This pork and pepper stir-fry recipe (辣椒小炒肉 – làjiāo xiǎochǎo ròu) is a fast, easy dish to put together with any cut of pork shoulder or pork loin (or even an odd pork chop!).
We like to use long hot green peppers, but you can also use anaheim peppers or even cubanelle peppers if you prefer less heat.
Our Love of Long Hot Green Peppers
You’ll see long hot green peppers in many of our recipes, like our Beef and Pepper Stir-fry, Egg & Pepper Stir-fry, Salt and Pepper Tofu, and Tiger Skin Peppers.
We almost always have these peppers in our refrigerator, and I’ve been eating them for as long as I can remember!
Long hots are widely available here in the Northeast, even in regular supermarkets. I have seen them labeled, “long hot green peppers,” “Italian long hot peppers,” and “Italian sweet chili peppers.” My sister actually includes them in her Philly-style Italian Pork Sandwich recipe.
We like them because they’re fresh and crunchy, have a good medium heat level, and they have thin skin that doesn’t become tough or peel off the pepper after cooking (as can sometimes happen with say, Holland chilies).
While these peppers are generally mild or middle-of-the-road when it comes to spice (much less hot than a jalapeño), they CAN pack a surprising punch of heat. We find that it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Sometimes you can get a really hot one out of the blue! That’s why we usually de-seed these peppers before adding them to stir-fries.
If you’re concerned about spice level, substitute with cubanelle peppers, which are generally milder but have a similar sweetness and texture.
A Quick Stir-fry with Rice or Noodles
This pork and pepper stir-fry is very fast to make. Simply slice the pork into thin strips, and marinate it while you slice the peppers, ginger, and garlic. Then you throw it all into the wok, and the dish comes together in less than 5 minutes.
Because we usually have these peppers in the fridge (and a small hunk of pork in the freezer left over from another stir-fry), this dish shows up on our table often!
We like to serve it as part of a dinner that includes a few dishes (perhaps in addition to a leafy green vegetable and a soup, for instance), but another great way to serve this is over a bowl of noodle soup.
Just heat up your favorite stock, like my mom’s Pork & Chicken Stock, season it well, and add noodles that have been cooked until al dente. Add a scoop of this stir-fry on top, and that’s a popular, tasty combo you might find in a no-frills noodle-shop in China.
If you have leftovers, they go great with pao fan, a porridge of rice and water.
Pork and pepper stir-fry: Recipe Instructions:
In a bowl, combine the thin strips of pork, water, cornstarch, oil, Shaoxing wine, oyster sauce and light soy sauce. Mix well and set aside while you prepare the other ingredients.
De-seed the peppers, and thinly slice them on a diagonal. Prepare your ginger and garlic.
Heat your wok over high heat until smoking. Add 1 tablespoon of oil, and then add the pork.
Stir-fry for 2-3 minutes, until the pork is lightly browned around the edges. Remove the pork from the wok and set aside.
Over medium-high heat, add another tablespoon of oil, along with the ginger, garlic, and peppers, and fry for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
The peppers should be beginning to blister from the heat, but control the heat to avoid burning the garlic! Add the Shaoxing wine to deglaze the wok. Stir for another 10 seconds.
Add the pork back to the wok along with the sugar and dark soy sauce.
Stir-fry for another few seconds over high heat, and serve.
Pork and Pepper Stir-fry
Ingredients
For the pork and marinade:
- 8 ounces pork shoulder or loin (cut into thin strips)
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine
- 1 teaspoon oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
For the rest of the dish:
- 6 long hot green peppers (6 peppers = 10-12 ounces/280-340g)
- 2 slices ginger
- 3 cloves garlic (thinly sliced)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine the thin strips of pork, water, cornstarch, oil, Shaoxing wine, oyster sauce and light soy sauce. Mix well and set aside while you prepare the other ingredients.
- De-seed the peppers, and thinly slice them on a diagonal. Prepare your ginger and garlic.
- Heat your wok over high heat until smoking. Add 1 tablespoon of oil, and then add the pork. Stir-fry for 2-3 minutes, until the pork is lightly browned around the edges. Remove the pork from the wok and set aside.
- Over medium-high heat, add another tablespoon of oil, along with the ginger, garlic, and peppers, and fry for 30 seconds to 1 minute. The peppers should be beginning to blister from the heat, but control the heat to avoid burning the garlic! Add the Shaoxing wine to deglaze the wok. Stir for another 10 seconds.
- Add the pork back to the wok along with the sugar and dark soy sauce. Stir-fry for another few seconds over high heat, and serve.
