Easy Vegetarian Nasi Goreng

This savory more-ish vegetarian nasi goreng combines Indonesian-style fried rice with lots of vegetables. If you skip the egg, it’s also vegan, and ready in less than 20 minutes!

Skip expensive takeaways for this much healthier fakeaway! I’ve gone for a very similar flavor to nasi goreng that I’ve tried but made it vegetarian with no meat or fish paste, a bit less sweet, and have added tons of veggies for a totally inauthentic but delicious dish. Picture brown fried rice with a caramelized umami flavor, loaded up with tender veggies.

All the veggies really make it a filling meal and not a side dish, but feel free to omit them and keep it simple with just onions if you prefer. Nasi goreng is usually served with wedges of tomato and cucumber with a sunny-side-up egg on top. I’m allergic to eggs, so hubby enjoyed the egg in the photo. If you’re allergic to eggs or are vegan, you can just leave the egg out or substitute with some marinated fried tofu, or a vegan fried egg.

Chuck the vegetables in a wok or large wide pan for a few minutes, add in some cold cooked rice, pour over the sauce, stir and cook a few minutes and hey presto!

If easy delicious rice dishes are your thing, then you may also be interested in this yummy lemon rice with coconut, vegan Mexican rice, or this easy one-pot vegetable biryani. If you’re more in the mood for noodles try these super easy ten-minute sesame garlic ramen noodles.

Ingredients and substitutions

Let’s take a look at what ingredients you’ll need to make vegetarian nasi goreng, and if any of them can be omitted or substituted if you don’t have them to hand.

Chopped vegetables: Traditionally, nasi goreng is actually very light on the veggies and only uses onion. I’ve added three and a half cups for a filling vegetarian version, but you can dial down the veggies a little if you wish. You can use any mix of vegetables you want. Peas, sweetcorn, carrot, celery, bell peppers, green beans and beansprouts all go really well. Apart from peas, sweetcorn and beansprouts, make sure your veggies are all diced small and of a similar size so they cook evenly. You can also use frozen chopped vegetables. My favorite is one cup diced red bell pepper, one cup green diced bell pepper, half a cup diced celery, half a cup diced carrots and half a cup of frozen peas.

Soy sauce brown sugar mix: Nasi goreng usually uses kecap manis, a very strong concentrated sweet soy sauce (which I can never get a hold of here in Madrid!). You can use three tablespoons of kecap manis or sweet soy sauce instead of the soy sauce brown sugar mix I use in this recipe. Alternatively, you can also substitute the brown sugar with the same amount of molasses or palm sugar.

Vinegar: Don’t omit this! You can use any mild vinegar you wish, e.g. white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar.

Onion: If you don’t like onions you can leave this out but it does give a lot of flavor. Any type of onion will do, you can even use the large white part of a spring onion.

Garlic: If you don’t like garlic just omit it. Don’t substitute with garlic granules or ground garlic. It must be crushed to be added to the sauce, if you don’t have a garlic crusher you can add prepared garlic paste instead of chop the garlic and add with the other vegetables instead.

Canola oil: You can use any mild-flavored oil such as canola, sunflower etc.

Green onions: These are optional but taste great, the green parts of scallions or spring onions can also be used.

White pepper: Adds a great extra “something” but you can omit it if you don’t have it.

Cooked rice: Cooked cold rice is a must, even better if it’s a little hard and dry. If you need to use freshly cooked rice, spread it out in a thin layer to cool down quickly before using. Basmati rice or long-grain rice is best, although you can use any kind.

Sriracha: Adds a ton of flavor – if you don’t have it to hand you can add sambal oelek, a sliced red chili pepper with the vegetables, or half a teaspoon of hot sauce, a quarter teaspoon of cayenne etc. or leave out if you prefer zero heat.

Toasted sesame oil: Again adds lots of flavor, don’t leave it out if you can avoid doing so.

How to make it

Vegetarian nasi goreng is super simple to make. This section is a little more detailed than the recipe card and has some photos to help those who might be newer cooks or simply have some doubts. If you’re a seasoned pro, you can just skip on down to the recipe card.

The first thing to do is make sure you have your vegetables of choice peeled, diced and measured. If you’re using frozen diced vegetables then this won’t be an issue, you also don’t need to do anything to frozen peas, frozen or canned sweetcorn, or beansprouts.

Then add the oil to a wok or large skillet and heat it on high. When the pan is sizzling hot (test by dropping one piece of vegetable in), add all the vegetables, including the chopped onion. Fry for five minutes until the hardest veggie (carrot, for example, if you’re using it) is “al-dente”.

While the veggies are frying I recommend using a fork to gently separate the grains of rice, and dampen your hands and gently tease apart any clumps.

Make up your soy sauce brown sugar mix by mixing the soy sauce and sugar together in a large microwave-safe container. The container needs to be quite large, a cereal bowl for example, as the soy sauce and sugar will bubble up while cooking and boil over otherwise. Heat on high for one minute, stirring halfway through at thirty seconds.

Take out of the microwave, stir until all the sugar is dissolved, and set to one side. Prepare the sauce for your nasi goreng by adding the vinegar, Sriracha, crushed garlic clove, white pepper, and sesame oil to the soy sauce brown sugar mixture (image four above) and whisk briskly with a fork to combine

After the veggies are done (slightly softened as in image one above), add the rice to the pan (image two) and mix well (image three).

Pour over the sauce (image five), mix well again, and fry an additional four minutes, stirring every 30 seconds roughly to prevent sticking and allow moisture to escape (but not so often that the rice doesn’t toast, see finished rice in image six).

Sprinkle over the chopped green onions, and optionally, serve with a fried egg, and chunks of cucumber and tomato. You can eat your rice straight away but I prefer to let it cool to room temperature and let the flavors deepen. Enjoy!

Frequently Asked Questions

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