Updated October 5, 2026 with a printable recipe card, prep and cook times, and serving notes.

Jump to Recipe

If you have a pound of chicken and a bunch of asparagus, dinner is about half an hour away. This chicken asparagus recipe is a straightforward garlic and soy stir fry: the chicken sits in a quick cornstarch marinade while you trim the asparagus, and the whole thing finishes in one hot skillet.

Stir-frying is one of the easiest ways to get more vegetables onto a weeknight plate. The asparagus keeps its snap, the chicken stays tender, and the sauce is nothing more than the marinade you already made, poured back into the pan at the end.

Why this one works

• One skillet. A wok is ideal, but any large skillet will do.
• A short ingredient list. Chicken, asparagus, scallions, garlic, soy sauce, cornstarch. Nothing unusual.
• The cornstarch marinade. Fifteen to twenty minutes in soy sauce and cornstarch is what keeps the chicken tender rather than tough, and it thickens the sauce at the end.
• Asparagus with snap. Cooking it on its own first and returning it to the pan at the end is the difference between crisp-tender and limp.

Ingredient notes

Chicken. Boneless breast, sliced into one-inch pieces so everything cooks at the same rate. Cutting across the grain helps.

Asparagus. About eight stalks. Snap or trim the woody ends and cut the rest into one to two inch pieces. Thinner spears cook faster, so check them at the four minute mark.

Garlic. Four cloves, minced, and it matters when they go in. One clove goes into the marinade; the rest go in at the very end so they turn fragrant instead of bitter.

Soy sauce and cornstarch. A tablespoon of each. Together they are the marinade and the sauce.

How to make chicken and asparagus stir fry

Start the marinade first and let it sit in the refrigerator while you prep everything else. Then cook in stages rather than crowding the pan: asparagus first, out of the pan and set aside; chicken next, until it is nearly through but still slightly pink inside; then everything back together with the remaining garlic, the scallions and the reserved marinade for a final two minutes.

That last step is where the sauce happens. The cornstarch in the marinade thickens as it hits the hot pan and coats everything.

Tips

• Get the pan properly hot before anything goes in. A lukewarm skillet steams the asparagus instead of searing it.
• Do not throw the marinade away. It is the sauce.
• Slice the scallions on a bias. It is cosmetic, but it looks the way it should.
• Toasted sesame seeds at the end are optional and worth it.

What to serve with it

Steamed white rice is the default and soaks up the sauce. Brown rice, jasmine rice or plain rice noodles all work. It needs nothing else, though a simple cucumber salad on the side is never wrong.

Adapted from Gimme Some Oven.