Heart Healthy Chicken Stir-Fry

Chicken stir-fries are so popular because they’re easy to make and family friendly. But what you put in your stir fry will determine how healthy it is. Any type of veggie you use will add to the healthfulness of the dish. Using lean chicken breasts adds protein without much saturated fat, which makes it heart healthy. But if you use too much oil or too many sodium-heavy ingredients, this chicken and vegetable recipe may not be as healthy as you think. Stick to just a small amount of oil and lower the sodium by using reduced-sodium broth and soy sauce. The same factors that make this dish good for your heart can also make it a diabetes friendly chicken recipe, although you may have to limit the amount of rice, depending on how many carbs you can eat.

Most stir fries you get in a restaurant are high in sodium. Homemade stir fries can also be full of sodium but this lower sodium chicken recipe was developed to make it healthier, especially for those following a heart healthy diet. We did this by using reduced-sodium chicken broth and just a little bit of soy sauce. You still get a tasty chicken stir fry marinade because we added fresh lemon juice to enhance the flavors, as well as some pepper to taste. The result is a robust Chinese-inspired dish that’s not loaded with salt.

To make a healthy chicken stir fry marinade, start with low sodium chicken broth. Add lemon juice, garlic and just a bit of soy sauce. Corn starch thickens the sauce without adding many carbs. Let the marinade rest for a few minutes before adding it to the pan. To make a marinade that’s even lower in sodium, consider making your own chicken broth without any added salt. You can make this in advance and freeze it in small portions to use as you need it. If you like a bit of heat, sprinkle in a few red pepper flakes.

When you go to a restaurant, you may notice that many stir-fry dishes are loaded with oil, adding lots of fat and calories to what would otherwise be a healthy meal. But when you’re making a stir fry at home, you can control how much fat is in the dish. Using chicken breasts instead of dark meat chicken lowers the amount of saturated fat. You also only need a small amount of oil. We used just one tablespoon for four servings. One trick to make a low-fat stir fry is to make sure the oil is really hot before adding the chicken. This way it browns the chicken nicely without it soaking up all of the oil.