Awesome Shredded Chicken With Celery Quick Skillet Recipe

Name: Awesome Shredded Chicken With Celery Quick Skillet Recipe
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 35 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts; 4 cups water; 1 teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 4 cups sliced celery; 3 green onions, sliced; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger; 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce; 1 tablespoon cornstarch; 1 quarter cup water; 1 half teaspoon black pepper

By anna Boncoeur On January 31, 2026

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If you need a savory, light dinner on the table without spending an hour in the kitchen, you’ve landed in the right spot! I’m Anna, and I absolutely live for sharing simple, flavorful chicken recipes designed to make your everyday cooking easier and way more joyful. This Shredded Chicken With Celery Quick Skillet Recipe is one of my absolute go-to meals when I’m tired but still want something that feels fresh and satisfying.

Forget complicated steps; this skillet meal is all about tender chicken strands mingling with perfectly crisp celery, all coated in a glossy, quick sauce. It comes together faster than delivery, seriously! We’re talking about a complete, low-fat dinner that proves weeknights don’t have to mean boring meals. Trust me, this easy celery recipe is about to become your new weeknight hero.

Table Of content

Gathering What You Need for Your Shredded Chicken With Celery Quick Skillet Recipe

Okay, let’s get organized! The beauty of this quick chicken dinner is that it relies on pantry staples and fresh items that cook fast. You don’t need a huge grocery list for this. Keep these items ready, and you’re halfway to dinner in under 35 minutes total!

We’ll need just a few core things to make this happen. Remember, precision matters when you’re moving fast, so make sure you have your measuring spoons ready to go.

Essential Components for the Quick Skillet Meal

One pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
Four cups of water for poaching the chicken.
One teaspoon of salt for that initial poaching liquid.
Two tablespoons of olive oil for getting that skillet hot.
Four cups of celery, sliced thin—this is the star vegetable!
Three green onions, sliced up—use the white and light green parts.
Two cloves of garlic, and please mince them up finely.
One teaspoon of fresh ginger, grated. If you only have dried, use about half a teaspoon, but fresh is so much better here.
Three tablespoons of low-sodium soy sauce for that umami punch.
One tablespoon of cornstarch to thicken our sauce right up.
A quarter cup of water for the cornstarch slurry.
One half teaspoon of black pepper for a little kick at the end.

Equipment Needed for Shredded Chicken With Celery Quick Skillet Recipe

Since this is a fast skillet meal, we want to keep the tools simple so cleanup is easy too! You don’t need anything fancy, just the basics for cooking on the stovetop.

You’ll definitely want a medium saucepan for cooking the chicken until it’s perfectly done. Then, grab your biggest, sturdy large skillet—we need room to toss everything later! And finally, make sure you have two forks handy for shredding that tender chicken.

Mastering the Art of Tender Chicken for Your Shredded Chicken With Celery Quick Skillet Recipe

This is where we build the foundation for our easy celery recipe. Nobody wants dry, chewy chicken in their quick chicken dinner, right? So, we’re poaching it gently instead of boiling it aggressively. This keeps the meat unbelievably tender before we even hit the skillet.

We start by tossing the chicken breasts into that saucepan with four cups of water and one teaspoon of salt. We bring this up to a boil, but here’s the secret: as soon as it hits that bubbling point, turn the heat way, way down. We want a gentle simmer, not a rolling boil. This slow cooking protects the muscle fibers.

Poaching and Achieving Perfect Chicken Texture

Let those chicken breasts simmer away for about 14 to 16 minutes. Now, this next part is non-negotiable for food safety and texture: you absolutely must check the internal temperature. Grab your instant-read thermometer and make sure the thickest part of the breast hits 165 degrees Fahrenheit (that’s 74°C). If it hasn’t hit that mark, give it another minute or two.

Once it’s perfectly cooked through, pull the chicken out immediately and let it rest on a cutting board for about five minutes. Don’t skip the rest! This lets the juices redistribute. Then, grab two forks—I always use the pointy ends—and shred that chicken into nice, thin strands. If you shred it too chunky, it won’t coat nicely with our quick sauce later. Look for those long, juicy shreds!

Building Flavor in Your Shredded Chicken With Celery Quick Skillet Recipe

Now that we have our beautiful, tender shredded chicken waiting patiently, it’s time to give the vegetables some attention! This is where the savory, fresh crunch comes into play. We need a nice hot skillet to wake everything up.

Get your large skillet over medium-high heat and pour in the two tablespoons of olive oil. We want it shimmering slightly before the celery hits the pan. Throw in all four cups of sliced celery. Don’t be shy with the stirring here; we’re aiming for something I call “crisp-tender.” That means it softens up just enough that it loses that raw snap, but it still has a fantastic bite—about four to five minutes.

Sautéing Celery and Aromatics

Once the celery looks happy, we add the flavor powerhouses: the minced garlic, the grated fresh ginger, and the sliced green onions. These guys cook lightning fast, so keep an eye on them! You only need about 30 seconds here until you can really smell that wonderful fragrance rising up. If you cook the garlic too long, it turns bitter, and we absolutely don’t want that in our fast skillet meal.

Next, toss in all that perfectly shredded chicken we prepared earlier. Give everything a good toss around in the skillet just to warm the chicken through and coat it with the aromatic oils. This is a crucial step for combining those foundational flavors before we introduce the sauce.

Combining Chicken and Preparing the Quick Sauce

Okay, time for the magic thickener! You need to mix your sauce separately to avoid lumps—that’s a huge lesson I learned the hard way when I first tried to make a quick sauce! In a small bowl, whisk together the three tablespoons of low-sodium soy sauce, the one tablespoon of cornstarch, and the quarter cup of water. Whisk it until it looks like smooth, slightly cloudy milk. No dry clumps of cornstarch allowed!

Pour this slurry directly over the chicken and vegetables in the skillet. Make sure you scrape the bowl clean so you get every bit of that thickening power!

Finalizing the Quick Skillet Meal

This is the final stretch! Keep stirring constantly over that medium-high heat for about two to three minutes. You’ll see the sauce transform right before your eyes. It starts thin, but as the cornstarch heats up, it grabs onto the liquid and clings beautifully to the chicken and celery. We want it thick enough to coat everything evenly, not pool at the bottom.

Once you’re happy with the glossy coating, kill the heat immediately. Give it a final sprinkle of black pepper—I like about a half teaspoon, but you can adjust this to your liking. Serve this savory, quick chicken dinner right away while the celery is still warm and slightly crisp!

Tips for Success with Your Shredded Chicken With Celery Quick Skillet Recipe

Getting this fast skillet meal perfect every time really boils down to heat management. Make sure that skillet is properly hot before the oil goes in, or your celery will steam instead of sauté, leaving it mushy instead of crisp-tender. Also, watch that garlic! It burns faster than anything.

I remember one time I rushed the sauce step, and I didn’t whisk the cornstarch enough. It went into the pan in one big lump, and I ended up with chicken swimming in flavored water! If that happens to you, don’t panic. Just pull the skillet off the heat, quickly whisk another teaspoon of cornstarch with a splash of cold water, and whisk that slurry in vigorously until it thickens up. It happens to the best of us! If you want more quick dinner ideas, check out my Pinterest board for inspiration.

Remember to keep stirring constantly when the sauce is added—that movement is key to getting that beautiful, even coating on your shredded chicken.

Serving Suggestions for This Quick Chicken Dinner

This shredded chicken with celery is fantastic on its own, but it really shines when paired with something simple to soak up that delicious savory sauce. Since we want to keep things fast, I usually go for quick-cooking starches.

Brown rice is my top pick because it pairs so well with the savory soy flavor. If you’re really short on time, instant rice works great. Alternatively, just steam up some quick broccoli or snap peas! A side of steamed greens adds a nice color contrast and keeps the whole meal light and balanced, just as intended. For another easy skillet option, you might enjoy this one-skillet fiesta chicken and rice.

Storing and Reheating Leftovers of Your Shredded Chicken With Celery Quick Skillet Recipe

This easy celery recipe holds up really well, but we have to treat leftovers right to keep that celery crisp and the chicken moist. Once cooled completely, store any extra portions in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days. It freezes surprisingly well too; just use a freezer-safe container and aim to eat it within two months.

When reheating, avoid the microwave if you can, as it can soften that celery too much. I prefer heating my portion in a small non-stick pan over medium heat, stirring often, until it’s warmed through. This little bit of extra heat helps refresh the texture! If you are looking for ways to use up leftover chicken, consider trying out this Greek yogurt chicken salad.

Frequently Asked Questions About This Easy Celery Recipe

I always get questions about how to speed this up or swap things out, so let’s clear up a few common hurdles for your quick chicken dinner!

We want this to be as flexible as possible for busy nights, but remember that when we skip steps, we sometimes skip flavor, too. Here are answers to the most common things I hear about this Shredded Chicken With Celery Quick Skillet Recipe.

Can I use pre-cooked chicken for this Shredded Chicken With Celery Quick Skillet Recipe?

You absolutely can save time by using store-bought rotisserie chicken or leftover cooked chicken breast. If you do this, you’ll skip the first 20 minutes of cooking! However, I strongly recommend you still boil the chicken breasts for just 5 minutes and use that flavorful poaching liquid for your sauce base instead of plain water. Skipping the poaching liquid entirely means you miss out on that subtle, salty flavor that really boosts the sauce.

What is the best way to keep the celery crisp?

This is all about timing! When you add the celery to the hot oil in the large skillet, you are aiming for 4 to 5 minutes of cooking time, max. You want it to soften slightly—that’s the “tender” part—but it should still offer resistance when you bite into it. If you cook it much longer than 5 minutes before adding the garlic and ginger, it will turn mushy, and you’ll lose that satisfying crunch that makes this easy celery recipe so great.

Nutritional Estimates for Your Shredded Chicken With Celery Quick Skillet Recipe

I always like to give a rough idea of what’s in our quick chicken dinner, though keep in mind these numbers are based on standard measurements and may shift slightly depending on your exact ingredients, especially the sodium in your soy sauce!

This recipe is naturally low in fat and high in lean protein, which is fantastic for a busy weeknight meal. These estimates cover one serving, as the recipe yields four hearty portions. If you are looking for another simple chicken preparation, check out my guide on oven-baked boneless skinless chicken.

Here is a breakdown of the approximate nutrition based on the ingredients listed: