Craving a stir fry? Shop your freezer to make this super satisfying, super flavorful frozen vegetable stir fry for dinner tonight!
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I love a stir fry, and I love finding ways to make them with less effort, like my air fryer stir fry. Today, I'm sharing a recipe for this delicious frozen vegetable stir fry to save you a ton of time on prep work.
What makes this stir fry special is the sauce, which is my blender stir fry sauce. It brings such an amazing flavor to those stir fried frozen veggies!
If you want to make this into a teriyaki stir fry, use my teriyaki sauce recipe instead. Just mix the sauce in a bowl, and add to the pan to thicken right at the end, just like with the stir fry sauce.
You can serve your frozen vegetable stir fry with rice, with noodles, quinoa, or over your favorite whole grain. I like to make some quick air fryer tofu or salt and pepper tofu to go with it.
✓ Ingredients and substitutions
- ginger and garlic - You can use fresh or powdered to make your stir fry sauce.
- toasted sesame oil - To season the sauce and to sauté the frozen vegetables.
- low-sodium soy sauce - Adds moisture and umami.
- seasoned rice vinegar - Adds tang.
- hoisin sauce - Adds sweetness and flavor to the stir fry sauce.
- cornstarch - To thicken the sauce. You can use potato starch, tapioca starch, or arrowroot powder instead, if you prefer.
- frozen vegetables - You can use any frozen veggies you like! I like to see what stir fry mixes the store is stocking and choose a variety, so there are lots of different veggies in mine, but you can truly use whatever you want.
🥣 How to make a frozen vegetable stir fry
Combine all of the sauce ingredients in your blender.
Puree until smooth. Taste and adjust salt, sweetness, and tang. For more sweet, add more hoisin sauce or a little maple syrup or agave. For tang, add more vinegar.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat, then add the frozen vegetables directly from the freezer.
When they've thawed some, use the back of your spoon to gently press out excess water, then stir well.
Now, mix, cook, and press to keep releasing excess water until the veggies are cooked through. Stirring is key, so the water can evaporate, so keep on stirring! This takes around 10 minutes, but it can take more or less time, depending on the size of your pan, which veggies you're using, etc.
Add the sauce to the pan of vegetables.
Cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens.
Serve over white or brown rice, noodles, or whole grain of your choice. I like to top with some crushed red pepper, sesame seeds or chopped cashews, and chopped green onion.
💡 Helpful tips
- The stir fry sauce calls for fresh ginger and garlic, but you can use ground ginger and garlic powder, if needed.
- Feel free to mix and match your frozen vegetables for this stir fry! I am using a few different bags of frozen mixed vegetables, but feel free to use what you have, as long as you end up with around the same amount.
- When you add the frozen vegetables to the pan, it's important to stir frequently and press the veggies, so they can release as much moisture as possible. That's how you'll keep them from going soggy.
🫙 Storage directions
Leftovers will keep for three to five days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
💬 Frequently asked questions
There are two tricks to getting these veggies just right:
❶ Do NOT thaw them before adding to the pan. Leave the bags in the freezer until you're ready to use them.
❷ Stir frequently and press them with the back of your spoon, so excess moisture can escape and evaporate.
🫛 More frozen vegetable recipes
📖 Recipe
🥦 Frozen Vegetable Stir Fry
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Stir Fry Sauce
- 4 cloves garlic or 3 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2" piece fresh ginger or ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil optional
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
- ⅔ cup hoisin sauce
- 4 teaspoons cornstarch or arrowroot or potato starch or tapioca starch
- ¼ cup water
For the stir fry
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 32 ounces frozen vegetables DO NOT thaw before using
Instructions
Make the stir fry sauce.
- Combine all of the sauce ingredients in your blender, and puree until smooth. Taste and adjust salt, sweetness, and tang. For more sweet, add more hoisin sauce or a little maple syrup or agave. For tang, add more vinegar. Set this aside.
Stir fry the frozen vegetables.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat, then add the frozen vegetables, spreading them out as much as possible in the pan. When they've thawed some, use the back of your spoon to gently press out excess water, then stir well. Now, mix, cook, and press to keep releasing excess water until the veggies are cooked through. Stirring is key, so the water can evaporate, so keep on stirring! This takes around 10 minutes, but it can take more or less time, depending on the size of your pan, which veggies you're using, etc.
- Add the sauce to the pan of vegetables, and cook, stirring constantly, until it thickens. This should only take a couple of minutes.
- Serve over white or brown rice, noodles, or whole grain of your choice. I like to top with some crushed red pepper, sesame seeds or chopped cashews, and chopped green onion.
Got a question? Tried this recipe? Leave a reply!