to pan and toss with vegetables. 

Make a well in the center of the wok and pour sauce into it. You can add as much sauce as you want. As I said before, I make extra sauce and then keep some for leftovers (in case they get too dry). Toss sauce, veggies and chicken until sauce is incorporated. 

Serve over rice. If you don't have a rice cooker yet, GET ONE! They are amazing. Usually I use brown rice with this dish, but we were all out. 

And TA-DA...

Although it is fun to make it look nice and pretty, this is what it actually looks like when I eat it :) Either way it's delicious!

I put the extra sauce in this squeeze bottle I had laying around. It was left from a school fundraiser, when my students made crepes. This will make it easy to add extra sauce to leftovers or to add some cold peanut dressing to a salad, YUM!

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