free of gluten and top 9 allergens
For an easy and budget-friendly meal in minutes, you can’t beat stir frying. We’ll teach you the simple techniques that go into making a restaurant-worthy dish.
This sweet and sour veggie stir fry has the perfect balance of sweet and savory. It’s great served over rice, quinoa, cauliflower rice, noodles, or even in lettuce cups.
You can totally use whatever veggies you have on hand.
At the end of this post we share a link to this past Saturday’s live Facebook cooking video, At Home With Your Allergy Chefs. Chef Joel’s fundamentals of cooking class takes you through the process of blanching and making this incredible stir fry.
Mise en Place
Because stir frying is so fast, it’s important to have all ingredients measured out and ready to go before you start cooking.
mise en place
So before firing up the stove, be sure to have all the veggies prepped, rice cooked, and your sauce made.
For the Sauce
Whisk together light brown sugar, vegetable broth or water, apple cider vinegar, ketchup, coconut aminos, and cornstarch and place in a small saucepan. Turn the heat to medium, whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a simmer, which could take up to 5 minutes. When it comes to a simmer, whisk for another 2 minutes before removing from heat and setting aside.
The sauce can be made several days in advance and stored in the fridge until needed.
For the Stir Fry
Heat a flat-bottomed wok or large sauté pan over medium-high heat until a drop of water vaporizes immediately on contact. Add oil and swirl around in the pan. When oil is hot add onions, bell peppers, and a little salt. Cook and toss for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes.
Add cabbage, broccoli, and carrots, which have been blanched. See Chef Joel’s tip below for blanching. Stir or toss for another 1 to 1-1/2 minutes.
Add sauce and bring to a boil, stirring for 1 minute.
Serve over rice, quinoa, or noodles and garnish with green onions.
Do you want yours meaty?
Add chicken in place of 1 cup of the broccoli or other vegetables. Cut 1-pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs into 1-inch cubes. Heat oil in a wok or large sauté pan. Add half of the chicken in a single layer and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes until cooked through. Remove from skillet and repeat with remaining chicken.
Continue with the directions for the veggie stir fry, adding the chicken back into the skillet with the cabbage, broccoli, and carrots.
Chef Joel’s Tip on Blanching
Some foods, especially vegetables, are blanched or parboiled before being used in a recipe where they will be finished by another cooking method, such as stir frying. To do so, they are immersed in a large quantity of boiling water and partially cooked. Blanching is done quickly, usually 30 seconds to a minute. Parboiling is usually several minutes.
Vegetables that are blanched or parboiled in water are shocked or refreshed in an ice bath to stop the cooking process. An ice bath is simply a container of ice cubes and cold water.
blanching and then shocking in an ice bath
Check out this past Saturday’s link to At Home With Your Allergy Chefs live video on Facebook. Here we talk about the blanching technique and walk you through making this delicious stir fry. Come and learn why blanching is an important preliminary cooking technique and see how easy and fun it is to make a stir fry!
Sweet and Sour Veggie Stir Fry
Yield 4 Servings
Free of: gluten and top 9 allergens.
The perfect balance of sweet and savory!
Ingredients
Sauce
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable broth or water
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tbsp coconut aminos
4 tsp cornstarch
Stir Fry
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup diced onions
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
1/8 tsp salt
4 cups chopped green cabbage, blanched (see recipe notes)
3 cups broccoli florets, blanched (see recipe notes)
1/2 cup diagonally cut carrots, blanched (see recipe notes)
4 cups cooked brown or white rice
1/4 cup chopped green onions, garnish
Instructions
- For the sauce, place all sauce ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat, whisking to combine. Whisk constantly. It could take up to 5 minutes, but when it comes to a simmer, whisk for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. This makes 1-1/4 cups of sauce.
- For the stir fry, heat flat-bottomed wok or large sauté pan over medium-high heat until a drop of water vaporizes immediately on contact. Add oil and swirl around in pan. When oil is hot add onions, bell peppers, and salt. Cook and toss for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes. Add cabbage, broccoli, and carrots. Stir or toss for another 1 to 1-1/2 minutes. Add sauce and bring to a boil, stirring for 1 minute.
- Serve over rice and garnish with green onions.
Notes
- Diagonal cut carrots: After peeling the carrot, place on a cutting board. Holding the carrot firmly, use a sharp knife to cut the carrot at a 60-degree angle. Continue cutting the carrot on the diagonal, keeping the pieces uniform in width.
- Blanching the Vegetables: For the cabbage, place cabbage in boiling water for 30 seconds to 1 minute. With a slotted spoon, transfer into an ice bath (bowl of water and ice) to shock and stop cooking process; drain. For the broccoli, place broccoli in boiling water and blanch for 2 minutes. Shock in ice bath; drain. For the carrots, blanch in boiling water for 30 seconds to 1 minute, shock in ice bath, and drain. These vegetables can be blanched, cooled down, drained, and stored in the fridge for several days until needed.
- Other veggies that can be substituted are mushrooms, celery, zucchini, bok choy, sugar snap peas, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, blanched green beans, pineapple, baby corn, cauliflower, bean sprouts - you name it. Choose your favorite veggies.
- Add chicken if you desire, reducing broccoli from 3 to 2 cups. Cut 1-pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs into 1-inch cubes. Heat oil in wok or large sauté pan. Add half of the chicken in a single layer and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes until cooked through. Remove from skillet and repeat with remaining chicken. Follow directions for the veggie stir fry, adding the chicken back into the skillet with the cabbage, broccoli, and carrots.
- This stir fry is great served over rice, quinoa, cauliflower rice, noodles, or lettuce cups.
Courses Mains