Fall Savoy Apple and Butternut Steam & Stir Fry
Try this sweet and savory fall vegetables steam and stir fry ! Enjoy the flavorful combination of savoy cabbage, apple, butternut squash and tofu, steamed then stir fried on low heat and dressed in all simplicity with salt, thyme and olive oil. It is not only a mix of flavors, it is also a mix of textures. If you love cooked apples and squash, you will love this dish. Bonus, it is very quickly made, and easy to take to the office.
It’s fall, and at every season change, we and our kids celebrate, right? So we pick some fall ingredients and try to make something new.
What I like about fall vegetables, is that they are so versatile they can easily be paired with just savory, or both savory and sweet ingredients too. This fall, I wanted to try a sweet and savory fall celebration lunch dish.
Start the Fall well with sweet and savory ingredients!
And what sounds like fall more than apple or squash ? Apple pairs wonderfully with savory ingredients like green leafy vegetables, root vegetables and fall squashes or pumpkins. It also pairs well with savoy cabbage. Butternut squash is not very sweet and tastes great in soups, roasted or stir fried.
Why you will love the Savoy apple and butternut Steam & stir fry
It is original, simple, quick, flavorful and nutrient dense !
You will enjoy the flavorful combination of savoy cabbage, apple, butternut squash and tofu, steamed then stir fried on low heat and dressed in all simplicity with salt, thyme and olive oil. If you love cooked apples and squash, and like sweet and savory meals, you will love this dish.
It is not only an harmonious mix of flavors, it is also a combination of various textures !
Apples, tofu and butternut squash all have different kinds of soft textures, that contrast well with the leafy texture of savoy cabbage. Bonus, you will make this very quickly, and can easily take it to the office. This meal can be vegan if you make it with tofu. You can also cook it with steamed chicken. Either way, it’s delish!
What is a steam and stir fry?
It is what I call a meal I make by steaming various ingredients before I mix them and season them in a skillet or sauté pan. Ingredients are gently cooked the steam cooker then gently mixed on low heat in the sauté pan to preserve flavors and nutrient density.
I don’t strictly “stir fry” my steamed ingredients,. In fact, it would go against the point of steaming: stir fry is a high temperature cooking method. Steaming is a gentle cooking method meant to preserve nutrients and texture. My solution is to gently steam my ingredients before transferring to a pan heated on low heat, and to dress the mix at the end a few minutes before turning off and serving. Some ingredients may be pan roasted a bit in the process. The result is a quicker, more flavorful and nutrient dense meal with vibrant colors.
A Simple Lunch with Fall Sweet and Savory ingredients
Apples
My mom would often make savoy cabbage with apple and thyme. And I remember these fall lunches at French school breaks with fondness. I was lucky enough to have time to eat lunch at home! I am hopeful that like me, my homeschooled children will remember home cooked lunches in the fall. Of course, they love apple donuts and cider, spiced cider and apple picking. I know they’ll remember helping me make countless sit down lunches and dinner with with fall vegetables and colors. This week, they were surprised to find apples in a savory dish, and to eat tofu differently. Next week, I’m hoping to make them some fall apple pancakes!
Savoy cabbage
One of my favorite fall green leafy vegetables is savoy cabbage. This is a very dark green cabbage, with more ridges, and more intense flavor than green cabbage. It is very nutrient dense too ! I love to season it simply, with olive oil, thyme and salt. Savoy is a very versatile vegetable but I like to make very simple dishes with it because of its deep, unique flavor.
Savoy cabbage is packed with among many others fibers of course, Vitamin C (54% RDI in one cup! ) and K1 ( 85% of the RDI in one cup! ) which is essential for blog clotting). It is rich in potassium ( 10% RDI) and calcium. Although savoy scores only at 4% calcium RDI for one cup, note that our bodies absorb vegetable calcium at higher rates (60-75%) than cow’s dairy’s calcium ( 45% max).
Butternut squash
The new taste combination to me here is butternut and apple. I just can’t believe I didn’t think of it earlier! It tastes great. Butternut tastes just sweet enough, but not too much, to combine well with a fruit that is sweeter and softer when it is cooked. Butternut squash maintains enough crunch to pair well with soft apple.
Tofu
Tofu is one of these vegetable proteins that is also very versatile. But to make this meal you can also use steamed chicken dressed with olive oil salt and thyme, or even soaked and steamed garbanzo beans ( on how to steam beans and legumes, post to follow!)
Tools needed
If you are used to this blog, by now you know, most of my recipes taste much better with a steam cooker. The steam cooker I use is the Vitaliseur de Marion, an excellent steam cooker designed not only to gently steam your food and detoxify them. The manufacturer also made sure it would preserve your ingredients nutrient.
Many users in my country, France, who used other kinds of steam cookers report that the food they steam in the Vitaliseur has much more flavor. Besides, colors are much more vibrant, as though foods just had earned a second life! This steam cooker really earned its name of Vitaliseur, or Vitalizer, as in a tool that is giving life. The texture of ingredients after cooking – unless you cook too long and degrade fibers – is also unmatched.
To learn more and find out where to purchase it with my discount code, check my TOOLS page.
Ingredient substitutes
Substitutes for Savoy Cabbage
You can easily use green cabbage as substitute. If you do, the taste won’t be as deep and interesting, but it will taste good ! You may prefer the milder taste of green cabbage anyway. Green cabbage steams the same amount of time as savoy cabbage.
Alternatively, try tuscan kale (also called dinosaur or even lacinato kale.) Slice the kale in thin strips, and steam for 2- 3 minutes max. Kale is thinner than savoy cabbage, and cooking too long may destroy taste, fibers and too many vitamins.
Substitutes for Tofu
As a non vegan option, try steaming 1/3 in chicken for 6-7 minutes , stirring 3 minutes into steaming. Before steaming, salt and sprinkle with dried thyme on both sides. Do not steam in a dish: you need the toxines in chicken juices to evacuate into the tank. Chicken will be dressed in the pan with other ingredients and dressing.
As vegan option, use garbanzo beans ! I don’t use canned beans because they are usually pressure cooked and for too long. Instead, you can prepare garbanzo beans by soaking them overnight, then rinsing and steaming 6 minutes directly in the steamer basket of your preferred food steamer.
Of course, my preferred food steamer is the Vitaliseur. To learn why, go to my tools: steam cooker page.
To learn how to choose a food steamer for your health, check out my Review: Best Performing Food Steamers for 2025, Based on Health
How to make Your New favorite vegan Savoy Cabbage Recipe
It is very quick and simple and does not take too much time!
First fill the tank of your steam cooker and turn the stove on, high heat.
If you want a side of rice, fill a stainless steel bowl with 2 cups of basmati rice for example, and 3 volumes of warm water, warmed in an electric kettle at 160°F to speed up the process (it does not need to be boiling, and boiling damages some nutrients!) Rice needs 15 minutes tops. Check my post Steam Your Rice! to learn more about steaming rice.
Prepare the ingredients: cube apples and butternut squash, slice cabbage, cube tofu, gather herbs and spice, salt and pepper.
Open the lid of the steam cooker once it is visibly steaming. First place butternut squash, apple, tofu and raisins on the sieve and place lid over it. Five minutes later transfer to warm sauté pan, while cabbage cooks another 5 minutes. Then transfer cabbage to the pan, season, and let it sit five extra minutes. It is done! Learn more about steaming vegetables in my posts How do I steam Vegetables? and How Do I Steam Root Vegetables?
Find more recipes
More recipes with cabbage while it is not too cold yet: try my Summer Salad : Shrimp, Crunch and Noodles
Another entree salad that my readers love containing cruciferous Kale: Kale & Quinoa Lemony Goodness salad
Need a warm kid friendly dish, steamed cuisine style ? Try Fried Rice, Steamed Cuisine Style
We also teach you how to use the steam cooker to make classic dips like Savory Intense Hummus, With A Steamed Cuisine Twist or A French Classic: Aubergine Caviar or Eggplant Dip
Want to try some sweet steamed treats with kids ? Look at Chocolate Hazelnut Bites or now that oranges are in season, Orange and Almond Steamed Bites . To spread on their bread, try my steamed Fruit Spreads !
Adults may enjoy a very fruity, gluten free and steamed cake Lemon and Olive Oil Almond Cake. Prefer chocolate? Here is Chocolate & Olive Oil Almond Cake
Learn how to use the steam cooker every day with various types of ingredients !
I my “How do I steam series” (ongoing), I teach you the various ways you can use the steam cooker to help your health to the next level! My Youtube channel @steamedcuisine also has some info about steam cooking and how to make a steamed meal
And if you need a guide to pick the BEST steam cooker, check out my review of Best Performing Food Steamers for 2025, Based on Health
Now to the recipe! Bon appétit!
Fall Savoy Apple and Butternut Steam & Stir Fry
Try this sweet and savory fall vegetables steam and stir fry ! Enjoy the flavorful combination of savoy cabbage, apple, butternut squash and tofu, steamed then stir fried on low heat and dressed in all simplicity with salt, thyme and olive oil. It is not only a mix of flavors, it is also a mix of textures. Bonus, it is very quickly made, and easy to take to the office. You'll enjoy this gluten free, dairy free, soy free, vegan, seed oil free, low glycemic index meal.
Ingredients
- 300 g savoy cabbage, sliced finely with a knife or with a mandoline slicer
- Half a red onion, sliced
- One apple, cubed ( 1/3 inch), chose a golden or gala.
- 200 g butternut squash
- One handful raisins
- One pack of tofu, cubed
- Optional: Shaved almonds, for crunch!
Seasoning
- 1 tbsp Grey salt
- Pepper to taste
- Thyme ( I use Frontier coop's in bulk online. Try it and you'll love it!
- One bay leaf
- 3 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
- Half a cup / 120 ml water
- 2 tbsp olive oil approximately to drizzle over the finished meal
Instructions
- Fill up the tank with 3 inches water and turn on the stove on high heat.
- If you want to make a side of rice, add 15 minutes to the process. Pour 2 cups of rice for 3 cups of warm water in a stainless steel bowl, heated with your electric kettle at 160 F (70°C) - no need to boil ! Place the bowl of rice and water on the sieve and cover with lid. Rice shouldn't need more than 15 minutes. Check if it is cooked enough by touching the surface with a fork. Learn more about steaming rice here.
- Prepare the vegetables.: Cube the apples, the butternut squash, slice the onions and the cabbage. Cube the tofu.
- After the rice is done cooking, take the bowl out with a bowl grabber.
- In the sieve of the steaming steam cooker, place the apples, the squash, onion and tofu and raisins. Cook 5 minutes.
- While vegetables are steaming, heat a skillet on low heat. Add water, salt, thyme, and one bay leaf. Drizzle with olive oil. No need to cover.
- Transfer the apples butternut squash, onions and tofu to the sauté pan. Keep fire on low. Place the savoy cabbage into the sieve 5 minutes and place the lid back on.
- After 5 minutes, open the steam cooker and transfer the savoy cabbage into the sauté pan. Raise the fire a little bit. Mix ingredients with a wooden spoon. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Let them sit together for 5 minutes while setting the table.
- Serve with rice. Enjoy ! Bon appétit!
Notes
1. Herbs, here thyme and bay leaves: I order them with friends at https://wholesale.frontiercoop.com/ on a facebook group in my area! Try this brand, you'll never go back! Use your old jars and pack them which high quality, highly flavorful herbs!
2. The Vitaliseur is the steam cooker I use. It is a French cooker designed to have a temperature not above 95°C /202°F, i.e. under boiling point. It gives your foods a steam bath and helps them sweat out toxins incl. pesticides. It also preserves more nutrients than other cooking methods! Check out my TOOLS page and learn more! Use my code "steamedcuisine" to save 10% and save on European sales tax. I've been using it for 30 years+, I can vouch for it!
3. When you cook with the steam cooker, it is important to have enough water ( at least 2-3 inches) in the tank so the steam that cooks your food is abundant. Do wait until you can see steam flow when you lift the lid, or even without lifting the lid.
4. Learn more about steaming diverse ingredients here, rice specifically, here.
Nutrition Information
Yield
6Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 254Total Fat 16gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 13gCholesterol 0mgSodium 1183mgCarbohydrates 24gFiber 5gSugar 13gProtein 9g
This table does not account for the rice side ! This nutrition tables are approximate readings of nutrition values in my dishes. I don't believe calories are the most important. nutrient density is and amount of fibers are, as well as your cooking method. Nutrition density also depends on sourcing of your foods. These meals are made with quality ingredients and no processed foods ! My only guarantee is that your digestive system and your healthy will improve on them!
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