Vegan Stir-Fry

A simple vegan stir-fry loaded with veggies and seasoned with a simple sauce. Add your favorite protein, such as crispy tofu, and serve with a side of rice or quinoa. Ready in 30 minutes!

A simple stir-fry is a fantastic way to load up on veggies. This vegan stir-fry is no different. It has classic Asian vegetables such as bok choy, baby corn, and snow peas, accompanied by mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, and red pepper. But you can use any vegetables that you have on hand. This is a great recipe to use to clean out your veggie drawer! Plus, you can add your favorite protein such as crispy air fryer tofu, or serve it without.

It wouldn’t be a stir-fry without a homemade stir-fry sauce, and this recipe has an easy one that comes together in a minute and uses common ingredients you should already have on hand.

Say goodbye to overcooked soggy stir-fry, and say hello to a restaurant-quality weeknight meal that is ready in 30 minutes!

My favorite way to enjoy this stir-fry is with white rice, but you can also serve it with brown rice, or quinoa.

💗 Why You’ll Loe This Vegan Stir-Fry

• Loaded With Veggies
• Simple Stir-Fry Sauce
• Easy Weeknight Meal
• High in Vitamins and Minerals
• Customize Using Your Favorite Veggies
• Add Your Favorite Protein

🥣 Ingredients and Notes

Vegetables: This stir-fry is loaded with veggies. Feel free to leave out any vegetables that you don’t like, and add in anything that you have on hand or that you love. The vegetables that I used include; mushrooms, red onion, broccoli, red pepper, carrots, snowpeas, bok choy, and baby corn. I was able to find all of the vegetables at my local supermarket. If you have a difficult time finding fresh baby corn, you could use canned, or opt for frozen corn kernels. If you can’t find bok choy, you could use kale or Swiss chard. Add some garlic and fresh ginger for some aromatic flavor.

Stir-Fry Sauce: Making the stir-fry sauce is super simple. Most of the ingredients you should have on hand. You’ll need soy sauce (or tamari if gluten-free), vegetable stock, sesame oil, rice vinegar, garlic, maple syrup, and cornstarch. If you don’t have sesame oil, you could use olive oil. Rice vinegar is preferred, but if you don’t have it, you could use apple cider vinegar. Maple syrup gives the sauce a hint of sweetness. You could also use agave or brown sugar. Cornstarch helps to thicken the sauce when it coats the vegetables.

📋 How to Make Vegan Stir-Fry Step by Step

Step 1: Add a tablespoon of sesame oil or olive oil to a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the chopped onion. Cook for about 3 minutes until softened. Then add the garlic and the ginger paste. Stir to combine, and cook for an additional minute.

Step 2: Next, it’s time to add in the crunchy vegetables. Add in the sliced carrots and the red bell pepper. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add in the broccoli, mushrooms, baby corn, and snow peas. Cover and steam for 5 minutes.

Step 3: While the vegetables are steaming, it’s time to make the sauce. Whisk together the vegetable stock, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, maple syrup, garlic, and cornstarch.

Step 4: Remove the lid from the steaming vegetables. Add in the chopped bok choy, and pour the sauce over the vegetables. Stir to combine. Cover and allow to steam for another 2-3 minutes. The sauce should thicken and coat the vegetables.

Step 5: Remove the pan from the heat. The vegetables should be tender but have a bit of crunch. You don’t want them to be soft, or undercooked, they should be al denté. If they are still quite crunchy, cover and steam for a few more minutes. Serve immediately with a side of rice or quinoa, or on top of noodles. Top with sesame seeds, green onion, or fresh chopped basil or cilantro.

💭 Expert Tips

• Different vegetables need varying amounts of time to cook. This is why you add them in at different times during the cooking process.
• Onions, garlic, and other aromatics are always added first. This is because they give flavor to the other vegetables.
• Carrots are added in early on because they are quite crunchy and need more time to cook.
• Mushrooms have a lot of water that cooks down when heated. There is no need to add any additional water or vegetable stock to the vegetables while they are cooking.
• Vegetables such as snow peas, and bok choy need less time to cook, so they should be added last.
• Don’t overcook the broccoli because it can change the color from bright green to brown rather quickly, especially once the sauce is added.

❓ Recipe FAQS

📖 Variations and Substitutions

Gluten-Free Version: Soy sauce contains gluten, therefore, substitute the soy sauce for tamari, or coconut aminos. Everything else in this recipe is gluten-free.

Add Different Vegetables: If there are any allergies or you simply don’t like a particular vegetable, leave it out, and use something else in its place. For example, you could use sugar snap peas, instead of snow peas. You could take out the mushrooms and add zucchini or yellow squash. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to your veggie stir fry.

👩🏻‍🍳 Serving Suggestions

Rice: My favorite way to serve this recipe is with white rice. I prefer white rice over brown rice, but both are excellent. Brown rice is higher in fiber, magnesium, and other nutrients. So it will help you feel fuller longer.

Quinoa: Quinoa is a complete protein. Accompanying your stir-fry with quinoa helps to give this dish a more well-rounded nutritional profile.

Noodles: Serve on top of rice noodles for a gluten-free option, or try serving it with ramen, or even whole wheat spaghetti.

Protein: Add tofu, or TVP (similar texture to chicken).

❄️ Storage

Once the veggies have cooled transfer them to an airtight container. Store them in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in the microwave or over the stovetop.

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