Chicken Stir Fry — The 30-Minute Skillet Dinner I Make on My Portable Burner in the Truck and at Home

Long haul this week, Grand Island to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and back. Two days on the road, which used to feel like nothing and now feels like leaving a piece of myself at the kitchen table. Dave is a wonderful man and a terrible cook. He can rebuild a diesel engine in his sleep, but ask him to make a salad and he looks at you like you have asked him to perform surgery.

Before I left, I meal-prepped. Sunday night I made a batch of tater tot casserole big enough for two dinners: ground beef, cream of mushroom soup, corn, cheese, and a layer of frozen tater tots on top, baked until the tots are golden. The kids love it. It is the kind of meal that requires zero skill to reheat and produces zero complaints, which makes it the perfect Mom-is-on-the-road dinner.

I also made a pot of chicken noodle soup and portioned it into containers for the fridge. And I wrote out a schedule on a notepad and stuck it on the fridge: Monday casserole, Tuesday soup with bread, Wednesday call Gayle for backup. This is how I mother from the road. I plan, I prep, and I trust that the people I love will eat the food I made.

On the road I made a stir-fry on my portable burner: sliced chicken breast, bell peppers, soy sauce, garlic powder, and instant rice. It is not fancy, but it is hot and real. The parking lot of a truck stop in Norfolk at seven p.m. is not most people idea of a dinner setting, but the food is what matters, not the backdrop.

Got home Wednesday night. The casserole dish was in the sink, the soup containers were empty, and the schedule on the fridge had a note from Josie that said WE SURVIVED in crayon. Dave was asleep on the couch with the TV on. The house was standing. The kids were fed. That is a successful road trip by any measure. I heated up the last of the soup, ate it standing at the counter, and went to bed. Tomorrow I will cook something fresh. Tonight, leftovers are enough. They are always enough when you have been driving for two days and the kitchen light is on and you are home.

That parking lot stir-fry—thrown together on a portable burner with whatever I had packed—turned out to be exactly the kind of meal that reminds me why I cook in the first place: not to impress anyone, but to feel human after a long day on the road. When I got home and thought about making something fresh, my mind went straight back to it. Here’s the version I make at home, with a real stove and a little more time to do it right.

Chicken Stir Fry

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced
• 2 bell peppers (any color), sliced into strips
• 1 cup broccoli florets (optional, or substitute frozen)
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder (or 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 cups instant or cooked white rice, for serving

Instructions

1. Prep the chicken. Slice chicken breast thin and even — about 1/4 inch — so it cooks fast and stays tender. Season lightly with salt and black pepper.
2. Mix the sauce. In a small bowl, stir together soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic powder, and ground ginger. In a separate small bowl, whisk cornstarch and water until smooth. Set both aside.
3. Heat the pan. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat until shimmering. This works on a stovetop or a portable burner — same heat, same result.
4. Cook the chicken. Add chicken in a single layer. Let it sear undisturbed for 2 minutes, then stir and cook another 3–4 minutes until cooked through and lightly golden. Remove to a plate.
5. Cook the vegetables. In the same pan, add bell peppers and broccoli. Stir-fry over medium-high heat for 3–4 minutes until just tender with a little char on the edges.
6. Combine and sauce. Return chicken to the pan. Pour the soy sauce mixture over everything and toss to coat. Add the cornstarch slurry, stir, and cook 1–2 minutes until the sauce thickens and coats the chicken and vegetables.
7. Serve. Spoon over cooked rice. Eat hot — in the truck, at the counter, or at the table with the family. It counts either way.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 310 | Protein: 38g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 18g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 720mg