Making Stir Fry

The secrets to one of the easiest meals ever

A perfect stir fry, to us, has the following components:

• Deliciously seared meat, cut in bite-size pieces

• Vegetables tossed and cooked to al dente in lots of colors and textures

• Rice or noodles that are seasoned

• A sticky, tangy sauce with plenty of flavor

While Panda Express is always there, it turns out it’s not too complicated to create the perfect stir fry in your own house! It’s one of our favorite go-to, forgot-to-plan-dinner dinners. Here’s the big secrets!

Secret number one: cook your meat in two stages

You can choose whatever meat you want to use! (Or skip the meat, of course!) Chicken breasts or thighs, beef (sirloin or flank steak are our favorites), shrimp, even pork (try loin or pork belly)… Choose one, season it with salt and pepper, then cut it into even, consistent cubes. Smaller cubes will cook faster. We try for cubes about two inches thick.

Once your pan is hot, you’ll sear the meat. Let it cook, stirring or shaking it so every side of every cube gets touched by the heat—and then REMOVE THE MEAT.

No, the meat is not cooked all the way through. Not yet. It’s going to hang out on your counter in a bowl or on a plate while the vegetables cook.

I realize this may not be mind-blowing to anyone else, but splitting the meat cook time into two parts? Game-changer! That’s how you avoid super dry overcooked meat.

Secret number two: know the different cook times of your veggies

Some vegetables cook pretty quick—mushrooms, green onions, snap peas, cabbage.

Some vegetables take a little longer—bell peppers, broccoli, bok choy.

Keep the heat on your pan cranked up high. Make sure your veggies are cut uniformly and toss ‘em in! The ones that take longer to cook? They go in first. After they’ve gotten a headstart, add in the rest. You can add a bit of sesame oil for flavor, but not too much—we’re not trying to cook them in oil, we’re cooking fast and hot as we stir.

Secret number three: learn how to make a sauce.

Note we said a sauce. Not the sauce.

That’s because once you have the building blocks of a sauce for stir fry, you can switch out the ingredients and play with flavors, ratios, textures, heat level, and so on.

Here’s the components we use and the approximate measurements (because remember, you can adjust the ratios depending on what flavors you want to highlight):

Soy sauce (about half a cup)

Sesame oil (about a quarter cup)

Rice vinegar (about a quarter cup)

Fresh ginger (about a teaspoon)

Lime juice (one lime’s worth)

Honey or brown sugar (about one tablespoon)

And a sprinkle each of cilantro, red pepper flakes, and fresh garlic

These all go into a pot and simmer on low until everything is mixed together. To thicken, you’ll make a slurry with cornstarch (one tablespoon cornstarch and two tablespoons of water). Add the slurry to the sauce, turn up the heat until it boils, then quickly reduce heat and keep stirring until the cornstarch slurry is completely integrated.

Once again, you can play with these ingredients! If you’d rather use olive oil, do it! If you’d rather use fish sauce, do it! If you prefer a super garlicky sauce, omit the ginger and double the garlic. This is just a basic recipe for a stir fry sauce that can be adjusted and tweaked and played with!

Secret number four: season the rice or noodles!

This isn’t groundbreaking, but don’t ignore the rice or noodles you’re serving along with your stir fry! Making sure to salt your rice, adding coconut milk to the rice cooker, or even frying the rice or noodles in hot sesame oil after they’re cooked will make all the difference!

Whew! That’s a lot of information for what will ultimately be a breezy, simple meal! Promise! Now that you know the secrets, here’s the step-by-step recipe below. Let us know how it goes!

Ingredients (for serving four):

• 1 pound choice of meat, seasoned with salt and pepper and cut into 1-2 inch cubes

• Assorted vegetables of your choice (our go-to is 2 cups of broccoli, 2 cups snap peas, 1 bell pepper, 1/4 of a red cabbage sliced thin)

For the sauce:

• Sesame oil, 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon, divided

• Soy sauce, 1/2 cup

• Fresh ginger, 1 teaspoon

• Rice vinegar, 1/4 cup

• Juice of one lime

• Fresh garlic, 1 tablespoon

• Crushed red pepper flakes, a healthy shake

• Honey or brown sugar, 1 tablespoon

• Sprinkle of cilantro

• Cornstarch, 1 tablespoon

• Water, 1 tablespoon

• Sesame seeds, green onions, cilantro (toppings)

• Your choice of rice or noodles to accompany meat and vegetables

Instructions:

Cube and season meat. Rinse and chop all vegetables.

Mix all sauce ingredients except for cornstarch and water in a pot and simmer on low.

Heat a large frying pan or wok to high heat. (Turn on your overhead fan if it gets smoky!) Toss in meat, stirring or shaking the pan until all sides of the meat are seared. Remove meat and set aside.

Add one tablespoon sesame oil and vegetables to hot pan. (If you have vegetables that require longer cooking time, add those first, give them a head start, then add the other vegetables.) Season vegetables with salt and pepper (and optional sesame seeds).

When the vegetables are nearly cooked, add meat back into pan. Continue stirring or shaking the pan so everything cooks evenly. When meat and vegetables are cooked all the way through, remove from heat.

Turn up the heat on your sauce. Make a slurry with cornstarch and water. Add slurry to the sauce and let it reach a boil. Lower heat and stir until slurry is completely combined with sauce. Sauce should be thick and sticky.

Serve over rice or noodles immediately.

We like to add our meat into the sauce pot, letting the meat get fully coated before serving. Optional toppings include sesame seeds, green onions, more cilantro, or chili sauce.

Hope you enjoy it!