This copycat Panda Express mushroom chicken recipe is based on the very popular mushroom chicken that you can get at Panda Express. Even better, you don’t even need to leave the house for this takeaway quality meal!
Mushroom Chicken Panda Express
You can now enjoy mushroom chicken in the comfort of your own home. It’s really easy to make, and is absolutely delicious, featuring classic Asian ingredients and flavors for a really lovely slice of homemade goodness. We’re using chicken slices with some mushroom and zucchini, all mixed up in a garlicky soy sauce. It’s astonishingly simple to make, and all you really need to do is marinate your chicken, then sear it before sauteeing the veggies in the sauce.
Easy Weeknight Dinner For Family
This is a great dish for easy weeknight dinners. It’s really quick to prepare, with no need for extensive slow-cooking or basting. The only thing that will take some time is marinating your chicken, which you can do in 30 minutes if you’re in a rush or overnight if you have some preparation time. Otherwise, it will cook in a matter of minutes! We’re using high heat and some thin strips of chicken so the chicken cooks in just a few minutes, as do the veggies. Really, cooking this dinner is just as easy and convenient as ordering takeout!
You'll Need
You will need simple ingredients to make this fantastic Asian-inspired chicken dinner in less than 30 minutes.
Sauce Ingredients
How To Make Copycat Panda Express Mushroom Chicken
- First, you need to either slice your chicken breast to a quarter inch thick, or use pre-sliced chicken breast. Either is fine, although if you slice it yourself you may find the chicken to be a little moister.
- Now, prepare your chicken stir fry marinade of soy sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch, and rice vinegar. Soak your chicken in the marinade for half an hour, or overnight. The marinating process will help add some flavor to your chicken and tenderise it.
While your chicken marinates, it’s time to prepare your veggies!
How To Saute Chicken for The Perfect Sear
We’ve assembled a few key tips for making sure you get the perfect piece of chicken every time.
- You want your pan, or work, to be hot when the chicken goes in. A vegetable based oil with a high smoke point is perfect! Avocado oil, Canola or peanut oil is great.
- Don’t pour any of your excess marinade into the pan. You want to drip off the excess marinade before adding the chicken to the pan.
- Avoid overcrowding the pan. Your chicken really should be spaced apart enough not to touch.
- You want to lay your chicken flat in a single layer. As above, there ought to be no overlapping, as this causes the chicken to steam rather than sear.
- While it might be tempting to handle your chicken as it cooks, do not touch! Leave your chicken alone until it gets a golden brown sear, which should take about 30 seconds to 1 minute per side with the quarter inch pieces we’re using.
We’ve made a great all-purpose chicken stir fry marinade. It brings plenty of flavor to your chicken, and doesn’t overwhelm it either.
Once your chicken is done, remove it from the pan. Now add garlic, ginger, your mushrooms and zucchini. As with the chicken, you want the pan to be hot when your veggies go in. When you cook vegetables over low heat, they release quite a bit of liquid, instead of searing. You don’t want steamed vegetables. You want a nice, golden brown sear on all your ingredients. Remember that a lot of Asian food is all about high heat.
Once you have a nice sear on your veggies, you can return the chicken to the pan. Throw your stir fry sauce in there as well. Saute the lot together for one to two minutes, and serve it immediately. If you want a less saucy variation, simply use less of the sauce.
What To Serve With Panda Express Mushroom Chicken
We encourage you to serve this chicken dish with Instant Pot Jasmine Rice or noodles. You could, if you want to reduce your carb intake, serve with lettuce, or in a nice wrap.
Another great idea, if you like your Asian food spicy, is to add some chilli paste or flakes. You could also try adding some other veggies, like carrots, water chesnuts, broccoli, or celery.
Tips For Making Mushroom Chicken
- A longer marinating time will give you a softer, more flavorsome chicken experience. It depends on your own personal palate, but for a marinade you really need at least 30 minutes. If you soak the chicken in your marinade overnight, it will have a stronger flavor with plenty of tender, juicy chicken.
- You want to stir your sauce before adding it to the pan. The cornstarch we’re using as a thickener will settle, making it seem like a different viscosity to what it actually is.
- Serve the mushroom chicken immediately after cooking.
Storing Mushroom Chicken Leftovers
One of the great things about this recipe is how well it turns into leftovers! If you have any extra chicken left after you’ve finished dinner, you can store it really easily.
Any leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days. You want to eat the chicken within that time frame, as cooked chicken turns relatively quickly. Besides, like most meals, this is way better when you eat it fresh!
More Asian-Inspired Recipes
Air Fryer Sweet and Sour Chicken
If you make this recipe be sure to leave a comment or give this recipe a rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐! I will be happy to hear from you!
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Panda Express Mushroom Chicken Copycat
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
This copycat Panda Express mushroom chicken recipe is based on the very popular mushroom chicken that you can get at Panda Express.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ( 500 grams) boneless and skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced- ¼ inch thick
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 cups mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
- 1 large zucchini, cut into half circles
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon ginger, minced
Chicken Marinade
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
Sauce
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup light soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- In a medium bowl combine all the ingredients for the marinade. Add the chicken and mix to coat; allow to marinate for 20-30 minutes or overnight.
- Combine all the ingredients for the sauce in another small bowl. Set it aside.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Once the skillet is smoking, add the chicken in a single layer (don't overcrowd the skillet to get a good sear). Cook until browned, flipping and mixing as needed. Once cooked, remove from the skillet and set aside.
- Add the mushrooms and zucchini to the skillet and cook until vegetables are crisp tender ( about 2-3 minutes), mixing frequently.
- Reduce the heat to medium low and add the chicken back to the skillet. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently.
- Finally, pour the sauce into the skillet, mix everything to coat. Stir fry until the sauce thickens.
- Serve immediately.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- A longer marinating time will give you a softer, more flavorsome chicken experience. It depends on your own personal palate, but for a marinade you really need at least 30 minutes. If you soak the chicken in your marinade overnight, it will have a stronger flavor with plenty of tender, juicy chicken.
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 10 min
- Category: Chicken recipes
- Cuisine: Asian
Nutrition
- Calories: 300kcal
- Sugar: 4g
- Sodium: 1946mg
- Fat: 13g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Carbohydrates: 13g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 30g
- Cholesterol: 82mg
Keywords: panda express mushroom chicken, mushroom chicken, chicken breast recipes
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This is our favorite at Panda Express! Very delicious! Thanks!
★★★★★
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and leave a review Luna!
Omg it’s fantastic! Tastes like mushroom chicken at Panda Express! Thanks!
★★★★★
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and leave a review Chloe!
This was a spectacular meal! Next time I will try thighs just because we dark meat lovers!
★★★★★
That’s so great to hear Mila! Thanks so much for the great comments and review!
It’s better than Panda Express! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
★★★★★
Thank you Holly! I am glad you enjoyed this chicken copycat recipe!
This recipe never lets us down! Very delicious and easy to make! Thanks!
★★★★★
Thank You, Nora!
A great recipe! Thanks!
★★★★★
Thank you Layla for sharing experience! We are glad you enjoyed this recipe!
I used regular soy sauce because that's all I had and it ended up being too salty.
Definitely follow the recipe and use light or low sodium soy sauce.
Other than MY mistake, this recipe was perfect. My 2&4 year olds absolutely demolished their dinner.
I only marinated the chicken for about 30 minutes but next time I'll try doing it overnight.
★★★★★
Hey, Karolina! I am glad you and your kids enjoyed the recipe. And thank you for sharing your experience!
I made this last night and was sooooo happy with how it turned out! Delicious! Very easy! Everyone loved it! I was not expecting to make this, had no plans to, but the recipe I'd chosen was starting to look like it was going to be a little blah, so I clicked over to this recipe in my Pinterest recipe file. I remembered it looked appealing....caught my eye. It had better ingredients..... more flavorful ones. I'm so glad I did. I did not use the vegetables that we're called for however because I was prepared to make something else that called for snow peas, sliced carrots and mushrooms along with the chicken breast, so that's what I used. The chicken was perfect. Very tender. Everything tasted so good. It went together quickly.
I love this recipe and will be using it a lot in the future I'm sure! Love it!
Thank you for it!
★★★★★
Hey, Laura! I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe and thanks for sharing your experience!
My go to recipe. Absolutely delicious!
★★★★★
Exactly what I made for dinner. It turned out delightful and delicious! Thank you for this recipe.
★★★★★
I’m so happy to hear that Roma, thanks so much for the great review!❤️
I just made this dish tonight and I served with a little rice. It was perfect! The whole house loved it!
★★★★★
That makes me so happy Vanessa, thanks so much for the great review!💗
My family loved this chicken and the flavor was excellent! Will definitely make it again.
★★★★★
So happy to hear that! Thank you!
I have used this recipe several times and it always turns out to be delicious! My husband loves it!
★★★★★
Thanks so much for the great review!❤️
Wonderful! Did a few modifications to suit our tastes, but this is an awesome recipe to start out with! Thank you!
★★★★★
You’re very welcome Kerry, I’m so happy you enjoyed this!😋 Thanks so much for the great review!
This recipe was absolutely delicious. Super easy to prepare as we had everything available at home. Everyone loved it. Pinned!
★★★★★
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!❤️ I am glad you liked the recipe!
Absolutely one of our favorites! I doubled the amount. It was really delicious and I've made it several times now.
★★★★★
Thank you, Melanie! I am glad you liked this recipe)).
Just made this for dinner and it’s wonderful! My husband and kids loved it and asked for me to make it again soon!!
★★★★★
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!❤️ I am glad you liked the recipe!
I followed the recipe and it came out delicious! Everyone at my house loved it! This will be added to my recipe list!
★★★★★
Thank you, Alisa!
This was simply amazing! Family loved it!
★★★★★
Thank you, Cassidy!
Excellent recipe! My family couldn’t get it enough of it! This is a definite keeper in my recipe book.
★★★★★
Thank you Rumeysa!
I made this for lunch and we really enjoyed it!! Simple and quick to make.
★★★★★
Thank you Malia! I am glad you liked the recipe.
Turned out very well. My kids enjoyed it thoroughly.
★★★★★
Hey, Lileigh! I am glad you liked this mushroom chicken and thank you for sharing your experience!
My family loved this dish! It was very flavorful and so easy to make!
★★★★★
Hey, Adriana! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!❤️ I am glad you liked this recipe!
I made this the night before and it was wonderful! Hubby loved it. Thank you so much for this, really enjoyed it.
★★★★★
Hey, Ilayda! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!❤️ I am glad you liked this recipe!
This was scrumptious! Thank you for a good recipe and simple step by step guide. Will go in my recipe book!!
★★★★★
Thank you Eugenia!
I made this dish this morning and it was a huge hit in my house. This will be added to the regular rotation!
★★★★★
Thank you, Raelyn!
Absolutely delicious! This recipe has become a staple in my dinner repertoire!
★★★★★
Thank you for sharing your experience Silvia! I am glad you like this chicken recipe as we do.
I love this recipe so much. Great balance of flavors that turned the entire dish to be a spectacular hit! This one’s a keeper!
★★★★★
I am happy to hear that Tessa! It is one of our favorite copycat recipes too. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review, I really appreciate it! Tatiana 🙂
Came out fantastic! This will definitely be one of my staple recipes.
★★★★★
Thank you, Arna!-Tatiana 🙂
I doubled the recipe and it turned out great! This is a recipe that will be part of our household regular.
★★★★★
Thank you, Blake! I am glad you liked the recipe.-Tatiana 🙂
Better than The Panda! My husband says it tastes good. I didn't care for the oyster sauce so I didn't add it. Didn't add all the soy sauce I used about 1/4 cup less in the sauce. I will make again. Thanks!
★★★★★
Hey, Melisa! I am glad you liked the recipe and thank you for sharing your experience!