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Home Stir fries

Vegetable Stir Fry

By:Nagi
Published:20 Jan '20Updated:6 Nov '20
110 Comments
Recipe v Video v Dozer v

This is a Vegetable Stir Fry to make your own. Use it for any veggies you want, and serve it as a main or as a side dish with any Asian food. The tasty Chinese brown sauce is just like you get from Chinese restaurants and will make any veg totally scoff-able. And there’s a generous amount of it to soak your rice!

Close up of Vegetable Stir Fry with lots of sauce

Vegetable Stir Fry

I make this approximately once a week, and it completely baffles me how I’ve been running this recipe website for 5 years (!!) without sharing it.

A Vegetable Stir Fry is:

  • my end-of-week Fridge Forage meal;

  • how I (happily) consume a ton of vegetables in one sitting;

  • something I make with a mix of vegetables – or just one (like snow peas or Asian mushrooms).

I serve it over rice or noodles. I toss noodles into it while cooking. I top homemade Chinese noodle soups with it. And I make instant ramen respectable by piling on this saucy stir fried vegetables.

So I repeat again – 5 years. No recipe. BAFFLED. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Saucy Vegetable Stir Fry served over rice

What goes in my Vegetable Stir Fry

You can basically ignore all the vegetables in the photo below, and visualise whatever YOU want  to use! Just use the sauce part of my recipe. 🙂

What goes in Vegetable Stir Fry

Can I make this with Charlie?

100% yes, you’ll need 4 tablespoons of Charlie and directions are in the recipe below. For new readers, “Charlie” is my ready made All Purpose Chinese Stir Fry Sauce. RTE readers and I love him so much, we’ve named him. He has a shelf life of months, and can be used in 90% of my stir fries and noodles, either outright or with the addition of a few extra flavourings. Try him once, and you’ll be obsessed with him too!


How to make stir fried vegetables

There’s only two rules here:

  1. Have all the ingredients chopped and ready to toss in the wok / skillet because this recipe moves fast once you start cooking!

  2. Don’t let the veggies cook until floppy and sad. They should be vibrant, just cooked so they don’t have the raw bite to them but they’re still a bit crisp. That’s the point of optimum flavour and nutrition for vegetables!

How to make Stir Fried Vegetables

What order to cook vegetables in stir fries

There’s no need to turn this into an exact science! Just start by cooking aromatics to form the flavour base then add vegetables that take the longest to cook first, and delicate things like leafy greens towards the end.

Here’s a rough guide:

  1. Aromatics in first- onion, leeks, garlic, ginger, chilli

  2. Firm vegetables in second – like carrot, capsicum/bell peppers, stems of Asian Greens (Buk Choy in this recipe),  zucchini / courgettes, eggplant, asparagus, canned baby corn, green beans, okra.

  3. Quicker cooking vegetables added next- snow peas, kale, cabbage.

  4. Delicate vegetables in last – toss until just wilted. Leaves of Asian Greens, spinach, bean sprouts, green onions, fresh herbs.

Pre cooked vegetables – broccoli, cauliflower and broccolini should be pre-cooked prior to using in a stir fry as they take too long to cook from raw in a stir fry (unless chopped small). And though I rarely use them in stir fries, I also pre cook things like pumpkin, potato, squash, and other root vegetables.

Skillet with sauce stir fried vegetables, fresh off the stove

A big skillet of vegetables never looked so tasty!!

Also – the stir fry sauce. I like making plenty of it so it can soak through the rice or noodles, or whatever you serve it over. It’s also particularly good at disguising cauliflower rice – for those of you *trying* to cut down on carbs. 😇

Close up of Vegetable Stir Fry sauce soaked rice

What to serve with Stir Fried Vegetables

This can be served as:

  • a main dish with rice or noodles (try cauliflower rice for a low carb option); or

  • a vegetable side dish.

Though this stir fry has Chinese origins, don’t restrict yourself to serving this alongside just Chinese dishes. You’ll see similar version of this sauce used all across Asia. So serve it as a vegetable side the next time you make any Asian dishes – such as Vietnamese, Thai or Japanese! Here are a few suggestions (just a few….😂):

What to serve with Stir Fried Vegetables

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Woah. For someone who’s taken so long to share such a *simple* recipe, I sure did have a lot to say about it! 😂 – Nagi x


Watch how to make it

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Close up of Vegetable Stir Fry with lots of sauce

Saucy Vegetable Stir Fry

Author: Nagi
Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 5 mins
Total: 15 mins
Mains, Side
Chinese
5 from 33 votes
Servings4
Tap or hover to scale
Print
Recipe video above. Any vegetables are totally scoffable when they're smothered in a tasty Chinese gravy! Use any veg you want - just add them according to the cook time (hard veg in first, leafy veg in last). For a quick hit of protein, toss in some cubes of firm tofu. For a chicken version, use this Chicken Stir Fry. Recipe works with Charlie - see Note 4.

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 2 garlic cloves , finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp ginger , finely sliced (optional)
  • 1/2 onion , peeled and sliced
  • 1 carrot , large
  • 3 medium buk choy or other leafy greens of choice (Note 1)
  • 1 cup mushrooms , sliced 3mm / 1/8" thick
  • 1 capsicum , sliced 1/2cm / 1/5" thick

Sauce (or use 4 tbsp Charlie, Note 4):

  • 1 tbsp cornflour / corn starch
  • 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce , light or all purpose (not dark soy) (Note 2)
  • 2 tsp Oyster Sauce
  • 1 tbsp Chinese Cooking Wine or Mirin (Note 3)
  • 1/2 tsp sesame oil (optional)
  • Dash of white pepper (or black)
  • 3/4 cup / 185 ml water

Garnishes, optional:

  • Finely sliced green onions
  • Sesame seeds

Instructions

Vegetable Prep:

  • Carrot: cut in half lengthwise then diagonally sliced 2mm / 1/10" thick
  • Buk Choy (Note 1): Trim base off, then cut leaves off the stem. Cut the stem lengthwise into 1cm / 2/5" wide pieces. Keep leaves separate from stems, they will be cooked at different times.

Sauce (Charlie - Note 4):

  • Place cornflour and soy sauce in a bowl and mix until cornflour is dissolved, then mix in remaining Sauce ingredients.

Cooking:

  • Heat oil in a wok or large heavy based skillet over high heat.
  • Add garlic and ginger, stir for 10 seconds. Add onion, stir for 30 seconds.
  • Add carrot, capsicum and stems of buk choy - stir for 1 minute.
  • Add mushrooms, then stir for 2 to 3 minutes until the vegetables are almost cooked.
  • Add Sauce and toss for 1 minute until Sauce thickens and becomes glossy, coating all the vegetables. Don't overcook so they become floppy and limp - they should be just cooked, "crisp tender".
  • Remove from stove and serve over rice (low carb option: cauliflower rice). Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds if using. A big dollop of chilli sauce wouldn't go astray either!

Recipe Notes:

1. Buk Choy is an Asian vegetable, as pictured. Stems take longer to cook than the leaves, so best to cut leaves off and add towards the end of the cook time. Stems vary vastly in width (outer layers thick, inner layers small) so cut them into even size so they cook at the same time. Do the same for all similar shaped Asian Greens.
There's no need to be 100% exact here - if some leaves end up in the stem batch, it's totally fine! You just want MOST added later in the cook time.
2. Soy sauce - use light or all purpose soy sauce here. Do not use Dark Soy Sauce - the flavour is too intense and will overpower the sauce. The bottle will be labelled "dark soy sauce".
Gluten free - use tarmari.
3. Chinese Cooking Wine ("Shaoxing wine") is the secret ingredient that really makes a restaurant standard Chinese sauce. You get complexity and depth in the sauce with just a bit of the cooking wine.
SUBSTITUTES:
  • Mirin - best, the Japanese equivalent of Chinese cooking wine;
  • Dry sherry - next best, any cheap and cheerful dry sherry
  • Japanese cooking sake
  • Non alcoholic - substitute the water in the recipe with LOW SODIUM chicken stock/broth
4. CHARLIE is my All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce. If you haven't met him yet and you love stir fries, you are going to be best friends very soon. Find the recipe for him here, along with how to use him.
To use Charlie for this recipe, replace the Sauce with 4 tablespoons of Charlie + 3/4 tsp cornflour / cornstarch + 3/4 cup water, then use per recipe.
5. Nutrition excludes rice.

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 95cal (5%)Carbohydrates: 11g (4%)Protein: 3g (6%)Fat: 4g (6%)Saturated Fat: 3g (19%)Sodium: 531mg (23%)Potassium: 265mg (8%)Fiber: 3g (13%)Sugar: 4g (4%)Vitamin A: 7251IU (145%)Vitamin C: 79mg (96%)Calcium: 104mg (10%)Iron: 1mg (6%)
Keywords: stir fried vegetables, vegetable stir fry
Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @recipe_tin.

Life of Dozer

More Dozer pool action! Well, not so much action here, just Dozer climbing out of the pool. Currently using a ramp because the step in is so high, he actually sprained his lower back with all his crazy leaping in and out.

I know, I know. First World Problems.🙈

Dozer the golden retriever climbing out of pool ramp

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Hi, I'm Nagi!

I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative!

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110 Comments

  1. Smiley says

    January 30, 2020 at 5:16 pm

    Just perfect! My dinner guests were asking how I dreamt it up.
    I just emailed them your site.
    So tasty!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      January 31, 2020 at 7:04 am

      Thanks so much Smiley, that’s so great to hear!!

      Reply
  2. Kylie says

    January 25, 2020 at 4:51 pm

    I only have rice wine vinegar, can I use it? Or do I need to buy rice wine. 😊

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      January 28, 2020 at 12:17 pm

      Hi Kylie – rice wine vinegar isn’t the same as Chinese Cooking Wine – I do have some subs listed in the notes though 🙂

      Reply
  3. Teresa Eaton says

    January 25, 2020 at 4:07 am

    5 stars
    This dish is delicious Nagi and I made the brown sauce as well.

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      January 25, 2020 at 11:11 am

      Wahoo, I’m so glad you enjoyed it Teresa!

      Reply
  4. Emma says

    January 22, 2020 at 11:21 pm

    5 stars
    Another keeper from you Nagi. I know have Charlie in my fridge door and I know he will be a regular at my table!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      January 23, 2020 at 6:58 am

      That’s great to hear Emma, it will change your life!! N x

      Reply
  5. Linda A. says

    January 22, 2020 at 8:25 am

    5 stars
    You are right about Charlie, I use that stuff on everything! I’m also not a big veggie eater but that sauce is so good I actually eat broccoli. Thanks for the fantastic recipes!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      January 22, 2020 at 1:43 pm

      It’s good on anything isn’t it Linda?!!

      Reply
  6. Lisa says

    January 21, 2020 at 10:03 am

    Perfect for that first week back at work…I’ve missed the gorgeous Dozer pics whilst away (well whilst pottering about and avoiding emails). 🙂

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      January 21, 2020 at 6:57 pm

      Oh fabulous for work! I’m so glad you enjoyed it Lisa ❤️

      Reply
  7. karen redwin says

    January 21, 2020 at 9:42 am

    5 stars
    yum yum yum, I’ve been cooking veetables using your chop suey recipe for years, looking forward to trying this!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      January 21, 2020 at 6:58 pm

      You’ll enjoy this one then!!! Can’t wait to hear what you think 🙂

      Reply
  8. Glenn says

    January 20, 2020 at 6:29 pm

    Nagi, I have been a follower for many years but I was disappointed that you seem to have moved to a 15 mL tablespoon. What happened to the 20 mL AUSTRALIA tablespoon?

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      January 21, 2020 at 9:47 am

      Hi Glenn! Actually, nowadays I think you’ll find the stores are mostly carrying 15 ml tablespoons, in an attempt, one would presume, to standardise with the rest of the world. Australia is one of only two (maybe 3?) countries whose “official” tablespoon is 20ml, though having said that it’s not written in any law, it’s just convention. But actually, if you read the glossary of recent cookbooks, I think you’ll find more and more are using 15 ml nowadays 🙂 BUT I am very mindful of the difference and you’ll find that the difference is small enough not to affect the outcome of most of my recipes – like this one. However, in baking recipes it certainly is a risk and I always try baking recipes using Aussie and “rest of world” measures – and if it doesn’t work, then I write the recipe out twice using different measures. It’s a lot of effort, but I go to those lengths because frankly, before I started this website, one of my massive pet peeves was baking recipes from American online recipe sources that were complete fails when made using Aussie cups and spoons 🙂 N xx

      Reply
      • N says

        January 21, 2020 at 8:05 pm

        I (being European) much appreciate your effort to differentiate/explain different measurements. The other day I saw a recipe that called for “3 tablespoons (65 ml)” and I thought it was the first time I caught you in a recipe error 🤣. Only now I realize that Australian Tbs are different!

        Reply
        • Sandra Marks says

          January 22, 2020 at 5:18 am

          Good gravy, I just learned something!! I didn’t even realize there were Aussie rules for the tbsp!! 😃

          Reply
  9. Rachel Thornley says

    January 20, 2020 at 6:16 pm

    Hi – my family adore Asian recipes but are allergic to shellfish so I can’t use Oyster Sauce – is there something you can suggest I could use as a substitute, please?

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      January 21, 2020 at 7:18 pm

      Hi Rachel, there is a mushroom based vegetarian oyster – it’s the best substitute! N x

      Reply
    • Becca says

      January 21, 2020 at 3:40 am

      Hi,

      You can buy vegetarian oyster sauce which contains no shellfish. They even stock it at regular/discount grocery stores here in Ontario (Canada). I’ve always used it and it’s delicious!

      Cheers,

      Becca

      Reply
  10. Bohdanna Hansen says

    January 20, 2020 at 5:55 pm

    Nagi … You and Dozer are the cat’s “Meow”!!!! ..I am so happy that I came upon your website … each and everyone of your recipes is astonishing! Every photograph makes you want to dive into the computer screen to get a bite full!! I enjoy your blog and recipes immensely !!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      January 21, 2020 at 7:19 pm

      Oh shucks Bohdanna! Thank you so much ❤️

      Reply
  11. Eha says

    January 20, 2020 at 4:15 pm

    5 stars
    Nagi Maehashi – one day I do hope to meet you ‘for real’ because we surely do a lot of things in a similar manner.! Like having a vegetable stirfry once a week – and with very similar ingredients 🙂 ! But i do not have ‘Charlie; waiting for use in my fridge – how amiss ! Quickly amended – perhaps later tonight . . . ! With Asian noodles a pretty perfect meal methinks !! That ‘h’ word applies also . . . thanks for the sauce reminder ! Have not seen a ramp like Dozer’s – well, he obviously knows how to use it . . .

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      January 21, 2020 at 7:24 pm

      I love that you do this too Eha, such a great way to use up leftovers (and hey it’s healthy too) 😂 Noodles/rice/mash, that sauce is great on anything! This was Dozer’s ramp from his injury a little while back (there was no way I was lifting him into the car!!!) – N x

      Reply
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I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative! Read More

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