Mushroom stir fry 素蠔油炒雜菇 is a wonderfully delicious vegetarian dish favorite in the average Chinese households.  The intermingling of flavor and texture of the combination of mushrooms is so intense without the need to add any meat and stock.

This article shows you how to prepare this gorgeous and luscious mushroom stir-fry. It required little effort but huge in reward. It can be done within thirty minutes, which is ideal for anyone who is looking for a quick, easy meal.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my privacy policy for more info. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Let’s kicks things off with step one.

1. Choose and prepare the mushrooms

I am using a combination of shimeiji, button, king oyster, and portobello mushrooms. However, this is only my preference as you can stir-fry any mushrooms.

Here are some suggestions when you choose the type of mushrooms:

• Cut the king oyster mushrooms into thin slices or small dices.  Since this mushroom is harder than button mushrooms and portabello, you have to either blanch it in water for a minute before sauteing or stir-fried for a few minutes until it turns soft before mixing with other softer mushrooms. I am using the second method (stir-frying a little longer for simplicity.
• Cut the larger mushroom into a smaller size, so that they will cook through at about the same time.  
• Choose a few types of mushrooms with different shapes to make it more visually appealing.
• Use mushrooms with a different texture to make it more interesting.  For example, use soft button mushroom, the tougher enoki mushrooms, and king oyster mushroom that is chewy.
• If you choose to add dried Shiitake mushrooms, soak it until they are fully hydrated before use.  Cut away the hard stem. You may want to discard the stem or slice it thinly for stir-frying.

2. Slice the vegetables and aromatics

Since most of the mushrooms are either yellow or brown, it is not visually appealing to stir-fry it without adding other ingredients with different colors. Therefore, I have added celery and carrot to make it more colorful. You can also add some red and green bell pepper (capsicum), snow pea, or bamboo shoots (yellow).

Cut the vegetables to about the same size as the mushrooms.  Cut them into slices so that it can cook through quickly during stir-frying.

Garlic and ginger

Cut a few slices of ginger and get ready a few cloves of garlic.  Smash the garlic clove with the back of the knife before sauteing to let the flavor release quickly.  I do not suggest mincing the garlic as it can get burn very quickly unless you saute it over very low heat and remove it immediately once it turns color.

3. Constitute the mushroom stir-fry sauce and the seasoning

Constitute the saute by mixing the vegetarian oyster sauce,  light soy sauce, sugar, ground white pepper and water in a bowl. It is a simple combination which will not overpower the flavor of the mushrooms.

Vegetarian oyster sauce is the term used by the sauce manufacturer which is made mainly with mushroom extract.  Since the oyster sauce is a common ingredient in Chinese cooking, the advent of vegetarian oyster sauce offers an alternative to the vegetarians to prepare many Chinese dishes without sacrificing the flavor and color of oyster sauce.  You can get it in most of the Asian grocery store and is available online.

Make some cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce at the final stage of cooking.  Add half teaspoon of sesame oil right before removing from the wok (optional).

4. Stir-frying the mushrooms

Here is the detail of the entire stir-frying process:

Saute the aromatics

• Heat some oil in the wok. You can also use a large frying pan if you prefer.  
• Saute the ginger and garlic over low heat until aromatic.  Garlic can quickly burn if you use high heat. Therefore, it is advisable to either use the whole clove or cut the garlic into large pieces.
• Once aromatic, add the mushrooms to continue stir-frying.

Stir-fry the mushrooms and carrots

• Add the king oyster mushrooms which take longer time to cook, followed by those need shorter time. The sequence should be king oyster, shitake, button, and portobello.
• It takes about three to four minutes to saute the mushrooms until the surface turns to light brown, and you may need to sprinkle some water into the pan if it is too dry to continue stir-frying. When it is soft, remove from the wok.
• Add some oil to saute the carrot.  You can add some water to the carrot and cook it for a minute until soft before return the mushroom to the wok.

Add the stir-fry sauce

• Return the mushrooms to the wok. Now drizzle the pre-constituted stir-fry sauce to the mushrooms. Stir and flip to let the mushrooms absorb the sauce.  
• Check whether all the sauce has been soaked up by the mushrooms. Mix well to let the mushrooms absorb the sauce  If there is no longer any sauce available in the wok, add about three tablespoons of water before it thickens it with the cornstarch slurry since this dish tastes better with some gravy.

Celery and cornstarch slurry

• As for the celery, you may want to add it at the last stage to keep it crunchy.  I prefer to add the celery to the mushrooms only after the sauce has been absorbed so that the color of the celery will remain fresh and vibrant.
• Check if the sauce is dried out in the wok. Add some more water if it is too dry as it should have some liquid left in the wok.  We will thicken it by adding some cornflour slurry in the final step.
• Add some cornstarch slurry bit by bit until the sauce is thickened to the consistency that you want. You may not need to add all the slurry if there is too much.
• Do a taste test at this time to make the final adjustment. Dish out and serve. You also have the option to add a teaspoon of sesame oil right before dish out from the wok.