Juicy and thinly sliced chicken thighs are stir-fried in a homemade spicy kimchi sauce. This is a unique and delicious recipe for the whole family to enjoy! This can also be a great gluten-free meal option with one ingredient swap!
This chicken stir-fry recipe is so easy to make. The hardest part of this whole recipe is acquiring all of the ingredients to make the kimchi sauce and waiting for the chicken to marinate overnight. However, if you do a lot of Asian or Korean-style cooking in your household, then you probably have these ingredients on hand. If you do or have made homemade kimchi, then you probably definitely have all the ingredients you will need for this recipe.
Key features and tips
We are making our own kimchi sauce to marinate these chicken thighs in. It is spicy and full of flavor. The marinade is doing most of the hard work in this recipe. To fully enjoy this recipe, make sure you prepare ahead of time because you want the chicken thighs to marinate overnight. The flavors of the homemade kimchi sauce will soak into the meat and be absolutely delicious. Trust us, it is worth the wait.
We recommend using a cast iron pan for this recipe. The heavy-duty cast iron just creates a nice char on the chicken that you don’t tend to get from a regular frying pan. If you don’t have a large enough cast iron pan to accommodate stir-frying all of the chicken and green beans in one batch, then you may need to split it up into two batches to stir-fry.
Ingredients needed for this spicy chicken recipe
- Chicken thighs, boneless/skinless
- Green beans, fresh/trimmed
- Avocado oil
- Green onions
For the kimchi sauce:
- Sweet rice flour
- Korean red chili pepper powder (gochugaru)
- Brined/salted shrimp
- Fish sauce*
- Garlic
- Ginger root
- White cooking wine
- Ground black pepper
- Salt
- Soy sauce* (use Tamari sauce instead for a gluten-free option)
- Sesame oil
- Sugar
- Water
*Ensure the product you choose is gluten-free if you are needing this to be a gluten-free meal option.
How to make our kimchi sauce chicken stir-fry
Step 1: Make the sweet rice powder mixture for the kimchi sauce
First, let’s make the sweet rice powder mixture. Mix the cup of cold water with sweet rice powder in a small pot and mix well. Place it on the stovetop burner and turn it on to medium-high. Make sure to stir it constantly to ensure it does not burn. Allow it to come to a boil. As soon as it begins to boil, turn off the burner. Remove the pot from the burner and let it cool completely to room temperature. Set it aside for later.
Step 2: Prep the chicken thighs
While the sweet rice powder mixture is cooling, prepare the chicken thighs. Slice the chicken thighs into thin strips. Similar to thin strips of chicken used for fajitas. You just want thinner and small pieces of chicken. That way the kimchi sauce marinade can cover as much surface area of the chicken. Set aside.
Step 3: Make the kimchi sauce
Add the salted/brined shrimp, fish sauce, garlic, ginger root, and cooled sweet rice powder mixture into a blender. Blend until blended smooth.
In a medium bowl, add the blended mixture. Now, also add in the Korean red chili pepper powder (gochugaru), black pepper, white cooking white, salt, soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar and mix together well.
Step 4: Marinate the chicken
Dip each chicken thigh piece into the marinade and lay in a bowl or pan. Lay each dipped chicken piece in layers. Pour any remaining marinade into the bowl or pan. Marinate the chicken overnight in the refrigerator.
Step 5: Stir-fry time!
Heat up a pan on medium to medium-high heat. Add half of the avocado oil and once the pan is hot add a layer of chicken thighs. Once one side is browned (about 4-5 minutes), turn it over to brown the other side until well done. After about 4-5 minutes, add the green beans to the frying pan with the chicken. Continue stir-frying until the chicken is no longer pink and the green beans are cooked. Right before the chicken and green beans are finished cooking, add in the sliced green onions. Stir together well. You only need to stir-fry until the green onions wilt. Mix everything together well and remove from heat.
Note: You may need to stir-fry this in batches depending on the size of your pan. If your pan isn’t large enough to accommodate everything at once, try splitting up the chicken and green beans into two batches. Continue step 6 until all chicken pieces and green beans are stir-fried together.
Step 6: Serve and enjoy!
Serving suggestions
We suggest serving this delicious kimchi sauce chicken stir-fry with freshly steamed rice. If you’re staying low carb, this recipe is also delicious without rice. You could add more vegetables to this stir-fry or add a few vegetable side dishes to go along with it.
Need more chicken recipes?
- Gochujang Stir-fried Chicken
- Easy Chicken Bulgogi
- Kimchi Fried Rice Chicken Quesadilla
- Grilled Asian Chicken Wings
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Kimchi Sauce Chicken Stir-Fry
Juicy and thinly sliced chicken thighs are stir-fried in a homemade spicy kimchi sauce. This is a unique and delicious recipe for the whole family to enjoy!
Ingredients
- 2lb chicken thighs, boneless/skinless
- ½ lb green beans, fresh/trimmed
- 3 Tbsp avocado oil
- 2 green onions, sliced on the diagonal
For the kimchi sauce:
- 1 Tbsp sweet rice flour
- 3 Tbsp Korean red chili pepper powder (gochugaru)
- 1 Tbsp brined/salted shrimp
- 2 Tbsp fish sauce*
- 2 Tbsp garlic, minced
- 2 tsp ginger root, minced
- 1 Tbsp white cooking wine
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce * (use Tamari sauce instead for a gluten-free option; see Notes)
- 2 Tbsp sesame oil
- 3 Tbsp sugar
- 1 cup of water
Instructions
- First, let's make the sweet rice powder mixture. Mix the cup of cold water with sweet rice powder in a small pot and mix well. Place it on the stovetop burner and turn it on to medium-high. Make sure to stir it constantly to ensure it does not burn. Allow it to come to a boil. As soon as it begins to boil, turn off the burner. Remove the pot from the burner and let it cool completely to room temperature. Set it aside for later.
- While the sweet rice powder mixture is cooling, prepare the chicken thighs. Slice the chicken thighs into thin strips. Similar to thin strips of chicken used for fajitas. You just want thinner and small pieces of chicken. That way the kimchi sauce marinade can cover as much surface area of the chicken. Set aside.
- Add the salted/brined shrimp, fish sauce, garlic, ginger root, and cooled sweet rice powder mixture into a blender. Blend until blended smooth.
- In a medium bowl, add the blended mixture. Now, also add in the Korean red chili pepper powder (gochugaru), black pepper, white cooking white, salt, soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar and mix together well.
- Dip each chicken thigh piece into the marinade and lay it in a bowl or pan. Lay each dipped chicken piece in layers. Pour any remaining marinade into the bowl or pan. Marinate the chicken overnight (6-8 hours) in the refrigerator.
- Heat up a pan on medium to medium-high heat. Add half of the avocado oil and once the pan is hot add a layer of chicken thighs. Stir fry the chicken until browned all over (about 4-5 minutes). After about 4-5 minutes of stir-frying the chicken, add the green beans to the frying pan with the chicken. Continue stir-frying until the chicken is no longer pink and the green beans are cooked (about 5-6 minutes). Right before the chicken and green beans are finished cooking, add in the sliced green onions. Stir together well. You only need to stir-fry until the green onions wilt. Mix everything together well and remove from heat.
- Note: You may need to stir-fry this in batches depending on the size of your pan. If your pan isn’t large enough to accommodate everything at once, try splitting up the chicken and green beans into two batches. Continue step 6 until all chicken pieces and green beans are stir-fried together.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
*Ensure the products you choose are gluten-free if you are needing this to be a gluten-free meal option. Here is a good Tamari sauce option.
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