A quick, delicious, and full-of-flavor Stir-fried Bean Sprouts with pork requires only 10 minutes of preparation.
I love all kinds of quick and easy stir-frying dishes, especially with protein. Those stir-fry dishes are the most popular ones in Chinese cuisine. When protein is stir-fried with vegetables, this dish can combine the tender texture of meat, full of flavors from seasonings, and the freshness and crunchiness of the vegetables. This recipe will use bean sprouts to replace the common green pepper or broccoli. And it is so good.
Those tiny sprouts from beans, either from mung bean or soybeans, are extremely popular in Asian cuisines. They can be white or pale yellow, crunchy, and crispy. Many spring rolls may use bean sprouts because they add crunchiness.
Bean sprouts are highly recommended for weight control. In addition to stir-frying dishes, we love to use them in soups, as a base for Sichuan Shuizhu dishes, or even as a salad.
Difference between soybean sprouts and mung bean sprouts
Soybean and mung bean sprouts are both popular types of bean sprouts, but they come from different beans and have some differences. Yellowish Soybean sprouts are larger and thicker than mung bean sprouts, while the latter is more delicate. You can choose your type as both work fine for stir-frying dishes.
Step-by-Step Instructions:
Marinate the Pork:
Combine the shredded pork with soy sauce, dark soy sauce, water cornstarch, cooking wine, and white pepper powder in a bowl. Let it marinate for 20 minutes to absorb all the flavors. Then, pour vegetable cooking oil and mix well before stir-frying.
Fry the pork :
First, heat your wok or pan until very hot. Add cooking oil to form a 2-3 cm high layer (do not be scared by the amount of oil; we do not eat it all. Spread the pork slices when the oil is warm but not hot. Let them stay for 3-5 seconds, then quickly fry them until they turn pale. Transfer out immediately.
It is 100% okay to find some faint pink color inside the slices for the following two reasons: the heat of the pork slices will continue cooking them (后热效应), and they will be recooked in a wok later. So do not overcook your pork slices. Transfer out as long as they turn pale. That’s our super tender pork slices.
Fry aromatics and bean sprouts:
Remove the extra oil and save it for vegetable stir-fries. Leaving around two tablespoons of oil, turn up the fire, add garlic, scallion section, dried chili pepper, and bean sprouts simultaneously, keep the fire high, and fry those ingredients for around half a minute. Sprinkle a small amount of salt and light soy sauce.
Return pork and scallion sections and mix well quickly. Drizzle some sesame oil optionally, transfer it out, and serve it hot.
Tips: High heat when frying the bean sprouts can help sear the surface quickly and lock in the water content. Don't overmix after adding the pork because the bean spourts may scratch the starch layer.
Pork and Bean Sprouts Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 200 g pork butt or tenderloin , thinly sliced
- 200 g bean sprouts , remove the roots
Marinating
- 1/4 tsp. salt , optional (you can skip this for a less salted dish)
- 1/2 tbsp. Chinese cooking wine
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 1 tsp. dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp. water or chicken stock
- 1/4 tsp. white pepper powder
- 3 tsp. cornstarch
- 1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil
Stir fry
- cooking oil as needed
- 3 garlic cloves ,sliced
- 1/2 thumb ginger ,skin removed and sliced
- 1/2 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 2 hot Thai pepper , cut into circle
- 2 scallions , cut into section
- 1 tsp. sesame oil , optional
Instructions
Marinate the Pork
- Combine the shredded pork with light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, water cornstarch, cooking wine, salt and white pepper powder in a bowl. Let it marinate for 20 minutes to absorb all the flavors. Then, pour vegetable cooking oil and mix well before stir-frying.
Fry the pork
- First, heat your wok or pan until very hot. Add cooking oil to form a 2-3 cm high layer (do not be scared by the amount of oil; we do not eat it all). Spread the pork slices in when the oil is warm but not very hot. Let them stay for around 3-5 seconds, and then quickly fry them until they turn pale. Transfer out immediately.
- It is 100% okay to find some faint pink color inside the slices for the following two reasons: the heat of the pork slices will continue cooking them (后热效应), and they will be recooked in a wok later. So do not overcook your pork slices. Transfer out as long as they turn pale.
Fry aromatics and bean sprouts
- Remove the extra oil and save it for vegetable stir-fries. Leaving around two tablespoons of oil, now turn up the fire, add garlic and ginger at the same time, fry until aromatic. Keep the fire high, add bean sprouts, fry for around half a minute.
Combine together
- Then add light soy sauce, hot Thai pepper, scallion sections and the pork. Mix well quickly. Drizzle some sesame oil(this step is optional), transfer out, and serve hot.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Serving Suggestions
This dish pairs wonderfully with steamed rice or noodles. For a complete meal, you can also serve it alongside other Chinese dishes like mapo tofu and smashed cucumber salad.
I hope you love this healthy and quick Chinese stir fry! Happy cooking.
i am interested in your translation about each sichuan cuisine
I can see that you are a big fan of Sichuan cuisine 😊
We live in a smaller town in France and when the supermarket has bean sprouts we have to buy a whole big bag. When we do we always make Pad Thai and have sprouts left over
Now we have another delicious way to use them! Love this recipe. So good and so easy. We also love spicy Sichuan. Thank you
Hi, Tom
Glad to hear you are also a bean sprout lover, Thai style fried rice noodles is quite delicious dish, we also like it. In addition to stir-frying, bean sprouts are also very common in Sichuan hot pot, which is also quite spicy Sichuan food, you will definitely love it 😊