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Home / Recipes
37 minutes
4.62 from 26 votes
15 Comments

Moo Goo Gai Pan

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  • 244
by: Joanna Cismaru
03.17.22

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.

moo goo gai pan over rice on a white plate.

This Moo Goo Gai Pan is a classic take on a traditional Chinese dish. It’s a dish of chicken and lots of vegetables with a delicious, savory sauce. An easy recipe that brings your favorite Chinese flavors straight to your dinner table.

moo goo gai pan over rice on a white plate.
Table of Contents Open
  • 1 Moo Goo Gai Pan
  • 2 Moo Goo Gai Pan Highlights
  • 3 Ingredients You’ll Need
  • 4 How To Make Moo Goo Gai Pan
  • 5 What Is Moo Goo Gai Pan?
  • 6 Can I Omit Shaoxing Wine?
  • 7 How Do You Serve Moo Goo Gai Pan?
  • 8 Expert Tips
  • 9 Leftovers
    • 9.1 Freezer
  • 10 More Delicious Recipes To Try
  • 11 Moo Goo Gai Pan
    • 11.1 Equipment
    • 11.2 Ingredients
    • 11.3 Instructions
    • 11.4 Video
    • 11.5 Recipe Notes
    • 11.6 Nutrition Information:

Moo Goo Gai Pan

The traditional recipe is essentially chicken with mushrooms, mixed with some other veggies that seem to vary depending on who is preparing it. The secret to this dish is preparing all your ingredients first, because it all cooks rather quickly.

While looking at the ingredient list for this recipe could scare you away, don’t worry, it’s crazy how simple this dish is too cook. Prepping all your ingredients, literally is the hardest part of making this recipe because cooking it takes 5 to 7 minutes. How easy does that sound? This is why Asian cooking is so easy, once all your ingredients are ready and prepped, cooking the dish is super quick!

Moo Goo Gai Pan Highlights

  • Loaded With Veggies. This is a great way to get all your veggies in. There are so many veggies in this dish, but you can always sub some of them with your favorites.
  • Quick And Easy. I love these types of dishes because sometimes they’re even quicker to make than ordering take out. They’re also really easy to make, especially once all your ingredients are prepped, it all cooks super quick.
  • Incredibly Delicious. Yes, this is worth mentioning again because this dish really is that good! It’s downright crave-able!u003c/liu003ernu003c/ulu003e

Ingredients You’ll Need

overhead shot of all the ingredients needed to make moo goo gai pan.
  • Chicken – I used boneless skinless chicken breast, cut in half lengthwise, then thinly sliced against the grain, about â…›-inch thick. You are looking for thin slices of chicken, this will ensure fast cooking.
  • Veggies – An abundance of fresh veggies like medium carrot thinly sliced on diagonal â…›-inch in thickness, white mushrooms or cremini mushrooms, sliced ¼-inch thick, water chestnuts drained, bamboo shoots sliced and drained, napa cabbage separate leaves from stalk, stalk cut into 1 inch pieces, and leaves about 2 inches, garlic and snow peas.
  • Cornstarch – To help with the thickness of the sauce and coating of the chicken.
  • Broth – Low sodium chicken broth for extra flavor.
  • Seasoning – White pepper, garlic powder and salt to help with enhancing the flavors.
  • Sesame Oil – Do you know the reason we add sesame oil at the very end to the dish? If you add it in the beginning, that beautiful nutty, toasty taste will disappear while the dish is cooking. This way by adding it at the end, it’s nice and fresh and you can actually taste it in the dish.
  • Wine – You need Shaoxing wine which is a Chinese rice wine. If you can’t find it or don’t have it a great replacement is mirin, sake, or a dry sherry.

How To Make Moo Goo Gai Pan

process shots showing how to make the chicken for moo goo gai pan.
  1. Prep the chicken: In a small bowl combine the chicken pieces with the salt, white pepper, garlic powder and water. Mix well and let marinate for 10 minutes. Stir in the cornstarch really well until the chicken is coated and you can no longer see white powder. Drizzle a tbsp of the vegetable oil over the chicken and stir well.
  2. Cook the chicken: In a large wok, heat the remaining 2 tbsp of vegetable oil over medium high heat. Add the chicken, spread it out for even cooking and cook it until it’s about 60% cooked through, should take a couple minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate.
  3. Cook the veggies: If there’s no more oil left in the wok, add another tbsp or so of vegetable oil. Add the carrots, mushrooms, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots and white parts of the napa cabbage to the wok and stir fry for about 10 seconds. Add in the garlic and stir fry for another minute. Stir in the snow peas, cooked chicken, and napa leaves. Stir fry for another 30 seconds.
  4. Make the sauce: Stir in the shaoxing wine and stir fry for 10 seconds. Add in the salt, sugar, white pepper and stir. Add the chicken broth and cornstarch slurry and stir fry until sauce thickens, another 30 seconds. Lastly, stir in the sesame oil and remove from heat.
  5. Serve: Serve over rice or noodles.
process shots showing how to make moo goo gai pan.

What Is Moo Goo Gai Pan?

In literal terms it means Chicken with Mushrooms. The recipe is a Western version of a Cantonese dish, usually a simple stir-fried dish consisting of sliced or cubed chicken with white button mushrooms and other vegetables.

Can I Omit Shaoxing Wine?

Even though the classic recipe uses this specific wine to enhance the staple flavors, you can definitely keep the wine out of the recipe if you’d prefer. However, keep in mind that this Shaoxing wine doesn’t smell much like alcohol. It is in fact vinegary, spicy and caramel-like.

How Do You Serve Moo Goo Gai Pan?

The Moo Goo Gai Pan as any other stir fry recipe, works deliciously well with Jasmine rice, Basmati rice or even rice noodles. You can also use any other kind of noodles as well, such as egg noodles since the sauce coats them nicely and deliver the tasty flavors of the stir fry all over the noodles.

freshly made moo goo gai pan in a serving platter.

Expert Tips

  1. My biggest tip is to make sure all the ingredients are prepped and ready before you start cooking. Once you start cooking it all moves quite quick.
  2. Feel free to use other veggies you like, such as bok choy, broccoli or even celery for a nice crunch instead of water chestnuts.

Leftovers

Store leftovers covered in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.

Freezer

If you want to freeze moo goo gai pan, it’s best to freeze the chicken and the veggies separate from the sauce so they don’t turn out mushy when you thaw them out. Freezing in an airtight container and stored in the freezer, you can freeze this for up to 3 months.

freshly made moo goo gai pan in a serving platter.

More Delicious Recipes To Try

  • Moo Shu Pork
  • Easy Chicken Stir Fry
  • Crockpot Chinese Pork with Noodles
  • Chinese Lemon Chicken
  • Thai Drunken Noodles

Looking for more recipes? Follow on… My Newsletter Pinterest Facebook Instagram

moo goo gai pan over rice on a white plate.

Moo Goo Gai Pan

4.62 from 26 votes
Prep: 20 mins
Cook: 7 mins
Marinating time: 10 mins
Total: 37 mins
Author: Joanna Cismaru
Serves: 4
Print Pin Rate
This Moo Goo Gai Pan is a classic take on a traditional Chinese dish. It's a dish of chicken and lots of vegetables with a delicious, savory sauce. An easy recipe that brings your favorite Chinese flavors straight to your dinner table.

Equipment

  • Nonstick Chinese Wok – Dishwasher Safe

Ingredients

Chicken

  • 1 pound chicken breast boneless skinless, cut in half lengthwise, then thinly sliced against the grain, about â…›-inch thick
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon white pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ¼ cup water
  • 2 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 3 tablespoon vegetable oil divided

Veggies

  • ½ medium carrot thinly sliced on diagonal â…›-inch in thickness
  • 6 ounce white mushrooms or cremini mushrooms, sliced ¼-inch thick
  • 8 ounce water chestnuts drained (1 can)
  • 8 ounce bamboo shoots sliced, drained (1 can)
  • 6 ounce napa cabbage separate leaves from stalk, stalk cut into 1 inch pieces, and leaves about 2 inches
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 cup snow peas
  • 1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon white pepper
  • 1 cup chicken broth low sodium
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch plus 1 tbsp water to make slurry
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
US Customary – Metric

Instructions

  • Prep the chicken: In a small bowl combine the chicken pieces with the salt, white pepper, garlic powder and water. Mix well and let marinate for 10 minutes. Stir in the cornstarch really well until the chicken is coated and you can no longer see white powder. Drizzle a tbsp of the vegetable oil over the chicken and stir well.
  • Cook the chicken: In a large wok, heat the remaining 2 tbsp of vegetable oil over medium high heat. Add the chicken, spread it out for even cooking and cook it until it's about 60% cooked through, should take a couple minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate.
  • Cook the veggies: If there's no more oil left in the wok, add another tbsp or so of vegetable oil. Add the carrots, mushrooms, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots and white parts of the napa cabbage to the wok and stir fry for about 10 seconds. Add in the garlic and stir fry for another minute. Add in the snow peas, cooked chicken, and napa leaves. Stir fry for another 30 seconds.
  • Make the sauce: Stir in the shoaxing wine and stir fry for 10 seconds. Add in the salt, sugar, white pepper and stir. Add the chicken broth and cornstarch slurry and stir fry until sauce thickens, another 30 seconds. Lastly, stir in the sesame oil and remove from heat.
  • Serve: Serve over rice or noodles.

Video

Recipe Notes

  1. My biggest tip is to make sure all the ingredients are prepped and ready before you start cooking. Once you start cooking it all moves quite quick.
  2. Feel free to use other veggies you like, such as bok choy, broccoli or even celery for a nice crunch instead of water chestnuts.
  3. Store leftovers covered in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
  4. If you want to freeze moo goo gai pan, it’s best to freeze the chicken and the veggies separate from the sauce so they don’t turn out mushy when you thaw them out. Freezing in an airtight container and stored in the freezer, you can freeze this for up to 3 months.

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 1servingCalories: 340kcal (17%)Carbohydrates: 22g (7%)Protein: 29g (58%)Fat: 15g (23%)Saturated Fat: 10g (63%)Trans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 73mg (24%)Sodium: 753mg (33%)Potassium: 902mg (26%)Fiber: 4g (17%)Sugar: 6g (7%)Vitamin A: 1717IU (34%)Vitamin C: 31mg (38%)Calcium: 67mg (7%)Iron: 2mg (11%)
Course:Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine:Asian, Chinese
Keyword:chicken stir fry, moo goo gai pan
Tried this recipe? Rate it belowtag @jocooks on instagram and hashtag it #jocooks!
  • 244

Meet Joanna Cismaru

I’m Joanna (Jo for short) and this is my blog where I share with you my culinary adventures. Here you will find a variety of recipes using simple everyday ingredients and creating wonderful, delicious and comforting meals, including some decadent desserts.

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Comments

  1. Paula McCabe says

    March 23, 2022 at 11:22 am

    I want to try it. May I ask how much shoaxing wine you use?

    Reply
    • Joanna Cismaru says

      March 23, 2022 at 11:37 am

      You’ll need 1 tablespoon. If you click on the “Jump to recipe” button at the top it will take you to the recipe card where you can find all ingredient amounts and instructions. You can also get there by scrolling down.

      Reply
      • Paula McCabe says

        March 23, 2022 at 5:39 pm

        Thanks Joanna!

  2. Dakota Miller says

    March 22, 2022 at 7:40 am

    I am now leaning towards healthier but savory foods and this was it, Joanna! I tried this last night and it came out perfect. I added more napa cabbage and some bean sprouts to the recipe. It was very filling and satisfying to eat. Thank you for sharing this!

    Reply
    • Joanna Cismaru says

      March 22, 2022 at 9:15 am

      My pleasure, so glad you liked it!

      Reply
  3. Lisa K says

    August 8, 2021 at 7:51 pm

    This was AMAZING. I used mirin because that’s what I had on hand. Absolutely amazing. This recipe will definitely be in my rotation.

    Reply
    • Joanna Cismaru says

      August 9, 2021 at 11:02 am

      So glad you liked it!

      Reply
  4. Sharon says

    May 27, 2021 at 4:59 pm

    5 stars
    This was better than a restaurant! I used mirrin for the wine because I had some and chose celery over water chestnuts. It was delicious. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply
    • Jo Cooks Team AMJ says

      May 28, 2021 at 9:10 am

      That’s wonderful! We are so glad you enjoyed it!

      Reply
  5. deborah stuart says

    May 13, 2021 at 7:55 am

    Where are you sourcing your Shaoxing wine? I have searched the local grocery stores and it is not there. Thinking Amazon?? (thanks a bunch!)

    Reply
    • Joanna Cismaru says

      May 13, 2021 at 8:07 am

      That’s where I got mine, Amazon!

      Reply
  6. deborah stuart says

    May 12, 2021 at 8:54 am

    I have forgotten….what can I substitute for shaoxing wine? Thanks a bunch.

    Reply
    • Jo Cooks Team AMJ says

      May 12, 2021 at 9:06 am

      Hi Deborah,

      You can switch it up to Mirin sake or dry sherry. You can also find other instructions and tips in the ingredient notes and FAQ’s in the post.
      Let us know how it all turns out!

      Reply
  7. Guy Gervais says

    May 12, 2021 at 7:35 am

    What can I use to replace the shaoxing wine? Balsamic vinegar?

    Thank you

    G

    Reply
    • Jo Cooks Team AMJ says

      May 12, 2021 at 9:08 am

      Mirin sake or dry sherry are great substitutes for that. Also, other tips and instructions you can find in the ingredient notes and FAQ’s.
      Let us know how it all turns out!

      Reply

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I'm Joanna (Jo for short) and this is my blog where I share with you my culinary adventures. Here you will find a variety of recipes using simple everyday ingredients and creating wonderful, delicious and comforting meals, including some decadent desserts.

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