Pork Stir-Fry

This wonderfully flavorful pork stir-fry is made with pork tenderloin strips, onions, and bell peppers.

The soy sauce-sriracha marinade is amazing! And it's ready in about 30 minutes, making it an ideal choice for a weeknight dinner.

Pork stir-fry served on a white plate with red chopsticks.

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.

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Ingredients
Instructions
Expert tip
Frequently asked questions
Variations
Serving suggestions
Storing leftovers
Related recipes
Recipe card

Ingredients

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. If needed, you can use a gluten-free alternative.

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 could 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 recipe with 2 pounds, so I usually get two small tenderloins 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 and that would in fact be more flavorful.

Sesame oil and sesame seeds: Used after cooking is done, to flavor the cooked dish and garnish it.

Instructions

Like all stir-fry recipes, this pork stir-fry 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 bell peppers, garlic, and 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.

A four-photo collage showing the steps for making a pork stir-fry.

Expert tip

While you don't want the pork undercooked, you definitely don't want it overcooked. So during the first stage of cooking the meat and the onions, cook just until the meat is no longer raw. It will continue to cook during the next steps.

Frequently asked questions

What cut of pork is good in a stir-fry?

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. I use pork tenderloin in other recipes too - check out this pork medallions recipe. It's wonderful.

So it's best to use pork shoulder for pork steaks, pork roast, pork carnitas, or pulled pork. It's just like beef stir fry. Sirloin and tenderloin are good, while fattier or tougher cuts are better for slow cooking.

Can I use frozen bell peppers?

Yes. Those bags of frozen sliced bell peppers are very convenient and you can absolutely use them in this recipe. The only caveat is that they tend to release some liquid into the dish. But I haven't found that to be an issue.

Should I marinate the meat before cooking?

If you use pork tenderloin, which is quite tender, there's no need to marinate it first.

Variations

I love this recipe as is and almost always make it as written. But in case you'd like to vary the basic recipe, here are a few ideas for you:

You can use refined coconut oil or ghee instead of olive oil for frying.
White wine vinegar is a good substitute for rice vinegar.
If you don't have sriracha, you can use red pepper flakes instead (½ to 1 teaspoon), adding one more tablespoon of soy sauce.

Serving suggestions

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.

Storing 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.