This Pork and Onion Stir Fry is the kind of Chinese home cooking my dad Bill grew up with. It’s a marriage of Chinese techniques and American staples like ketchup and Worcestershire sauce. The result is downright tasty and comforting with a bowl of rice!
A Simple Pork Stir-Fry
This stir-fry has minimal chopping and comes together quickly. The hardest part is making sure your pantry is stocked with Shaoxing wine, oyster sauce, light and dark soy sauce, white pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and ketchup!
Chinese Pantry Essentials
Read more about our 10 Chinese Pantry Essentials that enable you to make hundreds of recipes like this one.
The onions and pork come out saucy and glistening, and the resulting dish is so good over steamed jasmine rice!
Chinese American Comfort Food
Sometimes ketchup is used as a pejorative when it comes to Asian cooking. But in many cases, it’s not so much about a lack of “authenticity” or a sign of no effort, but rather an ingredient that was lovingly adopted into the Chinese American pantry.
My grandma (Bill’s mother) used it in her Ketchup Shrimp, a dish Sarah and I were skeptical of at first but immediately loved. It’s also a key ingredient in a Hong Kong Style Baked Pork Chop Rice!
So when we decided to make this pork and onion stir-fry, Sarah casually mentioned that I should incorporate the flavors you might find in a pan of Cantonese-style pork chops, adding extra umami from soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, and white pepper!
Imagine my surprise when my dad tasted it and zoomed back to his childhood in Liberty, New York. “This is what we ate back in the day!” Let’s just say he made sure to polish off the leftovers for this particular blogging experiment!
Recipe Instructions
In a medium bowl, add the sliced pork, water, cornstarch, Shaoxing wine, oil, oyster sauce, baking soda, and white pepper.
Next, make the sauce mixture by combining the water, ketchup, light soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, dark soy sauce, and white pepper.
Heat a wok or skillet over medium-high heat until it’s just starting to smoke or a drop of water beads on the surface. Add the neutral oil and swirl it around to coat. Add the pork in a single layer and let it sear. When it’s golden on the edges on one side, flip and stir-fry the pork. Cook to about 80% doneness. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Add the garlic and onion to the pan. Stir fry and cook for 30 seconds, then add the Shaoxing wine to deglaze, scraping up any stuck-on bits. Stir fry for another 2 minutes.
Add the pork and any juices back to the wok, along with the sauce mixture. Stir-fry to combine until the pork and onions are glossy and coated.
Serve!
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Recipe
Pork and Onion Stir-fry
Ingredients
For the pork and marinade:
- 12 ounces boneless pork (thinly sliced into 2-inch/5cm lengths; pork shoulder, butt, loin, and boneless country ribs are all good options)
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1½ teaspoons Shaoxing wine
- 1 teaspoon neutral oil (such as canola, vegetable, or avocado oil)
- 1 teaspoon oyster sauce
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon white pepper
For the sauce:
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1½ tablespoons ketchup
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon dark soy sauce
- ⅛ teaspoon white pepper
For the rest of the dish:
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil
- 1 clove garlic (sliced)
- 2 medium onions (sliced into thin wedges)
- 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, add the sliced pork, water, cornstarch, Shaoxing wine, oil, oyster sauce, baking soda, and white pepper.
- Next, make the sauce mixture by combining the water, ketchup, light soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, dark soy sauce, and white pepper.
- Heat a wok or skillet over medium-high heat until it’s just starting to smoke or a drop of water beads on the surface. Add the neutral oil and swirl it around to coat. Add the pork in a single layer and let it sear. When it’s golden on the edges on one side, flip and stir-fry the pork. Cook to about 80% doneness. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Add the garlic and onion to the pan. Stir fry and cook for 30 seconds, then add the Shaoxing wine to deglaze, scraping up any stuck-on bits. Stir fry for another 2 minutes. Add the pork and any juices back to the wok, along with the sauce mixture. Stir-fry to combine until the pork and onions are glossy and coated. Serve!
