Stir Fry Vegetables

In just 15 minutes, it’s easy to cook up a delicious recipe for Stir Fry Vegetables with THE BEST Chinese stir fry sauce! Serve the vegetables with white or brown rice, or noodles, for a complete meal.

A quick and easy stir fry is the perfect weeknight meal for when you’re running low on time. These Stir Fry Vegetables only take 15 minutes to make and are packed with both flavor and vitamins! In fact, just one serving of this veggie stir fry contains more than 100% of your daily needs of Vitamin A and Vitamin C.

A healthy meal, that tastes great AND is easy to make, count me in! If you’d like to add in some protein, I’ll show you how to add chicken, shrimp or tofu to the stir fry. The real key to any great stir fry is making sure that you cook everything quickly, over high heat, and have an epic sauce to toss with the stir fry.

Lucky for you, I have THE BEST stir fry sauce recipe that uses just 5 ingredients and only takes 5 minutes to make! Double the batch, so you can make this stir fry recipe twice. Because after one bite, you’ll taste just how delicious it is and I know you’ll be hooked!

Ingredients

• Stir fry sauce – sure, you could buy a bottle of stir fry sauce at the grocery store, but once you taste how delicious my homemade version is, I know you’ll never go back to the store-bought stuff! Just click the link to the left and grab the SUPER EASY 5 ingredient sauce recipe.
• Olive oil – you can also use other vegetable oils that can hold up to high heat, like avocado, sunflower, vegetable or canola oil.
• Bell pepper – for this recipe, I used a red bell pepper, because I like all the colors in my vegetable stir fry! But feel free to use green, yellow, orange, or whatever color bell pepper you have on hand.
• Carrots
• Broccoli – you’ll want small florets for this recipe. If the broccoli florets are too large, they won’t cook in the same time as the other vegetables.
• Onion – for this recipe I used a red onion, but feel free to use white or yellow, if you’d like.
• Sugar snap peas
• Mushrooms – I used sliced baby bellas, also known as crimini mushrooms, but shiitake mushrooms or white button mushrooms will also work.
• Canned baby corn – this can usually be found in the Asian section of the grocery store. Be sure to drain the can before adding the baby corn to the stir fry.
• Canned water chestnuts – these will also normally be found in the Asian section of the grocery store. You’ll also want to drain the can before adding the water chestnuts to the recipe.
• Green onions and sesame seeds – both of these ingredients are optional, but I like to sprinkle both on top before serving the stir fry.

Step by step instructions

1. Heat oil in a large skillet, or wok, over high heat. It’s very important that the oil is hot before adding the vegetables. Once the oil is hot, add the bell pepper, carrots, broccoli and onions to the skillet. Stir fry for 3 minutes.
2. Add the sugar snap peas, mushrooms, baby corn and water chestnuts. Stir fry for an additional 5 minutes over high heat.
3. Pour the stir fry sauce over the vegetables. Continue to stir fry over high heat for 2-3 minutes.
4. Remove the stir fry vegetables from the stove and serve immediately. Optionally top with diced green onions and sesame seeds, and serve with cooked white rice, brown rice, cauliflower rice or noodles.
   • Check out this post for how to cook brown rice in an Instant Pot, rice cooker or on the stove. And this post for how to cook white rice using any of these 3 methods as well.

Other vegetables to add

The great thing about a stir fry is that you can toss in just about any veggies that you have in your fridge and it will work! Feel free to either add, or substitute, any of these other vegetables in the stir fry.

• Asparagus – should be cut into 1 inch pieces and added with the broccoli.
• Zucchini – should be diced into half moons and added with the mushrooms.
• Cauliflower – should be cut into small florets and added with the broccoli.
• Jalapenos – should be thinly sliced and added with the bell peppers.
• Snow peas – can be substituted in for the sugar snap peas and should be added at the same time.
• Garlic – should be minced and added at the end. Stir fry for 30 seconds before adding the sauce.
• Bean sprouts – should be added at the end, just before adding the sauce.
• Spinach – should also be added at the end. Stir fry for 30-60 seconds before adding the sauce.

Ways to add protein

If you’d like to add either a plant-based protein, or meat-based protein, feel free to try one of these popular additions to make shrimp, tofu or chicken stir fry.

• Chicken – to add chicken to the stir fry, dice 1/2 pound – 1 pound chicken breasts into small cubes. Add the chicken to the skillet with the hot oil and stir fry for 5-6 minutes, then remove the chicken from the skillet. Cook the vegetables as instructed, then add the chicken back to the skillet, just before adding in the sauce.
• Shrimp – just like with the chicken, you’ll want to add 1/2 pound – 1 pound shrimp to the skillet first and cook for 1-2 minutes per side (for medium to large size shrimp). Remove the shrimp from the skillet and set aside. Add the vegetables and cook as instructed, then add the shrimp back to the skillet before adding the sauce.
• Tofu – to add tofu, you’ll want to start with two 14 ounce packages of extra-firm tofu, that have been drained and pressed to squeeze out any excess moisture. Dice the tofu into small cubes. Once the oil is hot in the skillet, add the diced tofu and stir fry for 8-10 minutes. Remove the tofu from the skillet, add the vegetables and cook according to the recipe instructions. Add the tofu back to the skillet before adding the sauce.

Frequently asked questions

• Is this recipe gluten free? With two simple modifications, the stir fry sauce can be made gluten free using gluten-free soy sauce and gluten-free hoisin sauce. The other ingredients in this recipe are naturally gluten free.
• Is this recipe vegan? Yes, just always make sure that the hoisin sauce used in the stir fry sauce is vegan and does not contain fish sauce. Most brands don’t, but it’s always a good idea to double check!
• Can you use frozen vegetables for this recipe? Yes, you will just need to add 2-3 minutes to the stir fry time to allow the vegetables to defrost and cook fully in the stir fry. There is no need to defrost the vegetables before adding them to the stir fry.
• How many calories are in a vegetable stir fry? This recipe serves 4 people and each serving contains 249 calories, making it a great low-calorie meal when paired with a healthy side, like 1/2 cup of cooked brown rice, which will only add 108 calories to the meal.

More Chinese recipes

Try these other popular Chinese recipes for quick and easy meals that taste way better than takeout!

These stir fry vegetables are delicious as a main dish, but you could also serve them as a side dish with any of these recipes.

• Chinese Honey Chicken
• Beef Stir Fry
• Vegetarian Dan Dan Noodles
• Gluten Free General Tso’s Chicken
• Orange Chicken – with THE BEST sauce!
• Black Pepper Beef and Broccoli

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