Frozen Vegetable Stir Fry
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure.This frozen vegetable stir fry recipe is the ultimate Asian dinner made with tofu, vegetables, soy sauce, and red curry sauce! Ready in just 20 minutes, you’ll love this healthy and tasty meal that tastes way better than takeout!
This vegetable Asian stir fry is filled with amazing flavors and is such a healthy, easy, family-friendly recipe. Perfect for busy weeknights, I love to make this tofu based recipe at least a few times a month. It’s that good!
Sweet with a little bit of heat, this vegetable stir fry recipe is the ultimate comfort meal. Carrots, broccoli, and baby corn are mixed with authentic Asian flavors for a mouthwatering meal that’s ready in 20 minutes.
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Stir fry is a classic recipe that originated in China, but is commonly popular throughout the world.
To prepare a stir fry recipe, you heat some vegetables and ingredients over high heat with oil, then stir and cook until all of the ingredients are heated through. You can usually use whichever vegetables and proteins you have on hand!
There are also so many variations to these easy stir fry veggies that you can modify it based on your family’s preferences or whatever you have in the fridge!
Feel free to make this in advance as it keeps really well in the fridge and tastes even better the next day.
I hope you love this healthy stir fry recipe as much as we do. My kids gobbled it up and asked for seconds!
👩🏽🍳 Why This Recipe Works
- An easy way to pack in a variety of vegetables into one meal
- Ready in just 20 minutes
- Great for a busy night or weeknight dinner
- Semi homemade stir fry sauce to save time
- Filling and satisfying meal
- Best vegetable stir fry recipe ever!
🥘 Ingredients
This easy vegetable stir fry can be made with simple ingredients found at any grocery store. Many of these are pantry ingredients as well so you might already have them on hand!
- Asian Frozen Vegetables: To save time, I buy pre-chopped frozen Asian stir fry veggies. You can find a large variety of Asian style frozen vegetables at most grocery stores. I love using Trader Joe’s asian stir fry vegetables medley paired with a bag of frozen broccoli florets, or Costco frozen veggies (their normandy style vegetables, or stir fry vegetable medley both work great).
- Tofu: I used a mix of sprouted firm tofu and baked tofu for a variety of textures in this tofu stir fry recipe. But you can use any type of tofu you like – I just recommend using a firm or extra firm tofu (silken tofu will fall apart in this recipe). Sprouted tofu is similar to regular silken tofu, but instead, uses germinated soy beans that have little sprouts on them. Not only is sprouted tofu known to have a high protein content, but it’s loaded with calcium, too.
- Olive Oil: Important to grease the pans, but you can use any type of oil here.
- Brown Rice Or Quinoa: For serving. Quinoa or brown rice can be substituted for a variety of options for this frozen stir fry vegetables recipe. Scroll down further to read about variations.
- Sesame Seeds: Optional, but recommended. You can also use cashews or any nut you like.
- Garlic, Fresh Ginger, Salt And Crushed Red Pepper: You can add each of these spices individually, or you can find vegetable stir-fry seasoning mixes that are pre-made to save on more time.
- Red Curry Sauce: I like the Thai Red Curry Sauce from Trader Joe’s because it has a clean ingredients list, is relatively low in calories, and has the best flavor. But you can use any teriyaki or curry sauce you like from your local grocery store.
- Soy Sauce: Low sodium was used here this recipe, but any type of soy sauce will do. Use tamari for a gluten free option!
📖 Variations
This Asian stir fry recipe already so good on its own, but if you want to switch some things up, you totally can!
- Change The Vegetable Blend: You can use any vegetable mix, really. I used broccoli, corn, carrots, and green beans, but snow peas, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, red bell peppers, potatoes, or even pumpkin would be good, too.
- Change The Base: There are so many options for frozen veggie stir fry. You can serve this vegetable stir fry recipe over a bed of gluten free noodles, rice noodles, quinoa, brown rice, cauliflower rice, jasmine rice, basmati, shirataki or konjac noodes, or even serve it without a base!
- Make This Gluten Free: You can use Tamari or coconut aminos in place of the soy sauce.
- Add Toppings: A garnish of green onions, sesame seeds, crushed peanuts or chopped cashews would all be great additions to this stir fried veggies recipe!
- Make It For Kids: Reduce the red curry sauce and crushed red pepper to give this healthy frozen mixed vegetable stir fry a milder flavor.
🔪 How To Make Frozen Vegetable Stir Fry
It’s super easy to make these frozen stir fry vegetables perfectly every time! You just need to follow these five simple steps:
Cook Your Base: Cook the rice or quinoa, or whatever base you choose for this Asian style veggie stir fry. Cut the tofu into 1/2 inch cubes and set aside.
Sauté The Tofu Cubes: Spray a large skillet or hot wok with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Saute the tofu cubes until slightly crispy on the outside, add 1 Tbsp soy sauce towards the end of cooking for flavor.
Wok Fry Vegetables: Heat a separate large pan or wok over medium to medium-high heat. Add olive oil, then pour the frozen stir fry veggies into the pan. Stir fry for five minutes until the Asian mixed vegetables are cooked through, add garlic, ginger, crushed red pepper, and remaining soy sauce. Cook another 5 minutes until everything is combined.
Combine Ingredients: Add the tofu cubes to frozen stir fry vegetables, and the Red Curry Sauce. Cook lightly on medium-low heat until the entire mixture is heated through (about 5 minutes).
Adjust Seasonings & Serve: Adjust seasonings as needed, add hot sauce if you like it spicy. Sprinkle sesame seeds or cashews on top. Serve this frozen vegetable stir fry with brown rice or quinoa.
❓Recipe FAQs
I have found that when it comes to frozen veggies, you want to choose veggies that will hold up well and won’t get mushy too fast (e.g. squashes or leafy greens). I like to use baby corn, carrots, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, or edamame in any stir fry using frozen vegetables.
Make sure add the veggies that take the longest to cook to the pan first (e.g. onions, carrots, potatoes), and then follow it up with the faster cooking veggies (broccoli, snap peas, cauliflower, etc). Additionally, don’t cook the stir fry for too long over high heat, because that will cause your veggies to overcook. To avoid soggy vegetables, stop cooking right after your veggies are warmed through and still have a slight bite to them.
No you don’t! The best part of making a stir fry using frozen vegetables is that there is almost no prep. You can just throw the frozen veggies into your wok straight from the freezer – no need to thaw them beforehand.
I used just soy sauce and Thai red curry sauce for this recipe, but I also have an amazing stir fry sauce recipe that is made from scratch.
Yes! Typically frozen veggies are flash frozen when they’re at their freshest, making them sometimes even healthier and nutrient rich than fresh veggies. Here are the other reasons why this stir fry using frozen vegetables is healthy:
High In Protein: A great way to squeeze in some heart healthy plant protein, the tofu in this stir fry is packed with almost 27 grams of protein per serving!
Rich In Nutrients: The vegetables in this healthy stir fry provide antioxidants, vitamins, fiber, nutrients, and minerals. Tofu contains all 9 essential amino acids, as well as iron, calcium, copper, zinc and B vitamins.
High In Fiber: This veggie stir fry recipe has 7 grams of heart healthy fiber per serving!
💭 Expert Tips
- Don’t let your frozen veggies thaw before hand.
- Make sure your veggies are all cut into similar sized pieces so they cook evenly and at the same rate.
- Store the leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days.
- Make sure all of your ingredients are prepped and ready before you start – since you won’t be cooking anything for more than a few minutes, you want to be able to throw everything into the skillet as soon as their “time comes.”
- For best results, and a delicious frozen vegetable stir fry, make sure your skillet or wok is super hot! This is really important when using frozen vegetables, so that you cook them without overcooking them.
🍲 More Asian Inspired Recipes!
- Sweet and Sour Tofu
- Tofu Fried Rice
- Vegan Teriyaki Noodles
- Vegan Chow Mein
- Avocado Sushi
- Miso Butter Mushrooms
- Gluten Free Stir Fry Sauce
- Tofu Skewers with Ginger Soy Marinade
- Vegan Egg Roll In A Bowl
- 103 Vegetarian Recipes
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📋 Recipe Card
🎥 Watch How to Make It
Frozen Vegetable Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 sprays Olive oil cooking spray
- 16oz package Organic Sprouted Firm Tofu cut into cubes
- 7oz package Teriyaki (or Savory) Baked Tofu cut into cubes
- 2 16oz Packages of Frozen Asian Mixed Veggies (about 10 cups) I like to get the one with the greatest variety of veggies – e.g. broccoli, carrots, green beans, snap peas, etc.
- 3 tbsp Low Sodium Soy Sauce more to taste
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 1 sprinkle crushed red pepper more to taste
- ¼ cup Red Curry Sauce You can pretty much use any bottled curry or teriyaki sauce mixture you like – check out the Asian section in your supermarket. But make sure to get a sauce that has vegetarian (or vegan) friendly ingredients!
- 1 cup cooked Brown Rice or quinoa use 1/4 cup cooked per serving
- 1 tbsp Sesame Seeds as a garnish alternatively, use chopped cashews
- salt and pepper (or a hot sauce like siracha) to taste
Instructions
- Cook the brown rice or quinoa first – because that takes the longest to cook in this recipe. Cut your tofu into 1/2 inch cubes and set aside.
- Spray a large pan with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Saute the tofu cubes until slightly crispy on the outside, add 1 Tbsp soy sauce towards the end of cooking for flavor.
- Heat a separate large pan or wok over medium to medium-high heat. Add olive oil, then pour the frozen veggies into the pan.
- Stir fry 5 minutes until the veggies are cooked through, add garlic, ginger, crushed red pepper, and remaining soy sauce. Cook another 5 minutes until everything is combined.
- Add the tofu cubes to the veggies, and the Red Curry Sauce. Stir fry lightly on medium-low heat until the entire mixture is heated through (about 5 minutes).
- Adjust seasonings as needed, add hot sauce if you like it spicy. Sprinkle sesame seeds or cashews on top. Serve with brown rice or quinoa.
Notes
- Use frozen veggies to keep things quick and simple!
- Don’t over cook the vegetables or they will be mushy.
- Make sure your veggies are all cut into similar sized pieces so they cook evenly and at the same rate.
- Store the leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days.
I love the use of quinoa in here instead of rice. So much healthier and with al the tasty additions I can get all my quinoa friends and family to enjoy this healthy ingredients with this combo for sure!
Yesss!! The quinoa is a great substitution for rice and pairs perfectly with the tofu! Enjoy!
Yum! Looks so simple and delicious! I like that you are using a vegetable mix in it.
Thanks Biana! The frozen veggie mix really makes this recipe so much easier to make!
My daughter just asked this weekend for me to make a meal with tofu- glad I found this recipe! We all loved it.
Yayy!! So happy to hear that Kristina!
I love the addition of red curry in this stir fry! It’s so flavorful and satisfying. What a great dinner!
Thanks so much Jamie! So glad you liked it!
Looking forward to trying this tonight! I had a quick question: what type of nonstick pan do you use for stir fries? If you have a name/model I would be so grateful to find out what it is. I am looking to purchase a non stick but am a little worried about heating it on high!
Hi Erum! I use Green Pan — it’s super safe because it’s ceramic, and also non-stick! Can’t wait to hear how you like this recipe!
I was just wondering what the purpose of both kinds of tofus was? I’m a a vegetarian and a newbie to tofu and I was just curious as to why you used both. Thanks!
That’s a great question Maddy! It’s more for a variety in textures and flavors. The Thai Baked Tofu is firmer and has a slightly different / spicier flavor than the regular extra firm tofu. So I like using a combination of the two just to mix it up a bit. Hope that helps!
I am not a vegetarian so in making this recipe it was my first experience in cooking with tofu and I was very pleased with the results. Special thanks for introducing me to Trader Joe’s Thai Red Curry Sauce, it is unbelievably delicious!
My husband LOVES the Thai Red Curry Sauce too – we’ve tried the other sauces at Trader Joe’s and this one is by far the best! I’m thrilled that you enjoyed cooking with tofu as well! Coming from a non-vegetarian, that made my day 🙂
Your stir fry sounds fantastic!
You should also try this great recipe: https://www.4shapestraining.com/avocado-eggs/
and for any health tips, please feel free to visit: https://www.facebook.com/pages/4Shapes-Training/174666452595171
Thanks – I’ll check it out!
Made this tonight. I am in love with the dish…so easy, so tasty and so healthy! I made it with loads of fresh veggies instead of the asian vegetable mix and it was the perfect lazy Sunday meal 🙂
Woohoo!! That is awesome – and yes – fresh veggies work just as well! So glad you liked it!
I just tried this awesome recipe… super fast and yummy. I only had 20 minutes free with my screaming newborn so thanks for posting this!!! LOVE trader Joes, and how you post pics of what each product looks like, rather than a blind recipe, so we’re sure to get the same results 🙂 Question- did you use both packets of soy sauce that came with the veggies, or just one? I feel like the sodium might be a bit high, so was thinking of just using one of the packets instead of both….
Yayyy!! I’m SO glad to hear that Nina! So happy this made your day a little easier – can’t imagine how crazy it must be with the newest addition to your family! And actually yes – you’re right – I only used one packet of soy sauce that came with the veggies (so 2 packets veggies, 1 packet soy sauce, and I added a bit of low sodium soy sauce as well to mix in). I’ll clarify that in the recipe. Thanks for asking! 🙂
Fantastic meal with some lovely veggies, I can’t believe that combination is frozen. We have no Trader Joe’s I don’t believe at all in Flordia. Love this quick and easy.
Thanks Suzi!! Frozen veggies can taste just like fresh ones if you cook them right 🙂 If you don’t have a Trader Joe’s – you can find all of these ingredients at any major grocery store. Hope that helps!
This looks delicious! I even think my anti-health food husband would eat it!
haha! he will I promise – my husband used to be anti-health and over the past 6 years I converted him 🙂 I’m actually going to do a blog post about that experience, and will hopefully have him guest blog about how his perspective has changed so stay tuned for that!
quick and spicy!
I like these type of meals. They’re quick with great ingredients. Perfect for summer so you can do other things to enjoy the rest of the evening. Great combination of ingredients.
Thanks Cristina! I hope you loved it when you tried it!
I wish I had a Trader Joe’s in my neighborhood, this looks great.
Aw!! Hopefully you will get one soon! In the meantime, you can find all of these ingredients at pretty much any grocery store – they just won’t have the same packaging.
This sounds very yummy! I used to have that sauce–great flavor but wasn’t a huge fan of the added ingredients. Now to replicate it, I just mix regular coconut milk and this Thai Kitchen curry paste I found which has all the spices in it.
Oh yeah – I’m totally with you on the added ingredients – I just didn’t feel like going to the grocery store when I made this :). I often do a quick sauce with light coconut milk (same taste but lower in fat and calories than regular coconut milk) and the Thai Curry paste that you mentioned. Another good option is mixing curry powder with light coconut milk for a yellow curry flavor. Great tip!