Think: crisp stir-fried garlicky broccoli and peppers… then zip that up with teriyaki coated toasted walnuts. You couldn’t ask for a more delicious and easy Asian-inspired dish! This teriyaki broccoli is always a winner and makes a tasty vegetarian/vegan main or side.
I’ve always loved Asian foods… especially because there are so many vegetarian options. It seems like wherever we go around the world, there is always a Chinese, Thai, or Japanese restaurant to enjoy… and that gives me lots of ideas for tasty home-cooked meals.
I was thinking back the other day and remembered an Asian restaurant in Berkeley, California ages ago… it had to be over 35 years ago! They specialized in vegetarian Asian food, which, back in those days, was quite unique. They came up with lots of creative dishes, but my favorite one featured toasted walnuts that had been sort of “candied” with rich spicy teriyaki sauce… I’d never had anything like it before and I loved it.
So, recently, I wanted to re-create something that resembled that recipe and decided on this teriyaki broccoli with yummy sticky toasted walnuts..
Broccoli is in its high season here, so I decided to make it a colorful and flavorful mix of broccoli, red peppers and onions. You could certainly change up the veggies, but I decided to go with these.
Let’s Make Some Teriyaki Broccoli With Yummy Sticky Toasted Walnuts
The recipe is really simple. First, you oven roast a small handful of walnut halves. Next, in a small saucepan, you’ll make the teriyaki sauce, which is a mix of fresh ginger, onion, garlic, and chili powder, with some vinegar, brown sugar and soy sauce.
This next part is important… after the teriyaki sauce has thickened, you’ll pour most of it into a small bowl and set aside. Leaving a few tablespoons in the saucepan, you’ll fry the toasted walnuts in the remaining sauce, letting it thicken and almost caramelize around the walnuts.
You’ll then stir-fry the veggies. Then all that is left is to plate the veggies and decorate each serving with the walnut pieces. I always serve the rest of the teriyaki sauce at the table and we add it to the broccoli as we’re eating.
This is important, because you can’t mix the teriyaki sauce into the veggies on the stove top, or the heat and liquid from the veggies will melt the sauce and you will have runny wet teriyaki flavored broccoli, but… no thick, sticky teriyaki sauce! I tried that the first go-round with this idea and yeah, it wasn’t great. ?
The walnuts are dry, so the teriyaki sauce won’t melt and the walnuts get nicely sticky with teriyaki sauce…. but that won’t work on the veggies!
So, like I said, this is a truly delicious and easy quick meal with a ton of yummy Asian flavors. If you’ve never tried teriyaki broccoli with sticky toasted walnuts, you are in for a treat. Because there are two of us, the recipe below is for two servings, but it can easily be doubled or tripled for more servings, as per your need.
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Teriyaki Broccoli With Toasted Walnuts
Ingredients
For the Veggies:
- 12 walnut halves
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil optional
- 2-3 TBSP oil for stir-frying
- 1-2 teaspoons soy sauce, to taste
- 3 cups fresh broccoli, cut into floret stalks
- ¼ cup red bell pepper strips
- ¼ cup chopped onions
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
For the Teriyaki Sauce:
- 1 TBSP oil
- 1 TBSP fresh ginger, minced
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- ¼ cup white onion, finely chopped
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne powder or red chili flakes more to taste
- 1 TBSP soy sauce
- 1 TBSP vinegar your choice; white, rice or apple cider are all fine
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1-2 TBSP water
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350°
- Place walnut halves on a baking sheet and toast for 3-5 minutes until slightly browned. (Check often; don't let them burn!) Remove from oven and set aside.
For the Teriyaki Sauce:
- In a small heavy bottomed saucepan, add oil, ginger, garlic and chopped onion. Sauté until onion is translucent and ginger loses its raw aroma.
- Add brown sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, cayenne (or chili flakes) and water and boil until sauce has thickened. Test for "stickiness" by dropping a dot of sauce onto a cool plate. Sauce is ready when it is no longer watery but has not reached a "taffy" state (!) (see notes below)
- Pour the teriyaki sauce into a small serving bowl to cool, leaving about 2 TBSP in the bottom of the sauce pan.
- Add the toasted walnuts to the remaining teriyaki sauce and boil, stirring the sauce and coating the walnuts. When the sauce has slightly evaporated and thickened around the walnuts, remove the saucepan from the heat and set aside. Sauce should stick to the walnuts, but the walnuts should not be so sticky as to clump into one unmanageable mass. Separate the walnuts and set aside.
For the Veggies:
- In a large wok or frying pan, add sesame and frying oil and sauté broccoli, peppers, onion and garlic until broccoli is cooked and starting to brown slightly but still crispy. If necessary add a small amount of water, but do not cover or over cook, or the broccoli will loose its vibrant green color!
For Plating:
- Divide the veggies and plate, decorating each serving with walnuts.
- Drizzle some of the teriyaki sauce over the veggies and serve immediately. Serve the remaining teriyaki at the table for additional drizzling as per preference.