The BEST vegan stir fry is made with lots of fresh veggies, tofu and a sweet and savory stir fry sauce to tantalize your tastebuds!
This vegan stir fry is a wonderful dinner option that can be thrown together quickly and easily. And it’s crazy delicious too.
You can mix and match the veggies so it’s very customizable to what you have on hand. Perfect for when you have vegetables in the fridge that you need to use.
It’s fresh and colorful and makes a filling meal. And the stir fry sauce? Well, the sauce is pure heaven.
You’ll also love our eggplant tofu stir fry. And for more veggie-packed meals that come together quickly and easily check out our vegetable linguine and our ratatouille. Our vegan kebabs take a little longer but are so delicious too.
What Goes Into This Stir Fry:
Ingredient Notes
- Vegetables – we used sugar snap peas, bell peppers, cremini mushrooms and baby corn as our main vegetables in this stir fry. But feel free to use whatever you have on hand. Other veggies that would work great in this stir fry are carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, zucchini, leafy greens, asparagus, water chestnuts or bok choy.
- Spring onions – are also known as green onions, salad onions or scallions.
- Extra firm tofu – either firm tofu or extra firm tofu is the best to use in this recipe. We also press it for 30 minutes to make it as firm as possible before using.
- Cornstarch – is added to the stir fry sauce and acts as a thickening agent.
- Soy sauce – can be switched for tamari to make this stir fry gluten-free.
- Sesame seeds – we used a mix of black and white sesame seeds to sprinkle on top of the stir fry. They are optional, but delicious!
How To Make Vegan Stir Fry
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Press the tofu for 30 minutes. It’s ideal if you have a tofu press, but if you don’t then place the tofu onto a plate with another plate on top and then place something heavy on top of that like a heavy pot. Let it press for 30 minutes to get rid of as much water as possible.
- While the tofu is pressing prepare your veggies and mix up your stir fry sauce by adding all the ingredients to a measuring jug and whisking together until mixed.
- When the tofu has finished pressing, cut it into cubes.
- Add 2 tablespoons of sesame oil to a wok and heat it on medium heat. When it’s hot add the tofu cubes and fry them until the tofu is golden brown. Then remove the tofu from the wok.
- Add 1 tablespoon of sesame oil to the wok and add in chopped sugar snap peas, bell peppers, mushrooms and baby corn and stir fry for a few minutes until the veggies are soft but still firm.
- Add tofu and chopped spring onions and pour over the sauce. Stir fry for a couple of minutes until the sauce has thickened.
What To Serve With Vegetable Stir Fry
It’s divine served with rice, topped with sesame seeds and chopped spring onions. If you’re up for making some vegan fried rice then that would be great to serve with this too.
And if you’d like an appetizer then our vegan summer rolls would fit the bill perfectly.
Make Ahead and Storing
To prepare this in advance, you can press the tofu, chop the veggies and mix up the sauce in advance. Keep stored in the fridge for up to 24 hours and then make up the stir fry when you’re ready.
Leftovers keep very well in the fridge for 5 days. You can easily reheat in the microwave or by briefly stir frying it in the pan until warmed through.
More Delicious Vegan Dinners
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Stir Fry
Ingredients
For the Stir Fry:
- 16 ounces Extra Firm Tofu (450g) Pressed
- 3 Tbsp Sesame Oil Divided
- 2 ½ cups Sugar Snap Peas (200g)
- 4 Medium Bell Peppers Red, Yellow, Orange and Green, Seeded and Sliced
- 2 ½ cups Cremini Mushrooms (240g) Sliced
- 1 ½ cups Baby Corn (200g) Chopped
- ½ cup Spring Onions Sliced
For the Stir Fry Sauce:
- ¼ cup Soy Sauce (60ml)
- 1 Tbsp Toasted Sesame Oil
- 2 Cloves Garlic Crushed
- 1 Tbsp Fresh Ginger Minced
- ¼ tsp Red Pepper Flakes
- 1 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
- 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup
- 2 Tbsp Light Brown Sugar
- 1 Tbsp Cornstarch
For Serving (Optional):
- Sesame Seeds
- Spring Onions Chopped
- Basmati Rice
Instructions
- Press the tofu for 30 minutes. It's ideal if you have a tofu press, but if you don't then place the tofu onto a plate with another plate on top and then place something heavy on top of that like a heavy pot. Let it press for 30 minutes to get rid of as much water as possible.
- While the tofu is pressing prepare your veggies and mix up your stir fry sauce by adding all the sauce ingredients to a measuring jug and whisking together until mixed.
- When the tofu has finished pressing, cut it into cubes.
- Add 2 tablespoons of sesame oil to a wok and heat it on medium heat. When it's hot add the tofu cubes and fry them until the tofu is golden brown. Then remove the tofu from the wok.
- Add 1 tablespoon of sesame oil to the wok and add chopped sugar snap peas, bell peppers, mushrooms and baby corn and stir fry for a few minutes until the veggies are soft but still firm.
- Add tofu and chopped spring onions and pour over the sauce. Stir fry for a couple of minutes until the sauce has thickened.
- Serve over rice, topped with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and chopped spring onions.
Notes
- Mix and match the veggies. Feel free to use whatever veggies you have on hand. Other veggies that would work great in this stir fry are carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, zucchini, leafy greens, asparagus, water chestnuts or bok choy.
- Spring onions – are also known as green onions, salad onions or scallions.
- Soy sauce – can be switched for tamari to make this stir fry gluten-free.
- Make ahead: To prepare this in advance, you can press the tofu, chop the veggies and mix up the sauce in advance. Keep stored in the fridge for up to 24 hours and then make up the stir fry when you’re ready.
- Storing: Leftovers keep very well in the fridge for 5 days. You can easily reheat in the microwave or by briefly stir frying it in the pan until warmed through.
- Nutritional information is for stir fry only and excludes rice.
This came out really delicious. At first, my plan was to make your recipe exactly as you provided it, but the supermarket didn’t have any sugar snap peas. So, my mindset changed and I improvised in a number of places, adding in vegan oyster sauce for extra umami flavor and Chinese Dou Ban Jiang sauce for a little heat. Again, very delicious, I will be making it often. Thanks!
Awesome Paige! So glad it came out great. Thanks for the awesome review!
Great recipe. Nice and easy recipe. Another great recipe! You are my go to food blogger.
Thank you so much Irina! That is really great to hear!
Really yummy. Not too sweet, mild teriyaki type sauce enhances your veg & protein. Used a little less ginger & coconut aminos instead of soy sauce.
Wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing Arlen!
What could I replace mushrooms with? I’m not fond of mushrooms even though they are very healthy.
Hi JoAnne, this stir fry is very customizable with whatever veg you like or have on hand. I think other good options instead of mushrooms would be zucchini, eggplant or water chestnuts.
Thanks Allison. Delicious. I used cauliflower and broccoli instead of baby corn and some of the peppers.
Sounds perfect! Thanks so much for sharing!
It was just so delicious! The sauce also makes an unusual touch to a fine dish for a cool evening meal.
So happy to hear you enjoyed it! 🙂
This looks great for two aging vegans. I’ve been using super firm and not pressing. I think that should work in this recipe. Your thoughts?
Sure, if it’s a tofu that you’ve been using in a similar way and it’s been fine without pressing then you can definitely skip pressing it.