Stir-fry doesn’t have to be anything fancy, and can be made with any vegetables or proteins that you have sitting in your fridge. As tempting as it is to load up your stir-fry with a large variety of ingredients, a crowded wok can end up stewing your ingredients rather than frying them, so it’s important to keep the right amounts in mind.

Ideally, a stir-fry should use between three to five ingredients to avoid overcrowding the pan and allow the flavors to complement each other, instead of burying each other. If you’re including a protein like meat, a maximum of three other ingredients should be vegetables for the right balance, and both fresh or frozen veggies work.

It's also important to cut vegetables and other ingredients into pieces of the same size for uniform cooking. Try choosing ingredients that offer different textures to keep things vibrant, from soft ingredients like tofu or noodles, crunchier ones like carrots or water chestnuts, to umami additions like mushrooms and meat.