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Moo Goo Gai Pan recipe is what you make when you crave good food fast! With tender juicy chicken breasts, crisp vegetables, and a deeply savory-sweet moo goo gai pan sauce, this easy one-pot meal, made paleo and whole30, tastes light, fresh, and oh-so-yummy! The whole family will love this dish so get your chopsticks ready!

A plate with chicken breast stir-fry with mushrooms and vegetables
Super tender chicken breasts with crisp veggies in a deeply savory and little sweet sauce. 🙂

Moo Goo Gai Pan (蘑菇雞片): What is it? Is it Authentic?

When I first saw this dish in New York, I decided to give it a try. Chicken with mushroom stir-fry …what’s not to love? Did I like it?

In short, I did! But the American-Chinese version tastes different than what I had in mind.

Moo goo gai pan originally is a Cantonese dish. The flavor is deeply savory and woodsy because of shiitake mushrooms. There’s a similar dish I had growing up – chicken with shiitake mushroom stew (香菇雞片) – and it’s made in a clay pot and half stir-fried and half simmered. In my opinion, that’s a more popular dish among the locals.

The Chinese-American version of moo goo gai pan recipe tastes milder in flavor and emphasizes texture and crunch, which I like a lot, and that’s the version we are making today, plus a few personal touches to make it my own.

Moo Goo Gai Pan is a Cantonese translation. In Mandarin, it is pronounced Mó Gū Ji Piàn. In Cantonese, chicken is pronounced as Gai whereas in Mandarin it’s pronounced as Ji.

  • Moo Goo, 蘑菇 [Mógū], means mushrooms.
  • Gai [gāi], or Ji [Jī] in Mandarin, means chicken.
  • Pan, [piàn] 片, means thin slices and thin pieces.
Photo shows ingredients and sauce to make the moo goo recipe gai pan.

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What is in moo goo gai pan?

Thinly sliced chicken breasts, carrots, water chestnuts, snow peas, and white or baby bella mushrooms. Baby corn and napa cabbage are also often added to this dish.


How to make moo goo gai pan recipe

  1. Slice and season the chicken.
  2. Prepare the vegetables, aromatics, and the sauce.
  3. Saute the chicken until it’s almost cooked through. Set it aside.
  4. Add the garlic, carrots, mushrooms, water chestnuts, and snow peas
  5. Return the chicken to the pan and add the sauce. Toss to combine.
A step-by-step photo to show how to make the chicken mushroom stir-fry dish

How to thinly slice the chicken and make it tender?

You can use the Chinese velveting technique which coats the chicken with egg white first, like my Chinese cashew chicken. It is, however, not the only way to make chicken breasts tender. Let me show you a simpler and quicker way than velveting –

Key points:

  1. Slicing: slice the chicken breasts as thin as possible – a little thicker than ⅛-inch but thinner than ¼-inch. I like to slice them at a 45 degree angle so they become pieces as opposed to strips.
  2. Seasoning: follow the seasoning combo listed in my recipe below. Baking soda is used to help tenderize the chicken breasts. Learn more from my article on how to velvet chicken for stir fry.
  3. Temperature and speed: the actual stir-fry time is short and quick so get all the ingredients ready first. Your skillet needs to be preheated well – hot but not burning. And you don’t need a wok to make a good stir-fry. I have an IKEA 365 line stainless steel skillet, which I still use often.

Video demo:

Articles to read:

A close shot of the photo shows serving the moo goo gai pan recipe with white rice on a plate with a spoon
Healthy One Pot Meal …So Satisfying!

What is Moo goo gai pan sauce made of?

This sauce is gluten-free and soy-free:

  • Coconut aminos
  • Grated ginger
  • Chicken stock
  • Arrowroot or tapioca starch
  • Peach jam

The takeout version uses oyster sauce. I have a homemade version that’s vegetarian friendly and has no additives and starch – Vegetarian oyster sauce. When you use the oyster sauce in combination with the coconut aminos, please reduce the quantity so that the sauce won’t be overly salty.

If Whole30, skip the jam. If Keto, use a keto sweetener of choice.


Differences between moo goo gai pan and moo shu chicken

  • Both moo shu and moo goo are stir-fry dishes with chicken and crisp vegetables.
  • Moo shu chicken uses shredded cabbage and hoisin sauce and is served with mandarin pancakes on the side.
  • Moo goo gai pan features mushrooms and uses either oyster sauce or white sauce (no soy sauce).
  • Moo shu chicken tastes sweeter and with a thicker sauce whereas moo goo tastes lighter and more gingery.

What goes well with this chicken mushroom stir-fry dish?

This moo goo gai pan recipe is the perfect one pot meal! You can serve it as is with rice or cauliflower rice but here are some side dishes and pairing ideas –

More Chicken and Chinese-American Dishes

Recipe Card

Moo Goo Gai Pan recipe

5 from 37 votes
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Total: 35 minutes
Servings: 6 servings
Moo Goo Gai Pan Recipe (蘑菇雞片) with gluten-free moo goo gai pan sauce and crispy vegetables is an easy one-pot meal that’s fresh, delicious, and healthy!

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Ingredients 
 

For the chicken:

  • 1.25 lb chicken breasts thin sliced
  • ½ tsp coarse sea salt
  • ¼ tsp garlic powder
  • ¼ tsp onion powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp coconut aminos
  • 1 tsp tapioca starch or arrowroot starch

Other:

  • 0.6 oz garlic cloves minced, about 4 cloves
  • 3 tbsp avocado oil
  • 3 pinches coarse sea salt

For the vegetables:

  • 4 oz. carrots sliced on diagonal, about 1 medium
  • 8 oz. baby bella or white button mushrooms, quartered
  • 8 oz. Water chestnuts canned. drained and sliced
  • 4 oz. snow peas

Moo goo gai pan sauce:

Instructions 

  • Thin slice chicken to about ¼ and ⅛ inch thin pieces. Add the seasonings, mix well, and set aside in the fridge.
    Photo shows thinly sliced chicken breasts and seasoned in a red bowl
  • Prepare the garlic, vegetables, and the sauce. Set them aside ready to use.
    Photo shows prepared vegetables and the sauce ready to use
  • In a well-heated large skillet, add 1 tbsp cooking fat. Sear the chicken breasts in a single layer over medium-high heat without disturbing them until they are in golden brown color, about 2-3 minutes, then use a spatula with a firm tip to flip and sear the flip side, about 1-2 minutes. The chicken should be almost cooked through before setting them aside along with the pan juice and oil in the skillet.
    Photo shows stir-fried chicken breasts in a skillet
  • Use the same skillet, add 2 tbsp cooking fat. Saute the garlic over medium heat for 5 seconds. Add the carrots and mushrooms. Turn up the heat to medium-high. Season with 2 pinches of salt and saute for 15 seconds. Add the chestnuts and snow peas with a pinch of salt. Saute for 10 seconds.
    Photo shows adding all the ingredients to the pan and stir-fried together
  • Return the chicken and the pan juice to the skillet. Stir the sauce again before adding it to the pan. Toss to combine for 10 seconds to thicken the sauce. Turn off the heat. Serve hot or warm with steamed rice or cauliflower rice.
    A horizontal photo of the finishing dish

Notes

About the sauce:
  • The takeout version uses oyster sauce. I have a homemade version that’s vegetarian friendly and has no additives and starch – Vegetarian oyster sauce. When you use the oyster sauce in combination with the coconut aminos, please reduce the quantity so that the sauce won’t be overly salty.
  • If Whole30, skip the jam. If Keto, use a keto sweetener of choice.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 254kcal, Carbohydrates: 14g, Protein: 22g, Fat: 12g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 7g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 60mg, Sodium: 746mg, Potassium: 695mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 3391IU, Vitamin C: 15mg, Calcium: 34mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Like this recipe? Leave a comment below!
A close shot shows serving the cooked moo goo gai pan recipe with white rice on a white plate

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68 Comments

  1. Lindha L says:

    5 stars
    This is the dish that my family is constantly asking for, we love it so much! Thank you <3

    1. ChihYu says:

      So happy to hear. Appreciate it!

  2. Courtney says:

    5 stars
    I have yet to find a recipe by iheartunami that I don’t love but this one is fantastic!! It’s loaded with veggies, easy to make, the sauce is clean and it’s fantastic as leftovers (assuming your family doesn’t devour it). 🙂 Already looking forward to making it again soon! 

    1. ChihYu says:

      Thank you so much, Courtney! You are so sweet!

  3. Brianna says:

    5 stars
    This recipe was delicious! I didn’t have all the vegetables on hand, so I used a Trader Joe’s stirfry veggie mix that I happened to have and it came out delicious. The sauce is so good and the leftovers were great the next day. 

    1. ChihYu says:

      Love this dish very much, too!

  4. Jacqui O says:

    5 stars
    The recipe was easy to follow and tasted just like the Moo Goo Gai Pan from a restaurant (but better!). 

    1. ChihYu says:

      Thank you! 😀

  5. Rochelle says:

    5 stars
    I’ve been making this once a week because it’s so good. I love the crunch from the water chestnuts and the lightly sweet and savory sauce. Recently, I used king oyster mushrooms, instead of button mushrooms, which was also delicious! And best of all, this recipe has made me a chicken breast convert. I usually prefer dark meat, but this recipe makes the most tender and flavorful breast meat.

    1. ChihYu says:

      That’s awesome!!!

  6. Sam L says:

    5 stars
    Beyond delicious! Hubby took one bite and couldn’t wait for more! Definitely going to be a staple dinner and so easy to make! 

    1. ChihYu says:

      Thank you, Sam!

  7. Joann Scholl says:

    5 stars
    I made the Moo Goo…..it was great. 🙂

    1. ChihYu says:

      That’s awesome!

  8. Stephanie Black says:

    5 stars
    This meal is delicious!
    I have made this twice in 10 days. We loved it. 
    Great recipe. 

    1. ChihYu says:

      That’s awesome!

  9. Stephanie Black says:

    5 stars
    Hello all, I highly recommend this dish. I’ve made it twice in the past ten days. DELICIOUS!

    1. ChihYu says:

      Ahh thank you, Stephanie!

  10. Cyndi says:

    5 stars
    Thank you for making Moo Goo Gai Pan easy, healthy & delicious to make at home:)

    1. ChihYu says:

      Thank you!