Chinese High-Protein Dinners

Start with your time and confidence: Prawn Egg Fried Rice takes 15 minutes, Beef & Broccoli Stir-Fry takes 20, and both are beginner-friendly. Kung Pao Chicken also takes 20 minutes but needs confident cooking; Sweet & Sour Chicken is beginner-friendly and takes 30. For the Kung Pao and beef dishes, cut the meat and vegetables before switching on the hob, and measure the sauce ingredients so you are not searching for bottles mid-cook.

For a solo portion of Prawn Egg Fried Rice, scale the ingredients together rather than leaving yourself with a panful of rice and only a few prawns. Use leftover rice for this dish only if it was cooled promptly and refrigerated; reheat it until steaming hot throughout, and only once. For a couple making Beef & Broccoli Stir-Fry, slice the beef evenly and keep the broccoli pieces similar in size so they cook consistently.

All four are tagged family favourites, but Kung Pao Chicken is the hot one. For a chilli-shy household, pick one of the three mild recipes instead. If adapting Kung Pao Chicken, reduce the dried chillies rather than assuming everyone wants the same heat. Peppers can replace some broccoli in Beef & Broccoli Stir-Fry, while extra peas can stand in for spring onions in Prawn Egg Fried Rice; expect a different texture or flavour.

For mixed diets, the prawn dish is verified pescatarian; the chicken and beef recipes are not. If you adapt sauces or proteins in these Chinese high-protein dinners, do not assume the original verified diet tags still apply. For allergies, check ingredient labels and each recipe's allergen list: oyster sauce in the beef dish brings shellfish into the picture. For fewer pans to wash, Kung Pao Chicken and Prawn Egg Fried Rice are the two tagged one-pot options.