Thai Oyster Mushroom Noodle Stir Fry

It is an easy aromatic Thai noodle stir fry with sauteed oyster mushrooms, tofu, par-boiled broccoli, and rice noodles. Thai food is well-known for its spiciness, although it’s not always hot to taste. We promise you that this oyster mushroom stir fry dish is better with a bit of a kick.

If you love aromatic Asian dishes, you would love pad woon sen aka Thai glass noodles stir fry, this Thai red curry tofu stir fry with wood ear mushrooms, or this Indian chickpea mushroom curry. I almost forgot about these delicious vegan duck dumplings wrapped and fried in rice paper.

Ingredients

With any stir fry dish, you can mix and match different ingredients that you have in your pantry or refrigerator. We recommend using a rainbow of veggies so something green, something red, and something yellow. It looks more appetizing if it is colorful. To make this noodle dish, we used the following combination of ingredients. See the recipe card for quantities.

• Rice noodles – We used the rice noodles recommended for pad thai. If you are following a gluten-free diet, please note that rice noodles are usually gluten-free as they are made of 100% rice flour. However, you should always check the packaging before cooking with it.
• Oyster mushrooms – You can use any type of oyster mushrooms, but in this recipe, we used pearl oysters. Here is a list of where to buy them or how to grow oyster mushrooms at home.
• Firm tofu – Soft tofu is more for sauces. It is very hard to work them into stir-fries.
• Broccoli
• Garlic
• Fresh red chili peppers
• Fresh basil and mint – We recommend using Thai basil. Since it is not commonly available we added a bit of fresh mint next to Italian basil to get closer to the anise-like peppery flavor of Thai basil.
• Cane sugar – You can use other sweeteners of course.
• Soy sauce – Dark soy sauce is not gluten-free, we recommend using tamari or any of these gluten-free soy sauce substitutes.

How to make this Thai stir fry?

Preparing oyster mushrooms for stir fry

These mushrooms are usually not that dirty since they grow on trees and not in dirt. All you need to do are these 3 steps to prepare oyster mushrooms for cooking. Clean it with a dry cloth if needed. Cut off the last bit of the stem. Shred with your fingers.

While I think the texture of stir-fried tofu is simply delicious in this recipe. If you want your tofu to be extra crispy, you can fry it in advance (without any sauce) similar to how we do it in our copycat chipotle sofritas recipe.

1. We used our UnoCasa cast-iron skillet* but you can use a frying pan as well and heat it over medium/high heat.
2. Add a bit of oil and fry the tofu slices or cubes until they get a golden-brown crust. (See the below picture for reference from our sofritas recipe)

Parboiling broccoli

Parboiling means you cook the broccoli in boiling water just until they start to soften but remain still a bit crunchy. It will take approximately 5 minutes. This way the broccoli florets will not fall into pieces during stir-frying but will hold their shape. You should par-boil any other hard veggies you wish to use for example cauliflower, or root veggies like carrots.

Stir-frying

1. Pre-heat wok or large skillet over medium heat and add high heat-resistance vegetable oil like sunflower oil or coconut oil.
2. Lower the heat and add chopped garlic and red chili peppers. Stir and cook for 1 minute.
3. Add soy sauce (or tamari) and cane sugar. Stir continuously and cook it until the sugar has melted and the sauce starts to bubble up.
4. Add shredded oyster mushrooms and diced tofu. Sautee them for 5 minutes. (picture #1)
5. Then, add a bit of water to replace the liquid content that has been evaporated before adding the par-boiled broccoli. Sautee them for 2-3 minutes. (picture #2)
6. Now, add the cooked rice noodles and stir well until they are covered with the sauce. (picture #3)
7. Finally, remove it from the heat before adding the fresh basil and mint leaves. (picture #4)

Substitutions

What other veggies can you add?

You can use other veggies instead of broccoli for example cauliflower, carrots, green beans, bean sprouts, red bell pepper, green onion, eggplant, zucchini, Chinese broccoli aka gai lan, bok choy, shredded cabbage, spinach, or other leafy greens. If you use hard veggies like carrots or cauliflower, we recommend parboiling them just like we did with broccoli. Let us know in the comments what is your favorite combination.

What can you use instead of oyster mushrooms?

You can use any of these oyster mushroom substitutes. The closest ones are probably shiitake mushrooms and maitake mushrooms, but common white button mushrooms work great as well. Please note here that if you decide to use these then they will likely release more moisture so you don’t need to add the extra water we recommend in the recipe card.

What can you use instead of soy sauce?

If you don’t want to use soy sauce because you need to eat gluten-free, we recommend using tamari as the closest alternative. You can find other options in our “is soy sauce gluten-free” article. If you need something soy-free, we recommend liquid aminos.

Since we are a vegan blog, we can’t recommend fish sauce or oyster sauce since none of them are vegan.

What to serve with a noodle stir fry?

Well, noodles are already added so you really don’t need any additional side dishes. However, if you are interested in knowing some topping or garnish ideas for this oyster mushroom noodle stir-fry recipe, here is what we recommend:

• Toasted sesame oil – It adds a lovely nutty flavor to it.
• Freshly chopped cilantro
• A bit of lime juice – To bring out the savory flavors more.

FAQs

How to store leftovers?

Dishes are usually best served fresh. That being said you can store this oyster mushroom noodle stir fry in an air-tight container for 3-4 days in your fridge.

Can you make them ahead of time?

You can store oyster mushrooms easily up to a week in the fridge, or at room temperature for 1-2 days. For more tips, read our how to store oyster mushrooms article. The finished dish can be stored in the fridge for up to 3-4 days. When you are ready to serve them, reheat them in a frying pan or skillet.

This Thai oyster mushroom noodle stir fry recipe is meat-free, egg-free, and dairy-free. It is suitable for a vegan, vegetarian, and nut-free diet. It is only gluten-free if you choose a proper soy sauce substitute. It is not WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based) as you would need oil to make it.

More oyster mushroom recipes

Don’t know what else to cook with oyster mushrooms? You can find several delicious oyster mushroom recipes here or check out one from the below list:

• Pan-fried Green Herb Oyster Mushroom
• Teriyaki Oyster Mushroom Steak
• BBQ Vegan Pulled Pork Burger
• Veggie Hummus Quesadillas without Cheese
• Hearty Vegan Breakfast Hash

More vegan Asian recipes

• Chinese BBQ Tofu Burger
• Rice Paper Spring Rolls
• Vegan Hoisin Duck Dumplings
• Spicy Vegan Samosa Rolls
• Vietnamese Spring Rolls
• Baked Vegan Egg Rolls