Wonderfully flavorful pork stir fry is made with pork tenderloin strips, onions, and bell peppers. The soy sauce-sriracha marinade is amazing!
Stir-frys are great. Once you're done prepping the ingredients (which you can often do in advance), they are usually ready in about ten minutes. This makes them ideal for weeknight dinners.
This particular stir-fry is one of my favorites. It's made with pork tenderloin (more on why this particular cut of meat later on), and I add lots of onions and bell peppers. I flavor this dish with garlic, ginger, and a very flavorful marinade made with soy sauce and sriracha.
The ingredients you'll need
Here's an overview of what you'll need to make this tasty pork stir-fry. The exact measurements are listed in the recipe card below:
For the sauce:
Soy sauce: I typically use reduced-sodium soy sauce. The traditional sauce is too salty, in my opinion.
Rice vinegar: If you don't have rice vinegar on hand, you can use white wine vinegar instead.
Sriracha: A tablespoon adds the perfect amount of heat to this dish. But if you like your food very spicy, you might want to add even more.
Cornstarch: Helps thicken the sauce. You can experiment with low-carb alternatives if you wish.
For the stir-fry:
Pork tenderloin: I make this pork stir fry recipe with 2 pounds, so I usually get two small ones at the store.
Avocado oil: This neutral-tasting oil has a high smoke point, making it ideal for high-heat cooking.
Onions: You can chop the onion, but I actually like to slice it and then separate the slices into rings.
Bell peppers: I love using a 1-lb. bag of frozen sliced bell peppers. They come in different colors and they are perfectly sliced. But if you'd like, you can use fresh bell peppers instead.
Aromatics: Minced fresh garlic and minced fresh ginger root. I'm lazy, so I use jarred ones. But you can obviously mince them yourself.
Sesame oil and sesame seeds: Used after cooking is done, to flavor the cooked dish and garnish it.
How to make a pork stir fry
Like all stir fry recipes, this recipe comes together astonishingly quickly once you start cooking. Most of the work is in prepping the meat, veggies, and sauce. But even the prep work is quite easy and quick. Scroll down to the recipe card for detailed instructions. Here are the basic steps:
Your first step is to whisk together the sauce ingredients. Then you set the sauce aside.
Your next step is to cook the meat and onion in avocado oil. Cook them until the meat is no longer raw and the onion is tender. This should take about 5 minutes over medium-high heat.
Now, add the bell peppers, the garlic, and the ginger. Cook them very briefly, then slightly lower the heat and stir in the sauce. Keep cooking for a couple more minutes - the sauce should thicken considerably. As soon as it does, take the pan off the heat.
I like to serve the finished dish on a large platter. I drizzle it with toasted sesame oil (so tasty!) and sprinkle it with sesame seeds before serving.
What cut of pork to use?
It's best to use pork tenderloin in this recipe because it's lean and tender. If you use pork shoulder, it would be too fatty.
So use pork shoulder for pork roast, pork carnitas, or for pulled pork. It's just like beef stir fry. Sirloin and tenderloin are good, while fattier or tougher cuts are better for slow cooking.
How to serve pork stir-fry
This dish is quite saucy and the sauce is exquisite, so you'll definitely want to serve it on something that would soak up the sauce. Rice is the traditional choice, but cauliflower rice works just as well.
And happily, these days, you can get bags of frozen pre-riced cauliflower that are microwaveable and ready in just 5 minutes.
What about leftovers?
You can keep leftovers in the fridge, in a sealed container, for 3-4 days. Make sure you reheat them very gently so that you don't dry out the pork. It's best to reheat them in the microwave, covered, on 50% power.
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Pork Stir Fry
INGREDIENTS
Sauce:
- 6 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce (or use a gluten-free alternative and add salt as needed)
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sriracha sauce (1 ½ tablespoon if you like your food spicy)
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
Stir fry:
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 2 lb. pork tenderloin , fat trimmed, cut into strips (about 1.8 lb. after trimming)
- 1 large onion , sliced, slices separated into rings (8 oz)
- 1 lb. frozen bell pepper slices , thawed and drained (or 3 large bell peppers, sliced)
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
Garnish:
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
INSTRUCTIONS
- Prepare the sauce: In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sriracha, and cornstarch. Set aside.
- Heat the avocado oil in a large, deep skillet (or wok) over medium-high heat. Add the pork strips and the onions and stir-fry until the meat is no longer raw, 5-7 minutes.
- Add the pepper slices, garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, 1 minute.
- Give the sauce a quick additional mix (the cornstarch tends to settle in the bottom). Lower the heat to medium and stir the sauce into the skillet. Cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens, about 3 minutes. As soon as it has thickened, remove the skillet from the heat.
- Transfer the pork stir-fry to a serving platter. Drizzle with sesame oil, sprinkle with sesame seeds, and serve.
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NOTES
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Vered DeLeeuw, LL.M., CNC, has been following a low-carb real-food diet and blogging about it since 2011. She's a Certified Nutrition Coach (NASM-CNC), has taken courses at the Harvard School of Public Health, and has earned a Nutrition and Healthy Living Certificate from Cornell University. Her work has appeared in several major media outlets, including Healthline, HuffPost, Today, Women's Health, Shape, and Country Living. 