This simple stir-fry broccoli is made without meat and is the perfect recipe when craving Chinese food. The sauce is homemade, and this tasty dish is made to your liking in less than 30 minutes.
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Benefits of the Stir-Fry Technique
In addition to focusing on whole foods in our diet, another essential thing is how these whole food are cooked. Basically, there are many ways to cook vegetables - steam, boil, bake, deep fry, saute, stir fry, or air fry. And stir fry deserves to be placed on top of the list.
When picking the proper cooking method, your primary focus should be preserving all the vegetables' nutrients. Next, please remember how much oil you will use. This is where the deep frying method goes out of the window - too much fat! And this is why air frying has gained popularity in recent years - no oil at all! But, if you don't own an air fryer or simply like cooking with little oil, stir-frying suits you.
All in all, stir-frying and sauteing are standard methods of preparing food in Mediterranean countries. The same can be said for the Balkans, where I come from. In my recipes, you'll often find that vegetables are perfectly sautéed. And my main focus is always to preserve as many nutrients as possible, just like in my Easy Chicken with Spinach in Creamy White Sauce recipe, where I explain why blanching is the best way to cook spinach.
Researchers in Spain found that stir-frying and sauteing vegetable is the best way to preserve nutrients, even better than boiling. Researchers in England experimented with boiling the vegetables and later examined the water it was boiled in. They found significant nutrients in the water that we usually discard after boiling.
So, keeping all this in mind, I suggest trying stir-frying or sauteing your veggies next time. And the only difference between these two methods is the amount of oil you use, and the time it is cooked. At last, you can always add a homemade sauce to the stir-fried veggies and make your version of a tasty Chinese dish.
Ingredients You'll Need for Stir-Fry Broccoli
Here are the ingredients you will need:
- 15.5 oz veggies. You'll see that broccoli is the main veggie in this dish, but there are other veggies as well. By all means, you can stick to broccoli only or add as wide varieties as possible. I had cauliflower, red bell peppers, red onion, and yellow squash.
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- ¼ cup soy sauce (reduced sodium)
- ½ tbs sugar
- ⅓ cup water
- 2 garlic cloves (minced)
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch (optional)
- 1 cup brown or white rice (plus 1-2 cups water to cook rice)
How to Make Stir-Fry Broccoli without Meat
Time needed: 30 minutes
This amount is enough for 2 people.
- Prepare vegetables.
Prewash vegetables and dry them with a paper towel. Let them air dry for about 10 min.
- Prepare the sauce.
Combine soy sauce, ⅓ cup water, sugar, and minced garlic in a bowl. As an option, add cornstarch. Wisk everything well and set it aside.
Important note: I prefer when there is not much sauce over the veggies, and I optimized this recipe to my liking. If you prefer a more robust taste with more sauce, double the amount of sauce ingredients. - Stir-fry vegetable.
Traditionally, vegetables are stir-fried in a wok, but if you don't have one, using any large non-stick skillet is okay.
Heat olive oil in a pan on medium heat, and add vegetables. Toss the vegetables frequently with a wooden spoon, and cook until the vegetable are tender (5-10 min). - Add sauce to the vegetable.
Pour the sauce over the vegetables and cook until the sauce has thickened. Make sure to toss vegetables frequently while stir-frying so that they stay crispy.
- Serve over rice.
I typically serve stir-fry over the rice. Before preparing your veggies for stir-frying, cook the rice (you can choose white or brown rice). My recipe is optimized for brown rice.
Add 2 cups of water to a pot and heat to boiling.
Wash 1 cup of brown rice under running water.
Add washed rice to the boiling water, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 30 minutes.
Adding 1 tablespoon of butter to the rice while cooking is optional for a creamier taste.
If you liked this recipe, here are some other great options to try:
Simple Stir-Fry Broccoli {No Meat}
Ingredients
- 15.5 oz broccoli You'll see that broccoli is the main veggie in this dish, but there are other veggies as well. You can stick to broccoli only or add as wide varieties as possible. I had cauliflower, red bell peppers, red onion, and yellow squash.
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- ¼ cup soy sauce low sodium
- ½ tablespoon sugar
- 2 ⅓ cup water
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch optional
- 1 cup brown rice
Instructions
- Prepare vegetables. Prewash vegetables and dry them with a paper towel. Let them air dry for about 10 min.
- Prepare the sauce. Combine soy sauce, ⅓ cup water, sugar, and minced garlic in a bowl. As an option, add cornstarch. Wisk everything well and set it aside.Important note: I prefer when there is not much sauce over the veggies, and I optimized this recipe to my liking. If you prefer a more robust taste with more sauce, double the amount of sauce ingredients.
- Stir-fry vegetable. Pour the sauce over the vegetables and cook until the sauce has thickened. Make sure to toss vegetables frequently while stir-frying so that they stay crispy.
- Serve over rice. I typically serve stir-fry over the rice. Before preparing your veggies for stir-frying, cook the rice (you can choose white or brown rice). My recipe is optimized for brown rice.
- Add 2 cups of water to a pot and heat to boiling.
- Wash 1 cup of brown rice under running water.
- Add washed rice to the boiling water, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 30 minutes.
- Adding 1 tablespoon of butter to the rice while cooking is optional for a creamier taste.
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