I found myself with a handful of leftover vegetables in my fridge this week, so you know what that means—STIR FRY TIME! I went extra tropical this time, to escape these winter blues, with a spicy coconut and peanut sauce, complete with fresh lime and cilantro. This Spicy Coconut Vegetable Stir Fry is fully adjustable for heat and whatever vegetables you have on hand, so read below for modifications!
This post contains some affiliate links, which means that we make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.
Adjust the Heat
I used a full 2 Tbsp of sriracha in my coconut sauce, which gave it a good medium-level heat. If you want a slightly spicy sauce, use only 1 Tbsp sriracha, and if you want a sauce with zero heat, simply leave the sriracha out.
Vegetable Options
As I mentioned above, I jut used a mix of vegetables that were lingering in my fridge, freezer, and pantry. If you don’t have any vegetables on hand, this would be a great opportunity to take advantage of a grocery store salad bar. Grab a handful of 4-5 different vegetables, about 4-6 cups of vegetables total, and you’re good to go. And, if in a pinch, you can always use a bag of frozen stir fry vegetables.
Add a Protein
If you want to add a dedicated protein to this meal, this Spicy Coconut Vegetable Stir Fry is very versatile. You can add chicken, shrimp, tofu, or tempeh. Just sauté your protein in the skillet first, then remove it before adding the vegetables (to avoid over cooking the protein), then add the protein back in when you add the spicy coconut sauce.
Spicy Coconut Vegetable Stir Fry
Ingredients
Spicy Coconut Sauce
- 1 13.5oz. can full-fat coconut milk ($1.79)
- 1/4 cup natural style peanut butter ($0.28)
- 2 Tbsp sriracha ($0.18)
- 1 tsp brown sugar ($0.01)
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce ($0.06)
- 2 Tbsp lime juice (about one lime) ($0.22)
- 1 clove garlic, minced ($0.08)
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger ($0.10)
Stir Fry
- 4-6 cups mixed vegetables ($1.93)
- 1 Tbsp high heat cooking oil of choice ($0.04)
Optional for Serving
- 4 cups cooked rice (or 8oz. noodles) ($0.70)
- 1/4 cup chopped peanuts ($0.12)
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro ($0.22)
- 1 lime (cut into wedges) ($0.22)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the coconut milk, peanut butter, sriracha, brown sugar, soy sauce, lime juice, minced garlic, and grated ginger. If needed, gently heat the sauce in the microwave or in a sauce pot to help the peanut butter melt into the coconut milk. Taste the sauce and adjust the heat (sriracha), salt (soy sauce), sweetness (brown sugar), or tartness (lime juice) to your liking.
- Chop your vegetables, if not pre-chopped. Heat the cooking oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Once hot, add the vegetables to the skillet in order of hardest to softest to allow harder vegetables, like carrots, more time to cook and to avoid over cooking softer vegetables. Stir fry the vegetables only for about 1-2 minutes, or just until they begin to soften on the edges because they will cook further once the sauce is added. If using a tender green, like spinach, wait to add it to the skillet until after the sauce has been added.
- Pour the prepared spicy coconut sauce over the vegetables, stir to combine, and allow the sauce to heat through (about 2 minutes). If you are using a tender green, like spinach, stir it into the hot sauce and stir just until it has wilted.
- To serve, spoon the vegetables and sauce over a bowl of hot rice, or add pre-cooked noodles to the skillet and toss with the vegetables and sauce until combined. Top with chopped peanuts, cilantro, and serve with a wedge of lime to squeeze over top.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
Video
How to Make Spicy Coconut Vegetable Stir Fry – Step by Step Photos
First, make your spicy coconut sauce. In a medium bowl, whisk together one 13.5oz. can of full-fat coconut milk, 1/4 cup natural style peanut butter, 2 Tbsp sriracha, 1 tsp brown sugar, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 2 Tbsp lime juice (about one lime-worth), 1 clove of minced garlic, and 1 tsp of grated fresh ginger. If you have a difficult time getting your peanut butter to incorporate into the coconut milk, you can gently heat the sauce in the microwave or a sauce pan to help it melt in (I did not need to do so).
You can use anywhere from 4-6 cups-worth of mixed vegetables. I just grabbed some things that I had in my fridge, but you can also get a mix of pre-chopped vegetables from the salad bar at the grocery store, or use a bag of frozen stir fry vegetables.
Heat 1 Tbsp high heat cooking oil of your choice in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, begin adding the vegetables, starting with the hardest vegetables first and adding the softest vegetables last. Stir fry only for 1-2 minutes, or just until they begin to soften on the edges. The vegetables will cook even more once the sauce is added and you don’t want them to be completely limp at the end, so err on the side of under cooked during this step. If you’re using a tender green, like spinach, wait to add that until after the sauce has been added.
Next add the prepared spicy coconut sauce…
Stir to combine the sauce with the vegetables, then allow it to heat through. It should heat through very quickly in the hot skillet. Once the sauce is hot, add any greens if you’re using them and stir just until they wilt in the hot sauce.
Top with chopped peanuts, cilantro, and a squeeze of fresh lime, if desired. To serve the Spicy Coconut Vegetable Stir Fry you can spoon the vegetables and sauce over rice, or add cooked noodles to the skillet and toss to combine with the sauce.
I went the rice route today (jasmine rice, specifically), and it was super delish!
This sauce was so delicious! Next time I’ll probably need to use a little less sriracha. Thanks for sharing!
Just made this for dinner, we loved it! ย I sautรฉed one chopped up chicken breast first in some olive oil until it was cooked through, took it out of the pan and then followed the directions as above in the same pan and added the chicken back in at the end. ย The brown bits at the bottom of the pan added extra flavor that was delicious!
Trader Joes sells a container of fresh asian stir fry veggies in the produce section that I used. ย More expensive but made this such a breeze, no chopping required! ย They worked perfectly.
Next time I’ll definitely add chopped peanuts. ย This is a keeper!ย
Delicious, simple and fast. ย My husband and I are foodies who eat clean for health reasons ย (no diary, soy, processed sugar, grains, etc.) ย and my health-related substitutions work great! ย I use light coconut milk, coconut nectar instead of brown sugar, coconut aminos instead of soy sauce, and paleo sriracha which doesn’t have sugar in it. ย Finally, I use riced cauliflower instead of grains. ย Amazing!
I knew I had to make this recipe when I saw it because I had a bunch of vegetables in my fridge left over from other recipes. Most quick, easy, fridge-purge recipes are just okay, but do the job. This one actually wowed me! I couldn’t believe that just a few ingredients made such a flavourful sauce! I will DEFINITELY be making this again!
I wonder if using Light Coconut Milk would work too? I typically don’t want that much saturated fat in a dish – it makes all the “creamy” recipes hard to figure out. What do you think? Has anyone tried that sub?
I think you could probably get away with light coconut milk, although it will be a bit soupier, since it’s not as thick.
Thank you. I think I’ll try half of full-fat and half of light coconut milk. I’m also wondering if I could try the light coconut milk with a small amount of corn starch to thicken. What do you think? I’m not the world’s best cook – so it could go sideways. :-\
Hmm, I’m really not sure how that cornstarch will turn out. That one is a bit too difficult to predict.
One of my favorite thai places makes an incredible spicy stir fry, looks just like this, so I’m super excited to try it! Is the peanut butter flavor relatively subtle or is it a very obvious flavor? And, if you were to make a batch of the sauce, and only need half, would you say it keeps well in the fridge?
Will come back later when I’ve made it to leave a glowing review ;)
Thanks!
You could probably keep the sauce in the fridge for 2-3 days. The peanut flavor is not overwhelming, but you can definitely taste it.
oMGGGG it’s so good! I was worried there won’t be enough curry but it was awesome. We added a pinch of salt too & it was the easiest meal ever.
My boyfriend hates peanut butter sauces but even he was hooked! Will be my new staple whenever I need to get rid of extra produce or a quick meal.
Sounds great – will try it tonight! Thanks, Beth, for sharing so many great recipes and ideas.
Looking forward to making this soon, but I only have regular bad-for-you-full-of-sugar peanut butter. Would you omit the brown sugar in that case? Or is this just too sweet if made with already-sweetened PB?
I’d probably at least reduce the brown sugar to compensate for the sugar in the peanut butter. You can start with no brown sugar and then add some to taste. :)
Yep, I tried this a few days ago without ย seeing Bethโs comment. I just wanted to say that regular peanut butter worked well for me, and I added no sugar. Donโt be afraid to use what you have and experiment. :)ย
Thanks for providing your experience! Very helpful. :)
So good! Reminds me of some of my favorite local peanut curry takeout — only now I can make it at home for double the servings at half the price! Thank you!!
Thanks for sharing this blog post…….It’s amazing post
This sauce is so good! And, the recipe makes a lot of sauce which is awesome. ย I used a bag of frozen stir fry vegetables and half a box of rice noodles, so the ease factor was extra high for a quick weekend before a holiday lunch…and the yum factor was high too. ๐
SO GOOD. Added tons of veggies (probably closer to 7-8 cups) including: broccoli, carrots, corn, bell peppers, and spinach. Also added premade stir fry noodles before adding the sauce and added cooked shrimp at the end. Kept the same amount of sauce the same but with a little extra sriracha because we like spicy and it was still plenty to cover every bite and I ended up with many more servings. Very colorful meal and so so so yummy.
Great for a meal prep.
Great, easy recipe. I made this 2x last week because it was that good. I will keep this on my rotation forever! Thanks for having such accessible, delicious recipes!