Vegan Chop Suey: Recipe With Stir-Fried Veggies

Making chop suey vegan is incredibly simple! Here is a quick, nutritious, and delicious plant-based recipe to add to your repertoire any day of the week.

Chop suey is an American Chinese dish, that has taken hold in most overseas Chinese culinary scenes as well. Versions vary, but the standard list of ingredients includes vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery over rice, chow mein, or stir-fried noodles. The sauce is simply made with soy sauce and starch-thickened, and classic versions include some sort of meat. Though the exact origin story is contested, what is known is that it is quick, cost-effective, and full of flavor. Since animal products only traditionally find themselves present in the added protein, making a vegan chop suey is an easy transition!

Vegan Chop Suey: A Simple Recipe

Chop suey is meant to be quick and easy, so feel free to switch up the vegetables to use what you have in the fridge and, ideally, whatever is in season! 

Basic Ingredients of Vegan Chop Suey:

• cooked rice or noodles to serve 
• sautéed tofu or tempeh to serve 
• 2 tbs cooking oil

Vegetables

• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 1 medium carrot, thinly sliced
• 1 bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup of sugar snap peas or snow peas
• 1 stalk of celery, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup of cabbage, shredded (substitute for other cruciferous vegetables, like broccoli, if no cabbage is in season or available)
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tbs ginger, minced (You can grow your own ginger to avoid excessive imported foods)
• 1/4 cup of bean sprouts (You can easily grow your own sprouts)

Sauce 

• 1 cup/240 ml vegetable broth (Tip: We have a recipe for homemade vegetable broth )
• 3 tbs soy sauce, ideally organic from the US (like from edenfoods.com)
• 2 tbs rice vinegar 
• 3 tsp organic brown beet sugar (like this one available on Amazon** or on nowfoods.com), or alternatively maple syrup, brown sugar, date sugar, or coconut blossom sugar Tip: Find out whether your brown sugar is vegan or not
• 2 tbs cornstarch or arrowroot powder 
• 1 pinch of chili flakes 
• salt and pepper to taste 

Instructions:

1. Cook rice or noodles and protein of choice (for example sautéed tempeh or tofu).
2. Heat oil in pan or wok over medium heat.
3. Once hot, add onions and carrots.
4. Once the onions have softened and are translucent, add the rest of the vegetables. Sauté for five minutes or so, stirring the vegetables in the pan.
5. In the meantime, add the sauce ingredients in a bowl and whisk. (Making a slurry for the starch will prevent clumping).
6. Pour the sauce into the pan and bring it to a simmer, let it cook for a few minutes and then turn off the heat. 
7. Serve over cooked rice or noodles and your vegan protein of choice. 

Read on: 

• Is Hoisin Sauce Vegan? Facts & A Vegan Recipe
• Vegan Mantou Recipe: How to Make Chinese Steamed Buns
• Is Soy Sauce Bad For You? Not If You Follow These 5 Rules

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Tags: Guide recipe Vegan