Healthy Vegetable Stir Fry

Today’s post is the start of an ongoing partnership with Oster, and we’re beginning with our very favorite Healthy Vegetable Stir Fry.

This easy weeknight (or weekend) dinner comes together in about 20 minutes with very little mess thanks to their new DiamondForce™ Nonstick Electric Wok. We stir-fry a plethora of veggies with a tiny bit of sesame oil until vibrant and crisp, toss them with our favorite sweet and spice soy-based sauce and serve over rice. 

Healthy Vegetable Stir Fry

Without doubt, whenever I’m in a frenzy to figure out something quick, easy, and healthy to throw together for dinner – even after a Pinterest deep-dive – I ultimately end up in the stir-fry category. This happens for a few reasons. First, I typically have what I need on hand. Two, it’s healthy. Three, it’s easy. Done done and done. 

Today’s Vegetable Stir Fry isn’t anything particularly earth shattering when it comes to creativity, but it’s so darn good, it’s time I share it. This version as the name implies, is veggie-forward but you can add a protein as you see fit. (Or you can also look to our Mongolian Beef or Kung Pao Shrimp) It’s equal parts spicy, sweet, and salty -always the ultimate goal when it comes to stir-fry. 

Because of the quick cooking process, the veggies stay bright and crisp, which is always a must as mushy veggies are no bueno. 

We’re also using our newest kitchen gadget, an electric wok by Oster. This baby heats up in no time, goes to a super high temperature (essential for stir-fry), is non-stick and virtually mess-free which makes this quick easy meal weeknight gold. 

Just wipe the pan clean with a paper towel after plating, and you’re done with clean up. 

Ingredients in Healthy Vegetable Stir Fry

Oil. For flavor, I like to stir-fry the veggies in sesame oil but it doesn’t have as high of a smoke point as canola oil, which is a more neutral oil. If you’re worried about burning the vegetable oil (I didn’t’ have a problem with this), you can use a combination of the two. 

Veggies. This part is up to you. I’m all about inclusivity, so I basically add them all. Here, we use broccoli, snow peas, carrots, red bell pepper, asparagus, yellow onion, and baby corn. Other contenders could be bok choy, scallion, cremini mushrooms, edamame, red onion, broccolini, or even squash or zucchini. 

Garlic. When it comes to Asian dishes and actually dishes in general, I go heavy on the garlic. Here, I use three super large cloves of garlic. Also, I like to slice the garlic instead of chop it, so there are big nice garlic pieces in every bite. If you don’t enjoy big pieces of garlic (why???), you can mince it. 

If you do decide to mince, you’ll want to add the garlic in the last few minutes of cooking as it can fall to the bottom of the pan and burn if it’s in the pan too long. 

The sauce

Soy sauce. Okay, so every stir fry needs soy sauce. Sometimes we’ll use tamari because it has a richer, deeper flavor, but this time around we went with low-sodium soy sauce to keep the salt down just a touch. Any brand will work! 

Mirin. This has become my newest obsession to use in any asian sauce. It’s a rice wine, similar to sake and has wonderful notes of sweetness and acid. It adds really nice balance to the sauce and a little bit of sugar without having to add an extra ingredient. 

Sambal Oelek. This completely addictive chili garlic sauce is a must in your pantry. It adds so much tang and spice to dishes (most recently in our Banh Mi Lettuce Wraps and Pork Miso Ramen).

Sesame seeds. I love the pop of crunch sesame seeds add to the vegetable stir fry, but it’s not a mandatory ingredient. 

Let’s make Healthy Vegetable Stir Fry

Prep your veggies. I find dinner goes most seamlessly when I have everything prepped ahead of time. You could even do this the night before or over the weekend so you can simply throw everything in the wok as needed. 

Also, be sure to keep everything similarly sized (except for the shredded carrots).

 DiamondForce™ Nonstick Electric Cookware

We briefly mentioned the use of our new Oster Electric Wok for the cooking of our Healthy Vegetable Stir-Fry, but let’s dig into it a little bit more. 

The DiamondForce™ Nonstick Electric Cookware from Oster is their longest lasting nonstick surface. It’s a well-tested technology where they use diamond particles to add hardness and durability, so literally nothing sticks to surfaces. Nothing. Typically when I make stir-fry, my pan has to soak and be scrubbed to get every bit off, but this time around not one single morsel of food stuck to it. 

It’s also scratch resistance which is a bonus since stir-frying does require constant stirring which can mean pans take a bit of a beating. 

Of course today we are using the Wok, but they also have a griddle (we use this for pancakes, eggs, even steaks.), air fryer, waffle maker and skillet. 

What I also love about the wok is it heats up to a high heat, which is essential for stir frying. A high temperature allows the veggies to “fry” rather than steam when they hit the pan, plus it helps to facilitate the cooking process. 

When we’re cooking, we like to heat the wok for a solid five minutes or so before adding the oil. 

Cook the veggies

You want to cook the veggies in stages. First, start with the broccoli because it takes the longest to cook. Next, add the bell peppers, onion, mushrooms, and asparagus. Cook everything, while stirring until they all turn a vibrant color. It should take about 3-4 minutes. Be careful to not take them too far, you still want everything to be super crisp. 

Last up, add the shredded carrots, snow peas, and baby corn. You’ll also want to add in the garlic at this point as well. As we talked about before, we add the garlic in super big slices, but if you like it minced, wait until the last minute or so of cooking. 

Cook the batch of veggies for a minute or two. 

Make the sauce. While the veggies finish up cooking, whisk the soy sauce, mirin, and samba oelek together in a small bowl. 

Once the garlic is softened, pour the sauce in and stir-fry for another minute or so just until the veggies are coated. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve! We like to serve with steamed brown rice, but it would also be nice served over asian noodles or even fried rice. 

Can I make this in advance? 

Sure! This is a great meal to prep or cook ahead of time. You could simply prep all the veggies and make the sauce. Store everything in airtight containers until you’re ready to cook. If you want to make it at the beginning of the week and eat for lunch, make it from start to finish, cool completely and package up with steamed brown rice. 

If you do cook it in advance, be sure to keep the veggies nice and crisp so they aren’t soft when you reheat them. 

Substitutions and Tips and Tricks for Recipe Success

• Swap out your favorite veggies. We also love using zucchini, squash, bok choy, or water chestnuts. 
• If you can’t find mirin, you can swap our sake or sherry. 
• For extra sweetness, add in a little bit of brown sugar. 
• For extra spice, add in more sambal oelek. 
• Even though this is a healthy vegetable stir fry, you can add whatever protein you like. We’re partial to chicken or shrimp with this particular recipe. 
• Other good sauce additions would be extra sesame oil, tamari, hoisin, or sweet chili sauce.

What to serve with Healthy Vegetable Stir Fry

• Our quinoa fried rice, egg fried rice or shrimp fried rice are all perfect addition to our vegetable stir fry. 
• Serve with cauliflower rice, steamed quinoa, brown or white rice. 
• We also love serving it with a side of our Easy Peanut Noodles.