[Photographs: J. Kenji López-Alt, Shao Z.]
When I was in college, I bought a single piece of cheap cookware that changed my life: a wok. To this day, it remains one of the most valuable tools in my kitchen—I continue to use it at least weekly, for braising, sautéing, deep-frying, and, of course, stir-frying.
There are few techniques that can touch stir-frying for speed, ease, and versatility, not to mention tastiness. Just about any meat or vegetable you have in your fridge right now can contribute to a great stir-fry, so the combinations are limited only by your imagination—try a mix of fresh summer corn, shishito peppers, and pork, or kale and frisée with beef (not a traditional combo, perhaps, but a surprisingly good one). Of course, we've got plenty of more classic dishes, too, like cashew chicken and beef with broccoli. Whether you're in the mood for a familiar flavor profile or something a little more adventurous, these 23 stir-fry recipes have you covered.
Chicken
Cashew Chicken Ding With Jicama, Celery, and Red Bell Pepper
[Photograph: Shao Z.]
The cashew chicken you'll find at your local Chinese-takeout joint is a version of a Chinese dish called a ding, made with diced chicken and vegetables and at least one crunchy ingredient for texture. Here, we combine earthy mushrooms with the vegetal flavors of celery and bell pepper; the crunch is furnished not only by cashews but by crisp diced jicama, too.
Get the recipe for Cashew Chicken Ding With Jicama, Celery, and Red Bell Pepper »
Stir-Fried Chicken With Mushrooms and Oyster Sauce
[Photograph: Shao Z.]
Ever tasted a stir-fry and noticed that the meat was extraordinarily smooth and tender? There's a good chance it was prepared using a technique called water-velveting—first marinated in a mixture of egg white, wine, cornstarch, and seasonings, then blanched until it lost its color. We put that method to use in this recipe, stir-frying silky water-velveted chicken with oyster sauce and mushrooms—a variety of fresh and dried mushrooms, including shiitake, cremini, enoki, and/or oyster, will provide the best flavor and texture.
Get the recipe for Stir-Fried Chicken With Mushrooms and Oyster Sauce »
Takeout-Style Kung Pao Chicken (Diced Chicken With Peppers and Peanuts)
[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]
Real Chinese-style kung pao chicken features a fiery sauce that gets its heat from both dry chilies and Sichuan peppercorns. In the Chinese-American version—the one we're replicating here—a much milder, simpler sauce flavors the chicken, along with diced bell peppers and celery and roasted peanuts. A few teaspoons of cornstarch gives the sauce its signature verging-on-gloppy texture—just as important a component of American-style kung pao chicken as anything else.
Get the recipe for Takeout-Style Kung Pao Chicken (Diced Chicken With Peppers and Peanuts) »
The Best General Tso's Chicken
[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]
Okay, strictly speaking, General Tso's isn't a true stir-fry—it's more like fried chicken tossed in a sauce—but it's too darn tasty to leave out of this list. To achieve a shatteringly crisp shell for our chicken, we spike the batter with vodka (the same approach, incidentally, that we recommend for our takeout-style sesame chicken and orange chicken). The chicken is coated in a sauce that's somewhat sweet but not cloying, thanks to a dose of dried red chilies and acidic rice vinegar.
Get the recipe for The Best General Tso's Chicken »
Beef
Thai-Style Beef With Basil and Chilies (Phat Bai Horapha)
[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]
The dish you may be more familiar with from Thai-restaurant menus is phat ka-phrao—beef stir-fried with garlic, shallots, fish sauce, and Thai bird chilies, then finished with a handful of holy basil. But holy basil is nearly impossible to come by in the US, and phat bai horapha, which replaces it with more accessible purple basil, makes a delicious substitute. Use a mortar and pestle to smash up the chilies and aromatics; the extra labor required is worth it for the extra flavor that results.
Get the recipe for Thai-Style Beef With Basil and Chilies (Phat Bai Horapha) »
Stir-Fried Beef With Chinese Broccoli
[Photograph: Shao Z.]
If beef with broccoli strikes you as a less-than-exciting choice at the Chinese buffet, try upgrading the broccoli. Western florets are bland compared to the complex, mildly bitter flavor of Chinese broccoli, which we blanch before stir-frying to ensure that the tender greens get cooked through with just a brief stay in the wok.
Get the recipe for Stir-Fried Beef With Chinese Broccoli »
Stir-Fried Beef With Kale and Frisée in Black Bean Sauce
[Photograph: Shao Z.]
Who says Chinese techniques are reserved for traditional Chinese ingredients only? Two decidedly Western greens—hearty kale and frisée—join sliced flank steak in a light but flavorful sauce of fermented black beans, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, and more. Don't let the kale stems go to waste, either! They'll be perfectly good to eat as long as you add them before the leaves, giving them enough time to cook through and tenderize.
Get the recipe for Stir-Fried Beef With Kale and Frisée in Black Bean Sauce »
Stir-Fried Beef With Snap Peas and Oyster Sauce
[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]
The same qualities that make buttery skirt steak great for grilling—its thinness and its loose, marinade-friendly texture—also make it well suited for stir-fries. Here, the beef is soaked before cooking in a marinade that includes cornstarch and baking soda for tenderizing. It's stir-fried quickly with bright, crunchy snap peas in oyster sauce, chicken broth, Shaoxing wine, sugar, sesame oil, and soy sauce—the whole dish takes 30 minutes start to finish, including marinating time.
Get the recipe for Stir-Fried Beef With Snap Peas and Oyster Sauce »
Pork
Stir-Fried Cucumbers With Spicy Ground Pork
[Photograph: Shao Z.]
In the US, cucumbers are almost always eaten raw or pickled, which means that we often miss out on a whole other dimension of this ingredient. Lightly cooked, cucumbers turn tender, with a juicy bite. In this dish, we stir-fry them with garlic, season them with stir-fried marinated ground pork, and toss it all in an easy sauce of soy sauce and sesame oil. Salt the cucumbers before cooking to give them a meatier texture.
Get the recipe for Stir-Fried Cucumbers With Spicy Ground Pork »
Korean Spicy Marinated Pork With Chilies and Kimchi (Jaeyook Kimchi Bokum)
[Photograph: Daniel Gritzer]
Beyond the bibimbap, kimbap, and noodle dishes that most often represent Korean cuisine in this country, stir-fries are an important part of the canon. This version uses pork shoulder soaked in a spicy-sweet marinade of gochujang (Korean chili paste), gochugaru (Korean dried-chili powder), kimchi, and Asian pear for a little sweetness.
Get the recipe for Korean Spicy Marinated Pork With Chilies and Kimchi (Jaeyook Kimchi Bokum) »
Stir-Fried Sweet and Sour Pork
[Photograph: Shao Z.]
The same water-velveting technique we use to get silky-smooth chicken works just as well for strips of pork loin in this easy take on sweet and sour pork, bolstered with onion, bell pepper, and canned pineapple. A powerful sauce of tomato paste, pineapple juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil ties the simple components together. Make sure to dry the pork thoroughly after velveting so that it gets a good sear.
Get the recipe for Stir-Fried Sweet and Sour Pork »
Singapore Noodles
[Photograph: Shao Z.]
Wherever Singapore noodles came from (probably not Singapore, in case you were wondering), this dish of curried stir-fried rice noodles with shrimp and pork is a favorite for a reason. To ensure a good level of seasoning, we cook and spice the noodles separately from the meat-and-vegetable mixture. Look for rice noodles with kong moon on the label—they'll be thin yet sturdy enough that they won't break during cooking.
Get the recipe for Singapore Noodles »
Seafood
Stir-Fried Cod With Yellow Squash and Asparagus
[Photograph: Shao Z.]
Half of the reason I own a wok is the fun of flipping its contents, in as graceful a fashion as I can muster. But sometimes it pays to show a little restraint: In this dish, you'll want to turn the water-velveted cod gently to keep it from falling apart. Marinated in rice wine and paired with crisp-tender summer squash and asparagus, it becomes a light but flavorful stir-fry that makes a great accompaniment for a meatier main.
Get the recipe for Stir-Fried Cod With Yellow Squash and Asparagus »
Kung Pao Fish With Dried Chilies and Sichuan Peppercorns
[Photograph: Shao Z.]
Not a gentle, Westernized takeout number, but a real kung pao, made with real, mouth-numbing Sichuan peppercorns. Here, golden-fried chunks of firm white fish, such as catfish or tilapia, are stir-fried with those peppercorns, plus garlic, scallions, and doubanjiang, a Chinese chili-bean sauce. As in the Chinese-American version, roasted peanuts add a nice crunchy texture throughout.
Get the recipe for Kung Pao Fish With Dried Chilies and Sichuan Peppercorns »
Stir-Fried Shrimp With Eggs and Chinese Chives
[Photograph: Shao Z.]
The combination of ginger, garlic, and scallions forms one of the most common flavor bases in Chinese cooking. One popular variation swaps out the scallions for Chinese chives, which have an oniony, garlicky flavor somewhat reminiscent of ramps. In this satisfying Cantonese home-style dish, we stir-fry the chives with shrimp (a rest in a baking soda solution is the key to getting them plump) and eggs, scrambled until fluffy.
Get the recipe for Stir-Fried Shrimp With Eggs and Chinese Chives »
Vegetarian
Phat Phrik Khing With Tofu and Long Beans (Thai Dry-Curry Stir-Fry)
[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]
Though we most often see Thai curries served in broth or coconut milk, dry curries are an essential part of the cuisine. For the best flavor by far, make your own curry paste by pulverizing fresh and dried chilies, galangal, garlic, shallots, lemongrass, and makrut lime leaves with a mortar and pestle (a food processor will work, too, if you're pressed for time). Once that's done, the rest is a snap: Cook tofu until it's crisp and green beans until blistered and tender, then coat them with the paste and serve with hot rice.
Get the recipe for Phat Phrik Khing With Tofu and Long Beans (Thai Dry-Curry Stir-Fry) »
Stir-Fried Bok Choy
[Photograph: Fiona Reilly]
This simple bok choy recipe preserves the fresh, vegetal flavor of the greens by stir-frying them with scallions, garlic, and ginger, then seasoning them lightly with salt, sugar, and sesame oil. You can use the same technique with other leafy greens, like gai lan (Chinese broccoli) and Chinese spinach, for an excellent and easy side dish.
Get the recipe for Stir-Fried Bok Choy »
Buddha's Delight (Lo Hon Jai): Chinese Vegetarian Stir-Fry
[Photograph: Shao Z.]
Buddha's Delight is a Chinese holiday dish that's plenty substantial enough to be a full meal. Besides veggies—cabbage, baby bok choy, and shiitakes—the recipe calls for a variety of soy- and wheat-based ingredients that might not be familiar to you: tofu puffs, bean curd sticks, and Chinese braised gluten (find them online or at well-stocked Asian groceries).
Get the recipe for Buddha's Delight (Lo Hon Jai): Chinese Vegetarian Stir-Fry »
Stir-Fried Lo Mein With Charred Cabbage, Shiitake, and Chives
[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]
Lo mein is typically heavy on noodles and light on vegetables, a ratio we like to change up when we want a more interesting dish. This recipe calls for almost as many veggies as noodles, in the form of cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, and chives. We char the cabbage to bring out its nutty sweetness, and blanch the noodles before stir-frying so they don't clump up in the wok.
Get the recipe for Stir-Fried Lo Mein With Charred Cabbage, Shiitake, and Chives »
Fried Rice
Easy Vegetable Fried Rice
[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]
There's nothing hard about making good fried rice, as long as you keep a couple of tips in mind: Break up the rice before cooking it, and stir-fry it in batches to make sure the wok stays smoking-hot. In this dish, the rice is the focal point, so go easy on the sauce and add-ins. Here, we use peas, carrot, onion, and scallion, with just a little soy sauce and sesame oil for seasoning.
Get the recipe for Easy Vegetable Fried Rice »
Thai-Style Crab Fried Rice
[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]
While fried rice is often thought of as a good way to use up leftover rice—and, indeed, leftover rice works well—you can just as easily use the fresh-cooked stuff. That means that whether or not you've planned ahead, your dinner tonight can be this Thai-style fried rice with fresh crab, egg, scallion, and a little fish sauce. Fresh or frozen crab that you've picked yourself is the best choice here, but canned crabmeat will work, too.
Get the recipe for Thai-Style Crab Fried Rice »
Fried Rice With Blistered Green Beans and Basil
[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]
Want a vegetable fried rice that's mostly about the vegetables? This rice is bulked up with a hefty volume of sweet blistered green beans, leaving the dish more balanced. A big handful of basil (Thai, if you can get it) gives it a fresh flavor.
Get the recipe for Fried Rice With Blistered Green Beans and Basil »
Quick and Easy Pork Fried Rice With Corn and Shishito Peppers
[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]
Fried rice's usefulness in the face of leftovers doesn't end with the rice itself. This recipe was created to take advantage of leftover pork tenderloin, but you could also sub in ham, bacon, or whatever meat you have on hand. It's joined by two of our favorite summer vegetables: sweet corn and shishito peppers. Again, though, feel free to experiment with add-ins.
Get the recipe for Quick and Easy Pork Fried Rice With Corn and Shishito Peppers »