Get ready to fall in love with this easy vegan Cashew Celery Stir Fry with Pineapple! The combination of flavors and textures will keep you reaching for more! The sweet and sour pineapple stir fry sauce comes together in 2 minutes and can be made gluten-free with a gluten-free soy sauce or coconut aminos.
The whole recipe takes 20 minutes from start to finish. Perfect for weeknights!
Stir fries have been our go-to dinners lately, and this cashew celery stir fry has (surprisingly) been our FAVORITE recently! Why surprisingly?? Because when my husband saw the amount of celery going into this recipe, he started questioning his life choices.
It might sound odd to use celery as one of the main ingredients in a stir fry, but celery is delightfully crunch and amazingly tasty when paired with this sweet and sour pineapple stir fry sauce.
It is good! Do you trust me enough to give it a try?? 🙂
Quick veggie-loaded weeknight stir fry
We love stir fries because they are a great way to get a ton of veggies into our meals without it being boring. And the fact that they can be made in 20 minutes from start to finish?? AMAZING!
I highly recommend serving this over long-grain white rice. I always start my rice in the Instant Pot (this is the 8-quart one I have) before I start cooking stir fries, so that the rice is ready in time to eat! The Instant Pot is truly a magical appliance, since it takes 4 minutes to cook rice (plus pressure time).
Make sure to read the recipe through and get ALL your ingredients prepared before you start cooking, because the actual cook time of this recipe is only about 10 minutes, so it goes FAST once you get started!
Here’s what you need:
- Sesame oil: I absolutely love the nutty, rich aroma of sesame oil. I find that it gives all my recipes a better flavor without being overpowering. This is the one I’ve used and loved for years. It’s inexpensive and so so good. If you have a sesame allergy, use any cooking oil you prefer!
- Onion, garlic, and ginger. The flavor makers. I use a microplane zester (such as this one) to grate garlic and ginger, I find it to be the easiest tool when I need both of these ingredients).
- Celery. I used 8 stalks of celery for recipe, which comes out to about 2-3 cups of thinly sliced celery. If you are not sure about this, use less celery and more bell peppers the first time you try this stir fry!
- Bell peppers. I used two, mostly to get more fun colors into this stir fry!
- Cashews. I used 1.5 cups of raw cashews and toasted them in a pan. I love the creamy rich nutty flavor and texture the cashews give. I buy mine in bulk here.
- 20 oz can of pineapple in juice – chunks or rings. I used both the juice and the pineapple for this recipe. If you can’t find canned pineapple chunks, you can get the pineapple rings and slice them into chunks. The 20 oz can was just right size to have plenty of pineapple for this stir fry and 1 cup of pineapple juice for the stir fry sauce.
- Soy sauce, or use gluten-free soy sauce or coconut aminos if needed.
- Corn starch, or use tapioca starch if you prefer not to use corn products. This helps thicken the sauce and turn it into a glaze consistency, making sure the sauce sticks to the veggies really well!
- Red pepper flakes, scallions, salt, brown sugar – all optional
As you can see this stir fry is loaded with healthy veggies and and you get a little time-saving help from a few canned/packaged products. As much as I love fresh produce, I actually do not recommend using fresh pineapple for this one! It’s pretty time-consuming to chop it into really thin chunks, plus you will need pineapple juice for the stir fry sauce!
How to make pineapple cashew celery stir fry:
Step 1: Whisk together all the sauce ingredients in a medium bowl (1 cup pineapple juice, ¼ cup soy sauce or coconut aminos, 1 tablespoon corn starch, and a pinch of red pepper flakes).
Step 2: Toast the cashews in a dry skillet until they are slightly golden brown and fragrant. This will make them more flavorful and crunchier!
Step 3: Pre heat a large skillet, add the sesame oil, then saute the sliced yellow onion, minced garlic, grated ginger)along with the diced celery stalks for about 5 minutes, or until the onion starts to soften.
Step 4: Add the sliced bell pepper, then add the stir fry sauce to the pan, making sure to scrape any corn starch that may have settled at the bottom of the bowl. Bring to a gentle boil, reduce the heat, and cook for 2-3 minutes stirring frequently, or until the sauce thickens.
Step 5: Stir in the sliced pineapple, toasted cashews, and scallion. Carefully taste the sauce (it’s hot!!) and adjust the seasonings if needed, with a pinch of salt or a touch of brown sugar or agave nectar.
Step 6: Serve over rice, noodles, or in lettuce wraps, and enjoy!! Season with some sesame seeds, if you like.
Other easy weeknight recipes you will love:
Other Asian-inspired vegan recipes
- Vegan egg roll in a bowl
- Easy vegan fried rice
- Cucumber edamame salad
- Tofu broccoli stir fry – coming soon!
If you make this Pineapple Celery Stir Fry recipe or any other recipe on my blog then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I LOVE hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST to see more delicious food!!!
Vegan Cashew Pineapple Stir Fry with Celery
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 1 inch piece ginger, grated
- 8 stalks sliced celery, from about 6-8 stalks
- 2 bell peppers, seeds removed and thinly sliced (I used red and yellow)
- 1½ cups cashews, roasted or toasted (see notes)
- 1½ cups chopped pineapple chunks, from 20-oz can (see notes)
- 2 scallions, chopped
- Optional: salt or sweetener, such as brown sugar or agave
For the pineapple stir fry sauce
- 1 cup pineapple juice, (from 20-oz can of pineapple)
- ¼ cup soy sauce, (use gluten-free, or coconut aminos if needed)
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes, or more to taste
- 1 tablespoon corn starch, or tapioca starch for corn-free sauce
Instructions
- Heat the sesame oil in a large skillet. Add the sliced onion, minced garlic, grated ginger, and chopped celery and stir fry for about 5 minutes, or until the onion and celery soften.
- Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a medium bowl and whisk in the cornstarch until no clumps remain.
- Add the sliced bell pepper and the sauce to the skillet (make sure to scrape out any cornstarch if it settled to the bottom of the bowl!), and stir. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the sauce thickens.
- Stir in the pineapple, cashews, and diced scallion. Carefully taste the sauce to see if it needs salt or more sweetness - season a pinch of with salt or brown sugar in that case! Serve warm over rice or noodles!
Notes
- I used a 20-oz can of pineapple rings for this recipe - it yielded just enough chopped pineapple for the recipe (plus a few extra pieces for snacking) and 1 cup of pineapple juice
- If you can't find the large 20-oz can of pineapple, you can get away with a standard 14-oz can, you might just need to add a little extra liquid to the stir fry, such as orange juice or a few tablespoons extra soy sauceÂ
- Make sure you use pineapple packed in juice, not syrup!
- I typically don't need to add more salt or sugar to the sauce, but give it a taste and see if you think it needs anything!
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