If you subscribe to our newsletter, you'll know this shows up on my weekly meal plan often. I’ve been making this easy, weeknight tofu veggie stir-fry a lot recently so I thought I’d share it with you. When I was growing up, stir-fry was in our meal line up, too, and I always loved it. There’s something so satisfying about quickly cooked, crisp veggies in a quick sauce over warm, tender rice. YUM!
Make a big batch so you have leftovers
Lately, I’ve been making a BIG batch of stir-fry along with a big batch of rice. I serve the leftovers for dinner a second night or lunch a number of times during the week depending on how much is leftover. It works well reheated and in a thermos for lunches.
No recipe needed
One of the nice things about stir-fry is you can use any combination of veggies and protein you’d like. You don't really even need a recipe. I tend to use carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, sugar snap peas, edamame and bok choy (or baby bok choy), along with those canned baby corn. You can buy cut broccoli and sliced mushrooms, as well as chopped ginger. So, this dish really doesn’t take long to make. Then, all you have to do is peel and cut the carrots and mix the ingredients for the sauce.
I go through phases where I use skirt steak in my stir-fry. Shrimp or chicken works well too! But these days we're trending tofu. I used to just drain press the tofu for about 30 minutes, cut it into cubes and add it to the veggies and sauce. But, I much prefer it this way because the texture is nice and firm and there’s some additional flavor to the tofu with the soy sauce and olive oil. (I got the idea for baked tofu here).
I tend to change up what kind of rice I serve it over. Sometimes, I serve this over rice cooked in coconut milk. Sometimes, it's white rice and sometimes it’s brown rice. Most of the time I use Lundberg rice and cook it in a pan on the stove.
Don't give up
Dishes like this stir-fry can work well with young ones and more selective eaters because you (or they) can separate out the items if having everything together is overwhelming.
When my oldest child (now 15) was young, she didn’t care for many of the ingredients in my stir fry. She’d eat the carrots, broccoli, rice and whatever protein was in the combo. Lately, though, she’s been eating the dish as is. She recently told me how much she loves mushrooms and noted that she used to hate them. I’ve been cooking stir-fry (veggie sauté) for a LOOOOONG time. I share this because it’s a good example of the importance of continuing to offer foods even when children won't eat them.
The order I use to get tofu veggie stir-fry on the table
- Preheat the oven
- Put rice on to cook
- Drain and press the tofu
- While the tofu is draining, gather together your ingredients for the rest of the stir-fry.
- Make the sauce
- Chop the ginger
- Rinse and chop the veggies (or open the bags and containers of pre-sliced and pre-cut veggies)
- Cube the tofu, toss it with the soy sauce, cornstarch and oil
- Bake the tofu
- Stir-fry the veggies!
- Add the baked tofu to the stir-fry
- Serve over cooked rice
- Enjoy!
If you're looking for more quick and easy recipes check out previous "go-to" meals posts here and here.
Let us know if you make the easy, weeknight tofu, veggie stir-fry. We'd love to hear from you!
Weeknight Tofu Veggie Stir-Fry
Ingredients
- 1 container extra firm tofu, baked (recipe below)
- 2 TBS olive oil
- 2 TBS minced fresh ginger
- 4-6 carrots peeled and sliced
- 1 large bunch of broccoli rinsed and cut into small florets (slice the stem too and add it)
- 1 8 ounce container sliced mushrooms
- 2 cups or 1 small bag sugar snap peas
- 1 ½ cups thawed shelled edamame
- 1 bunch bok choy or 2-3 bunches baby bok choy chopped and rinsed
- 1 can of baby corn drained
Sauce
- 4 TBS Hoisoin sauce
- 4 TBS. rice vinegar
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Mix together the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar and water and set aside.
- Add the olive oil and ginger to a 5 quart sauté pan. Turn heat to medium - high.
- Once the ginger begins to sizzle, add the mushrooms and carrots and cook while stirring for a couple of minutes.
- Next add the broccoli and snap peas. Cook while stirring for another few minutes until they begin to turn bright green.
- This is where I add the sauce.
- Then add the thawed edamame, bok choy and baby corn and continue to cook for a few more minutes.
- Last, add the baked tofu. Remove from heat.
- Serve over cooked rice.
Notes
Baked Tofu
Ingredients
- 1 box extra firm tofu drained
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Remove the tofu from the packaging
- You’ll need 2 paper towels each folded in half lengthwise. Place one on a plate, then place the tofu on top of the paper towel. Place the second paper towel on top of the tofu. Then place a pan on top of that to squeeze out the moisture.
- Let sit for 10 - 30 minutes.
- Remove the tofu from under the pan and discard the paper towels.
- Cut into cubes and toss with olive oil, soy sauce and cornstarch.
- Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 15 minutes at 425 F or until golden brown. Remove from over and add to the stir-fry.
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