A pork stir fry recipe that's easy to make, filled with flavor, and the ideal amount for one person. Ground pork seasoned perfectly and cooked with vegetables served with a terrific sauce over rice. Ready in under 30 minutes!
This easy ground pork stir fry is one of my favorite ways to use ground pork. The pork cooks quickly and this amazing meal can be enjoyed in less than 30 minutes!
Why This Recipe Works
- Incredibly delicious: This pork stir fry is an easy stir fry recipe that you will want to keep in your menu rotation. The fresh, crisp vegetables and coating of a rich, savory sauce will check all the boxes for a favorite weeknight meal.
- Easy to customize: I can almost guarantee that you'll find yourself going back to this rice bowl recipe over and over again. Feel free to add your own fresh spin on this stir fry recipe by adding other favorite vegetables in addition to or instead of the ones listed.
- Quick and easy: This satisfying garlic and ginger pork stir fry is the perfect solution when you don't know what to cook for dinner. Everything cooks in one skillet and can be ready very quickly.
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Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Olive oil: I use extra virgin olive oil in this pork stir fry recipe as well as in every other recipe on One Dish Kitchen that calls for olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil is the least processed form of olive oil. It is an unrefined oil and the highest-quality olive oil you can buy. Because of the way extra virgin olive oil is made, it retains a more true olive taste. It also contains more of the vitamins and minerals found in olives. It's my favorite type of olive oil to use but you may use lighter olive oil instead.
- Vegetables: I use sliced mushrooms (fresh or jarred), chopped onions, chopped carrots, garlic, and spinach. Use fresh or frozen. If using frozen, run the vegetables under hot water to thaw. Be sure to drain them before adding to the recipe.
- Ground ginger: I love adding ginger to my stir fry recipes. Use ground for convenience or use ¼ teaspoon of fresh, finely chopped ginger.
- Ground pork: Ground pork is inexpensive ground meat. You can find it in the refrigerated meat section of most grocery stores near the ground beef and ground turkey. Pork is a very lean meat and is usually sold unseasoned. It's a wonderful blank canvas to which many flavorings and seasonings can be added successfully. Cook ground pork to 160° F to ensure doneness.
- For the stir fry sauce: Use soy sauce, apple cider vinegar (may also use rice vinegar or white wine vinegar), and black pepper.
See below for ways to use leftover ingredients.
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How To Make Pork Stir Fry For One
See the recipe box below for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions.
- Heat the oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground pork to the pan and sprinkle salt over the pork. Cook, stirring frequently until completely cooked, 4 minutes. Remove pork from the pan and set it aside.
- Add the mushrooms, onions, and chopped carrots to the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally for 2 minutes.
- Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring for 30 seconds.
- Stir in the spinach, soy sauce, vinegar, and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly until the spinach wilts.
- Stir in the cooked pork.
- Serve over rice.
Expert Tips
- Gather your ingredients before you start. A stir fry will cook quickly so be sure to chop your vegetables ahead of time and have all of your ingredients ready before you start cooking.
- Use different vegetables. This ground pork stir fry recipe is the perfect one to customize. Use vegetables you have on hand like zucchini, broccoli, yellow squash, and bell peppers.
- Use the right size pan. For this garlic ginger pork stir fry, I use a 10-inch skillet. For best results use a pan of similar size. You don't want to use a pan too large because the sauce will evaporate quickly when there's more surface area. If you use a pan that's too small, the pork will take longer to cook. If you would like additional information on the cooking and baking dishes I use in our “recipes for one”, please visit our FAQ page. For examples of the dishes used at One Dish Kitchen, please visit our Store page.
- Use different ground meats: One of the many things I love about this stir fry recipe is the fact that it is easily adaptable. You can easily add other types of meat such as ground beef, ground turkey, and chicken.
- Make it vegetarian. You can even make a vegetarian stir fry by leaving the meat out altogether and using only vegetables.
Frequently Asked Questions
Discovering how to make a single serving of rice was a game-changer for me. I always had the best intentions for using up leftover rice but ended up throwing it away more times than I can count.
This easy method of baking rice in the oven results in perfectly cooked rice with no leftovers.
You will need:
* ½ cup long-grain rice
* 1 cup hot water
* 1 tablespoon butter
* ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions:
* Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C)
* Place white rice (not instant rice) in a 5x5-inch baking dish or a 4x6-inch baking dish. Add the butter and salt.
* Stir and then cover the baking dish with foil. Place the dish on a baking sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes until water is absorbed and the rice is tender.
Although I love using ground pork in this stir fry recipe, ground turkey, chicken, or beef all work very well.
Sealed, pre-packaged ground pork will keep in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days.
If you plan on keeping the pork longer than 2 days before cooking it, store it well wrapped in the freezer.
Ground pork can be kept in the freezer for 3 months.
Absolutely! Pork and pineapple are a delightful combination. Consider making a sweet and tangy pineapple pork stir fry. Stir in about ¼ cup of chopped pineapples before serving.
Serving Suggestions
Usually, a stir fry is served with rice or noodles. For a low-carb option, consider spooning the pork stir fry into lettuce cups or serving it over cauliflower rice.
Variations
- Vegetarian Stir-Fry: Leave out the pork and use your favorite meat substitute instead.
- Low-Carb Stir-Fry: Leave out the rice and use riced cauliflower or enjoy the ground pork and vegetables without either.
- Low-Sodium Stir Fry: Most of the sodium content in this recipe comes from soy sauce. I recommend using low-sodium soy sauce or eliminating the soy sauce altogether and using water instead.
Ways To Use Leftover Ingredients
If you have any ingredients left over from this pork stir fry recipe, you might like to use them in any of these single serving recipes:
- Ground pork: Swedish Meatballs, Taco Casserole, Goulash, Biscuit with Sausage Gravy
- Mushrooms: Risotto, Thai Shrimp Soup, Beef Stroganoff, Salisbury Steak
- Onions: French Onion Soup, Shrimp Creole, Chicken Caprese, Stuffed Peppers
- Carrots: Curried Carrot Soup, Carrot Cake, Citrus Glazed Carrots, Carrot Soufflé
- Ground ginger: Soft Ginger Cookies, Healing Turmeric Tea, Gingerbread, Peach Crisp
- Spinach: Crustless Spinach Quiche, Spinach and Orzo Salad, Saag Paneer, Spinach Manicotti
- Soy sauce: Cashew Chicken, Sesame Chicken, Fried Rice, Chicken and Golden Rice
- Apple cider vinegar: Potato Salad, Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls, Pickled Onions, Eggs Benedict
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If you’ve tried this ground pork stir fry or any recipe on One Dish Kitchen please let me know how you liked it by rating the recipe and telling me about it in the comment section below.
Also, if you take a picture please tag us on Instagram (@onedishkitchen) we’d love to see it!
Pork Stir Fry For One
See the post above for expert tips,
FAQs and ways to use leftover ingredients.
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 4 ounces ground pork
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup sliced mushrooms
- ¼ cup chopped onions
- 1 small carrot , chopped
- 1 clove garlic , minced
- ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 cup spinach
- 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- ⅛ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
- 1 cup cooked rice
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground pork to the pan and sprinkle salt over the pork. Cook, stirring frequently until completely cooked, 4 minutes. Remove pork from the pan and set it aside.
- Add the mushrooms, onions, and chopped carrots to the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally for 2 minutes.
- Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring for 30 seconds.
- Stir in the spinach, soy sauce, vinegar, and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly until the spinach wilts.
- Stir in the cooked pork.
- Serve over rice.
Notes
- Gather your ingredients before you start. A stir fry will cook quickly so be sure to chop your vegetables ahead of time and have all of your ingredients ready before you start cooking.
- Use different vegetables. This ground pork stir fry recipe is the perfect one to customize. Use vegetables you have on hand like zucchini, broccoli, yellow squash, and bell peppers.
- Use the right size pan. For this garlic ginger pork stir fry, I use a 10-inch skillet. For best results use a pan of similar size. You don't want to use a pan too large because the sauce will evaporate quickly when there's more surface area. If you use a pan that's too small, the pork will take longer to cook. If you would like additional information on the cooking and baking dishes I use in our “recipes for one”, please visit our FAQ page. For examples of the dishes used at One Dish Kitchen, please visit our Store page.
- Use different ground meats: One of the many things I love about this stir fry recipe is the fact that it is easily adaptable. You can easily add other types of meat such as ground beef, ground turkey, and chicken.
- Make it vegetarian. You can even make a vegetarian stir fry by leaving the meat out altogether and using only vegetables.
- ½ cup long-grain rice
- 1 cup hot water
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C)
- Place white rice (not instant rice) in a 5x5-inch baking dish or a 4x6-inch baking dish. Add the butter and salt.
- Stir and then cover the baking dish with foil. Place the dish on a baking sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes until water is absorbed and the rice is tender.
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Greg says
Pork brings me and everyone else it seems in for dinner. Beautiful.
Anita L Elder says
I made this for my supper tonight and it was awesome! All the flavors were perfect!
J. Hegyi says
Great recipe.
Melanie says
This was so good!! I actually increased the ingredient proportions for 4 and served this to my husband. His words: " this is a keeper!!". Bazinga!
Kathy says
I made this today, using bite-size chicken breast and frozen stir fry veggies. The taste was fantastic but there was no sauce. I realized too late that the mushrooms etc give off liquid, so next time I will add a tiny bit of water to deglaze the pan. Will definitely try again.
Donna says
A favorite
Stacy says
This is one of my favorite recipes. It tastes great, is healthy, and is quick and easy to make! I love your website and cookbook!! With a few simple ingredients many good meals can be made.
Joanie Zisk says
I'm so glad you are enjoying the recipes, Stacy. Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know.
Nickie says
I followed the instructions and the dish is a keeper. I do like stir fry a little spacer so at the table I added a few shakes of Franks Red-Hot Sweet Chili. Yum! I was surprised how filling it was. I’m so happy to have found this site. If is so good so be eating home cooked food again.
Luana Boulanger says
Thanks! Looking forward to trying it.
Luana Boulanger says
When do you add the salt & the first 1/8 tsp divided pepper?
Joanie Zisk says
Hi Luana,
Add the salt to the pork as it is cooking in the skillet (Step 1).
The amount of black pepper needed is 1/8 teaspoon and it should be added to the soy sauce and vinegar in Step 4 of the recipe.
Thank you for catching that, the recipe has been updated.
Joanie
Susan says
Looks good. I wiil try this but use ground chicken in place of the pork.
For those who cannot eat soy sauce you can substitute Coconut Aminos for the soy sauce. I do this in all recipes calling for soy sauce.