This Pork Stir Fry is such an easy weeknight meal. Made with just lean pork, some green onions, and garlic, and ready in 25 minutes start to finish. Skip the take-out and make your own!
Photography Credit: Elise Bauer
Don’t you love a good stir-fry?
The following stir-fried pork recipe couldn’t be easier. All you need is lean pork, some green onions, garlic, and a simple marinade.
The good thing about stir-fries is that you don’t need a lot of fancy ingredients to have a perfectly presentable dish. All you need is a pan and a cooking oil that can take high heat. Woks work well for this, as do large pans of cast iron or hard anodized aluminum.
Tips for a Good Pork Stir Fry
Marinate thin strips of pork first in a mixture of soy sauce, a little sugar, and cornstarch. The cornstarch marinade is a useful trick to help keep the pork from drying out when it gets cooked on that high heat. The sugar is just enough to create some caramelization for added flavor.
It helps but isn’t necessary to have a well seasoned wok. Years ago I had this big wok with wooden handles, well seasoned, in spite of a housemate’s attempt one day to scour off all of the pan’s beautiful black seasoning I had worked so hard to create.
I don’t know what eventually became of that wok; these days I’m using a non-stick enamel cast iron wok. It does a great job with high heat, it’s stick-free and I don’t have to worry about it rusting.
A Recipe That’s Easy to Adapt
Consider this recipe a base for experimentation, though it is satisfying enough, unadorned. You could easily add some chile to the hot oil, or ginger, red bell pepper, mushrooms, or water chestnuts to the pork. Sprinkle on some fresh cilantro or toasted sesame seeds for a garnish too if you would like.
Try These Other Stir Fry Recipes
Updated March 3, 2020 : We spiffed up this post to make it sparkle! No changes to the original recipe.
Pork Stir Fry with Green Onion Recipe
You can substitute the green onions with Chinese chives (much thicker than regular chives), if available.
If you want to spice this up a bit, add some chile pepper flakes to the hot oil with the garlic, and/or add some minced fresh ginger with the pork.
The base recipe is adapted from one in The Cultural Revolution Cookbook
Ingredients
- 1 pound pork loin or boneless pork chops
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce (use gluten-free soy sauce if cooking gluten-free)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 4 tablespoons peanut oil or canola oil
- 5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 8-12 scallions/green onions, sliced diagonally into 1 to 2-inch pieces, green and white parts included
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)
- Cooked rice, to serve
Method
1 Prepare the pork: Pork chops tend to come in thicknesses either around 1/2 inch thick or an inch thick. If you are working with a thick boneless pork chop, start by slicing it into two thin layers, horizontally. If starting with pork loin, cut slices 1/2 inch thick.
Put the slices under some plastic wrap or wax paper and pound them thin with a rubber mallet, meat mallet or even an empty wine bottle. This will help tenderize the meat. The slices should be about 1/4 inch thick.
Cut the pork across the grain into thin strips, about 1 1/2 inches long.
2 Marinate the pork: Put the soy sauce, sugar, and cornstarch into a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add the pork strips to the bowl with the marinade and toss to coat completely. Set aside for at least 10 minutes.
3 Stir fry pork on high heat: Heat the peanut oil in a wok or large sauté pan on high heat. When the oil is hot (shimmering but not smoking) add the garlic slices and stir-fry until they begin to turn brown at the edges, about 30 seconds.
Add the pork strips and stir-fry until the pork changes color, about 90 seconds, stirring constantly.
4 Add in green onions and sesame oil: Add the sliced green onions and continue to stir-fry for another minute, or until the green onions wilt. Turn off the heat and stir in the sesame oil, if using.
5 Serve! Serve immediately. Serve alone (paleo and low carb), or with rice.
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Elise Bauer
Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family’s recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.