Panda Express Mushroom Chicken

Panda Express Mushroom Chicken. Tender chicken stir fried with hearty mushrooms, zucchini in a delicious stir-fry sauce. Ready in 30 minutes!

Bursting with a savory flavor, this copycat version is better than the original in my opinion!

What is Panda Express Mushroom Chicken?

Panda Express is a Chinese-American fast food chain in the United States. They are known to serve Chinese Takeout. One of their most popular menu items is their Mushroom Chicken. Panda Express Mushroom Chicken is a flavorful chicken dish stir fried with fresh ingredients, like mushrooms and zucchini. The light ginger soy sauce is the signature sauce and it's made of simple ingredients.

This copycat panda express recipe pairs so well with white rice, brown rice, chow mein, cauliflower rice and more!  I personally think it's better than Panda Express Chicken Mushroom as it's packed with flavor, the chicken is ultra tender and the sauce is smooth and flavorful! 

​Easy Recipe

Even though most stir fries call for many ingredients, this copycat panda express mushroom chicken recipe is easy to make!

You're simply marinating your chicken for at least 20 minutes so the chicken becomes ultra tender! Meanwhile, combine the stir fry sauce in another bowl. Then fry the marinated chicken on medium-high heat and remove it to fry your fresh vegetables. Pour in the stir fry sauce to simmer and thicken and toss back in the cooked chicken! 

This copycat recipe is a great weeknight meal that will feed the entire family if you serve it with some rice. It's also one of those simple recipes that works well for meal prep too! 

Ingredients

You’ll need the below mushroom chicken ingredients. Please scroll down to recipe card below for exact measurements.

Note: Most Asian grocers will carry these ingredients. You may find some at your select local grocery store or online, like on Amazon.  

• Boneless skinless chicken breasts or skinless boneless chicken thighs. If you're worried that the white meat in chicken breasts will go dry, they won't with my velveting technique in using oil, cornstarch and baking soda! Dark meat is obviously more flavorful so use what you enjoy! 
• Zucchini: Green zucchini are used but if you have yellow zucchini, that works well too. 
• Mushrooms: either white mushrooms, cremini mushrooms, or shiitake mushrooms. 
• Neutral oil: like avocado oil, sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil or canola oil. Avoid olive oil, coconut oil or any heavy scented oils. 
• Water, to help cook veggies 

Chicken Marinade:

• Regular soy sauce: This is different from dark soy sauce and it's much saltier than low-sodium soy sauce. You may use low sodium soy sauce but the chicken won't be as salty so you may need to add more to the stir fry sauce to taste. 
• Neutral oil: 
• Cornstarch: or substitute with potato starch, rice flour or tapioca starch
• Shaoxing wine: aka Chinese cooking wine. If you don't have this ingredient or can’t find it locally, substitute with rice wine vinegar or rice vinegar
• White pepper: or substitute with black pepper 
• Baking soda: this ingredient helps to make the chicken very tender! This is the secret ingredient that most Chinese restaurants use to create juicy chicken or meat

Stir fry Sauce:

• Garlic cloves
• Fresh Ginger 
• Regular soy sauce
• Oyster sauce: or substitute with vegetarian stir fry sauce. This is not the same as Hoisin sauce. Hoisin sauce is very sweet. 
• Corn starch
• White Sugar or Brown Sugar 
• Sesame oil: a nutty oil that is used to enhance the flavor profile of this copycat mushroom chicken recipe
• Shaoxing wine
• Chicken broth: unsalted chicken stock or feel free to substitute with beef stock, vegetable stock or as a last resort, water

Equipment:

• Cutting board
• Sharp knife
• Colander to wash veggies
• Large skillet or wok 

How to Make Mushroom Chicken

Transfer sliced chicken into a large bowl. Add Marinade ingredients as listed above. Mix well and let this marinate for at least 20 minutes. 

In a separate small bowl, combine Stir Fry Sauce ingredients as listed above. 

In a large wok or large nonstick pan on medium high heat, add 2 tsp vegetable oil. Once hot, fry chicken until cooked through with a golden brown sear on the edges, about 2-3 minutes. The chicken cooks relatively fast so closely monitor it. Remove and set aside. 

Reduce to medium heat, add 1 tsp vegetable oil. Fry zucchini and mushrooms for 1 minute to let them brown.

Then add ¼ cup water to help cook them until softened. Cook until water has completely evaporated. 

Pour in sauce, and mix with vegetables. Allow this to simmer to thicken. 

Once sauce is thickened, add in cooked chicken.

Toss to mix. Enjoy! 

Storage

This delicious dish will last up to 4 days stored in an airtight container in the fridge. 

FAQ

Can I add additional vegetables to this stir fry? 

Yes! Feel free to add any veggies you like. I recommend any crunchy veggies, such as carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, snap peas, or snow peas.

What can I garnish this dish with?

Finely sliced green onions or toasted sesame seeds. 

Other Copycat Panda Express Recipes

If you enjoyed my copycat chicken mushroom recipe, you may enjoy these other recipes: 

• Orange Chicken
• General Tso Chicken
• Lemon Chicken
• Mongolian Chicken
• Mongolian Beef
• Kung Pao Chicken
• Black Pepper Beef
• Crab Rangoon
• Panda Express Chow Mein