Healthy Chicken Stir-Fry – Easy Low-Calorie Recipe:
I’m happily back doing the 5:2 diet to try and lose a little weight. You’ll find one of my favourite recipes for Chicken Stir-Fry at the bottom of this post – I love it so much I’m happy to eat it whether or not I am dieting. A stir-fry made carefully can be very low calorie – and it’s the kind of quick and easy recipe I like best. Because the prep is really quick, it’s great if you are trying other kinds of intermittent fasting – I find it particularly difficult not to get hungry if there’s a big pan of bolognese sauce bubbling away on the stove. With a stir-fry, you can have your meal prepared and on the plate in 15 to 20 minutes from start to finish. And, chicken is naturally low fat and relatively low in calories, so a chicken stir fry is ideal!
In some effort to kick start things this time, I’ve been researching what is commonly called OMAD (one meal a day) and I’m using a combination of that and 5:2 to try and manage my habit of snacking throughout the day. With OMAD you pick a window during which time you can eat anything you want (on a non-fast day) and, if like me you are doing the 5:2 diet alongside it, you stick to your normal 500 or 600 calories on fast days. There are plenty of people who manage to lose weight just doing OMAD but sadly I don’t seem to be one of them. The most significant difference between this way of eating and my ‘old’ 5:2 diet is that those who champion OMAD say you need to ‘clean fast’ outside of your eating window. That is, you can’t eat or drink anything that will cause an insulin spike – from zero calorie coke through to coffee with milk. Because of my own lifestyle, I’m flexing the plan to accommodate restaurant reviews at different times of the day and even press trips. Sometimes I have a 2-hour window, sometimes a 6 hour one. But, I am drinking black coffee or herb tea outside of my eating window and I am avoiding even the odd mouthful of food to taste.
My experience to date is that it works well for me. I feel less hungry if I eat nothing than if I have a milky coffee and an oat biscuit at breakfast for instance. It is definitely stopping me from snacking and I have lost 2.6kg in the last three weeks, despite a 2-night stay at a hotel with an excellent restaurant, several meals out and even an afternoon tea. Like 5:2, it is rebalancing my portion control and helping me manage my eating patterns. I started by using an 8-hour window (essentially skipping breakfast) but now, I am confident with a 2-hour window when it fits into my lifestyle!
This recipe for Chicken Stir fry is one which allows for infinite variation. You could make it with pork, beef or shrimps as the ‘protein’ element and the vegetables that you use can be changed depending on availability. The main difference between this method of stir frying and a traditional Chinese version is that the oil in the wok to cook has been cut right down. Regardless of ‘slimming’, when I was at the School of Wok I was taught to add a tablespoon of water during the stir frying process, rather than extra oil. And to use sesame oil as a dressing rather than part of the cooking process.
The final tip if you want to try making this kind of low-calorie stir fry is to order your ingredients depending on cooking time. Chop and slice everything you need in advance and lay it out carefully next to the wok. First the ‘hard’ vegetables and seasoning ingredients, then the meat and finally the soft vegetables.
- 1 Small skinless chicken breast about 80g
- 1 head pak choi The small, dark leafed version
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 Large chilli
- 1 handful fresh peas
- 1 " fresh ginger
- 1 handful fresh coriander
- 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons mirin
- 2-3 shots 1-cal spray
- 8-10 green beans
- 1 teaspoon cornflour
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Shred the pak choi, chop the garlic and ginger finely, de-seed and chop the chilli. Slice the chicken breast along the grain to make long fingers. Chop the coriander.
Trim and cut the spring onions and beans into one inch slices. -
Place all the fresh ingredients on a board close to the cooker. To make life easy, put them in a circle, with the 'longest cooking' ingredient at 12oclock (the ginger and garlic, then the chicken)
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Mix the cornflour with the mirin and soy and put the chicken into the liquid tossing it to coat it well
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Spray a non-stick wok with 1-cal. Heat over a medium to high temperature.
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Add in the chicken and cook for 1-2 minutes. Now add in the ginger, garlic and chilli and continue to cook for a minute, stirring constantly. Next add the beans, cook for a further minute. Add in the peas, spring onions and pak choi and continue to cook till the pak choi is wilted through. If necessary add in a tablespoon or two of water.
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Add the remainder of the marinade and cook for 20-30 seconds. Take the wok off the heat and stir through the coriander and sesame oil.
It is an utterly delicious supper that takes no more than 20 minutes to make. And has well under 300 calories (without rice), so you can choose to add in a small portion of boiled rice or noodles depending on your personal taste.
Why not pin this recipe for later? It’s delicious and really easy to make.
Yummy thanks for the idea
It’s a 5::2 diet staple for me;)
I definitely need to tap your extensive 5:2 archive as I really need to get my weight down, as I can feel the effect in my joints and I suspect it’s contributing to my higher blood pressure. Good to learn about OMAD which I’d not come across until now.
My biggest personal observation from OMAD is that if I ‘clean fast’ (nothing except water, black coffee and black tea – no fruit teas) I don’t get the same level of cravings/hunger while I am doing it. And the weight loss definitely seems to work
I am new to this blog and would like just a bit of clarification. I have been successfully on the 5:2 for over a year and have hit a plateau of weight loss (around 15-17 pounds). What I have done is eat one evening meal – but I have consumed countless cups of black tea with milk (amounts to about 4 oz of milk.)or so during the day. Could my plateau be because of the milk?
I am not a dietician, but I do know a lot of people find a ‘plateau’. Sometimes it is simply that the calorie deficit of 5:2 isn’t enough for you to carry on losing weight ad infinitum. It depends on what you eat on your normal days too.
That said, I am also looking at the science behind one meal a day – and many of those who recommend that technique will tell you that you need a clean fast to encourage weight loss. That means no milk during the day, no sugar and not even fruit teas. Why not try it for a few fast days and see how it works for you…
This dish looks very tasty and satisfying. We are coming off a two-week road trip, and I have got to get my act together, food-wise. I’m very interested in learning more about the 5:2 program you are using.
Let me know if you need any more help – we have some great facebook groups you could try
This looks delicious, it’s hard to believe it’s such a light dish! I always like to order my ingredients by cooking time.
I learnt that trick from the School of Wok – it’s so obvious isn’t it – but flies against the grain of those packs of pre-prepared stirfry veg
Yummy !!!
Thank you!
Again, another lovely recipe.
Thank you Hayley!
Looks delicious Fiona…#BigUpYourBlog
Looks very tasty!
I think 5:2 is a great way to lose weight and this is a tasty addition to my supper recipes for 5:2. GG
Great recipe, I’ll try it minus the chili. thanks
What in doubt, always go with an easy quick stir fry! Delish!
I agree, it’s a failsafe solution for me!
Super delicious chicken stir fry, loads of flavour packed in there. Not sure I could do the OMAD either, I have had a bit of success just cutting out snacks and only eating my meals which are pretty healthy anyway. Been on holiday for a couple of weeks and fallen off the wagon…so this stir fry might be on the menu for sure!
Thanks Janice – I do a great job of falling off the 5:2 wagon all the time – but at least it is relatively easy to get started again!
Good luck with the 5:2 – it’s worked for me in the past, though I did tend to over-indulge on my “eating” days, so it took a while to lose a few pounds! This recipe looks lovely and a good one for me now I’ve had to change to a “low-carb” way of eating due to just being diagnosed pre-diabetic.
Michael Mosely also has a diet called the blood sugar diet (which is a 5:2 variation) – it’s supposed to be great at reversing diabetes
I am a numbi and just heard of this wonderful fast or diet
Well, I can heartily recommend it