Bright and flavorful lemon chicken stir fry is dressed up with a zingy honey lemon sauce and tons of tender green beans for a quick and healthy weeknight dinner!
It’s been a hot sec since we cooked up a summer stir fry! Sooo how about we put those garden green beans to good use??
Truthfully, I’m more than ready to roll into fall and start cooking up all the cozy, cheesy, comfort foods but we’ve got a good few weeks left of summer produce!
So this green bean honey lemon chicken stir fry on repeat then. It’s a date.
Honestly, there’s not much to this stir fry and that’s seriously what makes it SO good. We keep it simple with the classic stir fry addition of chicken and let green beans take care of the veggie addition.
The flavors though? Ridiculously good for how simple we’re going. Lemon and honey are the dominant flavors with just a little soy, fresh garlic, onion + ginger helping out the cause. Mindblowingly good.
This is just the kinda dinner that you heap HIGH in your sturdiest dinner bowls (am I the only one who eats stir fry out of pasta bowls? ??)
Let’s talk through the prep for this honey lemon chicken stir fry! >>
First order of business is the green beans. Honest to goodness, the beans in this stir fry have a nearly picture perfect texture. No mushiness. No extra crunchiness. They’re a perfect tender thanks to a couple extra steps >>
Blanching is the first step. You can even do this step hours in advance to get extra prep out of the way. Blanche the beans in boiling water until a crisp-tender. Immediately plunge them in ice water to stop the cooking.
You’ll finish cooking the beans in a quick pan saute with garlic, ginger, and onions for aromatics so the beans pick up all that flavor.
Next up is the sauce. I like to make this ahead of time just like with blanching the beans so all the components are prepped and ready to go.
It’s SO very simple and just consists of lemon juice, lemon zest, soy sauce, and honey. This sauce can sit prepped for days in the fridge.
Chicken is the last order of business. We’re doing a classic stir technique here and using a cornstarch-based coating + pan fry.
It adds an extra texture boost to the stir fry AND ensures that the chicken stays moist and juicy inside.
From there, it’s really just throwing everything together in one big pan! The sauce will thicken and coat every inch of the green beans + chicken. I also love throwing a handful of green onions + a few lemon slices in the pan for extra flavor.
The intense lemon + honey flavors we’re able to achieve in this stir fry is kinda mindblowing. We did all this in 40 minutes, start to finish!
Even more so mindblowing when you pile all this goodness over a HUGE mound of fluffy jasmine rice.
^^ which is absolutely necessary just so you know.
Try these other summery stir fries next time! >>
Green Bean Honey Lemon Chicken Stir Fry
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Ingredients
Green Beans
- 1 lb fresh green beans, trimmed and cut in half on bias
- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
Honey Lemon Sauce
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup honey
Chicken
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1-1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-in cubes
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- Hot rice and sliced green onions for serving
Instructions
Green Beans
- Bring a medium saucepan of lightly salted water to boil over medium-high heat. Add green beans to pan and let cook, tossing occasionally until beans are crisp-tender (about 3-4 minutes) Immediately plunge beans into ice water to shock them. Drain beans and pat dry with paper towels.
- In a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil until shimmery. add onion to pan and cook 2-3 minutes until onion is translucent.
- Add green beans to pan and cook an additional 2-3 minutes until green beans and onions are both tender. Add garlic and ginger to pan and cook 1 additional minute until fragrant. Remove vegetables from pan and set aside.
Honey Lemon Sauce
- In a small bowl, whisk all sauce ingredients until smooth. Set aside.
Chicken
- In a medium bowl, whisk cornstarch with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken pieces in cornstarch shaking off excess and placing coated chicken pieces on a baking sheet.
- In a large skillet or wok, heat oil over medium-high heat until shimmery. Working in batches, fry chicken pieces in oil, turning chicken once until chicken is golden and registers 165F (be careful not to overcrowd the pan)
- Drain any excess oil out of pan and heat to medium. Add sauce, green bean mixture, and pan fried chicken. Scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of pan, stirring occasionally until sauce is thickened and beans and chicken are fully coated.
- Serve stir fry over hot rice with green onions. Enjoy!
Iriana Jamal says
looks great i am still not try this but i thing that’s taste