Easy vegetable stir fry is a simple dish to prepare and cook, making it an ideal mid-week dinner for those busy nights!

Easy vegetable stir fry is one of those dishes that I cook regularly mid week. This stir fry is prepared and cooked in very little time, making it perfect for those busy night we all have through the week.

I like these noodles as they are quite a dry noodle, not too much sauce in this vegetable stir fry noodles recipe. The flavouring is not too strong, so the flavour of the stir fry vegetables really shines through.

I have always enjoyed vegetables and I think that stir frying is one of the tastiest methods of cooking vegetables.

Stir frying, provided the vegetables are not overcooked, really allows the flavour of each individual vegetable to shine through.

What’s more, my family all love this dish, making it a great dish for achieving those 5-a-day! What’s more this is a great dish for those meat-free days that I like have 2-3 times every week.

When stir fried I find that there is not a vegetable that my family will not eat (aside from mushrooms)! It’s a great way of packing vegetables into our diets.

How to make this vegetable stir fry recipe?

ingredients for a vegetable noodle stir fry — For easy of cooking, look out all your ingredients before you start!

adding sesame oil to cooked noodles so they don't stick together — Cook the noodles as per the instructions on the packet. Reduce cooking time by 1 minute as you will be stir frying later. Drain and pour over some sesame oil to stock the noodles sticking together. Set aside.

adding broccoli to a pan of boiling water — Cook the broccoli in boiling, salted water for 2 minutes. Drain and plunge into ice-cold water to stop it cooking and help the broccoli retain its colour. Set aside.

Chopped vegetables for a stir fry, including baby sweetcorn, red pepper, mangetout, spring onions, red onions, chillies and grated ginger. — Prepare the remaining vegetables.

red onions, garlic, red chilies and grated ginger being fried in a wok. — Pour the oil into a large non-stick wok or frying pan. Add the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli. and fry for 3 minutes.

Add in the remaining vegetables and fry for a further 2 minutes. Do not overcook the vegetables, you want them to retain their bite!

vegetable noodle stir fry — First add the noodles and curry powder into the wok and give it a cook stir to combine and warm the noodle through. Finally add back in the broccoli along with the soy sauce and sesame oil Stir to combine and serve immediately garnished with spring onion and sesame seeds.

Why do you stir-fry some vegetables first?

When I’m cooking this easy vegetable stir fry I like to cook the onions, along with the garlic, ginger and chilli, will allow the onion to just cook out a little before you add in the remaining vegetables. Worth noting, if adding carrot I would add at this point too!

You don’t want to overcook the rest of the vegetables, they need to retain some crunch. So, add these once the onions have softened a little.

Why do you blanch the broccoli before stir frying?

Broccoli needs a little extra cooking, but the florets can break apart if you add them with the rest of the stir fried mixed vegetables.

So instead I recommend blanching the broccoli first in some boiling water. I plunge it into cold water to stop it cooking and to retain the vibrant green colour.

Then when I’m ready to finish the stir fry I put the broccoli into the wok to heat up along with the noodles.

Easy substitutions:

Stir fried mixed vegetables:

The selection of stir fried mixed vegetables used in this recipe are purely for guidance only. Feel free to add a selection of vegetables that you and your family really enjoy eating!

Here are some vegetable suggestions for making stir fried mixed vegetables:

sugar snap peas
green beans
carrots
brussels sprouts
baby spinach
Swiss chard
pak choy
cauliflower
mushrooms
beansprouts
tinned bamboo shoots
tinned water chestnuts

Curry powder:

I have used a tablespoon of curry powder in this stir fry, a medium Madras blend. I prefer using curry powder to a paste in this instance, as I want these to be quite a dry noodle, rather than one with sauce.

However, you could substitute with any spice blend. Chinese 5-spice would be the obvious choice in this dish and would work well with the noodles.

Can I prepare vegetable stir fry noodles ahead of time?

This dish is best cooked and eaten straight from the wok. But, that’s not to say that you can’t do a little preparation ahead of time!

Vegetables:

If you want to prepare some of this dish ahead of time, you can prepare all the vegetables and pop them in a bowl in the fridge until you are ready to cook.

You can also blanch the broccoli in advance, draining it and plunging into iced water to stop it cooking further. Once cooled down, drain away the ice water and set aside until you are ready.

Noodles:

The noodles can also be cooked ahead of time. Cook the noodles as per pack instructions, reducing cooking time by a minute as you will be stir frying them later.

Once cooked, drain and plunged the noodles into cold water to cool. This stops the noodles from cooking any further.

Once cooled, drain any excess water off. My top tip for stopping the noodles from sticking together is to toss the cold noodles in some sesame oil. Leave aside until ready to cook.

How to adapt this recipe for vegan diners?

This recipe vegetable stir fry noodles uses egg noodles as that is what my family enjoy eating.

However, if you are cooking this dish for vegan diners, replace the egg noodles with a wholewheat or rice based noodle, or something similar.

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Additional recipe suggestions:

If you like this quick and easy recipe then try some of our other stir fry dishes:

Main dishes:

Side dishes:

For other great ideas for feeding the family have a look at our Ultimate Guide to Family Dining, which is full of recipes, hint and tips.

easy vegetable stir fry