Teriyaki Vegetable Stir Fry

Ready for the best veggie stir fry? Of course, that’s our humble opinion! But these stir fry vegetables are so simple and turned out so good that Alex and I are slapping the label “best” on them too. This stir fry vegetables recipe uses our homemade teriyaki sauce: it has just 4 ingredients and comes together in 5 minutes! Oh, and it’s naturally sweet using maple syrup. Using homemade teriyaki sauce makes this stir fry taste natural and delicious: instead of the over-salted and sugary teriyaki stir fries that you might be used to. Since this is a vegetarian and vegan stir fry recipe, we’ve included one of our favorite veggie proteins: tempeh! While we don’t eat a lot of tofu, a tempeh stir fry is something we can stand behind. It’s ultra delicious and worth finding for this recipe. Though of course, you could just omit and go straight up stir fry vegetables. Keep reading for the recipe!

Creating this stir fry vegetables recipe

Alex and I specialize in Mediterranean food, so we’re often making vegan and vegetarian Italian recipes. That said, sometimes we forget about how delicious stir fry vegetables are as a quick weeknight meal. Perhaps you think that you don’t need a recipe for stir fry vegetables, just throw them in a pan? That’s true too. But we’ve found in our experimenting that it’s equally as easy to make really bad stir fry vegetables without a recipe. There’s an art form to making the best stir fry vegetables that are cooked properly and seasoned well. For our best stir fry vegetables recipe, we’ve used our homemade teriyaki sauce recipe to bring big flavor to some humble veggies. If you read our teriyaki sauce post, you’ll notice that teriyaki sauce is inspired by Japanese tradition, but it’s really an American invention. So it goes without saying that these stir fry vegetables are not an authentic Asian recipe. In our stir fry vegetables we’ve used brocolli and three colors of bell peppers, which we’ve sauteed up with some fresh ginger root and green onion. As the veggie protein, we’ve used our favorite: tempeh! If you haven’t used tempeh before, keep reading for why a tempeh stir fry is where it’s at.

What is tempeh?

What is tempeh? This veggie protein is starting to become more popular here in the US. Tempeh is a compressed cake of whole soybeans (and sometime grains like wheat or barley). To make tempeh, the soybeans are soaked, cooked and slightly fermented before being formed into a firm patty or block. Because tempeh is made from whole soybeans, it has a hearty texture and slightly nutty flavor that makes it an ideal meat substitute. We prefer tempeh to tofu because it’s firmer and has a more interesting flavor. You can find tempeh at many mainstream grocery stores here in the US. We hope you give it a try in this stir fry vegetables with tempeh, or try our tasty marinated tempeh. Let us know what you think!

Our homemade teriyaki sauce

For these stir fry vegetables, we’ve seasoned them with our homemade teriyaki sauce. It takes literally 5 minutes to make, and is so worth making it at home! We’ll never buy store-bought teriyaki sauce again. It’s perfectly salted, and it also has no refined sugar by way of maple syrup. Using the homemade sauce for these teriyaki vegetables makes them taste perfectly flavored: not too salty or too sweet! Compared to Chinese takeout teriyaki vegetables, the homemade teriyaki sauce takes these to a new level! No preservatives, MSG, and no refined sugar: just natural, delicious flavor. Another option: try our Go-To Stir Fry Sauce! It would work with the quantity of vegetables in this recipe.

How to make stir fry vegetables with teriyaki sauce

Making this vegetable stir fry couldn’t be easier! You’ll first need to make the rice according to package instructions. Then make the homemade teriyaki sauce (we’ve linked our go-to recipe in the recipe card below). Once that’s prepped, thinly slice the tempeh, and prep the veggies — cut the broccoli into florets, dice the peppers, peel and mince the ginger, and slice the green onion. Then, heat the sesame oil in a large skillet and cook the tempeh in a single layer until browned on both sides. Remove the tempeh from the pan and sauté the vegetables until crisp tender (you don’t want a soggy stir fry!). Once cooked, add the tempeh and homemade teriyaki sauce into the skillet and stir until everything is fully coated in the sauce. We like to serve our veggie stir fry over rice, and a sprinkle of sesame seeds on top adds a nice crunch. The flavor is truly exceptional: we think it might be one of our best vegetarian recipes to date. (Another tasty stir fry? These Stir Fry Vegetables.)