20 Easy Stir-Fry Recipes You Will Want to Eat Right Now

Written by Michael Matthews

Filipino Adobo Pepper Steak with Okra & Carrots

The national dish of the Philippines, adobo, is named for the marinade of vinegar and soy sauce. In this quick version, those elements are turned into a stir-fry sauce. That means instead of slow-roasting the steak all day long, you can get dinner on the table in about a half hour.

Once you give this steak stir fry with okra a try, you’ll definitely add it to your regular meal rotation.

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Sweet & Spicy Jalapeno Chicken Stir Fry

Making a spicy stir-fry doesn’t mean you need to stock up on chili sauces and spice blends at an Asian grocery store. If you have a jalapeno or other fresh pepper, simply dice it up and toss it in the pan with the garlic and onions.

For a milder spice, be sure to remove the seeds, but you can leave them in if you prefer to feel the heat.

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Slow Cooker Cashew Beef & Broccoli

To enjoy this classic stir-fry combo of beef and broccoli, you don’t need a wok. Rather than getting everything ready on the stove immediately before eating, this beef and broccoli dinner comes together in a Crock Pot.

You don’t even have to brown the chuck roast. Simply slice it up, and lay it in the slow cooker. Pour sauce over the top, and put the lid on it. The veggies and cashews are added a half hour before serving – just enough time to get your rice ready too.

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4-Ingredient Salmon Stir Fry

Once you pay for the salmon fillets, you’re probably not feeling too keen on filling up the cart with a long list of other gourmet ingredients to make a single meal. Luckily you can whip up this generous dinner for two with only four ingredients (not including salt and pepper).

Swing through the produce section for green beans and a lemon, grab a pound of fresh wild salmon, and then all you need is butter.

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Pork & Pineapple Stir Fry

Pork roasted with pineapples is a great comfort food for anyone who loves savory-sweet combinations. But how can you get that flavor without slow cooking?

In about a half hour, you can make this pork stir-fry. Of course, if you’re not used to cutting up a whole pineapple, the prep time is going to take a little longer. Dice it up ahead of time, and the fresh pineapple will keep in the fridge for about three days when stored in an air-tight container.

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Steak Stir Fry for One

Throwing a bunch of delicious ingredients into a pan is a convenient way to feed a lot of people. Yet, stir-frying is just as great of a method when you just need to feed yourself and don’t want to leftovers.

Most stir fry recipes can be scaled down to serve one, and more importantly, it’s easier to carry out the steps for a one-person meal when it’s made in a skillet versus a stockpot or casserole dish.

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Asian Ground Turkey Stir Fry

Turn plain ground turkey into a flavorful dinner with a stir-fry.

As a naturally lean meat, the turkey soaks up all the other flavors in the pan. So even if you don’t love it in a burger or sausage, ground turkey tastes different with this stir fry sauce of tamari, chili garlic, and fish sauce.

The fresh herb topping will also help transform the lean turkey into a new dinner. Any mixture of mint, cilantro, and basil will work.

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Chicken Teriyaki Stir Fry

Bottled teriyaki sauces can be loaded with sugar, even in the form of high-fructose corn syrup. One teriyaki ready-made meal can have 10 grams of sugar for every 200 calories – the same as some cheesecakes.

By making this teriyaki stir fry from scratch, you can add a touch of brown sugar or honey for flavor, yet rest easy knowing there’s only 6 grams of added sugar per serving.

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Shrimp & Zucchini Stir Fry with Miso Lime Sauce

Although shrimp tends to be quick to cook no matter what method you choose, the convenience doesn’t always turn out a plump and juicy result. This shrimp stir-fry takes about a half hour from start to finish, and after that short time, you’ll end up with a unique stir-fry.

The bulk of this dinner is a ginger citrus shrimp with orange and lime juice. You can use your favorite stir fry veggies like broccoli or green beans, but if possible, get zucchini for its mildly sweet flavor and soft texture.

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Kimchi Fried Rice

When you cook with kimchi, you don’t have to worry about gathering a long list of ingredients. The kimchi adds complex flavor that makes a great base to build a fried rice dish around.

Instead of using soy sauce and fish sauce to make this Korean stir fry, tossing in some kimchi means you can focus on the other prep work instead of whisking together a sauce. In this recipe, bacon and mushrooms come together for a savory stir fry full of umami.

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Spicy Turkey & Green Bean Stir Fry

Even though stir-fry is supposed to be an easy meal, it can start to seem like more work when you add new ingredients or make a complex sauce. Sometimes all you have energy for is tossing some common ingredients in a pan, adding basic pantry staples to make a sauce, and eating a hearty dinner.

For this recipe, you can use leftover turkey breast or ground turkey depending on what’s convenient.

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Taiwanese Stir-Fried Clams

If you’re lucky enough to have some fresh clams in your kitchen, you’re likely considering using a big stockpot to cook them clam bake-style. But you can stir fry shellfish for a faster way to get them on your dinner plate.

The high heat of the wok helps the clams to steam inside their shells. That way you’ll retain more nutrients too as boiling food can draw the vitamins and minerals into the water, which are then wasted when you pour that cooking liquid down the drain.

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Turmeric Shrimp Stir Fry

This recipe comes from the James Beard award-winning cookbook Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Mastery by Grace Young, which also has instructions to make Hong Kong-style mango ginger chicken and stir-fried salmon with wine.

However, the origin of this dish is Malaysia, and it was perfected by Mei Chau, owner/chef of Aux Epices restaurant in NYC. And as this shrimp stir fry shows, her restaurant is aptly named for her expertise in using spices like turmeric, which not only tastes good but has incredible benefits like acting as a natural anti-inflammatory.

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Coconut Curry Stir Fry with Noodles & Tofu

An awesome coconut curry doesn’t have to use the entire can of full-fat coconut milk. You’ll need less than a quarter cup to make these noodles. And aside from that, this vegetarian noodle stir-fry only contains fat from the oil required to cook it.

This a great make-ahead lunch because it travels well, and the noodles and tofu can be enjoyed warm or cold.

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Chinese Pork & Green Bean Stir Fry

Ground pork might have you thinking sausage, but in this stir-fry recipe it’s cooked up with fresh ginger, red chili, and garlic for a completely different flavor profile.

This is a great cheap meal, and if you have these ingredients around for other recipes, you can sneak away with enough to make this single-serving stir-fry. Although this stir-fry recipe is made for one, it can be scaled up to make as many servings as you need.

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Sesame-Ginger Orange Stir Fry with Chickpeas

With an orange stir-fry sauce, you’d expect the star of this dish to be chicken – but it’s actually chickpeas.

This combo will have you rethinking what a veggie stir fry can be. The sauce has all the goodness and natural health benefits of fresh orange, honey, and ginger. Then it has a nutrient-dense mix of bell pepper, green beans, and chickpeas.

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Vegetable Jalfrezi

Indian cuisine is best known for a vast array of curries; however, those tend to take a lot of patience. When you’re craving curry but need to make dinner in a hurry, remember this Indian stir fry.

Jalfrezi is packed full of vegetables, and you can add in any mild-flavored produce you have in fridge. The ingredients lists for Indian recipes can get intimidating because of the number of spices, but keep in mind they take the place of the sauce here.

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Malaysian Shrimp & Sausage Stir Fry with Rice Noodles

Not only is Asian takeout full of fat and MSG, but the options tend to be limited. Kung pao chicken and pad Thai are delicious but not every day, and repeating any meal all the time will probably mean you’re missing complete nutrition.

Learn to stir-fry at home, and you can start venturing into new flavor combos and integrate wholesome foods like shrimp, eggs, and bean sprouts. That’s what you’ll find in this Malaysian dish called char kway teow, which simply translates to “fried flat noodles.”

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Stir-Fried Bok Choy

Normally wilted greens are more of a side dish, but in this stir-fry, the sauce makes the bok choy delicious enough to have with brown rice for a light lunch. A kind of cabbage, bok choy is a great source of plant protein – over 10 grams per 100 calories.

If you don’t have any Chinese cabbage, however, you can also use this recipe with collard greens or sturdy kale.

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Stir Fry Sauce

Make your favorite weeknight stir-fry even faster to cook by keeping a homemade sauce on hand. It’ll take the guesswork out of choosing a recipe – just pick up whatever’s freshest at the store, or use the ingredients you have stashed in the fridge.

This sauce will go with chicken, pork, beef, or tofu. It’ll also enhance any veggies, such as snap peas, asparagus, and cauliflower. Once you whisk everything together to make this stir fry sauce, it will keep in the fridge for at least two months.

Use about two teaspoons per serving, or try it as a marinade for meat.

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