Skip to main content

Chinese Almond Chicken Stir-Fry

"Yummy chicken breast, veggies, and almonds in a light savory sauce. YUM! Classic Canadian-Chinese dish. Reminds me of take-out from our favorite chinese restaurant. Quick and easy recipe, enjoy!"

Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Peanut oil and almond share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and 16 recipes mention both. Both carry acetylpyrazine, which smells roast. The science ↓

The recipe

4 servings
Prep20 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Contains: wheat, peanut, tree nuts, soy (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Slice the chicken breast thinly, then toss it with the soy sauce, ground ginger, salt and black pepper. Let it sit while you prepare the vegetables.

  2. Mix the cornstarch with the cold water in a small bowl until smooth. Stir in the chicken broth and set the sauce aside.

  3. Heat the peanut oil in a large wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the whole almonds and stir-fry until lightly golden, about 2 minutes. Remove them to a plate.

  4. Add the chicken to the hot pan in a single layer. Stir-fry until no pink remains and it reaches 165°F (74°C) in the thickest part, about 3 to 4 minutes. Move it to a plate.

  5. Add the sliced onion, celery and mushrooms to the pan. Stir-fry over high heat until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes.

  6. Add the chopped bok choy and stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes until just wilted but still crisp.

  7. Return the chicken to the pan. Give the sauce a quick stir, then pour it in and stir constantly until the liquid thickens and turns glossy, about 1 minute.

  8. Stir the almonds back into the pan, toss everything together, and serve hot.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Peanut oil + almondtop 11% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together16 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetylpyrazine (roast).

  2. Chicken + mushroomtop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  3. Chicken + oniontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,808 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  4. Ginger + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together6,799 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Chicken + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,493 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peanut oil, almond, chicken, sauce, ginger, pepper, mushroom):

  1. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  2. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  3. Carrotabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against peanut oil, almond, chicken, sauce, ginger, pepper, mushroom. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).