Vegetable Stir Fry Recipe + 10 Stir Fry Tips

Vegetable Stir Fry Recipe – This Vegetable Stir Fry recipe is one of those essential recipes that everyone should know how to make. It’s a great way to add a side of vegetables to your meals or add a protein and make it a main course. Of course, to make this fail proof vegetable stir fry recipe requires just a few easy-to-follow tips.

I have included one of my favorite vegetable stir fry recipes below. However, I didn’t want to just give you the recipe. Keep reading for my my favorite stir fry kitchen essentials, 10 stir fry tips and more.

- Table of Contents -

1. Stir Fry Kitchen Essentials
2. Developing a Deeper Understanding of Cooking – Connecting the Dots
3.  Top 10 Stir Fry Tips – How to Make Vegetable Stir Fry
4. #1 The Best Oil for Stir Fry – Which Means the HEALTHIEST Oil for Stir Fry
5. #2 Add More Vegetables to this Vegetable Stir Fry Recipe
6. #3 Use a high-quality and non-toxic wok, such as Xtrema Cookware. 
7. #4 Make the Vegetable Stir Fry Sauce First
8. #5 Prepare All of the Vegetables Before Cooking
9. #6 Arrange Your Vegetables Based on Cooking Time
10. #7 Swap Soy Sauce for Liquid Aminos
11. #8 Serve Stir Fry Over Whole Grains
12. #9 Use Animal Protein as a “Condiment”
13. #10 Cook the Animal Protein First
14. Love Stir Fry Recipes? Try These Other Clean Favorites
15. Kitchen Favorites

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Stir Fry Kitchen Essentials

There are just a few main kitchen essentials to make this Vegetable Stir Fry recipe… or really, any stir fry recipe.

#1: A Healthy Wok – Try the 11″ Xtrema 100% Ceramic Wok

Not all wok’s are equal. Most wok surfaces are covered in ceramic coating or teflon making it quite unhealthy. We believe that eating clean starts with clean cookware. So, if you want a wok that can be heated to high temperatures without leaching anything into your foods, you must give the 11″ Xtrema 100% Ceramic Wok a try. We just started using this wok and WOW, what a difference.

The Xtrema 11″ Versa Wok with Lid is made of 100% pure ceramic! The wok has a high-gloss ceramic glaze that is non-toxic and scratch-proof. You’ll never have to worry about harmful, metals chemicals or coatings flaking into your food as you cook. The wok is known for evenly heating your stir fry recipes.

#2: Flat Wooden Spoon

Having a flat wooden spoon is the most helpful utensil when making this vegetable stir fry recipe or any stir fry. I love using the bamboo flat spoon to help move the vegetables around the wok without losing any behind.

#3: High Quality Rice Cooker

I know, I know — this is supposed to be about making the best vegetable stir fry. However, I can’t continue telling you my top 10 stir fry tips without telling you about the easiest possible way to make rice. Of course, not white rice — but brown rice since it’s a whole grain and much healthier for you.

You almost always need to make brown rice before you can assemble a recipe. As you know, preparing rice is often the most time-consuming component of making any recipe too.

If you are pressed for time or the mere thought of standing over a pot of rice cooking is discouraging you, I have a perfect solution. Having a rice cooker is a game changer! We LOVE VitaClay multi-cooker/rice-cooker for slow cooking, quinoa, lentil dishes and brown rice!

And it’s the perfect way to cook brown rice in a rice cooker — fast, easy, guaranteed successful.

Okay, let’s talk briefly about connecting the dots with making stir fry. Then, we’ll get to the top 10 Stir Fry Tips… and the best Vegetable Stir Fry recipe with my homemade coconut aminos sauce.

Developing a Deeper Understanding of Cooking – Connecting the Dots

The idea of learning certain basics is something I remember reading over a decade ago in Nigella Lawson’s book, How to Eat: The Pleasures and Principles of Good Food. It is a concept that has stuck with me all of these years.

Even though Nigella is not exactly known for being the healthiest eater on the block, she certainly knows how to cook! And most importantly, Nigella knows how to teach the home cook.

In the preface of How to Eat, Nigella states: “Cooking is not about just joining the dots, following one recipe slavishly and then moving on to the next. It’s about developing an understanding of food, a sense of assurance in the kitchen, about the simple desire to make yourself something to eat.”

So, hopefully my 10 stir fry tips below will help you do more than just connect the dots when it comes to making a vegetable stir fry recipe!

 Top 10 Stir Fry Tips – How to Make Vegetable Stir Fry

The following 10 tips on how to make a vegetable stir fry recipe will help you feel confident when standing behind your wok — even without a recipe.

This is important because you might not always have the exact ingredients on hand to make my particular vegetable stir fry recipe below. However, if you know the stir fry basics then you can substitute other ingredients and still end up with a delicious vegetable stir fry dinner.

#1: The Best Oil for Stir Fry – Which Means the HEALTHIEST Oil for Stir Fry

It is always healthier to get the majority of fat in your diet from “whole” foods as opposed to oil. But, I would never suggest going to extremes by trying to make an oil-free stir fry. Instead, you simply want to go easy on the oil and also add a little bit at a time. Adding a little at a time will allow you to use less oil.

It is also extremely important to use the right oil at the right temperature to avoid oxidation. Oxidation is bad because oxidized oil promotes free radical production within your body. This oxidation then accelerates the aging process and contributes to disease.

The healthiest oil for stir fry to use for high heat cooking and for stir fry is organic extra virgin coconut oil because it can withstand super high heat temperatures. And don’t worry, as long as you use a super high-quality, organic coconut oil it won’t make your food taste like coconuts!

At the very end of the stir-fry you can drizzle in a tad bit of unrefined toasted sesame oil for a flavor punch. Take a look at the recipe below to see how I used these two oils.

#2: Add More Vegetables to this Vegetable Stir Fry Recipe

The biggest mistake most people make with both their clean eating efforts and their stir fry recipes is that they skimp on the vegetables. Your vegetable stir fry recipe truly won’t even taste as good if you don’t use a lot of vegetables. Using a variety of vegetables adds the most flavor.

You can mix and match pretty much any vegetable. Consider using: bok choy, cabbage, mushrooms, carrots, green beans, snap peas, asparagus, etc.  A good rule of thumb when making a vegetable stir fry recipe is to use 3 or 4 different vegetables and then add in some mushrooms for a nice hearty “meaty” kick.

In the recipe below I used button mushrooms, but you can also try oyster mushrooms, chestnut mushrooms, morel, etc.

#3: Use a high-quality and non-toxic wok, such as Xtrema Cookware. 

Worth repeating in these stir fry tips – If you plan on making stir fry a regular part of your dinner menu then I can’t overstate the importance of investing in a high-quality and non-toxic wok.

Not only will you notice a tremendous difference in the taste of your stir-fry, but you will also avoid exposure to toxins from non-stick cookware and the heavy metals that leach from other “green” cookware. Using the 11″ Xtrema Wok has made all the difference, making vegetable stir fry even easier and healthier.

Read more about the importance of choosing healthy cookware here.

#4: Make the Vegetable Stir Fry Sauce First

Take a look at the recipe below. I prepared the vegetable stir fry sauce before I started cooking the vegetables. Then, you will add the sauce in at the very end. The great thing about a stir fry sauce is that it doesn’t need to be “exact”. You can experiment with all types of Far East condiments such as: rice wine vinegar, oyster sauce, fish sauce, chili paste, tahini, etc.

#5: Prepare All of the Vegetables Before Cooking

Before you turn on your wok, you will want to dice or slice each vegetable as uniformly as you can before you start cooking. This helps your vegetables to cook evenly in the wok. I also go one step further and pair vegetables into medium size bowls so I can dump them into the wok while cooking.

#6: Arrange Your Vegetables Based on Cooking Time

Before you start to cook, be sure to arrange your vegetables in order of their cooking time. The longest cooking vegetables should be added first. We start off with onion, bell pepper.

For this recipe, I paired the onion and tri-colored peppers in one bowl to add as soon as the wok heats up. In a second bowl, I added the carrots and mushrooms. In a third smaller bowl, I added the minced garlic and ginger.

This makes sure that the vegetables are cooked according to their need without resulting in a mushy stir fry.

#7: Swap Soy Sauce for Liquid Aminos

When we cook, we want to use high quality ingredients, just like we do when making sauces. Same thing goes for soy sauce. Most stir fry sauces will use soy sauce and if you don’t use a good soy sauce in your recipes you can mess up the whole dish.  

If you buy the cheap soy sauce that is chemically made and sold by the gallon at Sam’s Club and put that stuff in your vegetable stir fry recipe then you are sure to ruin the whole thing. 

The best-tasting (and healthiest!) soy sauce is coconut aminos. Bragg’s Liquid Coconut Aminos is gluten free, plant-based and the flavor is clean and delicious.

#8 Serve Stir Fry Over Whole Grains

The best way to enjoy your delicious vegetable stir fry is over a healthy whole grain. Consider using a short grain brown rice, black rice or gluten free soba noodles. We also love brown rice noodles (as pictured) that cook in minutes in boiling water.

By far, the easiest way to cook rice, including black rice, as well as ALL whole grains is with a rice cooker, my favorite being the VitaClay Chef Gourmet Rice & Slow Cooker Pro.

#9: Use Animal Protein as a “Condiment”

The best traditional stir fry recipes are skimpy on the animal protein and heavy on the vegetables. Model your stir-fry creation after the best and you’re guaranteed to have a successful dinner stir fry dish.

#10: Cook the Animal Protein First

If you choose to add a protein to the vegetable stir fry recipe below, be sure to cook it first. Then, when thoroughly cooked, at it to a small bowl while you stir fry the rest of your vegetables. Then, when the vegetables are nearly complete, you will add the animal protein back in.

Yes, adding protein to this vegetable stir fry recipe is that simple. I recommend adding 12 oz total of wild caught shrimp, chicken or stir fry grass fed steak.

Love Stir Fry Recipes? Try These Other Clean Favorites:

We love stir fry recipes because it’s easiest to load up on vegetables and serve over whole grains. We have a few more healthy stir fry recipes on our site that you should definitely add to your menu.

Cauliflower Stir Fry Rice – This Cauliflower Stir Fry Rice tastes BETTER than traditional Chinese-style Fried Rice. The biggest difference is that this stir fry rice is very healthy and is rice-free and grain-free too.

Cashew Chicken Stir Fry – My favorite Cashew Chicken Stir Fry Recipe is a Chinese take-out cleanup. It’s so delicious and reminds me of take-out (which is not healthy at all) without jeopardizing my health.

Beef Stir Fry Recipe – This Beef Stir Fry Recipe is one of my no fuss, “back pocket” one dish dinners that never lets me down. It’s  loaded with flavor, incredibly easy to make and doesn’t leave me with a sink full of dishes.

Chicken Teriyaki Stir Fry Recipe – A quick and easy weeknight dinner, this Chicken Teriyaki Stir Fry Recipe is ready in under 20 minutes. We used bell peppers, onion, garlic and carrots. But, if you have other veggies to use, toss them in.

And after all that, if you still need a recipe, here you go…

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