Stir-fry Recipes

Prep 10min Cook 10min 2 servings

Korean Kimchi Fried Rice (Kimchi Bokkeumbap)

This version has ground pork in it, and only a little gochujang, so the sour tang of well-fermented kimchi leads. Made with long-aged kimchi (mugeunji), it gets noticeably deeper.

⚡ 20-Minute Recipes

Stir-fry Medium

Bo Luc Lac (Vietnamese Shaking Beef Sirloin Wok Stir-Fry)

The name is Vietnamese for shaking beef, after the way the wok is shaken so cubes of sirloin sear on every side. It took shape in colonial-era Saigon, when Western cuts of beef arrived and Vietnamese cooks seasoned them their own way, here with oyster sauce, soy and garlic. Once the cubes have a dark crust, the onion softened earlier in butter goes back in, and lime is squeezed over just before serving.

🏠 Everyday

Prep 25min Cook 10min 2 servings

Noodles Medium

Thai Drunken Noodles

Wide rice noodles, chicken thigh, garlic, fresh chili, and Thai basil hit a smoking-hot wok together in this spicy Thai stir-fry, also called drunken noodles. The noodles soak only until pliable, keeping a firm core so they hold their shape over high heat. Fish sauce brings briny depth, and dark soy sauce colors the noodles and adds a hint of sweetness.

Prep 15min Cook 12min 2 servings

Prep 10min Cook 15min 2 servings

Korean Bunsik Kimchi Bokkeumbap (Kimchi Fried Rice)

To get the taste of a Korean snack-bar plate, the kimchi is fried with gochujang, dark soy sauce and a pinch of sugar for a sweet edge. Top it with a runny fried egg and crumbled gim (seaweed) and it looks the part too.

⚡ 20-Minute Recipes 🏠 Everyday

Korean Beurokolli Saeu Bokkeum (Broccoli Shrimp Stir-fry)

The bell pepper is cut to roughly the size of the shrimp, so shrimp, broccoli and pepper land evenly in each bite. Seasoning is a tablespoon each of soy and oyster sauce, with five sliced garlic cloves fried in the oil first.

Prep 10min Cook 10min 2 servings

Noodles Medium

Thai Soy Sauce Noodles (Wide Rice Noodles with Beef and Chinese Broccoli)

Charred edges and a dark, glossy coat of soy sauce, oyster sauce, and dark sugar are what set pad see ew apart from other noodle stir-fries. That char comes from the heat: in a pan that is not scorching, the sauce pools at the bottom, the noodles steam in it, and caramelization never happens. The sauce is mixed and the sugar dissolved before the pan heats, because once the noodles land there is time only for fast tossing. Gai lan, or Chinese broccoli, keeps its thick stems crisp and adds a slight bitterness that balances the sweet sauce. Eggs scrambled in the same pan catch between the noodles and add soft pockets of texture.

Prep 15min Cook 15min 2 servings

Prep 5min Cook 10min 1 serving

Korean Kimchi Rice Bowl (Stir-Fried Aged Kimchi over Steamed Rice)

Five minutes in a hot pan turns sour, wet kimchi into something sweeter and more savory, as the moisture cooks off and the edges darken. The pan has to be hot enough that the kimchi sizzles on contact; otherwise it steams in its own liquid.

⚡ 20-Minute Recipes

Stir-fry Medium

Korean Garlic Chive & Clam Stir-fry

The liquor the hard clams release as they open is the base of the sauce here; no stock goes in. A little soy and oyster sauce is added, and the chives are cooked only until they wilt, so they are still bright green on the plate.

🏠 Everyday

Prep 18min Cook 9min 2 servings

Prep 15min Cook 10min 2 servings

Beef Pad See Ew (Thai Wok-Fried Wide Rice Noodles in Dark Soy)

Wide rice noodles pressed against a hot wok for about 20 seconds pick up charred patches, and those toasty spots make pad see ew taste like more than soy-sauced noodles. Dark soy sauce does the coloring, turning the noodles deep brown alongside regular soy and oyster sauce, with a little sugar for sweetness. The wide strands tear easily, so they get lifted and turned in big motions rather than stirred. Kale provides the green, its stems going in ahead of the leaves.

Prep 15min Cook 12min 2 servings

Korean Pork Belly Kimchi Fried Rice

Pork belly cut into 1 cm pieces renders enough fat to fry the kimchi and rice, so no cooking oil is added and every grain tastes of pork. That only works if the pork gets 4 to 5 minutes, until the edges are golden and the fat coats the pan.

Stir-fry Medium

Korean Garlic Chive Duck Stir-fry

Smoked duck goes into the pan first, and the fat it gives off is what the onion and oyster mushrooms cook in, and the vegetables pick up the smoke too. If there is more fat than needed, pour off all but a tablespoon. The gochujang and syrup sauce is sweet and hot, the kind of thing that goes with a drink.

🏠 Everyday 🍺 Bar Snacks

Prep 15min Cook 14min 4 servings

Noodles Medium

Pad Thai

Tamarind, fish sauce, and sugar decide everything in pad thai: shift the ratio slightly and the dish leans sour, salty, or sweet. Firm tofu fried golden gives a nutty base, shrimp cook only until pink, and eggs are scrambled into thin ribbons in a cleared space in the pan. Bean sprouts and scallion go in for the last few seconds to stay crisp, with crushed peanuts and lime on the side.

Prep 20min Cook 15min 2 servings

Prep 10min Cook 12min 2 servings

Korean Kkaennip Deulgireum Gyeran Bap (Perilla Egg Rice)

Perilla oil and kkaennip (perilla leaves) both come from the same plant, so one bowl carries the toasty smell of the seed and the fresh, minty smell of the leaf. The egg is cooked soft in butter and folded in.

⚡ 20-Minute Recipes 🏠 Everyday

Korean Stir-fried Chives and Shrimp

The garlic chives are split into white stems and green leaves and go in separately. Shrimp cook in oil already scented with sliced garlic, the stems join with the soy and oyster sauce, and the leaves go in last and are done within a minute.

Prep 12min Cook 8min 2 servings

Prep 15min Cook 12min 2 servings

Pad Woon Sen (Thai Stir-Fried Glass Noodles with Shrimp and Egg)

Glass noodles drink up soy and oyster sauce fast, turning clear and glossy within a minute or two in a hot pan. With shrimp, cabbage, carrot, and egg, this Thai stir-fry comes together in a few minutes over high heat.

Prep 12min Cook 18min 2 servings

Korean Saury Kimchi Rice Bowl

Even the liquid from the can of mackerel pike (kkongchi, a Pacific saury) goes in, two tablespoons of it, adding the taste of the fish to the kimchi sauce. Once the fish is in, the spatula splits it only two or three times, and it still sits on the rice in large chunks.

Prep 12min Cook 10min 4 servings

Korean Busan-Style Stir-fried Fish Cake

The sheet fish cakes (eomuk) start with 20 seconds in boiling water to rinse off their surface oil. Skip it and a stale, oily taste lingers after the stir-fry is done. Once the fish cake joins the onion and carrot, it is all over in about three minutes.

🏠 Everyday 🍱 Lunchbox

Prep 20min Cook 20min 4 servings

Pancit Bihon (Filipino Stir-Fried Rice Vermicelli with Chicken)

The water used to poach the chicken breast is kept, and a spoonful goes in whenever the rice vermicelli starts to look dry in the pan. The thin noodles soak up the chicken flavor along with the soy and fish sauce and finish loose, with no liquid pooling underneath.

Prep 10min Cook 15min 2 servings

Konjac Fried Rice

The konjac rice goes into a dry pan with no oil at all. Once the steam dies down and the grains roll around on their own, it comes out, then returns later to a pan of chicken breast, carrot and scrambled egg to be seasoned with oyster sauce and soy sauce. Dried out this way, the konjac rice has a firm, springy chew.

Prep 10min Cook 12min 4 servings

Korean Busan-Style Soy Fish Cake Stir-Fry

A single cheongyang chili, a hot Korean green pepper, goes into this soy-glazed fish cake. The fish cake is cut into long, thin strips and browned over high heat before any sauce goes near it, and the soy seasoning then goes on so briefly that almost none is left in the pan.

🏠 Everyday 🍱 Lunchbox

Prep 15min Cook 15min 2 servings

Pancit Canton (Filipino Stir-Fried Egg Noodles with Chicken and Vegetables)

Chicken thigh goes into the pan first, and the fat and juices it releases carry the carrot and cabbage through a quick, high-heat toss. Water or stock is added only a spoonful at a time, so the egg noodles drink it up along with the soy and oyster sauce and no broth is left in the pan.

Prep 10min Cook 10min 2 servings

Korean Garlic Scape and Pork Rice Bowl

Garlic scapes, a spring vegetable, keep their sharp garlicky smell and firm snap even when stir-fried. Here they cook briefly over high heat with thin slices of pork shoulder in a gochujang sauce and go onto the rice while still crunchy, along with every bit of sauce scraped from the pan.

⚡ 20-Minute Recipes