Easy Black Pepper Chicken coats browned chicken cubes, onion, green bell pepper, garlic, ginger, and fresh chili in a two-soy black pepper sauce. Cornstarch appears in two separate roles: two tablespoons help coat the chicken, while one teaspoon thickens the sauce. The verified Chinese-style recipe serves four, records 10 minutes of preparation, 15 minutes of cooking, 25 minutes total, and estimates 320 calories per serving.
Black Pepper Chicken Ingredients
Ingredients: 500 grams skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size cubes; 2 tablespoons peanut oil; Salt, as required; 2 medium onions, cut into 1-inch cubes; 1 large green bell pepper, cut into 1-inch cubes; ½ teaspoon minced garlic; ½ teaspoon minced ginger; 1 fresh red or green chili, chopped; 2 tablespoons cornstarch; ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.
For the sauce: ¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 3 tablespoons light soy sauce; 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce; 1 tablespoon rice vinegar; ½ teaspoon brown sugar; 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil; 1 teaspoon cornstarch; 2 tablespoons water or chicken broth.
If you enjoy this recipe, you may also like Grilled Hot Honey Chicken.
How to Make Black Pepper Chicken
- Prepare the black pepper sauce: Whisk together the crushed black pepper, rice vinegar, soy sauces, brown sugar, toasted sesame oil, cornstarch, and water in a bowl until smooth and lump-free.
- Marinate the chicken: Combine the chicken with 1 tablespoon of the prepared sauce, 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, and salt. Let it rest while you prepare the other ingredients.
- Brown the chicken: Heat a large frying pan until hot. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and swirl to coat. Arrange the chicken in a single layer and cook over medium heat until golden on the bottom. Flip and cook until browned and nearly cooked through. Transfer to a plate. Cook in batches if needed, avoiding overcrowding.
- Stir-fry the vegetables: In the same pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil. Add ginger, garlic, and chopped chilies; sauté for 30 seconds. Add the onion and bell peppers, then stir-fry over high heat until crisp yet tender.
- Combine and simmer: Reduce the heat to low. Whisk the sauce again to recombine and pour it into the pan. Allow it to simmer for 30 seconds. Add the browned chicken back to the pan and toss to coat and heat through.
- Finish and serve: Turn off the heat, sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper, stir to combine, and serve hot.
For storage details after serving, the USDA leftovers and food safety guidance.
Why the Order Matters
Whisk the sauce until lump-free: three-quarter teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, three tablespoons light soy sauce, one tablespoon dark soy sauce, one tablespoon rice vinegar, one-half teaspoon brown sugar, one teaspoon toasted sesame oil, one teaspoon cornstarch, and two tablespoons water or chicken broth. Marinate 500 grams bite-size chicken with one tablespoon of that sauce, two tablespoons cornstarch, and required salt while preparing vegetables. Heat a large pan, add one tablespoon peanut oil, and brown chicken in a single layer over medium heat, turning until nearly cooked; remove it. Add the second tablespoon oil. Sauté one-half teaspoon minced ginger, one-half teaspoon minced garlic, and one chopped chili for 30 seconds, then stir-fry two cubed onions and one cubed green pepper over high heat until crisp-tender. Reduce heat, re-whisk and pour in the sauce, simmer 30 seconds, return chicken, coat and heat through, then turn off the heat and finish with one-quarter teaspoon fresh black pepper.
If you enjoy this recipe, you may also like Sausage and Veggies Skillet.
Critical Visual and Timing Cues
Whisking matters twice because cornstarch settles: first make a smooth sauce, then recombine it immediately before pouring. The chicken marinade borrows exactly one tablespoon from the prepared sauce; it is not an extra unlisted spoonful. A hot pan and a single layer encourage browning, and batches are allowed when crowding would steam the cubes. Remove the chicken while nearly cooked because it finishes after returning to the sauce. Aromatics cook for only 30 seconds before onion and pepper enter. Keep those vegetables crisp yet tender. Lower the heat before sauce is added, let it simmer for the recorded 30 seconds, then coat and heat the chicken through without prolonged boiling.
Serving and Storage
Divide the finished black pepper chicken into four servings and serve hot after the final freshly ground pepper is stirred through. Rice, noodles, or lettuce cups are not part of the verified ingredient list and should not be presented as required components. Refrigerate leftovers promptly and reheat until the chicken is hot throughout, adding no unrecorded liquid unless needed only for reheating. Each serving is estimated at 320 calories, 12 grams carbohydrate, 15 grams fat, and 38 grams protein. The source marks the dish dairy-free and low-carb, and records peanut and soy allergens from peanut oil and soy sauces.
Practical Kitchen Notes
The main group contains 500 grams chicken, two tablespoons peanut oil split between cooking stages, salt as required, two medium onions, one large green pepper, one-half teaspoon each minced garlic and ginger, one fresh red or green chili, two tablespoons cornstarch, and one-quarter teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. The sauce separately contains three-quarter teaspoon black pepper, three tablespoons light soy, one tablespoon dark soy, one tablespoon rice vinegar, one-half teaspoon brown sugar, one teaspoon toasted sesame oil, one teaspoon cornstarch, and two tablespoons water or broth. Preserve both cornstarch entries and both pepper entries rather than combining them.
Details Worth Preserving
Cut chicken, onions, and green pepper into the recorded bite-size or one-inch pieces before the pan heats. Keep the two tablespoons coating cornstarch separate from the single teaspoon sauce cornstarch. Measure one tablespoon prepared sauce into the chicken before the rest is reserved. Use a frying pan or wok large enough for a single layer, or brown in batches as permitted. Transfer nearly cooked chicken to a clean plate. Prepare garlic, ginger, and chili together because their 30-second stage moves quickly. Re-whisk the sauce at the last possible moment. Do not add celery, mushrooms, sesame seeds, scallions, stock beyond the optional two sauce tablespoons, or extra sweetener because none appears in D1.
Recorded Recipe Tips
Conclusion
Black Pepper Chicken makes 4 servings in 25 recorded minutes. Preserve every listed quantity, temperature, timing cue, and ordered instruction for the intended result.
Frequently Asked Questions
- → How many servings does Black Pepper Chicken make?
It makes 4 servings and serves 4.
- → How long does Black Pepper Chicken take?
The recipe records 10 minutes of preparation, 15 minutes of cooking, and 25 minutes total.
- → Why is cornstarch listed twice?
Two tablespoons coat the marinated chicken, while a separate one teaspoon is whisked into the black pepper sauce to thicken it.
- → How long do the aromatics and sauce simmer?
Sauté the ginger, garlic, and chili for 30 seconds, and later let the re-whisked sauce simmer for 30 seconds before returning the chicken.