Umami flavor and seasonal veggies shine in my Thai Vegetable Fried Rice. The secret to perfectly tender fried rice is cooking and chilling the rice ahead. When ready to cook, prep the veggies and seasonings for a quick to pull together dinner! Top with texture rich sesame seeds, toasted cashews and green onions, for the best homemade vegetarian fried rice! This recipe is vegan or vegetarian and easily gluten free. [ watch full recipe VIDEO on recipe card ]
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Reader Review: “This turned out so good. I loved the mushrooms, pepper, garlic and ginger and broccoli. I will definitely be making this again.” ~ Judith
Recipe Inspiration
Thai cuisine quickly became a personal favorite as I adopted a vegetarian way of eating. I found it to be incredibly delicious and easily veggie packed. Inspired recipes made their way into our regular dinner rotation like these now reader favorites, Thai Peanut Noodle Salad and Vegan Thai Lentil Lettuce Wraps. What I love about Thai food is it’s fresh, umami packed and it’s easily plant focused.
I’ve been a fan of fried rice for as long as I can remember. Before making it at home, I wasn’t quite sure what the ingredients created the salty, spicy and umami filled flavors I crave. And, I always assumed vegetable fried rice was vegetarian or, omit the egg to make it vegan.
Not so.
This was in part, motivation to learn how to recreate those flavors and a homemade packed with veggies vegetarian fried rice.
About the Key Ingredients
- White Jasmine Rice – naturally fragrant and lightly sweet in flavor, it makes up the bulk of this recipe.
- Mushrooms – choose fresh crimini or shiitake (pictured here). Either are delicious!
- Tamari – a gluten-free salty, umami-packed condiment. You can substitute soy sauce if not needed.
- Liquid Aminos – a umami flavor builder, I use it as a sub for fish sauce in vegetarian cooking. You can use more Tamari or coconut aminos as a sub.
- Fresh Garlic and Ginger – both add spice and flavor. Use a microplane to get the ginger and garlic extra fine. This carries their flavors further throughout the curry. As a bonus, there’s no need to peel the ginger before microplaning.
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How to Make Vegetarian Fried Rice
Secrets of Vegetarian Fried Rice
In my search of how to make vegetarian fried rice at home, I found fish and/or oyster sauce to be a key ingredient. So, I started exploring substitutes for fish sauce and found it in liquid aminos. While it’s very close in flavor to Tamari and soy sauce, it has a certain edge to it, over-the-top umami (without MSG), enough so that I include in my Asian cooking when fish or oyster sauce is called for. It has a long shelf life, so I don’t have to worry about using it quickly.
I also learned that making vegetarian fried rice with day old rice is key to attain that light, fluffy, lifted and separated effect we all know and love when it comes to fried rice.
Thai fried rice comes together fast, so having all your veggies prepped (and rice chilled) before turning the stove on is key to pulling this recipe together quick.
Traci’s Tips
- Using day old rice for vegetarian fried rice is essential for a fabulous texture and creates a lifted and separated effect – this is what we all want, right? (ahem). And it creates an overall fluffiness that’s hard to resist. Besides, once the rice is done, prepping the veggies and cooking this recipe is a snap – hello weeknight dinner!
- Now is not the time to skimp on oil. This is fried rice after-all. I choose toasted sesame oil because it has a high smoke point and it adds an overall nutty sesame flavor.
- Variations: There are many ways to change-up this recipe using veggies on hand or those that are in season. I love adding a cup of shredded cabbage in place of broccoli or carrots in place of peas… bean sprouts, snow peas… you get the idea.
- Thai Vegetable Fried Rice with Cashews is vegetarian and vegan friendly; a fried egg or prepared tofu is a delicious addition to this recipe.
Thai Vegetable Fried Rice with Cashews
Ingredients
- 1 cup (145 grams) Cashews whole, raw
- 5 tablespoons (55 grams) Toasted Sesame Oil
- 1 1/2 cups (150 grams) Yellow or Purple Onion large dice – about 1 medium onion
- 1 cup (60 grams) Shiitake or Crimini Mushrooms sliced or large dice, stems removed
- 1 cup (140 grams) Red Bell Pepper large dice – about 1 medium pepper
- 1 tablespoon Fresh Garlic microplaned
- 1 tablespoon Fresh Ginger microplaned
- 2 teaspoon Red Chili Pepper Flakes this is spicy(ish) around spicy 3!
- 4 tablespoons Tamari divided, plus more for serving
- 2 tablespoons Liquid Aminos* (see note) or more Tamari
- 1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
- 4 cups (475 grams) Jasmine Rice ** (see note) cooked, and chilled (day old works best here – see note)*
- 4 cups (300 grams) Broccoli Florets cut to bite size
- 1 cup (105 grams) Sweet Peas frozen
- 1/2 Lime
- 2 tablespoons Thai Basil chopped, or to taste
Serve With (optional):
- lime wedges, green onions, sesame seeds, Sriracha, chopped thai basil and/or cilantro
- Fried Egg or Prepared Tofu on the top
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Place the cashews in a baking pan and bake for about 12-14 minutes until fragrant and golden. Set aside to cool.
- In a large Dutch oven, add the sesame oil and heat until shimmering. To test to see if the oil is hot enough, toss in a piece of onion. If it starts frying, it’s ready! Add the onions and saute for two minutes on medium. To the onions, add the mushrooms and stir fry for two minutes. Add the bell peppers to the onions and mushrooms and stir fry for two more minutes. Add the garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes to the vegetable mixture and saute for one minute on medium-low. Add two Tbs Tamari, Liquid Aminos (or more Tamari) and sugar, stir. To the Dutch oven, spoon in the rice and stir fry for about four to five minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan where needed, until all the rice is coated with the oil and the veggies are evenly distributed. If the rice begins to stick, add a few tablespoons of water to deglaze.
- To the rice mixture, add the broccoli and sweet peas. Stir until vegetable are evenly distributed. Cook on low heat stirring occasionally for 5-8 minutes until broccoli is tender crisp (or until desired tenderness). Taste the rice for seasoning adjustment, adding two more tablespoons of Tamari (or more) if desired. This will also help deglaze the Dutch oven. Squeeze in 1/2 lime juice and stir in the cashews and fresh basil or cilantro. Add more herbs to taste.
- Spoon the rice into big bowls, sprinkle or serve with green onions, sesame seeds, more herbs and lime wedges. If serving with tofu or fried eggs, add to the bowls now. For those that love even more spicy, serve with Sriracha.
- Store in a lidded container for up to three days in the refrigerator.
This recipe is really good. The amounts and times are spot on. I did use oyster sauce instead of tamari, and cauliflower instead of broccoli. In my opinion it is an outstanding recipe. And…. I love the oven treatment of the cashews!
Thank you for your note, Jaap, and sharing your subs! SO glad you enjoyed the recipe!
This recipe has a nice ingredient combo. I recommend high oleic peanut oil instead of the toasted sesame oil. Peanut oil allows you to stir fry at a higher temperature.
I didn’t have Tamari sauce, so I used Soy sauce, and a teaspoon of White miso. Everything else just as in the recipe. Was really tasty!
Ah, miso… that sounds amazing! Thank you for coming back and sharing your review, Liala!
This was amazing. Did everything as described, but I only used 1 tsp of the crushed red pepper. However, I did put the sriracha sauce on the table for my husband! So flavorful & satisfying. Will definitely make this again.
Hi Peggy! Thank you for your note, giving the recipe a go and star rating! Super happy to receive your note :D
Hi! I would love to try this and am using the seasonal veggies I have on hand. I don’t have broccoli but I do have cabbage, like you mentioned! If using cabbage, what time should it be added into the recipe? This looks delicious and I’m so exited to try it!!
Hi Jane! Cabbage is wonderful in this recipe. I like it tender (not crunchy), so I add it right after the mushrooms. This gives it some time to cook down. You can slice it thin or in squareish bite size pieces. I hope this helps and you enjoy the recipe. Please keep me posted!
Toasted sesame oil has a lower smoke point. It is good for adding a lovely flavor to food, but regular sesame oil is more appropriate for stir frying. That being said, you can certainly add toasted sesame oil to this dish for flavor, but use regular sesame or grapeseed oil for the high temp cooking.
I almost never comment on recipes but this recipe has been a savior for me in these quarantine times. I am vegetarian and love cooking asian food at home. I’ve made it at least 6 or 7 times and it is really amazing. I try not to eat too much oil so I reduce the sesame oil to 2 tablespoons, and since I use soy sauce instead of tamari I reduce that slightly as well to more like 1/4 cup, but this is a winner recipe overall. The cashews add amazing flavor, and it’s great with fried tofu added and/or with a fried egg on top if you’re not vegan!
Hi Campbell! Thank you for your note, rating and giving the recipe a go! So happy to hear you’re enjoying the recipe. I appreciate your sharing your subs! Aren’t the cashews such a nice addition? Yes to tofu or egg… it makes this dish extra hearty!
Quote: “4 C (475g) Jasmine Rice ** (see note) cooked,”
I find it a bit unclear. 475 g of cooked rice is very little for 6 servings, unless we talk about a serious slimming diet.. Do you possibly mean 475 g dried rice to be cooked?
Otherwise it sounds delicious and I would like to try it.
Hi Oliver! I’m sorry about any confusion. You’ll need just what the recipe indicates, 4 C (475g) Cooked Jasmine rice. When cooking raw Jasmine rice (see notes) you’ll need 1 C (220g) of uncooked rice. Your right about 4 cups of rice alone not serving 6. It wouldn’t. But because of all the veggies that are added to this recipe, it will feed 6 (at least in our household it did). I hope this helps!
Dear Tracy,
Thank you very much for your nice reply!
I cooked it today and it worked out very well. We were 1 adult and 2 teenagers and have about 2 servings left. I guess we are just big eaters because we are quite active and have a strict fitness routine. It is a nice tasty dish and we really enjoyed it.
Kind regards,
Oliver
I’m going to try this recipe this week! It sounds delicious and easy. If I don’t need the recipe to be gluten-free or vegetarian, can I use soy sauce to replace the Tamari and fish sauce to replace the liquid aminos? Or have I got them at backwards? Or can I use fish sauce for both? I live fish sauce and I’ve got lots of it.
Thanks!
Hi Sara…. you got it! Those are the swaps. Watch the salt however, as I’m not sure if the fish sauce is saltier than liquid aminos (320mg sodium per tsp of liquid aminos). I hope this helps and you enjoy the recipe!
You’re right and good thinking. I checked the fish sauce and it’s 535g of Adium per tsp. Luckily, I love salt but I’ll keep an eye on how much I use and not use any other added salt.
Thanks for your help!
I made this recipe the other day and it turned out fabulous and I loved it and will definitely be making it again.
So happy to hear, Vicki! Thank you for your note!
We had this for lunch today and it was absolutely delicious. I cooked the jasmine rice the day before and it does make a difference. I first used the instructions on the packet and it was a flop, I then used the rice instructions from recipe and came out perfect. Next time I would add a teeny bit more chili. Would also swap out the vegetables for ones that my hubbie likes, broccoli is not his favorite :) I bought the amino acids just for this recipe, now to google what else I can do with it.
Hi Dot! Thank you for coming back and leaving a note! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe. I’ve been known to amp up the chili too – to a spicy 4 or even 5! I’ve a few more recipes on the blog that use liquid aminos. I tend to use it anywhere fish sauce is called for (to keep the recipe vegetarian)! For example in these Lettuce wraps: https://vanillaandbean.com/thai-lentil-lettuce-wraps-with-miso-sriracha-peanut-sauce/ Thank you again, Dot!
Could you use brown rice instead of jasmine or would that change the dish too much?
Hey Brittan! I think Brown Rice could work. It’s starchier than Jasmine, but if you give it a good rest in the fridge overnight so that it’s less sticky, I think it would be fine. I will say that the flavor and fragrance of Jasmine rice is really nice in this recipe though. I hope you enjoy it and please let us know how the brown rice works out for you.
This turned out so good. I loved the mushrooms, pepper, garlic and ginger and broccoli. I will definitely be making this again.
Hi Judith! Thank you so much for your note and giving this a go! The garlic and ginger really amp up the flavor profile… I love them too!
What a genius way to pack more flavor into a classic favorite! The Thai basil and cashews totally amp it up and then all those bright veggies really make it shine. Thanks for the inspiration, as always, Traci!
Hi Jean! Thank you so much.. I hope you enjoy the recipe and all those extra goodies!