Sautéed zucchini and onions is the best easy side dish! I use this easy hibachi vegetables recipe when I make hibachi shrimp or hibachi steak bowls, but cooking veggies this way is a great veggie side dish for any main course you love. This recipe is vegan and gluten free if you sub GF soy sauce/Tamari for the soy sauce.
I love veggies!
Well, I love all food, but that's a different story. Today, let's make a super easy vegan side dish - hibachi vegetables at home!
Recipe Notes
This method is just like the hibachi shrimp method from a few weeks ago and could OF COURSE be used with any veggie you like!
The key here is the method, not necessarily the veggies used, although I love the combo of onions and zucchini together. Feel free to add in any veggies you see at your fave Japanese steakhouse!
Other Veggies for Hibachi Vegetables:
- mushrooms
- carrots
- green onion
- baby corn
- yellow squash
- bell peppers
One thing I love about homemade hibachi recipes in general is that they come together super quickly and don't have many ingredients. This sautéed zucchini and onions recipe has just 6 ingredients including salt and pepper.
The classic hibachi flavor comes from having a really hot pan and cooking everything really quickly.
Now, there are some hibachi style vegetables cooking methods (looking at you, benihana vegetables) that include fancy garlic butter and other ingredients (um, yum) but I like to have a few super simple side dishes like this one that don't involve any extra special ingredients.
More Hibachi At Home
Ingredients
So: gather up some onion, zucchini, salt, pepper, soy sauce (sub Tamari for gluten free) and oil for cooking. I use olive oil, but vegetable oil or anything you use for cooking veggies will be fine.
**How Many Veggies to Use: I like about ⅓ of the mix to be onions, and the rest to be other veggies. The recipe below serves 4, but feel free to make more or less veggies depending on how many people you're serving and if you'd like leftovers.
Flavor Variation and Reheating Leftover Hibachi Vegetables
- Feel free to add some extra seasonings if you'd like! I love a pat of butter right at the end and/or a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds on top of the finished dish.
- To eat the veggie leftovers plain, I usually microwave them with some rice and call it a day. HOWEVER, reheating the hibachi veg in a skillet with a little pat of butter is a very nice way to bring them back to life without much extra effort.
- I also love putting leftover hibachi vegetables into hibachi fried rice - just make plain fried rice and stir in chopped leftover veggies to add extra oomph and flavor to the fried rice. You can also add the leftover veggies to kimchi fried rice!
Hibachi Veggies FAQ
In short, anything that you enjoy! I've had tons of hibachi veggies at restaurants, and I most often see onions, zucchini, mushrooms, and carrots. Similar to fajita veggies, though, use anything you like!
Simply: salt, pepper, and soy sauce. There are some hibachi recipes that call for other seasonings, but I prefer the simplicity that allows the veggie flavor to shine through.
Cut veggies for hibachi into bite-sized pieces. They can be slightly larger or smaller depending on your preference, but the key is to keep everything pretty much the same size so the veggies cook in the same amount of time.
Step By Step Instructions
Heat a pan (I love a cast iron skillet for this) to medium-high heat with a drizzle of oil. When the pan is hot, add the veggies and sauté them until they're brown; for about 3 minutes.
The key to browning the veggies is to let them sit for about 60 seconds at a time between stirring to get nice color on the veggies.
Keep the pan really hot the whole time the veggies are cooking! After about 3 minutes, drizzle in the soy sauce and sprinkle the veggies with salt and pepper.
Cook for another 2 minutes or so until the veggies are slightly soft and browned but not mushy.
Shake the veggies around, and let the soy sauce sit on the pan for a bit to get a nice burnt-salty effect. (That sounds gross, but it isn't.)
How To Serve Hibachi Vegetables
Friends, that's IT. Super quick hibachi vegetables ready to serve with anything you'd like. I love these with hibachi shrimp (PS that recipe has instructions for a homemade hibachi yum yum sauce recipe!) or on their own with rice. This is a great clean out the fridge recipe as well; feel free to use peppers, broccoli, or mushrooms and make a big hibachi vegetables rice bowl.
You could ALSO make these veggies, some plain white rice, and some baked marinated tofu for a delicious vegan dinner.
We love a rice bowl moment, seriously.
or Or OR these are super delicious in hibachi steak bowls!
However you serve them, enjoy these hibachi vegetables. They're a favorite of ours!
Hibachi Vegetables: Sautéed Zucchini and Onions
Ingredients
- 2 medium zucchini sliced into thick rounds or half moons
- ½ large onion sliced
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce sub tamari for gluten free
- salt and pepper
- oil for cooking
Instructions
- Preheat a large skillet to medium high heat with a drizzle of oil.
- When the skillet is hot, add the veggies and cook for about 3 minutes to brown and soften. Stir once or twice during this time, letting the veggies rest at times to brown on the bottom.
- Sprinkle the entire skillet generously with salt and pepper and drizzle the soy sauce over the veggies.
- Stir for 1-2 minutes more until the veggies are browned in places and slightly soft but not mushy. Serve!
Notes
This post was originally published in January 2012 (!) and has been updated with new text and images. It's been one of the most popular recipes on the site for over 10 years!
Such a great recipe, it was easy to make and everyone loved it! Perfect side with so many different dishes!
Such an easy recipe, absolutely loved it!
Perfect flavor - these will go with almost anything!
Can't wait to try this, love that it's so fast!
This is the easiest side dish! Perfect for all our summer zucchini!
Great recipe, quick and easy. Saving this one.
This was really good! My kids loved this side dish too!
Such a lovely summer side. SO easy to make and sounds delicious. I'm excited to try this.
Such a simple dish, but one that tastes fantastic! Zucchini and onions is a wonderful combination, and this is a side dish that goes with so many things.
This was so delicious! We love how quick and easy this is to put together during the week!
Made this for my steak bowls and the whole family loved the addition of the veggies. Thanks for the recipe.
this veggie dish turned out absolutely delicious! perfect for complimenting my stirfry today!