Stir-fry vegetables! The 26 most used

Stir fry vegetables are vegetables that you have chopped up and sometimes pre-cooked for stir-frying. You do these pre-cooking stir fry vegetables to shorten the stir-fry time. There really are a lot of vegetables that you can stir-fry. Which vegetables do you use as stir fry vegetables and what combinations of stir fry vegetables are there?

Stir-fried vegetables are endive, asparagus, eggplant, spring onion, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, zucchini, several types of cabbage, pak choi, bell pepper, snow peas, pumpkin, leek, spinach, green beans, Brussels sprouts, sugar snap peas, bean sprouts, onion, chicory, carrot.    

There are many vegetables that you can stir-fry. Alone or with several vegetables in the pan. Sometimes you just stir-fry the vegetables and sometimes you make a simmering dish with several vegetables, with sauce or stock. Stir-fry vegetables have little taste of their own and must be seasoned, read our blog tasty herbs for stir-fry vegetables for Italian, Chinese and Dutch stir-fried vegetables.

To stir-fry vegetables, it is best to wash, clean and cut them well first. I’ll tell you how to do that later in the blog. But now first:

What are stir fry vegetables?

Stir frying is nothing more than frying stir fry vegetables in a frying pan or wok. Keep stirring the vegetables regularly so that they do not burn and can cook on all sides.

The vegetables can then remain a bit crunchy or cooked through until they are more tender, just what you want or says in the recipe. Stir-frying also retains most of the vitamins. No vitamins disappear into the sink with the drainage water. Often you can stir-fry vegetables in a few minutes because you have chopped the vegetables. You can make strips or cubes of vegetables in the size you want. Slices can also be cut as thick as you want.

The thicker and larger the cubes or strips of vegetables, the longer you have to stir-fry them to heat and cook. Therefore cut the cubes, strips or slices of one vegetable into the same desired size. This ensures even cooking of the vegetables.

It is often the case that when you stir-fry, you do that with several vegetables and seasonings, such as garlic and/or pepper. Sometimes sauce or stock is also added during the stir-fry. The vegetables that you need to stir-fry the longest to cook should be added to the pan first. Then add the other stir-fried vegetables.  

You can buy ready-made stir-fry vegetables in a bag from the cool shelf of the supermarket, but that is relatively expensive and not always what you like. Making your own stir-fried vegetables is much tastier (I think) and fresh and exactly what you want. I prefer that, although it is sometimes easy when I really don’t have the time or inclination.

Stir-frying Vegetables

You can use a frying pan for stir-frying, but a wok is also good. As long as you can slide the vegetables back and forth, ‘turn them over’ or stir them in the pan, it’s fine.

Heat the pan, add vegetable butter or olive oil, for example. When it is hot, add the vegetables. Stir-fried vegetables that cook quickly can be added last. Seasonings such as onion and garlic usually go into the pan first. This is because these seasonings can then soak into the vegetables.

Below are all stir-fry vegetables that you can stir-fry alone and together. It also states what preparations you need to do to be able to stir-fry this vegetable properly. The stir-fry time is also stated:

• Endive: Wash the endive, drain and cut into thin strips. Add vegetable butter to the skillet and let it get hot. Add the endive and stir fry until it has wilted. This will take about 7 to 10 minutes.

• Asparagus: Peel the asparagus from the bottom of the head downwards and cut off the bottom (2 cm). Cut the asparagus into 2 cm pieces and cook for 6 minutes. Drain the asparagus and add them to the skillet to cook for about 5 to 8 minutes. You don’t have to peel green asparagus.

• Eggplant: Wash the eggplant and cut it into cubes. Add the cubes to the skillet, along with other seasonings and stir-fry vegetables, and stir-fry them for 6 to 8 minutes. Of course, you can also just stir-fry them.

• Baby Corn: Drain the baby corn when they come from a can. Fresh baby corn or from the freezer, rinse well and pat dry. Place the corn in the frying pan with the oil heated in it. You can eat baby corn raw, so the cooking time depends on how cooked you want the corn.

• Bimi: you can put it in the pan after washing to stir-fry. After being fried for a minute at 5, possibly with other seasonings and stir-fried vegetables, they are done. Taste to see if you like this too, otherwise bake a few minutes longer.

• Cauliflower or broccoli: Cut this vegetable into florets and pre-cook them for 5 minutes. Then put as stir-fry vegetables in the frying pan and fry for about 6 to 10 minutes. You can stir-fry very small florets immediately, 10 minutes. Taste to see if they are cooked enough for you. It is also delicious with a bite.

•  Kale: Cut the kale leaves into strips. Add this in part to the frying pan or wok. It’s a whole heap of kale when you want to stir-fry a whole kale. Let the kale shrink and then add another handful of kale, keep stirring. When everything has shrunk, stir-fry it for another 15 minutes (again, this depends on the amount of kale). Taste to see if you think it’s done enough.

•  Spring onion: Remove the outer leaf and cut off 2 centimeters from the green part and discard. Now cut off rings from the green part towards the white part. The green part has the most flavor. This stir-fried vegetable is cooked in about 5 minutes. So add later when you have several vegetables in the pan.

• Mushrooms: Baking is not that difficult. Brush the mushrooms clean, cut them into slices or quarters. Stir fry the mushrooms for about 5 to 7 minutes.

• Chinese cabbage, pointed cabbage or pak choi: Cut the cabbage into strips and wash them. Drain in a colander and stir-fry the vegetables for about 10 to 15 minutes. The cabbage shrinks, the veins less and can remain nice and crunchy. Taste for yourself what you like.

• Zucchini: Wash the courgette and cut it into slices or cubes. As stir-fried vegetables, you can bake them in 7 to 10 minutes, possibly with other seasonings.

•  Snow peas: Cut the ends of the snow peas and take the ‘wire’ with you that are on the side of the snow peas. The snow peas do very well as a stir-fry vegetable. In 3 minutes they can be nicely stir-fried in the butter or sauce.

•  Pumpkins: They are like stir-fried vegetables in 6 minutes (diced). Peel the pumpkin and dice it. Stir-fry the pumpkins for about 6 minutes.

•  Leek: Leek cut into rings and then wash. There can be a lot of sand on the leek. Stir fry the leek for about 5 minutes.

• Red (pointed) cabbage and white cabbage: Cut these in half and cut the core from the cabbage. Cut thin strips of the cabbage. As stir-fry vegetables, it takes 15 minutes to cook. If you really want it cooked, stir fry a little longer. Red pointed cabbage is slightly softer and can be stir-fried for a shorter time.

•  Green beans: Cut the green beans into pieces of 2 centimeters. They can then be baked immediately with any other seasonings and stir-fried vegetables and they are ready in about 7 minutes.

•  Brussels sprouts: Cut the bottom of the Brussels sprouts and remove the unsightly leaves. Boil the Brussels sprouts for 8 minutes before stir-frying them. You can also cut them in half and cook for 5 minutes. Drain the Brussels sprouts and stir-fry them for about 4 minutes.

•  Sugar snaps: Wash the sugar snaps well. After draining, also cut off the top and bottom, so they can go straight into the pan. After a total of 5 minutes they are cooked.

• Bean sprouts: This is really one of the stir-fried vegetables that can only go into the pan late. Just remove bean sprouts from the package and then add it to your dish at the last. Stir-fry for 2 minutes and the bean sprouts are ready. Did you know you can freeze bean sprouts? No, read our blog about this.

•  Onions: You usually put the well-known onion first in the pan to fry. It is up to you if you think your outing has been baked well. One person wants the onion to be translucent (3 minutes) and the other well-cooked (10 minutes or longer). Taste what you want and what suits your dish. If you want to caramelize onions, read our blog about caramelizing.

•  Chicory: Cut the chicory into strips when you want to stir-fry it. You throw away the bottom (2 centimeters), this is a hard, sometimes bitter part. You can also keep the leaves whole and stir-fry the chicory leaves whole. Chicory can be eaten raw, so when they have shrunk they are stir-fried.

•  Carrot: You can also use the carrot as a stir-fry vegetable. Scrape the carrot (remove the outside of the carrot with a knife or vegetable peeler). Cut the carrot into thin slices or strips. The thicker the slices or strips, the longer it will take for them to cook. You can also eat carrot raw. Taste for yourself when you think they are well cooked. This is done in about 6 to 10 minutes.

If you want to make a dish with stir-fried vegetables that come from a certain region, such as Italian or Chinese stir-fried vegetables, it is good to know which vegetables go together.

Below you will find Chinese, Italian, Thai, Mexican, Provencal and Dutch stir-fried vegetables.

Italian stir fried vegetables

You need about 200 grams of stir-fried vegetables per person. Vegetables that go very well with an Italian stir-fry:

• leeks
• Zucchini
• onions
• Red pepper
• root
• mushrooms
• garlic

See for yourself what you like and make it your Italian stir-fry vegetables. For example, if you don’t like leeks, leave them out. There are plenty of other options.

Chinese stir fried vegetables

You need about 200 grams of mixed stir-fried vegetables per person. The stir-fry vegetables often shrink, so in terms of volume it will be a lot less in the pan as you stir-fry. Cabbage, in particular, is very slinky.

Which vegetables can you use in a Chinese stir-fry dish:

• Chinese cabbage
• bean sprouts
• bok choy
• White cabbage
• (Red onion
• ginger
• spring onions
• peppers
• green beans
• garlic
• snow peas
• Red pepper
• oxheart cabbage

You can determine the amount of a certain vegetable yourself. Do you only want the Chinese cabbage in it today, what are you thinking! To do! If you want to mix with the vegetables, that’s also possible. You are free to use any vegetables you like or have on hand.

Provencal stir fried vegetables

To cook for 2 people you need about 400 grams of stir-fried vegetables.

Which vegetables go well together in a Provencal dish:

• Zucchini
• root
• Red onion
• green pepper
• parsley
• Broccoli

Although mushrooms do not often appear in this list, they do taste very good with it. Here too you can determine the quantities yourself and you do not have to use them all, it is possible. Just what you feel like or have at home.

Dutch stir fried vegetables

You need about 200 grams per person. Which vegetables fit in a Dutch stir-fry mix:

• root
• Broccoli
• green beans
• celery
• (Red onions
• Cauliflower
• leek

You are of course free to add other vegetables if you feel like it. Zucchini would also work well or diced eggplant. Do what you feel like.

Mexican stir fried vegetables

Take about 200 grams of stir-fried vegetables per person. When you are going to make a Mexican stir-fry dish, you can combine the following stir-fry vegetables well:

• baby corn
• green beans
• paprika
• White cabbage
• leek
• kidney beans (canned)

Of course, you are the cook and you decide what goes into your Mexican stir-fry vegetables. If you really don’t like corn, for example, then you probably won’t put it in either! And there are also several types of beans that you can use in a Mexican stir-fry.

Thai stir fried vegetables

You use about 200 grams of Thai stir-fry vegetables per person. You can use all of these in a dish, separately or all together. They ‘fit’ so to speak, well together.

What are Thai stir-fry vegetables:

• White cabbage
• leeks
• Green pepper
• Red onions
• Red pepper

These vegetables are often used in Thai stir-fry mixes. Personally, I think bean sprouts also go well with this. You can also add this to the dish yourself. The advantage of this is that you can only add the bean sprouts at the very last minute so that the bean sprouts remain a bit crunchy. It only needs to be baked for 2 minutes.

The most common stir-fry vegetables are listed here. I always like stir-frying. Deliciously fresh and easy to prepare. Have fun and enjoy your meal!