Gordon Ramsay's 15-Minute Chicken Recipe Is My Favorite—It's So Delicious

When I lived in a 500-square-foot apartment with my husband and son back in Brooklyn, it wasn’t the small bathroom we three had to share or the lack of parking space that irked me, but rather our tiny kitchen. I rarely cooked because we had little kitchen counter space—just enough for one large cutting board, maybe a few bowls, and that’s it.

When I did cook, I made quick and easy dishes in one bowl or pan, usually simple pasta or noodles. While looking for new ideas online, I found Gordon Ramsay’s easy chicken stir-fry recipe on YouTube. It looked simple and legit enough; however, being half-Vietnamese and half-Cantonese and having grown up eating the “best” Asian food across Montreal, Toronto, and Manhattan’s Chinatowns, I was skeptical.

I’m pretty picky when it comes to stir-fries. When you make food in a wok, it better have wok-hei flavor—that smoky, unforgettable taste the wok imparts—and after you dish up the food, each bite should still be piping hot and full of umami. So even though this was a Gordon Ramsay dish, Ramsay is not my wok-savvy gong-gong (paternal grandfather) or a Cantonese cook with years of stir-frying experience.

Still, I gave Ramsay’s recipe the benefit of the doubt, and took a rest from my usual Martin Yan recipes. After all, Ramsay’s dish only requires a few ingredients and very little prep work. Mise en place will make everything easier for you, or as Ramsay emphasized, “Everything needs to be at your fingertips.”

How To Make Gordon Ramsay’s 15-Minute Chicken Stir-Fry

First, beat two eggs and set them aside. Then cook enough noodles to feed two to three people, following the package instructions. You want the noodles to be al dente in texture, and these can be any noodles, like udon, rice noodles (Ramsay used flat, thick rice noodles), or egg noodles. Even unflavored instant ramen can work. I chose udon because I love its chewy texture, and it only takes about three minutes to prepare from frozen. Drain and set the cooked noodles aside.

Butterfly a chicken breast and flatten it with a rolling pin before slicing it into thin, bite-sized pieces. The thinner the chicken, the crispier and quicker it cooks up, as Ramsay explained. Then, thinly slice three large garlic cloves and chop a bunch of broccoli. Ramsay used “young broccoli” (or broccolini), but I only had regular broccoli handy.

Heat a wok over medium-high heat and add two tablespoons of oil once the wok smokes. Add the chicken, season with salt and pepper, and toss continuously until lightly seared, then add the garlic. Once the garlic is golden and crispy, stir in the broccoli. Cook until the broccoli deepens in color and looks shiny. Drizzle in one to two tablespoons of soy sauce and toss to coat the ingredients. Transfer everything to a plate, set aside for now, and carefully wipe down the wok.

Heat the wok over medium-high heat again. Once it smokes, add two tablespoons of oil and the beaten eggs. Whisk the eggs in the wok, season with salt and pepper, and spread them across the wok as they set before tossing in the drained noodles and the plate of chicken and broccoli.

Remember to keep stirring and tossing your ingredients so you have a lovely and even distribution of chicken, garlic, and broccoli. There's no need to expertly flip the pan's ingredients as Ramsay did. What a showman! Once everything is nice and hot, plate up and serve with a squeeze of fresh lime juice.

Tips and Tricks for Making Ramsay’s Chicken Stir-Fry

If you only have 15 minutes on a busy weeknight to make dinner for two or three, Ramsay’s recipe is wonderful and definitely will hit the spot. However, if your taste buds are a bit pickier like mine, or you grew up appreciating more “authentic” Asian stir-fries, I have a few tricks for you.

First, use dark meat, like chicken thigh, instead of chicken breast. Each bite of chicken will be silkier and more velvety. Second, I usually marinate my proteins first with cornstarch, soy sauce, chicken bouillon powder, and rice wine. 

The noodles themselves can use a sauce too, so I like to add the sauce at the very end, pouring it around the perimeter of the wok so everything, including the noodles, gets coated with sauce and turns an appetizing color. Finally, I like using a mix of light and dark soy sauces for more color.

In a pinch, I’ve followed Ramsay’s recipe exactly. Warm and satisfying, this dish has saved me a lot of headaches and time. Ramsay's recipe came in handy when I needed to feed my family in a teeny tiny apartment. Now, having built up my stir-frying skills and possessing a bit more kitchen counter space and time to cook, I still come back to Ramsay’s great foundation of a recipe and build upon it.