A good stir-fry is a fantastic weeknight meal. This one in particular has it all: plant-based protein from tempeh, crispy colorful vegetables, and that sweet-yet-spicy honey-ginger sauce.

How to make healthy honey-ginger tempeh stir-fry

Start whipping up this 30-minute meal by making the honey-ginger sauce. In addition to the obvious honey and ginger, you’ll need low-sodium soy sauce (or tamari, for gluten-free), rice wine vinegar, white miso, garlic and either stock or water. Vegetable stock packs a lot more flavor than water, of course, but if you don’t have any stock on hand, water will do the trick.

You can add a hit of spice with sriracha or crushed red pepper flakes too. Make sure to give the sauce a good thorough whisk to break up all of the miso and dissolve it. You want a nice smooth sauce.

Then, to start cooking, heat a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet. When it comes to your skillet, the bigger the better for this Tempeh Stir-Fry, because you want to pack in as many vegetables as you can. Plus, you’ll need enough room to stir while you cook!

As soon as the oil is warm, add in cubed tempeh and half of the Honey-Ginger Sauce. Stir to coat the tempeh well in the sauce and cook until the tempeh cubes turn golden. Be careful to manage your heat to avoid burning, as honey can burn quickly over high heat. As soon as the tempeh is a nice color, remove it from a pan to a plate nearby.

Then, finish things up by heating the remaining oil and adding carrots, snap peas, green beans, bell pepper and the rest of the Honey-Ginger Sauce. You can truly use any of your favorite veggies in this stir-fry. Other colored peppers, asparagus, zucchini, eggplant and greens would add nice crunch, flavor and color to your stir-fry.

Just before the vegetables are crisp-tender (aka: still have a crunch), add the tempeh back to the skillet. Give everything a final good stir to coat evenly and bring the tempeh back to temperature. To serve, scoop stir-fry over fluffy brown rice and there you have it: colorful, plant-based Honey Ginger Tempeh Stir-Fry for dinner in under 30 minutes.

How to easily mince ginger and garlic with a microplane

The key to a smooth stir-fry sauce here is making sure the ginger and garlic are minced as small as possible. Instead of fighting with a tiny garlic clove or ginger chunk on your cutting board, break out your microplane. This is one of my personal favorite kitchen tools. It breaks down everything from garlic and ginger to nutmeg and citrus zest into tiny particles without risking your fingertips.

Grate the garlic and ginger directly into the bowl you’re making the sauce in for easy cleanup, no cutting board necessary.

To make things even easier, store your ginger in the freezer. When it’s frozen solid, ginger grates up easily without any annoying fibers getting in the way.

Honey-ginger Tempeh Stir-fry Recipe

Ingredients

½ cup low-sodium soy sauce
¼ cup vegetable stock or water
¼ cup rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon white miso
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
2 tablespoons neutral oil, divided
1 package tempeh, cut into ½ inch cubes
1 cup snap peas
1 cup green beans, cut into 1½ inch pieces
1 red bell pepper, sliced thinly
4 carrots, sliced thinly

Cooked brown rice, for serving

Instructions

To make the sauce, whisk together the soy sauce, stock/water, rice wine vinegar, honey, miso, garlic and ginger in a small bowl.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high. When the oil is hot, add the tempeh and half of the sauce and cook, stirring, until the tempeh is coated in the sauce and golden brown. Remove the tempeh to a plate.
Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in the skillet. When hot, add the snap peas, green beans, bell pepper, and carrots. Add the remaining sauce and cooking, tossing regularly, until the veggies are crisp-tender. Return the tempeh to the skillet and toss to coat evenly in the sauce.
Serve over brown rice.

What to Make with Tempeh: Honey-ginger Stir-fry