Sometimes it just feels right to take a break from meat. I love meat, of course, but occasionally I notice that I'm eating it more out of habit than feeling like my body is asking for it. This easy vegetable stir fry is the perfect recipe for when you feel like you need a veggie-packed dish.
What I love most about this stir fry is how easily you can substitute any of the ingredients. It's definitely one of the best pantry recipes because you can literally toss in almost any vegetable from the fridge and it's going to taste great!
Key Ingredients You Need
- Vegetables — We use an assortment of veggies such as carrots, broccoli florets, baby corn, bell peppers, mushrooms, and snap peas. The more color you can add to this stir-fry, the better!
- Sauce ingredients — To make the sauce, I combine chicken broth, soy sauce, cornstarch, honey, and sesame oil. For the chicken broth and soy sauce, I suggest using low sodium so you can control how salty you'd like your stir fry to be. Feel free to season with salt and pepper at the end.
How to Make Vegetable Stir Fry
Step 1: Prepare the sauce in a mixing small bowl by whisking together soy sauce, garlic, honey, sesame oil, chicken broth, and cornstarch. Set aside.
Step 2: In a wok or large skillet add 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper, peas, carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, baby corn, and water chestnuts. Sauté 2-3 minutes until veggies are almost tender.
Step 3: Pour sauce mixture over veggies and cook until the sauce has thickened. Garnish with chopped green onions and sesame seeds if desired.
Tips For This Recipe
- A large skillet or wok is best for stir-frying as you're able to stir and toss the veggies without any falling out of the pan.
- If you want to add an extra crunch to this dish then try adding in some cashews, peanuts, or almonds.
- Be sure to cut your vegetables into similar sizes so they can cook at the same rate.
- If you're unsure where to get water chestnuts, they can be found in cans in the international aisle or by other canned vegetables.
- Swap the chicken broth for vegetable broth and honey for maple syrup to keep this a vegetarian or vegan-friendly recipe.
- You can make this spicier by adding some red chili flakes or sriracha to the sauce.
- If you're making this as a side dish, my Hawaiian Chicken Skewers and Coconut Shrimp goes really well with the veggies! Alternatively, as a main dish, you can serve this with some rice, chow mein, lo mein, udon noodles, ramen noodles, quinoa, zoodles, and cauliflower rice.
Frequently Asked Questions
You absolutely can add meat to this stir fry if you want. I feel that chicken breast is a great addition. If you want to add chicken, just cut up a raw chicken breast into 1" cubes and then toss on some salt and pepper. Saute it in a tablespoon of oil for a few minutes and then, once it's cooked through, set it aside while you cook the vegetables. Add the chicken back in once all of the vegetables are done cooking. The sauce will bring it all together.
If chicken isn't your favorite, you can apply the same cooking technique to tofu or sliced beef. As I said, this stir fry is very versatile!
To make this vegetable stir fry gluten-free, you can swap soy sauce for coconut aminos or tamari. If you're making this for someone who has a gluten sensitivity, please be sure to check that your other ingredients weren't made in facilities that process gluten.
Some other vegetables you can swap in/add are eggplant, broccolini, cauliflower, zucchini, snow peas, onions, and more!
This vegetable stir fry will last up to 4 days in the refrigerator. It tastes best when hot so make sure to toss it in a pan for a few minutes each time you pull it out of the refrigerator.
IF YOU LOVE THIS RECIPE TRY THESE OUT!
If you’ve tried this Vegetable Stir Fry Recipe then don’t forget to leave me a 5 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below!
Vegetable Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup carrots sliced
- 1½ cups broccoli florets
- ½ red bell pepper sliced
- ½ yellow bell pepper sliced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 cup snap peas
- 1 cup mushrooms sliced
- 1 cup baby corn
- ½ cup water chestnuts
- 1 tsp ginger chopped
- chopped green onions for garnish
- sesame seeds for garnish
For the Sauce:
- ½ cup chicken broth
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp sesame oil
Instructions
- Prepare the sauce in a mixing small bowl by whisking together soy sauce, garlic, honey, sesame oil, chicken broth, and cornstarch. Set aside.
- In a wok or large skillet add 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat. Add bell pepper, peas, carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, baby corn, and water chestnuts. Sauté 2-3 minutes until veggies are almost tender.
- Pour sauce mixture over veggies and cook until the sauce has thickened. Garnish with chopped green onions and sesame seeds if desired.
Video
Notes
- A large skillet or wok is best for stir frying as ideal as you're able to stir and toss the veggies without any falling out of the pan.
- If you want to add an extra crunch to this dish? Try adding in some cashews, peanuts, or almonds.
- Be sure to cut your vegetables into similar sizes so they can cook at the same rate.
- If you're unsure where to get water chestnuts, they can be found in cans in the international aisle or by other canned vegetables.
- Swap the chicken broth for vegetable broth and honey for maple syrup to keep this a vegetarian or vegan friendly recipe.
- You can make this spicier by adding some red chili flakes or sriracha to the sauce.
- If you're making this as a side dish, Hawaiian Chicken Skewers goes really well with the veggies! Alternatively, as a main dish, you can serve this with some rice, chow mein, lo mein, udon noodles, ramen noodles, quinoa, zoodles, and cauliflower rice.
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