Better than take-out, this bold and spicy Szechuan Veggie Stir Fry is so fast, easy, and utterly delicious your family will think you’ve been holding out on them! Brimming with nourishing veggies, all bathed in rich umami yumminess, and packed with heat, it will make your taste buds come alive, making it this week’s awesome Whip It Up Wednesday recipe.
Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, gluten free, and no highly processed ingredients.
Hi there, Ameera here!
This week’s Whip It Up Wednesday is our Szechuan Veggie Stir Fry. You won’t believe how easy this dish is to make, yet it has complex flavors. Your whole family will think you’ve been off to culinary school for a few days learning how to make this dish.
Whether you spell it Szechuan or Sichuan, we absolutely went nuts over it. It has a lot of dimension and flavor. Mom and I were thrilled eating this deliciousness while chugging down water because it packs a PUNCH of spicy goodness.
Whip it up Wednesday
As you already know, every Wednesday, we feature a quick and easy recipe that can be “whipped up” in 20 minutes or less.
This recipe is made simple by using a package of frozen Asian Blend veggies and an optional handful of fresh veggies. It comes together fairly quickly so make sure if you are using fresh veggies that you have them all chopped up and ready to go!
This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.
Szechuan Two Ways
We’ve made this stir fry three different ways. Here they are:
- Veggie Stir Fry: Just Szechuan sauce and veggies (fresh or frozen) with rice.
- Noodles, Veggies, and Sauce: You can use fast cooking rice noodles and a smaller amount of veggies covered in this delicious Szechuan sauce.
This recipe is so flavorful and healthy. It hits all the high notes for a delicious, flavor-packed dinner. We hope you enjoy our new Whip It Up Wednesday quick and easy ideas!
We hope you give this recipe a go! If you try this bold dish, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us! We would love to hear from you.
Products Used:
- Small saucepan
- Enamel/ceramic lined skillet or similar skillet
Szechuan Veggie Stir Fry
- Prep Time: 7 Minutes
- Cook Time: 13 Minutes
- Total Time: 20 Minutes
- Yield: 3 Sevings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Asian
Description
Better than take-out, this bold and spicy Szechuan Veggie Stir Fry is so fast, easy, and utterly delicious your family will think you’ve been holding out on them! Brimming with nourishing veggies, all bathed in rich umami yumminess, and packed with heat, it will make your taste buds come alive, making it this week’s awesome Whip It Up Wednesday recipe.
Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, gluten free, and no highly processed ingredients.
Ingredients
Sauce Ingredients:
- 3 Tablespoons low sodium tamari *
- 3 Tablespoons organic maple syrup
- 1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoons molasses
- 1 Tablespoon tahini
- 1 to 3 teaspoons chili garlic sauce (+/-) *
- ½ teaspoon ground mustard powder
- 1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- ¼ teaspoon dried red pepper flake (+/-)
- ½ teaspoon cornstarch (or arrowroot powder)
Other Optional Ingredients:
- 10 to 12 oz. package frozen Asian Blend *
- 1 cup fresh veggies of choice *
- Steamed rice or 8 to 10 oz. fast cooking rice noodles *
Optional Toppings
- Sesame seeds
- Sliced green onions
- Sriracha sauce (or chili garlic sauce)
Instructions
- Add all the Sauce Ingredients into a small saucepan and heat to boiling. Stirring constantly add the cornstarch and stir until thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, set aside.
- In an enamel/ceramic lined skillet, add the frozen Asian Vegetables, increase the heat to high, add a tablespoon of water (or broth), cover with a lid and steam veggies until thawed out, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the lid and add any additional veggies that you wish. Sauté until they reach the desired tenderness and no liquid is left in the pan, then add the Szechuan sauce. You want all the excess moisture out of the pan before you add the Szechuan sauce. Stir to coat all the veggies. Sauté for one or two minutes.
- Serve immediately with your favorite toppings and sides.
Notes
*Frozen Asian Blend: We used a frozen Asian Blend that had carrots, mushrooms, red bell peppers, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, and red onions.
*Tamari: We used San J Tamari Soy Sauce, Gluten Free, Reduced Sodium. You can substitute the tamari with reduced sodium soy sauce, Braggs Liquid Aminos, or Braggs Coconut Liquid Aminos.
*Chili Garlic Sauce: You can use Huy Fong Foods Chili Garlic Sauce brand since the amount used is so tiny, or you can make your own by placing 4 spicy chili peppers, seeded (use gloves) into a food processor along with 1 heaping Tablespoon of minced garlic (about 4 to 5 cloves), 1 ½ teaspoons of maple syrup, 2 Tablespoons of white vinegar, ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 Tablespoon water, and a pinch of sea salt. Blend until smooth, do not puree, you want some texture. Place in a small pan and simmer over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes. Refrigerate in a tightly sealed jar. We used 4 Fresno peppers. If you use hotter peppers, cut back on the cayenne pepper.
*Fresh Veggies: If you prefer more sauce, then do not add in any extra fresh veggies. We added in a tiny amount of each of the following: carrot sticks, thinly sliced red bell pepper, and thinly sliced red onion. Or instead of fresh veggies, you can add in more frozen veggies if you want more veggies than sauce.
*Fast Cooking Rice Noodles: You’ll want to use less veggies so that the noodles have some sauce to soak up (omit extra cup of fresh veggies). Cook the rice noodles according to package directions, then drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process. Shake to remove any excess water. Set aside. Follow step 2 and add noodles after the sauce, stir until completely coated. Serve immediately with your favorite toppings.
*TIP: Liquid in the pan from Frozen Veggies: Sometimes frozen veggies hold, then release a lot of water into the pan. You want this liquid to help steam/sauté the veggies; however, you don’t want any liquid left in the pan when you add the Szechuan sauce, or it will water it down. If you have excess liquid, spoon it out before adding the sauce to the pan.
*Serving: 3 (makes 2/3 cup sauce)
*Storage: Refrigerate for up to one week.
This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.
This is one of my favorites. Usually there’s not enough leftover but I’m looking to start freezing more meals. Is this freezable? And how long would the sauce (the best!) keep in the fridge for adding to other things?
Hi there Cheryl 🙂
Woo hoo!!!! We are so excited that this recipe is one of your favorites! This recipe would freeze well and the sauce would keep about 7 days in the fridge. Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback and taking the time to write!
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
Hi,
I made this and my husband and I loved it! I doubled the sauce because I had a lot of veggies, but didn’t need it all. My husband said it would make a delicious spicy barbecue sauce, so I made vegan Italian sausage sandwiches on whole wheat buns and used the rest of the sauce—-delicious!
Thanks!!
Hi there Carol 🙂
Yaaayyy!!! We are so thrilled that you and your husband enjoyed this recipe! Love the idea of using this sauce as a spicy barbecue sauce – awesome idea! So glad it was delicious with vegan Italian sausage sandwiches – sounds incredible. We definitely need to try it 😀 Thank you so much for your awesome feedback and for taking the time to write.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
Just threw this together this morning. Had a bunch of veggies that needed to be used. OMGosh!! That sauce!!! First time I have really liked a stir fry type meal I made.
This has a big ole heart ❤️ in my recipe app. Thanks so much for all you do and share. I appreciate it very much!
Cindy
Hi there Cindy 🙂
Wooooot! We are so thrilled that to hear you enjoyed this recipe and it got a big heard in your recipe app – YAY!!! Thank you so much for sharing your adjustments with us. We appreciate you sharing your awesome feedback and for taking the time to write.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
it’s 9:40 am and I’ve already decided this is lunch!!!!
Hi there Destiny 🙂
Wooooot!!! We hope you enjoy it as much as we do! <3
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
Will the sauce work without molasses?
Hi there Jackie,
Yes, you can leave out the molasses. The molasses adds depth of flavor, but the recipe will work without it.
-Ameera and Robin
We just made this recipe tonight and my husband and I both liked it 🙂 We don’t do vinegar so we used lemon juice instead and the taste was still very balanced and yummy. Thank you!
Hi there Maila,
We are so happy that you gave this recipe a try and enjoyed it. Thank you so much for taking time to leave us a great review.
-Ameera and Robin
Wow was this amazing! I marinated some tofu in a batch of the sauce and baked it at 425 for 25 minutes. It filled out the meal well since even a triple recipe was not enough for my family. They devoured it!
Hi there Suzanne,
YAYYYY!!! We are thrilled that you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you so much for taking time to leave us a fantastic review.
-Ameera and Robin