Spring Veggie Stir-Fry
This vegetable stir-fry recipe comes together in no time! To turn this side dish into a complete meal, serve it with brown rice and your choice of protein.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on February 11, 2019
Hello, it’s Kate of two weeks’ past. I wrote this post in advance of my vacation in Morocco. I day-dreamed of this trip while I was perpetually arms-deep in dishes last year. It’s official: My cookbook’s at the printer, and I’m finally getting a real vacation!
I should be practicing yoga and exploring Marrakech right now (you might be able to catch a glimpse on Instagram stories). I’m particularly excited about our trip into the markets.
I’m hoping to come back with an awesome Moroccan rug, which might be a challenge to get home since I’m already squeezing ten days’ worth of clothing into a carry-on. I can ship rugs over, right?
I’ll tell you all about my adventures when I get back. For now, I can offer you a vibrant springtime stir-fry that is both warming and fresh. Asian stir-fries were always a bit of a mystery to me, but it turns out they’re easy to make at home with the help of a little bit of arrowroot or cornstarch to thicken the sauce.
This stir-fry is a flavor-packed side dish, or better yet, turn it into an entrée by serving it on cooked brown rice, perhaps with crispy baked tofu or a fried egg. This is my final recipe in my partnership with ALDI, and I’ve loved all of the meals I’ve made with their high-quality, affordable products.
If you missed any of them, be sure to check out my sweet potato and black bean tostadas, broccoli, cheddar and spinach frittata, and roasted mushrooms with herbed quinoa. You can also catch this recipe on their blog. Be sure to visit Hello, Healthy for recipes, cooking videos and resources on how to live a healthy life. I’ll see you at ALDI!
Spring Veggie Stir-Fry
This vegetable stir-fry recipe comes together in no time! To turn this side dish into a complete meal, serve it with brown rice and your choice of protein, like crispy baked tofu. Recipe yields 4 side servings.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup reduced-sodium soy sauce or tamari (regular soy sauce is too salty!)
- 2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons arrowroot starch or 1 teaspoon corn starch
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 1 large clove garlic, pressed or minced
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper (scale back or omit completely if you’re sensitive to spice)
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil or your cooking oil of choice
- 1 small red onion, root and tip ends removed and cut into ¼-inch thick wedges
- 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into very thin rounds
- Pinch of salt
- ½ bunch (½ pound) thin asparagus, tough ends removed and cut into 2-inch long pieces
Instructions
- In a liquid measuring cup, combine the soy sauce, honey, starch, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes. Whisk until blended and set aside.
- Warm the oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and carrots and a pinch of salt. Raise the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring every 30 seconds or so, until the onions have softened, about 4 to 5 minutes. (If at any point you catch a whiff of something burning while making this stir-fry, dial back the heat a bit.)
- Add the asparagus and cook, stirring every 30 seconds, until the carrots are starting to caramelize on the edges and are easily pierced by a fork, about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Pour in the prepared sauce and cook, while stirring constantly, until the sauce has thickened to your liking, about 20 to 60 seconds. Remove from heat and serve as a side dish as-is, or turn it into a main dish by serving it with rice, fried eggs or tofu.
Notes
Make it gluten free: Use gluten-free reduced-sodium tamari instead of regular soy sauce.
Make it vegan: Use maple syrup instead of honey.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
This post was created in partnership with ALDI and I received compensation for my participation. Opinions are my own, always. Thank you for supporting the sponsors who support C+K!
Excellent flavors. I sauteed some potatoes and mushrooms. To die for!
Thanks.
You’re welcome, Quinn!
This recipe was so easy to make. I just bought my veges all ready cut up for stir-fry, added some asparagus and chicken for a main dish. I will make it again. Thank you
You’re welcome, Patricia!
I thought this was a great recipe. Made it for my kids and they loved it! I’ve made many recipes from your site and I am never disappointed. You are a great resource! I’ve passed on your info to many who have all been equally as thrilled.
Thank you!!
I’m happy you aren’t disappointed, Ian! Thanks for the review.
This recipe is a vital part of my spring rotation. I LOVE it, and it’s SO easy!! Thanks!
Love to hear that! Thank you, Charlene!
I added mushrooms and a lot more garlic. I had lots of good comments
We really liked this. It seemed like a good vehicle for a crisper clean-out so to the recipe I added sliced cabbage and I used some chopped cucumber as garnish. It ended up resembling a favorite grain bowl from a local New Mexico restaurant, the Flying Star. My husband and I are big fans of yours.
Really easy and so flavorful – I loved this!
Great, Makenzie! Thank you for your review.
My family has just gone vegan and this is the first time I have tried anything new like this. Needless to say this was a huge hit for my family. I did add some celery and zucchini to the recipe. Thank you for this fabulous recipe.
Wonderful! Thank you for your review, Pamela.
So delicious! I like to eat this with brown rice and your crispy baked tofu. So flavorful and nourishing!
I’m glad you loved it! Thanks for trying another one, Margaret!
Wow!! We Loved this Stir Fry recipe we are having it again tonight!!!! I know BUT it is soooooo good. My 15 year old daughter never liked mushrooms , but she does now !!!!!
Thank you Kate!!
Thanks for sharing!
Ohmygod! The flavours in this were the bomb ! Easy as pie (or should I say stir fry!;) i mixed it in with udon noodles and it properly hit the spot! So hard finding tasty veg options ! This is going to be my Monday night meal! Thank youuu!
I love that you enjoyed this one so much, Naz. Thank you for sharing!
Delicious!!! So simple and good made a meal out of it with brown rice…thank you
You’re welcome, Teri!
This was so amazing! I usually improvise with stir fry, but your recipe was a game changer with such a quick, tasty and affordable sauce. I added in some more veggies so I can eat the leftovers the rest of the week. I included asparagus, red onion, carrots, mushroom, orange bell pepper and snow peas. I also made your crispy baked tofu and served over brown rice. The sauce was a great combination and took only a few minutes. All ingredients were budget friendly (used honey). Thank you!
The sauce was SO good. No leftovers. Added 1/2 a zucchini and sliced red pepper.
Thank you for sharing, Robyn! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
So good!! I had all the veggies but no store bought sauce I thought I needed for tasty stir fry, this was great tasty recipe. I added a bit of coconut milk I had an open can leftover, really quick and easy to put together, thanks again!
Delicious! So much flavor and easy to make. Definitely guest worthy!
Thank you for sharing your cooking talent with us.
Use this recipe all the time! Simple and tasty! Thank you!
Scrumptious
Thank you!
This was amazing! Thank you for the wonderful recipes!!!!
You’re welcome, Mike!
I have yet to make one of your recipes that we did not love Thank you Kate
You’re welcome! I’m excited you love so many recipe, Petra.
Another great recipe! Love the spring veggies instead of overused cauliflower and broccoli. Also added peppers and mushrooms and served over farro. The sauce is perfect!
Kate,
Thank you so much for another incredible recipe. I told my husband it tasted like take-out! It was so delicious. I subbed flour for the corn starch, and instead of the veggies you listed I used a bag of frozen veggies since that’s what I had on hand! It was still so tasty. Thanks so much!
I made sure to use unrefined coconut oil so the coconut flavor would come through. It almost tastes like an Asian vegetable curry from a restaurant this way. Brown rice, a fried egg and a little heat from the red chili pepper make it a yummy meal.
I made this wonderful recipe for supper this evening with lots of veggies-broccoli,red pepper, red onion,sugar snap peas, kale and mushrooms….The sauce is amazing and perfectly salts the dish using low sodium soy sauce! I served it over wild rice!!! We will be using this recipe often, especially with the summer vegetables coming in!
Thank you so much!! Your blog is my go-to for all new recipes!!!
I’m excited you love it! Thank you for sharing, Jackie. I appreciate it.
Great!
Delicious! It was so simple to make with such powerful flavor. My entire family, including the non-plant based eaters LOVED it!
I tried your recipe, not exactly the same veggies, but the same process and it tasted yum. I love your recipe. The sauce is the best. It has become my go to for all kind of stir fry. Made it a meal by added cooked quinoa to it. A yummy dinner any night.
I came across your website in Google searches during my cooking sprees, and every recipe turns out so great that now your site is my go-to spot. I’ve never taken the time to rate/comment (sorry!), but after tonight, I had to. Tonight I made a Cookie-and-Kate trifecta of this amazing stir fry, the baked tofu, and the perfect brown rice. I could not believe how amazing it all turned out. The stir fry sauce was to-die-for, the baked tofu texture made it SO much better than just stir frying it like I would normally do, and your rice cooking method made it SO FLUFFY. I could not even believe my taste buds with all this coming together in one meal. Thank you for an amazing site, though if I had one suggestion for improvement, it’s more pictures of Cookie, please. :)
I’m happy you came to the blog, Janis! Thank you for your feedback. I may just need to do that. :)
I made this recipe to get my teen boys to eat more veggies, I skipped on the red pepper and ginger (cannot handle these flavors). Used carrots, onions, green beans, brocolli. To my surprise, the soy sauce mixture instantly became thick after adding to pan. My son requested a second pan with broccoli and onions only. I made it and quickly mixed in the soy sauce mixture to get on all veggies. This was a very delicious meal served on white rice. Everyone loved it!
I’m happy you were able to make this work for you, Carmen! Thank you for sharing your variation.
This was a fabulous recipe. I served it over rice. To take this to the next level, make Bon Appetit’s Chili Crisp recipe and drizzle a bit over the top. Adds a wonderful complexity of flavor.
I’m excited you think so! I appreciate the review, Nan.
I was hungry and looking for a quick recipe with my left over veggies(zuchinni and some carrots). Worked great! Thanm you, will def make this more often.
Another recipe for the win, your blog is my go-to! The sauce is spot-on and I couldn’t haven’t purchased anything better at a restaurant. I used fresh veggies available and served over brown rice.
OMG! This was as goods as any Asian restaurant. I served it over brown rice. Next time I would use 1/4 teaspoon red pepper instead of 1/2 just a tad too hot for me. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for your feedback, Barbara!
Going to try this for the first time tonight Kate. What do you think about subbing quinoa flakes for the cornstarch or arrowroot?
Hi Steven, I haven’t tried it. Sorry! I’m not sure how it will work as a thickener.
Delicious!! Used broccoli instead of asparagus, loved how it soaked up the sauce. Thanks, Kate!
You’re welcome, Kerri!
My family LOVED this dish! We loved the combo of veggies and the yummy sauce. I will make this one to go back to. Yay you!!
Best stir fry I have ever made! Can’t wait to try it again with different veggies for fun!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Jenny! Thank you for your review.
This sauce is quick, easy, and delicious. We right away went for the full dinner with the rice and tofu. Next time, I’ll try sprinkling toasted sesame seeds on top. I will keep the sauce as a universal quick dinner maker and use it often!
Thank you for your review, Anne!
I made the Spring Veggie Stir-Fry for dinner. I had to change some of the recipe items because we cannot have that many carbs in our meal. I eliminated the honey/maple syrup. Then I increased the garlic to 3 cloves and did not use the corm starch. It was wonderfully tasty and healthy. Thanks Kate.
Thank you for sharing, Karen!
Made this last night, Excellent!!!! Another keeper! Thx Cookie, oh and Kate too ;) Love your book! thx
Thank you, Rebecca! I’m happy to hear that.
Made this for dinner tonight, and it was delicious. The hub is not a particular vegetable lover… he has been vegan for over 40 years now, so go figure…and he got seconds. Only had a half red onion, so supplemented with a half red pepper, and served it with quinoa. Thank you for another great recipe. By the way, that photo of your beautiful and joyous baby made my day!
Wow delicious! Easy to make & nutritious
I’m happy you enjoyed it, Angela!
This is delicious! I’ve made many of your recipes and I have your cookbook. Every single recipe I’ve tried is a hit! I just used up a too ripe banana and made the Peanut Butter, Banana, Honey, Oat, Chocolate Chip Cookies. YUM!
The sauce for this was fantastic! So much flavor!
You’re welcome, David! I’m glad you enjoy it.
This is super yummy! Asparagus is not quite in season yet, but I used other vegies to substitute. The sauce is excellent! I’m making it again today. Thanks Kate!
I’m excited you loved it, Malia! I appreciate your review.
Best ever. Part of our standard spring recipes. I double up on the sauce.
I made this a main meal by cooking mushrooms before adding the onions and carrots. USA shrimp was added with the asparagus and it all was served on top of soba nsoodles. The delicious sauce is my new go-to stir-fry sauce. Thanks, so much
You’re welcome, Chip! I’m glad you loved it.
Delicious! Sauce was a little too sweet for me so will cut back on the sweetener next time (I used maple syrup). I doubled the sauce recipe and added extra asparagus, snap peas and shrimp. Served with basmati rice. This would work great with whatever veggies you have on hand, just need to make sure you add them in the right order so they don’t overcook.
I have never heard of fusia soy sauce. Is braggs liquid amino’s the same thing?
Hi Kate! Firstly, my sincerest condolences on the loss of Cookie. May your memories of her live on and sustain you. This sauce is amazing and couldn’t be easier, thank goodness cause I’m not much for complicated cooking. Can you tell me, if I’d like to make it in advance how long I can keep it in the fridge?
Thank you for your recipes, they are wonderful!
Kimberly
Thank you, Kimberly. I appreciate your kind words. It should keep well for 3-4 days. I hope you love it!
I made this for Easter dinner….and got 3 requests for the recipe! It was a huge hit….Thank you!
You’re welcome, Marion! Thank you for your review.