If you are looking for a highly nutritious vegetable that is low in calories, try stir-fry chayote. It is quick and easy to prepare with simple ingredients, including chopped green onions, minced garlic, and dried chili peppers. Season it with pantry staples such as salt, bouillon powder, and a bit of sugar.
Stir-Fry Chayote: An Asian Delight
Chayote is a green vegetable from the gourd or Cucurbitaceae family. It is pear-shaped with green textured skin, white flesh, and a seed in the center. You may also know this in various names, including chayote squash, vegetable pear, and Buddha hand squash or Buddha’s palm.
It is low in calories but incredibly high in nutrients, including fiber, zinc, potassium, magnesium, and vitamins C, K, B9, and B6, to name a few. Besides being immensely nutritious, this vegetable is also refreshingly crisp and mildly sweet, similar to a cucumber. Stir-frying is the fastest and easiest way to cook chayote.
First, peel and chop the chayote into thin strips. Next, cook the flavoring ingredients, such as green onion, garlic, and dried chili peppers, then add the chayote strips. Season with salt, bouillon powder, and sugar to taste – and you’re done!
Pair this with your main meal and serve it with rice or noodle dishes. If you love vegetable dishes, here are other recipes to try:
- Blanched Bok Choy With Vegetable Sauce
- Chinese Chive Pockets
- Ong Choy with Garlic Sauce
- Stir-Fry Bean Sprouts
- Braised Daikon Radish
- Eggplant And Minced Pork
- Stir-Fried Yu Choy
- Sautéed Okra and Egg
- Boiled Okra With Spicy Savory Sauce
- Spiral Cucumber Salad
- Malabar Spinach With Oyster Sauce
Recipe Tips And Alternatives
If you are looking for alternatives for this recipe’s ingredients, then don’t skip this section. I share below several ways to customize this change, from optional seasonings and additional vegetable ingredients.
- Chayote: The chayote should be peeled and sliced according to your desired shape. Use a paring knife or vegetable peeler to remove the skin. You can cut it into thin strips, small cubes, or thin wedges, as long as they are cut into small pieces to cook them quickly for stir-frying. When choosing chayote in the market, make sure they are green without yellow or brown patches.
- Green onions: Stir-fried vegetables usually incorporate chopped green onions for additional mild sweetness and onion taste. Substitute this with chives, shallots, white onions, yellow onions, or red onions.
- Garlic: In addition to green onions, minced garlic is a common stir-fry flavoring ingredient that adds a nutty and pungent flavor. If you don’t have garlic but want the garlicky flavors, you can substitute 1 clove of garlic with 1/8 tsp of garlic powder or 1/4 tsp of granulated garlic. You can also use cooked crispy fried garlicand add it as a topping.
- Dried chili pepper: Dried chili pepper is optional for a hot and spicy chayote dish. The amount of spiciness is up to you. Alternatively, you can use chili flakes or cayenne pepper to make it spicy.
- Oil: To cook the dish, use any cooking oil you have. Go for olive, avocado, sesame, or safflower oil for a healthier option. For a neutral taste, opt for peanut, soybean, or vegetable oil. If you want oil with a higher smoke point, use avocado oil, peanut, canola, or corn oil. The oil’s smoke point is when it no longer shimmers and starts smoking.
- Salt: Salt helps bring out the flavors of the seasonings. It makes the dish even tastier with just a small amount. Use any type of salt, such as sea salt, pink salt, and kosher salt, and adjust to taste.
- Bouillon powder: Bouillon powder serves as a flavor enhancer that adds a boost of umaminess. You can use any type of bouillon powder, such as chicken, vegetable, mushroom, or chicken-flavored vegan powder.
- Sugar: This is optional if you want to balance out the flavors of the ingredients. You can use any type of sweetener, including white sugar, cane sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, or coconut sugar.
- Optional flavoring ingredients: If you want to make this into a heavier meal to serve as a main dish, you can add some fried tofu cubes or soaked dried shiitake mushrooms. For meat and seafood options, use dried shrimp, fresh shrimp, scrambled eggs, thin pork or chicken slices, or ground pork. Add more vegetable variety by incorporating julienned carrots and zucchini. Here are some optional seasonings that can amp up the flavor of the dish:
- Lard: Lard can be substituted for vegetable oil, as it adds a delightful flavor when stir fry dishes. Using pork lard enhances the taste of the dish. Alternatively, you can use vegetable shortening or butter as substitutes. Check out my guide on how to make lard for more information.
- Ginger slices: For a peppery, warm kick.
- Garnishes: Add more fresh onion taste with chopped green onions and a bit of nutty crunch with toasted sesame seeds.
- White pepper: For a musty taste with subtle heat.
- Black pepper: For a woody and piney taste.
- Fish sauce: For a fishy, umami taste.
- Oyster sauce: For a savory and sweet taste.
- Light soy sauce: For an umami, salty taste.
Ingredients And Kitchenware
What I love about stir-fried dishes is the simple kitchenware it requires. Simply prepare a knife for chopping and a non-stick pan for stir-frying. Here are the ingredients to prepare:
- 1 whole chayote (peeled and thinly sliced)
- 10g of green onion (chopped)
- 2 garlic cloves (minced)
- 1-2 dried chili peppers (chopped)
- 1/4 cup of oil
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1 tsp of bouillon powder
- 1 tsp of white granulated sugar
5 Steps To Make Stir Fry Chayote
Chop the ingredients, cook them in the pan, and season them according to your desired taste. And that’s it! You can finish the recipe in 15 minutes.
Watch my Instagram or TikTok tutorial video to learn more about the steps. When you are done, it would be nice if you shared them with me by tagging @kitchenmisadventures. I love to read reviews, so remember to share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section.
- Clean the chayote thoroughly and optionally, peel it using a vegetable peeler or paring knife. To chop the chayote, cut it in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Then, slice it into thin pieces and further chop it into thin strips.
- Chop the green onions, garlic, and dried chili peppers.
- Heat oil in the pan or wok. Optionally, you can enhance the flavor by mixing in a bit of lard, or substitute it entirely with lard or butter for a richer taste.
- Stir-fry the chopped green onions, garlic, and dried chili peppers until fragrant. Then, add the chayote strips and increase the heat to high, stirring constantly for about 3 minutes.
- Season with salt, bouillon powder, and white granulated sugar to taste. Stir well and serve hot with a bowl of rice and your main dish.
Stir Fry Chayote (Garlicky And Spicy!)
Ingredients
- 1 whole chayote peeled and thinly sliced
- 10 g of green onion chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1-2 dried chili peppers chopped
- 1/4 cup of oil
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1 tsp of bouillon powder
- 1 tsp of white granulated sugar
Instructions
- Clean the chayote thoroughly and optionally, peel it using a vegetable peeler or paring knife. To chop the chayote, cut it in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Then, slice it into thin pieces and further chop it into thin strips.
- Chop the green onions, garlic, and dried chili peppers.
- Heat oil in the pan or wok. Optionally, you can enhance the flavor by mixing in a bit of lard, or substitute it entirely with lard or butter for a richer taste.
- Stir-fry the chopped green onions, garlic, and dried chili peppers until fragrant. Then, add the chayote strips and increase the heat to high, stirring constantly for about 3 minutes.
- Season with salt, bouillon powder, and white granulated sugar to taste. Stir well and serve hot with a bowl of rice and your main dish.
