Use whatever vegetables you have on hand to make this everyday vegetable stir-fry. It’s a great way to use up bits of vegetables you don’t know what to do with, and to get a big dose of colorful veggies into your diet!
We call this an “everyday”stir-fry, because it’s such a flexible recipe, you could eat it every day, and still have variety.
We’re using mushrooms, carrots, celery, asparagus, and peppers in this version, but you could also use broccoli (even the stems!), cauliflower, zucchini, yellow squash, snap peas, and/or snow peas!
While you can also add Chinese ingredients (such as lotus root, wood ears, celtuce, etc.), you don’t need any specialty Chinese vegetables for this recipe. You can whip it up with veggies you can find at any grocery store.
Note: This recipe was originally published in June 2013 (it was the second recipe we ever posted!). We have since re-tested, rephotographed, and updated the recipe with metric measurements, nutrition information, new photos, and more! Don’t worry, though. If you’d like the original version of the recipe, you can still find it at the bottom of the post.
Why You Need This Vegetable Stir-fry
This everyday vegetable stir-fry was one of the very first recipes we posted on the blog way back in 2013, and for good reason.
This stir-fry has shown up on our dinner table in some form or another for decades. Why?
Because all too often, when we’ve got lingering veggie scraps in the fridge at the end of the week—bits and pieces we haven’t used—we pull out this recipe and use whatever we have on hand to make an easy side dish.
I’m sure you’ve also been in the same situation. What to do with a final handful of mushrooms that might turn fuzzy if they don’t get used in the next few days. Or that half of a bell-pepper you have left over from another recipe. Or perhaps those limp stalks of celery languishing in the crisper drawer?
This recipe is your answer!
The Ultimate Flexible DISH
While I’ve written the recipe with 6 specific veggies, you can substitute whatever you have on hand as long as they’re not super tender leafy things like baby spinach, which might be a bit too delicate for a stir-fry like this.
I call for 6 cups of veggies total. As long as you have 6 cups, you can use whatever you like. You don’t even need 6 different vegetables—you could use just 3 or 4 if that’s what you have.
The key is making sure that all your veggies are sliced thinly (for quick cooking), and that all of the veggies are sliced into roughly the same size and shape, so they cook in about the same amount of time.
This consideration is one of our key tips for stir-fries in general. (Check out my mom’s article: How to Make Stir-fry the Right Way for more tips.)
Recipe Tips
Here are some other specific tips to think about:
- If using mushrooms, it’s a good idea to give them a little bit longer to cook, so they don’t turn out rubbery. This is why I cook the mushrooms for a bit before adding the other vegetables.
- If using broccoli or cauliflower, it’s a good idea to separate them into smaller florets, or even to slice them, so they cook at a similar rate as a thin slice of carrot. You can also blanch them beforehand if you want larger florets, but cutting them into smaller pieces is the simpler way.
- It’s also a good idea to slice vegetables on a diagonal, particularly fibrous ones like asparagus and celery. Not only is it prettier, it also results in a more tender texture. Check out my Chicken and Asparagus Stir-fry recipe for an explanation!
Ok, without further ado, on to the recipe:
Vegetable STir-fry Recipe Instructions
In a liquid measuring cup, combine the water (or chicken stock), Shaoxing wine, oyster sauce, salt, sugar, sesame oil, and white pepper.
In a wok over medium heat, add the oil and ginger.
Cook until the ginger is lightly browned at the edges, and then add the mushrooms. Stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender.
Add the carrot, celery, asparagus, bell pepper, and long hot pepper.
Stir-fry for 1 minute, and then add the garlic and the seasoning mixture you prepared earlier. Bring the mixture to a simmer, and cook for 1 minute, until the vegetables are tender.
Combine the cornstarch and water into a slurry, and pour into the simmering sauce. Stir-fry until the vegetables are coated in sauce, with just a small amount of standing liquid.
Serve.
Here’s the printable recipe:
Everyday Chinese Vegetable Stir-Fry
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup water (or chicken stock)
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 2 teaspoons oyster sauce (or vegetarian oyster sauce)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 pinch ground white pepper
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 4 slices ginger
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms (button, baby bella, oyster, or shiitake 1 cup = about 3 ounces/85g)
- 1 cup carrots (thinly sliced on a diagonal; 1 cup = about 1 medium carrot/100g)
- 1 cup celery (thinly sliced on a diagonal; 1 cup = about 2 ounces/60g)
- 1 cup asparagus (cut into 2-inch lengths on the diagonal; 1 cup = 40g)
- 1 cup bell pepper (any color; de-seeded and thinly sliced; 1 cup = about 1/2 medium bell pepper/90g)
- 1 cup long hot pepper (red or green, de-seeded and thinly sliced; 1 cup = about 1 long hot pepper/60g)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch (mixed into a slurry with 1 tablespoon/15 ml water)
Instructions
- In a liquid measuring cup, combine the water (or chicken stock), Shaoxing wine, oyster sauce, salt, sugar, sesame oil, and white pepper.
- In a wok over medium heat, add the oil and ginger. Cook until the ginger is lightly browned at the edges, and then add the mushrooms. Stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender.
- Add the carrot, celery, asparagus, bell pepper, and long hot pepper. Stir-fry for 1 minute, and then add the garlic and the seasoning mixture you prepared earlier. Bring the mixture to a simmer, and cook for 1 minute, until the vegetables are tender.
- Combine the cornstarch and water into a slurry, and pour into the simmering sauce. Stir-fry until the vegetables are coated in sauce, with just a small amount of standing liquid. Serve.
nutrition facts
Old version of the recipe
- 2 stalks celery (cut into bite sized pieces)
- 2 carrots (thinly sliced)
- 2 cups snow peas (trimmed)
- 5 fresh shiitake mushrooms (thinly sliced)
- 1 long hot red pepper (if you prefer a milder flavor, use ½ of a red bell pepper)
- 1 long hot green pepper (or ½ of a green bell pepper)
- 3 cloves garlic (peeled and sliced)
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 1 tablespoon spicy bean sauce (doubanjiang)
- 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
- ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- Salt
Heat oil in your wok using medium-high heat. Add garlic, both hot peppers and hot bean paste, and cook for about a minute. Stir constantly to prevent burning.
Turn the heat up to high and add the rest of your vegetables. Stir.
Add shaoxing wine, white pepper, sesame oil, and salt. Keep stirring over high heat for 2 to 3 more minutes. Plate and serve hot.
What different types of peppers qualify as a “long hot pepper”? I was thinking you had something else in mind other than a jalepeno, but that’d be the most available.
Hi Erik, you can use anaheim peppers, Italian sweet peppers (also sometimes labeled “italian long hots”), or if you don’t like too much spice, you can use mild cubanelle peppers.
I was excited to try the doubanjiang sauce from the old recipe you included. So I followed the new recipe but added a little spicy bean sauce (from my local small Asian food store that I love) to the chicken stock mix. So different and tasty!Thanks again for another great recipe.
You’re welcome, Chris!
Made this last night with broccoli that was starting to turn yellow and mushroom slices that were starting to get slimy (your recipe arrived in my inbox just in time!), plus a couple of scallions which we enjoy as a vegetable, not just an aromatic, in stir fries. Knocked our socks off – the flavorings were just perfect, quintessential Chinese stir fry. Impossible to improve on. Of course the broccoli needed a little extra time and I added the scallions when it was almost done, and both came out slightly al dente which suits our tastes. Thank you for yet another recipe that will be used quite often!!
You’re very welcome, Laura! So happy this recipe got to you in time to save those mushrooms! :)
This was delicious, and so easy! Thanks! The sauce is subtle and doesn’t overwhelm the vegetables. Really tempted to add shrimp next time.
Speaking of sauce, I just know your cookbook will be the kind of everyday go-to reference that will have Shaoxing wine and sesame oil splattered on each of the pages from cooking my way through it. Seriously, you really have to question the authority and utility of a cookbook that has no food stains on it, right? Yours is going to be a mess!
You’re welcome, Brian! Hahaha yes, food stains on a cookbook is better than one that never gets opened!
I am so happy to have this. My mother (now deceased at 92) made a vegetable stirfry with Japanese or Chinese eggplant
Zucchini
Carrots
Onion
Yellow Squash
Sweet pepper (red or green)
Cauliflower florets
I am now delighted to “get” technique and sauce from this recipe. (Although I don’t think hers had any sauce). THANK you.
You’re welcome! Hope this recipe lives up to your mom’s!
Hi, the print function shows the old version of the recipe.
Hi Dana, apologies! it should work now.
There was an accumulation of a variety of vegetables in the refrigerator, and this recipe was sent to me. I loosely followed the sauce ingredients in measurement, and followed the instructions like a soldier. Peppers, broccoli, carrots, red onion, cauliflower, celery; it was a wonder of color and taste. I would say the dish was one the best vegetable offerings I have experienced in my seventy two trips around the sun. A must to share! Thank you!
You’re very welcome, John! So happy you enjoyed it, and that this recipe came out at the right time for you! :)
I noticed you add the garlic later and not together with the ginger slides to fragrant the oil. Is there any reason for this? I usually add my minced garlic to “open” the wok.
Jill, I made this dish tonight, and I am venturing an opinion regarding the garlic. For my pallet, the garlic was like a late arrival to the party of flavor, keeping it light yet fresh. I too was tempted to add the prepared garlic with the slices of ginger, both being in a shared wooden bowl, but I kept faith with the instructions. It was a different treatment of garlic for me, and my delight with the finished dish was such that in this recipe the garlic, a bit more than recommended, will be late inclusion to a delightful party of taste. I will watch for a more informed opinion or justification for garlic come lately.
Yes, Jill! Adding the garlic later in the cooking process creates a zingier garlic flavor—not quite the spice of raw garlic, but brighter and punchier. It really compliments the variety of fresh vegetables!
When I was in China I noticed my friends all added garlic at the end of the cooking (scallions and ginger at the beginning to flavor the wok). I started doing this and enjoyed the stronger, clearer garlic taste this method brings.