Sweet-Spicy Chicken and Vegetable Stir-Fry

Wow this recipe was spicy! Like the spiciest thing I've ever eaten. It was actually physically painful. If you are not accustomed to eating spicy food or are sensitive to spice I recommend 1 tsp of sambal oelek instead of 1 TBSP. I doubled the sauce so I ended up with 2 TBSPs and I had no idea how hot it would be. My husband could handle it but agreed that it was too spicy. The meal had a very good taste and I would recommend it with double the sauce and less sambal oelek.

This was good and not too difficult to pull together. Both my husband and I shared the prep work, so it came together fast. As other reviewers suggested, we doubled the sauce ingredients except for the sugar. I also used chili garlic sauce as I had no sambal oelek or Sriracha sauce.I used red and yellow peppers for color and it looked very pretty with the gren snap peas. I also added minced garlic and some extra ginger. I found the suggested cooking times to be too long, but I think it would depend on the kind of pan (I used a wok) and stove (I used the high output burner). I would make this again.

I doubled the sauce ingredients (except the brown sugar) as previous reviewers suggested.  I added a little fresh ginger, otherwise kept the vegetabless as suggested. I  used chicken thighs instead of breasts, so they stayed nice and juicy.  You could easily sub in more/different vegetables and proteins.  

We thought this was very good and so easy. Didn't  have samba oelek so I used sirachi. It worked fine. Will definitely  make again.

Just made this for the first time.  Great recipe.  The sauce is really good.  I used brown rice, chicken thighs and added more vegetables.  I doubled the recipe and have leftovers.  This is easily adaptable to what ever you have on hand.  I used less brown sugar and about the right amount of the other ingredients in the sauce. 

How much Siracha for med spicy?

I doubled the sauce, added 1 clove of garlic, grated ginger, honey and 1 chili pepper. Used carrots, orange pepper, snap peas. It was delicious

Yum Yum!  Wouldn't change a thing.  Served with brown rice 

Contrary to other reviewers, I actually thought this was a bit bland and overly sweet, and I actually did one and half times the amount of sauce in the recipe since I find that CL stir fry recipes are usually under-sauced.  CL's stir fries also tend to be too watery, which I also found to be an issue with this recipe.  That said, it was quick, easy, fairly cheap, and decent-enough for an average weeknight meal.  I think if I make this again I'd double the sauce, drop the sugar down to 1 TBSP and add a couple of teaspoons of freshly grated ginger as well as some black pepper.  I'ld also add a bit more corn starch and maybe a bit more sambal olek.

Followed the advice of others - cut the sugar in half and doubled the sauce. Added mushrooms cuz I needed to use them up. Added 3 crushed garlic cloves and 1 Tbs of grated ginger to the veggies. Cut the olek sambal to teaspoons instead of tablespoons and my lips are still tingling. Very nice flavors. Next time will use chicken thighs- just can't get stir fry breasts to be moist no matter how I try. Highly recommend and will add to rotation. Yum!

Loved it.  I ran out of sambal oelek, so used chili garlic paste, but used less - still spicy!  I made with shrimp and added bok choy. Well balanced sweet, spicy, and salty flavors.  A new favorite. 

Excellent flavour. Will reduce brown sugar to 2 tbsp next time. Substituted Siracha for sambal. Very authentic

This is delicious and easy to make. I get the sauce mixed and do all the chopping in the early evening. When my teenager gets home from swim practice, we just get the wok g going and dinner is on the table very quickly. He LOVES it!

What a great recipe! I couldn't find sugar snap peas, so I added some frozen broccoli and some fresh asparagus. I also added about 1 tablespoon of minced garlic and 1 tablespoon of minced fresh ginger to the vegetables while they were cooking. You can taste the garlic and ginger, so add/subtract as you see fit. I also made double to amount of sauce. I like my stir fry 'wet', and double the sauce was perfect. Served with basmati rice. I WILL make this dish again!!

Great weeknight meal. I added extra garlic. Some fresh ginger might be nice as well, but no additions are necessary.

Dang! Here I am out of sambal oelek. How did I ever let that happen?

Use less sugar, a little too sweet. Very tasty dish, I will make it again. The family all liked it. Very easy to prepare, mostly prep work. Also, I used Sriracha sauce.

My family really enjoyed this dish. After cooking the chicken, I put some tofu with soy sauce into the wok for three minutes. Then I cooked the veggies adding bok choy and mushrooms. The chicken needed a bit more than four minutes and I think broccoli would be better than snap peas but overall it was a great dish.

This was delicious. I made it exactly as written and the family loved it. Tonight I am going to substitute shrimp for the chicken. I could have licked the pan!

Terrific stir fry sauce. And once you get all the ingredients on hand, it is pretty easy to put together. I have made this more than once as a side dish with veggies only. My dinner guests raved about it. I prefer using broccoli instead of the sugar snap peas. I couldn't take the squeaking when I chewed the sugar snap peas, plus the broccoli soaks up more sauce!

This recipe was quick and easy to make and very delicious!

This may be one of the best stir-fry Cooking Light recipes I've made yet. The sauce is amazing and the best part is that it is SO easy. The only change I made was to add one minced clove of garlic to the veggies. It would be easy to sub any combo of meat or veggies here. Who needs unhealthy Chinese take out?? I served it over steamed jasmine rice - brown rice would be good too. A simple Asian-style cucumber salad completed the meal.

Tasty, easy weeknight meal. Reheated well for leftover lunches the next day.

This is sooooo good!!!!!! Easy, cheap, healthy, and filling! This will be a regular meal in my house. If you like spicy drizzle with Siracha after plating. Yum!

Dang, very tasty. I added more and different veggies. Anything you'd put in a stir fry will work.

great stir-fry sauce that is well balanced between sweet and spicy. dry-roasted peanuts balance out any of the spiciness. Served with the recommended sesame rice

I cannot even tell you how amazingly flavorful this is. The recipe is deceiving, because it's so simple, but the taste is phenomenal. My boyfriend said he could have eaten this without rice or meat. He would have been fine with just the vegetables and sauce. It is THAT good. I could make this once a week, every week, and never get sick of it.

This was excellent - I plan to make this recipe my base stir-fry and just change around the veggies for variation. That way I can make this dish once every couple weeks without the family getting tired of it. I served this with brown rice, and I added a little more of the wet ingredients since we like extra sauce on the leftovers (although, there wasn't much left over).

It was delicious! Will make again for sure!

Easy to make and so yummy! I added mushrooms to include more veggies.

The first time I made this receipe as written. Liked the spicy heat but thought it was light on flavor. Last night made it again, sauteing lots of chopped garlic in the oil before adding the chicken, seasoned both the chicken and vegs with salt and pepper before cooking. Excellent! Everyone raved.

This recipe is really good. I made it as written, simply doubling the sauce as we like lots of sauce when serving a stir fry over rice. I will note that my version was VERY spicy so when I make this recipe again (and I will) I will not double the Thai chili garlic paste. As reviewers are all over the place on the spiciness of their versions, I believe it is because everyone has used something different for the spice. I used a Thai chili garlic paste which says on the jar "a spicy hot seasoning and condiment" -- and it is! Even my husband, who normally handles spice much better than I do, commented on the spice. However, when asked, is certainly ready to see it served again!

This was so easy to make! And it was tasty! Definitely will be repeating.

This was one of the best sauce of this type I have ever had...my husband thought so too. I added more veggies, stuff I had on hand (mushrooms, celery, water chestnuts etc.) and doubled the sauce. It will certainly be one of our favorites.

Delicious! I left out the sambal oelek, sugar snap peas, peanuts and green onion. A new family favorite!

Great stir fry; quick and easy to put together. Didn't change a thing, perfect as is.

This is an OUTSTANDING stir-fry. I double the veggies, double the sauce, and triple or quadruple the sambal oelek - we really love spicy food. Sometimes I add red pepper flakes for more heat. Sometimes I don't bother with the peanuts. The flavor is absolutely delicious. If you cut up the vegetables the night before, it's pretty quick and easy to make after work. Leftovers are great. It's a one-dish meal, so no need to serve anything with it other than rice. Definitely a keeper.

Excellent, quick, and versatile. The sauce is what "makes" this recipe and you could easily substitute any combination of vegetables you have on hand. I know this is a recipe I will go to often for quick stir fry meals.

This is an excellent dish, quick to prepare and great flavor - in my opinion much better and with fresher ingredients than you would get at the local Chinese restaurant. And honestly just as fast as running for take-out. I cook this on a regular basis and the spicy-ness is just right for all of the family.

This ones a keeper! Everyone in my family loved it and we didnt have any leftovers. I used about half the sambal oelek because we don't like things too spicy, and the sauce turned out really delicious. I also used a bag of frozen peppers and onions to make things easier. Definitely going to be in our regular rotation!

This was fantastic. Three days later, my husband is still raving about how good this stir-fry was. Can't wait to make it again!

I keep going back to this one, sooooo good. And hard to mess up, even for me.

This was a flavorful, outstanding stir fry with a little kick. I make stir fry once a week and this is definitely a keeper. Served over brown rice.

My favorite stir fry recipe. I have used this recipe many times.

Delicious and has a great kick!

Loved this! The vegetables were crisp tender and the sauce is really fantastic. I used peanut oil instead of canola, substituted 1 heaping tsp. chili garlic sauce for the sambal oelek because that's what I had on hand. In fact the sauce was so good, I doubled it. I served it over jasmine rice.

This was a good recipe, easy to make and very tasty. It was a little too spicy for my kids though. Next time I might use the Sambal Oelek on the side.

Great! This is probably the best stir fry recipe out there. I used all ingredients according to the recipe, except I added garlic and 2x the sambal oelek because we like spicy! Will definitely make again!

I made a modified version of this recipe based on what I had on hand and it still came out great. I used sriracha in place of the sambal oelek (are they one in the same?) and skipped the fish sauce altogether because I didn't have any (but i did salt and pepper the chicken before adding to the pan which may have made up for it). i used light brown sugar and toasted sesame oil. For vegetables, I did a red and yellow bell pepper, yellow onion, and oyster mushrooms. Great recipe - good blend of hot and sweet. I'm not a big fan of rating recipes after modifying the heck out of them, but wanted to post my subs in case anyone else stocks their pantry like I do and ends up in the same predicament. Based on the many five star ratings, I'm guessing the original is really awesome!

The best part of the recipe is the sauce! Sweet and spicy indeed. I substituted broccoli for the peas. Still was very crunchy and delicious. Next time, I think I will add some mushrooms too. Also, this recipes come together in a flash which is always a bonus.

This recipe is awesome- quick, easy, and most important: delicious! It came together really well and had nice flavor. I would highly recommend the double-sesame rice that accompanies this recipe- it elevated the whole dish

This was fabulous! This recipe will be added to our rotation too. Even the kid who never likes stir-fry gobbled it down! I substituted celery for the bell pepper (can't eat bell pepper anymore :-/) but this would be tasty with any number of quick-cooking veggies subbed in or added (bok choy, blanched broccoli, etc.) Yum! Tonight we're trying another recipe from this month's magazine: Sugar-Crusted Pork Loin.

Awesome, we used tofu instead of chicken. I am sure it would be equally good with chicken.

Very good recipe. Served it with white rice since the stir fry had a lot of flavor already. Made the recipe exactly and it was yummy. Vegetables were nice and crunchy and it was not spicy at all.

Fantastic. Veggies were perfectly crisp tender and the sauce is fantastic. Paired with coconut jasmine rice. Like one reviewer, made some without chili paste for the kids. Next time will try adding carrots & mushrooms and maybe leaving out the chicken.

Great stir-fry recipe! I followed the recipe exactly except I used 1 tbl soy sauce instead of 1 tbl fish sauce, since I hate fish sauce. Definitely a keeper, and very pretty on the plate.

This was fantastic. I made two batches, one with the chili paste and one without. Kids loved the chili free one, husband and I loved the chili one. Just the right amount of spice, perfect. This recipe will be entering our rotation and I don't think it will be too spicy for my kids. It also looks beautiful with all of those veggies! I served this over plain basmati rice and thought the rice with the rest was great!

Delish! Added mung bean sprouts & have no idea what sambal oelek is, so I used sriracha instead. YUM!

Made this last night and it was excellent, my family loved it. I added a little minced garlic when cooking the chicken and also with the veggies but otherwise I followed the recipe. It's definitely a keeper for us

I thought this dish was excellent! It had great flavor. I added a red bell pepper, matchstick carrots and mushrooms. I did not add the whole tablespoon of sambal oelek because it would have been too spicy for my family. However when I added these extra veggies I neede just a little more sauce so I made the sauce as 1 1/2 servings. It was a little sweet so next time I might cut back on the sugar but over all a great dish!