Healthy Stir Fry Recipe Ideas

You can’t beat a colourful stir fry recipe when you’re looking for something quick and nutritious.

A large skillet or wok is best used for your stir fry recipe. Bite-size pieces of meat and vegetables are cooked in a minimal oil over medium-high heat and make for a healthy meal served alone or on a bed of rice or pasta.

Not only is stir fry process fast, it preserves flavours and nutrients and can easily be adapted to your family’s tastes. Clean-up is a breeze too since it requires just one pan.

There is never any chance of stir fry recipe boredom – the meat and vegetable combinations are virtually endless. The most widely used meats include steak, chicken, and shrimp. But you don’t have to stop there. What about sausage, pork, crab or leftover roast beef, turkey?

On the veggie front, fresh is nice but not necessary. A good mix of frozen vegetables also makes a tasty and satisfying stir fry meal. Personally, I find that fresh vegetables add the desired tender-crisp crunch but frozen vegetables on a blend of white and wild rice, garnished with nuts would also lend itself well to a variety of textures.

Since most stir fry recipe ingredients are in bite sized pieces, they tend cook quickly hence, the importance of constant stirring. All the more reason to have all your ingredients prepared beforehand. While it may be important to prepare any sauce to exact specifications, the amount of meat and vegetables added to any stir fry recipe can vary a bit. If you have a little less meat than the recipe calls for or if you really like mushrooms and onions it’s okay to go with a little less or a little more.

Originally an oriental technique, early stir fry recipes were eaten with chopsticks hence the bite-size pieces. Another upside of the small pieces or strips is that your entire meal can be cooked in a matter of minutes. Likewise, your vegetables should be cut to a similar size to ensure even cooking.

I’ve found it is best to get dense vegetables like cauliflower, carrots and broccoli started first and then a couple of minutes later add softer varieties like peppers, onions, celery, and zucchini. Just before the rest of the vegetables are tender-crisp toss in your meat, poultry or chicken and any mushrooms, snow peas, cherry tomatoes.

As for which oil to use, the choice is yours provided it cooks well on a medium high heat. Vegetable, olive and canola are the most popular but flavoured oils like sesame and peanut are a nice change.

It’s best to start by first warming your oil in your wok, skillet or in my case, a large stainless steel bowl I bought in college. My thick stainless steel bowl is among the most used items in my kitchen (it’s used for everything from muffin batter to salads at large gatherings). For stir fry recipe purposes all I need is an oven mitt (the edges tend to get hot) and a large spoon or spatula, and I’m ready to make a quick and nutritious dinner.

Once the oil is heated add the meat, poultry or seafood. Begin stirring. Remove the cooked pieces and then toss in the vegetables according to density.

Give your stir fry recipe a signature seasoning like garlic or ginger. If you really want to spice things up consider cayenne pepper, curry or red pepper flakes. There are two ways to add your favourite herbs or spices throw a little on during the stir fry process or add them to a sauce.

Most sauces are made with broth, seasonings, teriyaki or soy sauce. Cornstarch is most often used as the thickening agent. The sauce stage comes near the end of the vegetable cooking just after the meat, poultry or seafood has been reintroduced to the pan but before the last of the rapid cooking vegetables are added.

I will post again soon with more stir fry tips and a few of my favourite stir fry recipe ideas.