Vegan Beef Chop Suey with bean sprouts, celery, and sweet peppers is a fresh take on a fast and easy Chinese American comfort food. Rich brown stir fry sauce and homemade seitan beef make it special.
Whisk 4 TB water, ¼ cup soy sauce, 2 TB maple syrup, 4 tsp. arrowroot and ¼ tsp. white pepper, to taste together in a small bowl.
Stir fry chop suey
Heat 2 TB plain neutral-tasting oil in a large shallow skillet or wok over medium-high heat until shimmering.
Add 1 cup sliced yellow onion and 2 cups celery, sliced diagonally, and quickly fry while stirring until they begin to soften. Add ½ cup red pepper, sliced in ¼ inch strips, ½ cup green pepper, sliced in ¼ inch strips, 1 cup sliced mushrooms, and 1 ½ cups homemade seitan beef strips . Stir to coat with oil. Don't cook for more than a minute or two.
Whisk the sauce a second time. Add sauce to skillet and stir while it thickens, scraping the bottom of the pan. The sauce will be thick at first, but thins when bean sprouts release their juice.
Add 10 oz. bean sprouts, about 5 cups, and half of 1 cup sliced green onions and stir to wilt. Remove immediately from heat. Stir chop suey to mix well with sauce as it thins.
Serve
Sprinkle remaining green onions over the top of the chop suey and serve with hot steamed rice or noodles.
Store
Vegan beef chop suey is best eaten right away, but left-overs will keep in a covered container in the refrigerator for 5 days.
Notes
Cooking tipsPrep all the vegetables and slice vegan beef up to 3 days before cooking chop suey.Use homemade vegan beef strips or recipe-ready vegan meat strips from the store.Undercook vegetables to keep them crisp. They will continue to cook when the sauce thickens.Whisk the sauce a second time just before adding it to the cooked vegetables.The sauce is extra thick when first cooked and thins to the perfect consistency when bean sprouts release juices.Don't add the bean sprouts and green onions until everything else is cooked. The bean sprouts will wilt even after the pan is removed from the heat.Hold half the green onions aside to sprinkle over the top of beef chop suey at the table.The calories below are for chop suey without rice or noodles.