Asian-inspired Chicken Cabbage Stir Fry skillet, prepared in just one pan within minutes.
This is my go-to meal when I'm in a rush and craving for Asian flavors and wholesome ingredients.
Global Food Recipes
with Spices and Herbs
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Enjoy this delicious cabbage chicken meal to the fullest because it's a nutritious dish as it's all low-carb and high in protein.
Do you love Chinese-influenced chicken meals? Try my Chinese inspired chicken noodle soup or this Chinese chicken on a stick recipe.
TL;DR
One night I was about to cook a chicken chow mein. I had prepared and cut all the fresh ingredients when I realized I was out of Chinese egg noodles (aka Low Mein noodles).
I decided to move on anyway because let's face it, you have to eat when you are hungry!
So, I prepared a chicken cabbage stir-fry, but with carrots. The result was alright, the carrots were too much of the good.
I skipped the carrots the next time when I prepared them again, and that is how this quick chicken cabbage stir-fry came to be.
I think you will also like this shaved beef and broccoli, which can be prepared in a skillet.
Ingredients
The chicken and cabbage meal is low in carbs, gluten-free, and includes wholesome ingredients.
You can switch some ingredients to your liking if you prefer, as I share how you can substitute them effectively.
- Chicken — Boneless chicken breast or thighs. Consider, breast pieces are easier to use, but boneless chicken thighs are more flavorful and don't dry out that easily during the cooking process. Besides, you can get A-grad anti-biotic-free chicken, which is usually easier to cook (doesn't turn that chewy). Cut the chicken into lengthy bite-sized thin strips.
- Cabbage — Use any cabbage variety from your fridge. That can be the regular globally most common cabbage head, green or purple, or it can also be a Chinese cabbage variety such as Napa Cabbage.
- Ginger Garlic — Use a ground ginger garlic mixed paste or finely chopped or grated ginger and garlic. The ginger lends the dish a warm Asian spicy taste, and the garlic compliments these flavors.
- Green Onions — Aka spring onions. You can use scallions too. Separate the bulb from the stalks and use the sliced stalks as a garnish to add a green, fresh touch to your meal.
- Oil — I like to use vegetable oil or any other neutral flavored oil that can take high heat, such as sunflower oil or canola oil.
- Soy Sauce — I use regular thin soy sauce such as Kikkoman, but you can use other soy sauce types too, such as Chinese soy sauce, Thai mushroom soy sauce or traditional Thai soy sauce. The soy sauce is added while you sauté the cabbage and chicken. It adds umami flavor and a salty touch to the meal, and therefore you don't need to salt your dish.
- Sesame Seeds — I like to just sprinkle some sesame seeds, black and white, over my meal. That is, to give it an Asian touch altogether and great aesthetics! You can also simply sprinkle some sesame oil over the meal.
- Red Pepper Flakes — Optional, aka Red Chili Flakes. The pepper flakes add some heat and are great as a red topping. It's visually appealing, and this is why I add it as a garnish at the end.
Tip: Regular cabbage needs to cook longer because it's thicker. That's why a small quantity of water is added to cook through the cabbage. If you intend to use napa cabbage (Chinese cabbage), you don't need to add water to it because it's much more delicate and cooks through fast enough.
How to make it?
Prepare this cabbage chicken stir-fry tonight by following the process steps.
The Recipe card with ingredient and instruction details can be found further below.
Step 1
Keep your ingredients cut and ready.
In a pan, stir cook sliced green onion bulb and ginger and garlic.
Add the cabbage and sauté until it has reduced in size in the pan.
Step 2
Pour the soy sauce and water over the cabbage (you don't need water if you are using napa cabbage) in the pan and stir cook over high heat until the cabbage is semi cooked through, and the liquids have somewhat dissolved.
Step 3
Make space in the center of the pan and add in the chicken strips.
Place cabbage over chicken and cook like that for a minute over a medium-high heat setting.
Stir cook and mix on high heat so that the chicken gets cooked on all sides quickly.
Step 4
Garnish with sesame seed or sesame oil, red pepper flakes for some heat, and with sliced green onion chalks.
📖 Recipe
Chicken Cabbage Stir Fry Recipe
Ingredients
For the Stir Fry:
- 2-3 Green Onions bulb and stalks separated and sliced
- 8.5 ounces Chicken Boneless *see Notes
- 1 inch Ginger Fresh fresh
- 2-3 Garlic Cloves fresh
- ⅓ small head Cabbage shredded Green or napa *see Notes
- 1 Tablespoon Oil I.e. vegetable, canola, sunflower,
- 2 Tablespoon Soy Sauce Thin regular type, *see Notes
- ¼ cup Water not needed if you use napa cabbage!
To garnish:
- Sesame Seeds or Sesame Oil
- Red Chili Pepper Flakes aka Red Chili Flakes
Instructions
- Keep all the ingredients ready. Slice the green onion and keep the white bulb and the green stalks separate. We will use the stalks as a garnish. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Shred cabbage. Chop ginger and garlic.2-3 Green Onions, 8.5 ounces Chicken Boneless, 1 inch Ginger Fresh, ⅓ small head Cabbage shredded, 2-3 Garlic Cloves
- Heat oil in a pan and stir-fry the onion bulb slices on a higher heat setting.2-3 Green Onions, 1 Tablespoon Oil
- Add the chopped ginger and garlic and stir-fry for a minute as well. Reduce the heat slightly.1 inch Ginger Fresh, 2-3 Garlic Cloves
- Add the cabbage and stir, cook for 2 minutes over a high heat setting, or until the cabbage takes up less space in the pan. I like to use Chinese cooking chopsticks to stir-fry because they are longer and easier to use.⅓ small head Cabbage shredded
- Quickly pour the soy sauce and water over the cabbage stir-fry and mix well. Stir, cook 2–3 minutes over a high heat until water dissolves and cabbage cooks through. (If you use napa cabbage, don't add water and just cook for 1–2 mins until half cooked through)2 Tablespoon Soy Sauce, ¼ cup Water
- Reduce the heat setting to medium-high, make some space in the center and add chicken strips and stir-fry.8.5 ounces Chicken Boneless
- Mix the cabbage over the chicken and cook everything through. Make sure the chicken is cooked on all sides. The cabbage helps in keeping the chicken from turning chewy while cooking, however, make sure to not overcook the chicken on super high heat for all too long.
- Once the chicken is cooked, the cabbage is crisp and tender and the liquids have dissolved, take from the heat and sprinkle some sesame seeds or sesame oil, as well as red pepper flakes over the cabbage chicken skillet meal. Spread the sliced green onion over the dish and serve still hot.Sesame Seeds or Sesame Oil, Red Chili Pepper Flakes
Notes
- 8.5 ounces equals about 1 very large chicken breast, or about 1 ½ cups of uncooked chicken or about 2 larger uncooked boneless chicken thighs.
- You can use regular or napa cabbage in this recipe. I used regular cabbage in the pictures and video because that's what I had in my fridge. Napa is also a great choice as it cooks through faster, saving you time, and you don't need to add water to napa cabbage as it cooks through faster. Generally speaking, for the base recipe, you will need about 10.6 ounces (300 g) or ⅓ of a small cabbage head or about 4 cups shredded raw cabbage.
- Use regular, commonly available soy sauce. See post for choices. You can use low-sodium soy sauce too.
Equipment
- 1 8" Chef Knife
Nutrition
Flavor variations
You can experiment with this recipe by adding or changing some ingredients, just like I did.
The most notable change was the use of turkey meat strips instead of chicken. I strongly recommend you try that too.
If you like ground chicken or ground turkey, you can try switched meats in this recipe.
I also tried using red cabbage instead of napa cabbage and the result was great too because you also eat with your eyes.
Additional vegetables that you need to use up can be added, as in bell pepper, bok choy, mushrooms and shredded carrots, but it will change the basic flavor of my recipe.
Another time I threw in some fish sauce, besides soy sauce, and that was another winner in my book.
For a curried chicken cabbage stir-fry, add a teaspoon of yellow curry powder during the stir-fry process.
If you like it hot, you may want to drizzle, as a topping, some hot chili oil over your cabbage and chicken. I can also recommend sprinkling some sweetness over your dish with a Thai sweet chili sauce.
Serving
The simplest, hassle-free way to enjoy this meal is with a bowl of cooked or steamed rice.
Honestly, I usually serve it up for us with bread, as in a bread roll or a loaf of bread.
If you want to keep it light, add a small Asian side dish salad to your dinner.
The meal is good on its own, and you don't need to add a side dish to go with it.
Storing
Keep leftovers in an airtight container. I use rectangular glass storage boxes which come with clip lids or bamboo lids. You get those in IKEA, for example.
Glass containers are great because you can easily stack them in your fridge, which saves space, and which in turn helps in seeing your food (so that you don't forget about it).
To reheat, place the chicken veggie leftovers in the glass container and without lid into your oven or microwave and gradually reheat at a lower temperature.
In the oven, my preferred method, heat your meal at 280 Fahrenheit (140 degree Celsius) at most for about 5–10 minutes, depending on the quantity of your leftovers.
Hellene I just tried this recipe. Turned out beautiful. So easy, no fuss and not a lot of ingredients to consider.
Thank you. Best part is you can sprinkle chilli flakes to your level which made this dish perfect for me. Thanks again.
Regards Tom
Hi, can you use broccoli instead of cabbage?
Yes sure, but make sure to cut the broccoli into smaller chunks so that it gets cooked through properly.
I made this. Very tasty. If I make this again, I will cook the onion and chicken first. By cooking the cabbage first, it’s too difficult to tell when the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
Hi Robb, the reason why I cook the cabbage first is that cabbage contains a lot of water, and it takes much longer to cook. The aim is to reduce the water content in the cabbage over high heat. Adding the chicken to cook at the end is better because that way you won't overcook your chicken. You can check if your chicken is done and cooked through by breaking one apart in the pan while you are still cooking your meal.
This recipe has ingredients I love, but it just didn’t make sense at the end, Why add water since cabbage releases a lot of liquid? All it did was make it soupy since I didn’t want to overcook the chicken. I prefer a slightly thicker and more flavorful sauce. I used fresh ginger and garlic as is usual with stir fry’s and even added toasted sesame seeds at the end and a gourmet mushroom soy sauce. Disappointing since it seemed like a healthy twist.
Hi Diana, I'm sorry that it didn't turn out as expected. The small quantity of water is added so that the cabbage gets time to cook through. That way the cabbage isn't too crunchy but also gets to take in some other flavors. Cooking it over a higher heat setting, should reduce the sauce soon enough during the stir cooking process. This works best with regular cabbage. Napa cabbage (Chinese cabbage) is much more delicate and in this case, you wouldn't have to add the water at all. I should have made that more clear in the instructions. I hope you had time to watch the video where all this can be seen in action. In the video it can be seen that the chicken is only added after the cabbage has cooked almost through and the pan is dry since the water dissolved. The video pops up automatically when you scroll down, except if you have used an ad blocker. That said, you could have left a recipe rating, every feedback is valuable.
What kind of cabbage do you use? Green or Napa? The recipe doesn’t specify
Hi Tina, you can use either one, both are suitable choices. I briefly mention this in the Ingredient's section in the post (not the recipe card). However, I will make it more clear. I used a regular green cabbage head in the pictures and video. If you choose to use a napa cabbage, it will cook through faster and your cooking time decreases.
What is the serving size for this meal
One skillet full serves about 2 people. So about 1 1/2 - 2 cups serving per Person.
I’m having a hard time converting the measurements into cups . How many cups of cabbage is your recipe needing
Stephanie, use about 1/3 of a medium-sized cabbage.
Very good
This is a great recipe! I was looking for low calorie, low carb recipes and came across yours. Chicken breast came out tender and had good flavor. I have already tried making a low carb "eggroll in a bowl" and wasn't impressed at all. This recipe were the flavors I was expecting from that other recipe. I didn't have green onion so I used sliced white onion instead. I also just used 16 ounces of coleslaw mix and increased the recipe to 1 and a half times the amounts. Thanks for spending all the effort and time to make recipes like these for people like me.
Sandy thank you for your lovely comment. You made my day! :)) It's nice to know that you enjoyed the dish as much as we did and that you found the recipe clear and easy to recreate at home.
Made this for dinner and it was a hit! I swapped coconut aminos for soy sauce (soy sauce is not gluten free FYI)
except if you get gluten-free soy sauce 🙂
Thank you for your feedback
Made this tonight and it was a huge hit! My family devoured the whole pan and wanted to know we would have it again. It will be a go to recipe for my family. Thank you!!
Hi Kristi, glad to read that your family enjoyed this dish as much as we did. Thank you for your feedback.
Such a great meal for weeknights! Looks delish!
My husband is so excited I put this on our dinner rotation! I had all of the ingredients and it came together so quickly..... and omg... so so yummy! Will definitely make this again!
Happy to read that you guys liked it, thanks for the feedback!