We are showing you how to make the quickest and easiest lentil stir-fry. Tender lentils, crunchy broccoli florets, and sweet corn served with turmeric rice for a real burst of color. If you follow this recipe, you will have a healthy, filling and colorful lunch or dinner within 20 minutes on the table.
When we need something quick and easy, at first we might think of pasta, right? In that case, you should definitely browse through our vegan and gluten-free pasta sauce recipes for inspiration. We particularly love our Vegan Cashew Alfredo Sauce or our Spinach Pasta Sauce as both of them are done in 15 MINUTES!!! Not to mention our kid-favorite Hidden Vegetable Pasta Sauce with 7 different veggies and legumes.
However, vegetable stir fry is also a really good basis for a quick dish. You can easily make some tweaks to get interesting and versatile results. Let us show you how to make a lentil stir fry as easy as pasta. By the way, this recipe is also part of our Quick Vegan Meals collection.
Subscribe to our newsletters and download it right now.
⇒ Get our FREE 7-DAY VEGAN MEAL PLAN now! or check out all the vegan meal plan recipes here! ⇐
What do you need to make lentil stir fry?
For us, vegetable stir fry means – in simple terms – a bunch of delicious veggies cooked in a wok. This broccoli lentil stir fry recipe has only 6 main ingredients, but will not leave your taste buds craving more.
- broccoli,
- brown lentils,
- sweet corn,
- onion,
- garlic,
- non-dairy cream (optional)
Simple right? There is no overwhelming list of ingredients. Yet from a nutritional value point of view you can tick quite a few boxes, while at the same time it is tasty and filling.
How to make broccoli lentil stir-fry?
Do you need to pre-cook broccoli?
NO!!! We love them a bit crunchy so we often just cut the broccoli into smaller florets and skip the blanching (pre-cooking) altogether. However, if you have large florets, you need to pre-cook them aka blanch them in advance.
How to pre-cook broccoli?
First, cut broccoli into florets (photo #1). Heat up the wok and add the broccoli florets with salt and pepper and fry them for 5 minutes (photo #2). Now, cover up to half with water and cook them for another 5 minutes with a lid on until tender but crisp (photos #3-4). When ready, drain the water. That’s all!
How to make lentil stir-fry quickly?
Peel and chop onion and garlic. Cook the chopped onion in olive oil for a couple of minutes (photo #1). Add chopped garlic and continue cooking for a couple of minutes (photo #2). Add cooked or canned brown lentils, sweet corn, the small broccoli florets, and the seasoning (photo #3-5). Stir and cook for a couple of minutes.
Optional: If you prefer creamy lentil stir fry, you can add a bit of dairy-free cream (photo #6). Stir and wait until the cream is boiling and it is ready to be served.
Top tips to make a perfect lentil stir fry:
- If you are cooking this recipe also in a wok, make sure to heat it up before adding any ingredients. Once the wok is hot, you can turn back the heat to medium, but ALWAYS stir continuously.
- If you don’t have a wok, don’t worry you can use a non-stick frying pan as well.
- If you don’t want to try blanching the broccoli. You can also pre-cook the florets in boiling water separately. In that case, pay attention not to overcook the florets as they might fall apart in the wok afterward. Or cut the florets smaller and only fry them in the pan for a couple of minutes to turn them tender but crunchy.
- Optional to add dairy-free heavy cream as we like both versions equally.
⇒ Get our FREE 7-DAY VEGAN MEAL PLAN now! or check out all vegan meal plan recipes here! ⇐
FAQ and Substitutions
What can I serve with a lentil stir fry?
You can serve it with white or brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat or other gluten-free grains and their combinations. However, if you don’t need to eat gluten-free, you can serve it with for example bulgur as well. For a low carb version, you can choose this 10-min cauliflower rice recipe over at Laura’s blog instead.
Can you use other vegetables?
Yes, of course. This recipe works with other vegetables as well. Whatever is in season or whatever you like. We also love the following combinations:
- asparagus, green peas, and mushroom
- zucchini, sweet corn, and mushroom
- zucchini, eggplant, and chickpeas
What vegetables do you stir fry first?
We always start with the hard vegetables to pre-cook or blanch like broccoli, cauliflower, or asparagus. Then we add the soft vegetables like zucchini, eggplant or mushroom. Almost at the end of the cooking, we add the vegetables should only be heated up not cooked like sugar peas, leafy greens, and any canned legumes like sweet corn, lentils, or chickpeas.
Which vegetables take longer to stir fry?
Definitely the hard vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower or asparagus. They need to be pre-cooked or blanched to become tender but still crisp.
What makes a good stir fry?
The rainbow of vegetables. You need hard veggies to have something crispy, soft veggies to have something tender and legumes to make it filling. And finally, you need to choose a grain to garnish it with.
⇒ Get our FREE 7-DAY VEGAN MEAL PLAN now! or check out all vegan meal plan recipes here! ⇐
This Broccoli Lentil Stirfry recipe is gluten-free and vegan so meat-free, dairy-free and egg-free.
It is only WFPB-friendly if you cook the onion/garlic and blanch the broccoli without olive oil, so in water or in veggie broth.
⇒ Get our FREE 7-DAY VEGAN MEAL PLAN now! or check out all vegan meal plan recipes here! ⇐
More lunch and dinner recipes
You can browse our vegan and gluten-free lunch and dinner recipe gallery or see all recipes using broccoli or check out
- Simple Chickpea Curry with Broccoli and Mushroom
- Vegan Portobello Mushroom Fajitas
- Thai Red Curry Mac and Cheese
- Vegan Spaghetti Bolognese
- Easy Vegan Eggplant Meatballs Spaghetti
Quick Broccoli Lentil Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp Olive oil
- 1 Onion (medium)
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 2 ½ cup Broccoli
- 4 cup Brown lentils (canned)
- ⅓ cup Sweet corn (canned)
- 1 cup Dairy-free cream optional
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1 cup Rice
- ½ tsp Turmeric optional
Instructions
- Cook rice of your choice as per instructions (10-20 mins).
How to pre-cook broccoli?
- You can skip this step if you cut your florets small enough. Otherwise, you need to pre-cook them in boiling water or blanch them as per below instructions
- Cut broccoli into florets.
- Heat up the wok or frying pan until it's hot and add the broccoli florets with salt and pepper and fry them for 5 minutes.
- Add water until the broccoli florets are covered. Cook them on medium heat for 5-6 minutes until the florets are tender but still crisp. When ready, drain it.
How to make broccoli lentil stir fry?
- Peel and chop onion and garlic.
- Pre-heat wok or frying pan and cook the chopped onion in olive oil for a couple of minutes.
- Add chopped garlic and continue cooking for a couple of minutes.
- Add blanched broccoli or smaller broccoli florets, canned brown lentils, sweet corn and the seasoning. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes.
- OPTIONAL: Add the dairy-free cream. Stir and wait until the cream is boiling and your stir fry is ready to be served.
- Serve it with cooked white or brown rice. If you want a little bit of extra colour, dye your rice with 1.2 tsp turmeric.
Notes
- If you are cooking this recipe also in a wok, make sure to heat it up before adding any ingredients. Once the wok is hot, you can turn back the heat to medium, but ALWAYS stir continuously.
- If you don't have a wok, don't worry you can use a non-stick frying pan as well.
- If you don't want to try blanching the broccoli. You can also pre-cook the florets in boiling water separately. In that case, pay attention not to overcook the florets as they might fall apart in the wok afterward. Or cut the florets smaller and only fry them in the pan for a couple of minutes to turn them tender but crunchy.
- Optional to add dairy-free heavy cream as we like both versions equally.
Video
Nutrition
UPDATED: This recipe was originally posted in June 2018, but was rewritten and republished with new photos, instructions, and tips in February 2020.
Lorienne
My husband raved over this meal and I thoroughly enjoyed it as well. Quick and easy and exploding with flavor! I did use pure coconut cream and served the broccoli and lentils over a gluten-free mix of grains including buckwheat, basmati, millet, red quinoa, and wild black rice. Simply delicious! Can’t wait to try different veggie combinations as well – first time out I followed the recipe pretty exactly and it was really fantastic! Thank you!
My Pure Plants
Hi Lorienne,
Thank you so much for trying our recipe. We are so happy you liked and shared your experience with us. Happy cooking!
Kapitchou
Thank you so much. This is exactly the sort of recipe I was looking for for my family: vegetables and lentils, easy and quick, and so tasty. My 5yo child who is currently very picky about food ate it up without too much resistance 🙂 Thank you!! I’m grateful for you and this blog.
My Pure Plants
Hi, we are so glad you and your family liked it. It is definitely a quick and colorful meal which is just so easy to like.
agahie raiegan
really nice
thanks…
Sea
The broccoli’s great. My kid will love it. Thank you
David
The supermarket run out of broccoli, so I made this with cauliflover. We love this version too! 🙂
My Pure Plants
It must have been delicious with cauliflower too. Thanks for the tip. 😉
Sharon Rausch
I learn so much from you as well! Thank you so much for sharing