Easy Vegetable Stir Fry
Skip the takeout and make this delicious Vegetable Stir Fry at home! Stir fry veggies and my best stir fry sauce are quick and easy to make for a healthy dinner.
One of the benefits of cooking is that you can make your favorite restaurant dishes at home. This vegetable stir fry recipe was inspired by one of my favorite restaurant meals, Kung Pao Chicken.
In this easy stir fry recipe, I swapped the chicken for more veggies. This stir fry is especially tasty if you make it a little spicy, but you can keep the spice mild if you prefer. Top the saucy vegetables and rice with crunchy peanuts for a weeknight meal that’s packed with flavor.
This recipe uses my favorite stir fry sauce. It’s a simple combination of ingredients that will take your stir fry to the next level. Try it in my chicken stir fry next!
How to Make Vegetable Stir Fry
There are three steps to making this stir fry: make the sauce, chop the vegetables, and then cook the stir fry. Find the full recipe in the recipe card at the end of this post.
Make the Stir Fry Sauce
To make the stir fry sauce, combine all of the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to blend them together. Then set the sauce aside. You’ll add it to the stir fry at the end of the cooking process. Give it another quick stir to recombine the ingredients before pouring it into the pan.
How to Stir Fry Vegetables
- Be sure to wash and chop all of the vegetables before you begin to stir fry. Once you start adding things to the hot pan, the process moves really quickly.
- Cook the stir fry in a large wok or skillet. You want enough room in the pan so that you can stir easily.
- Cook the vegetables in a hot pan, and preheat the pan. A hot pan will sear the outside of the vegetables and allow you to cook them quickly, so they don’t get mushy.
- Softer vegetables, such as summer squash, cook faster than firm veggies, such as carrots. Instead of adding all the veggies to the pan at the same time, add the ones that take longer to soften first. For this recipe, you’ll cook the bell pepper and snap peas for a few minutes before adding the yellow squash to the pan.
- Add the stir fry sauce to the skillet when the vegetables are almost crisp-tender. The sauce will only take 1 or 2 minutes to thicken.
Serve your vegetable stir fry with Instant Pot rice or Instant Pot brown rice, or learn my secret for how to cook brown rice on the stove.
Stir Fry Veggies
You can make this recipe with almost any vegetable that you enjoy. Just be sure to add quick-cooking veggies to the pan last. You might try:
- Broccoli
- Carrots
- Zucchini
- Red or Yellow Onion
- Mushrooms
- Snow Peas
- Green Beans
- Baby Corn
- Bell Pepper
- Water Chestnuts
- Snap Peas
Recipe Tips
- Whenever you make a stir fry, prepare all of the recipe components before you start cooking. Once you begin to stir fry in the hot pan, the cooking process goes quickly.
- Add texture to your vegetable stir fry with crunchy nuts. Peanuts are my favorite in this recipe, or try cashews or almonds.
- Garnish with sesame seeds, chopped green onions or fresh cilantro for freshness and color.
Looking for more easy vegetarian meals? Check out my delicious vegetarian recipes.
Vegetable Stir Fry
Ingredients
For the Sauce:
- ½ cup low sodium vegetable broth, or chicken broth
- â…“ cup low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- crushed red pepper flakes or sriracha, to taste, for spicy sauce
For the Stir-Fry
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced into 1-inch long strips
- 8 ounces snap peas, (about 3 cups)
- 2 medium/large yellow summer squash, cut into bite-size pieces (about 3 cups)
For Serving:
- cooked brown rice
- ½ cup peanuts
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
Instructions
- Whisk together all sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Heat oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the bell pepper and snap peas and cook, stirring often, 2 minutes. Add the yellow squash and continue to cook, stirring often, until vegetables are almost crisp-tender, about 2 minutes.
- Pour the sauce into the pan with the vegetables and cook until thickened, stirring constantly, 1-2 minutes. Remove pan from heat.
- Serve stir-fry over brown rice, topped with peanuts and green onions.
Kung pao is always my go to takeout order! Love the idea of making it at home and customizing it to keep it healthier 🙂
Thanks, Medha!
I’ve never attempted kung pao at home, but I’m thinking I need to now! This looks so delicious, I love all of the fresh veggies too.
Thanks, Danielle! We made this again tonight and it’s such a delicious way to enjoy fresh veggies!
This kung pao looks fantastic, Kristine! I’ve never made this myself before, but it’s one of my favorite dishes to order out. Love the addition of the squash, too!
Thank you, Gayle!
I love Kung Pao chicken too! I like it because it is a nice way to squeeze in some extra veggies and still have it taste good. It’s been fooling my boyfriend for awhile now!
I agree! Veggies taste so good with a yummy sauce and a little spice!
This looks so good, Kristine, and it’s all ingredients I can eat! I’m going to give this a try. 🙂
I’m glad you can enjoy this one, Kelly! I hope you like it! 🙂
This looks incredible – I need more easy weeknight meals in my life! That sauce on the stir fry looks delicious 🙂
Thanks, Jessica! You can never have too many easy meals, I say!
I love that you substituted summer squash instead of chicken! We have SO many squash right now from our garden, I’m trying to find all sorts of ways to use them up. This will be perfect!
Thanks, Natalie! The summer squash worked perfectly in this!
It has been way too long since we’ve had a good stir fry here! This looks like the most delicious healthy dinner! Those kids don’t know what they’re missing 😉
They sure don’t! 🙂
Dear Kristine, I love the sound your healthy version of Kung Pao. It looks wonderful! xo, Catherine
Thank you, Catherine!
This seriously looks like 10x better than takeout!! I love that you snuck all those veggies into the mix here, Kristine! This stir-fry is definitely happening here for the next crazy-busy evening!
Thanks, Sarah! Aren’t summer veggies the best?
I love the spicy flavors of Kung Pao! And I’m always looking for vegetarian meals to cok for my daughter. She will love this!
I hope she does! 🙂
I love making take-out style dishes at home, and kung pao chicken is one of my favorites! And the summer squash in here can only make it better! Pinned. 🙂
Thank you, Marcie!
This is such a great idea, Kristine! Chinese take-out is one of my guilty pleasures, but I love the idea of preparing dishes with all of those great flavors at home. So much healthier. Yum!
Thanks, Alyssa!
This is such a great summer meal! The strange them is, my kid loves her veggies and I am the picky one! Lol. I’m sure this would be a big hit here anyway — LOVE Kung Pao!
Thanks, Ashley! You are lucky to have a kid that loves veggies! Hopefully she’ll stay that way! 🙂
Love making healthier take-out dishes at home. This stir-fry looks so delicious with all those veggies and summer squash! My 4 year old is starting to get picky about his veggies too but I’m pretty sure he’d be on board with all the pretty colors in this dish!
Picky kids can be so frustrating! I did get my kids to eat a little of this the second time I made it by leaving out the red pepper flakes in their servings. They mostly stuck to the bell peppers, though. 🙂