An authentic simple Korean marinade is the star of this spicy, sticky Korean pork stir fry that will leave you wanting more long after you licked your bowl clean! This requires just 30 minutes marinating time – which can be skipped if you’re in a hurry!
Korean Pork Stir Fry
If you like BIG flavours – and I mean BIG, HUGE flavours, then this stir fry is for you. The flavours are much more intense than usual stir fries – it’s spicier, stickier and stronger. The jammy sauce is the type that will have you smacking your lips and licking your fingers, wanting to marinade everything in this.
And actually, you could. For those who have sampled Korean Fried Chicken (the “other” KFC), the flavour of the sauce will be familiar because the sticky coating for KFC has similar ingredients to this marinade.
A technique that is not used widely but is fantastic for getting incredible flavour into marinades and sauces is grated onions and pears / apples. I first learnt about this technique from my Korean hairdresser who dictates recipes to me while she does my roots!!!
The reason that grating is such a fantastic technique is that juice is created which forms part of the marinade. Fruit juices simply don’t compare – far less flavour, even when they’re cold pressed fresh juice. And as for grated onions – to my knowledge, you can’t buy that!!!
I made this with pork shoulder (boneless) which is a really great value cut of meat because it is typically considered to be a tougher cut suited to slow cooking. But actually, if you slice it thinly against the grain, it is wonderful to use for quick cooking purposes like in a stir fry.
The one ingredient in this recipe that you might not be able to find easily is Gochujang which is a Korean spice paste. It comes in a bright red tub and the paste is a deep red colour. It’s spicy, savoury with a touch of sweet, and it’s a secret weapon in Korean cooking because it’s go so many layers of flavour. It is used in a lot of Korean dishes, like Bibimbap, Kimchi Fried Rice and even the dipping sauce for the Momofuku Bossam (slow cooked pork).
It can be purchased at Korean grocery stores and most Asian grocery stores for a few dollars. But don’t worry if you can’t find it, I have provided a substitute that yields a very similar result – my taste testers actually couldn’t tell the difference!
Gochujang aside, this is a seriously quick midweek meal. I think you’ll be quite surprised at how short the ingredient list is – thanks to Gochujang which provides much of the flavour base – and just 30 minutes of marinating time.
In fact, I’ve made this without marinating and it still worked out great because the flavour of the glaze is so strong.
I served this with plain white rice and lightly pickled vegetables (I popped the recipe in the notes below). Typically I would have served this with kimchi which is the spicy Korean pickled cabbage that is served with practically every dish for every meal in Korea, but I didn’t have any on hand.
This is a MUST TRY for anyone who loves food with big bold flavours!!! The sticky/sweet/spicy/savory flavours remind me of Mongolian Beef. It is quite spicy, but not “blow your head off” spicy.
Ugh. Writing this up just reminds me how lip smackingly delicious this is and now I’m craving it!!! I’m going to make this for dinner tonight. Using chicken. YUM! – Nagi x
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Spicy Korean Pork Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1 lb / 500g boneless pork shoulder (excess fat trimmed) (Note 1)
Marinade
- 1 small pear , grated (1/2 cup) (or nashi pear OR apple) (Note 2)
- 1/2 medium onion , grated (1/4 cup) (brown, white or yellow)
- 1/2 tsp fresh ginger , minced or finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove , crushed
- 1 tbsp soy sauce (all purpose or light soy sauce)
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 3 tbsp gochujang (Korean Hot Pepper Paste) OR see Note 3 for substitution
Stir Fry
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 garlic , minced
- 1 onion , halved and sliced (brown, white or yellow)
To Serve
- 1 scallion/shallot stalk , sliced
- Sesame seeds
- Rice
Instructions
- Cut pork into thin slices. If using pork shoulder, as I did, halve it lengthwise to form two long pieces, then slice the pieces. See photo below.
- Combine Marinade ingredients in a bowl. Add pork. Marinate for 30 minutes, or overnight.
- To cook, heat oil in a large non stick skillet (Note 4) over high heat. Add garlic and onion, cook for 2 minutes until translucent. Add pork and cook for 5 minutes or until dark golden and caramelised, and just cooked through.
- Serve immediately with rice – or for a low carb, low cal option, try Cauliflower Rice! Garnish with sliced shallots and sesame seeds.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
The Spicy Side of Life: Korean recipes
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LIFE OF DOZER
He secretly loves his robe. I know it. That’s a glimmer of contentment in his eyes. Not embarrassment / resentment / shame.
Is there any suitable substitute for pork? I have family members that can’t eat pork unfortunately.
I just made this recipe, and it is soooo good! Thanks!
You’re so welcome Choy!
This WAS delicious and I have to say it was worth waiting until I got to the store to buy a pear. You can really taste it in the sauce! I used my mini food processor for the pear, the onion, garlic and ginger because I have arthritis in my hands and grating seemed too much work — it made it no work at all! I didn’t get a lot of deep color because I used the non-stick pan and I understand it should not be used on high heat. Next time I might use my carbon steel pan to crank up the heat or might cook it longer as I see recommendations in the posts. In any case, it was AWESOME. THANK YOU!
Made this tonight with your Chinese broccoli and Basmati rice, took at least double the time to caramelize, likely due to using a heavy non stick frying pan instead of skillet. Definitely worth the extra time as it intensified the flavour and the meat didn’t overcook. The husband hasn’t stopped saying how delicious it was. His exact words were “you are slowly but surely becoming the wife i’d always imagined you would be… only older”. 😂 Another winner, thanks Nagi x
Next time he can cook Jilly!!! I’m so glad you Bothe loved it!
Nagi, This is so delicious! I had to use the substitute for the gochujang. I can’t wait to try this with the genuine article. I found you on pinterest and I have loved every recipe I have tried. Thank you for sharing!
This sounds delicious.
Am I to stir fry the marinade with the pork or throw the marinade away?
Hi Roberto, I use most of the marinade, but just be careful it does stick to the pan!
Thank you so much. I will try this recipe soon. Love the dark sauce.
WOW !
Please, Nagi, thank your hairdresser for the Gochujang idea ! And thank you for the recipe. A whole new asiatic taste , after so many years of cooking. A new world of possibilities. BT W, I bought my box of Gochujang from Amazon in two days. (Amazon France). I simply fell in love with Korean cooking and will explore further into it. Thanks again.
Eitan, France.
I absolutely love Korean food! I’m so glad you do too!
Hi Nagi, I made this recipe tonight and used boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of the pork. It came out very tasty, but it never caramelised. I also made 1 1/2 of the recipe as I was feeding more people. Do you have any idea why it didn’t caramelise? Was it the chicken or the fact that I increased the quantity? I will definitely make it again, but I was disappointed that I didn’t get that same golden colour that you did in your pics.
Thanks, Nagi. I tried this for dinner and it was so good! However, the color of the dish was quite different with the one in your posting. Why is it so dark as if it has been grilled?
Nagi, I am super excited to try this recipe and have everything marinating! Question: can this be done in the pressure cooker? If so, can you give me any tips? Thank you!
Hi Suzanne, this one is best doing over direct heat to get that delicious sear!
This was my first time to use gochujang in a recipe and it won’t be the last!! This recipe is the perfect balance between spicy and sweet. I used my cast iron skillet and am happy with the results. My man has not stopped raving over dinner so I know he’s hooked….yay!!! Thank you Nagi for this recipe and your awesome website. I have made several of your recipes and they are all delicious.
That’s great Val! Thanks for letting me know! – N x ❤️
For this recipe can I just use the spicy Korean BBQ sauce?
Love this recipe!Thanks
Glad you enjoyed it Linda, thanks for letting me know! N x
Great recipe, my husband and I loved it. I used the substitute for the paste and next time will make it a bit more spicy with more sriracha sauce. I also used pork fillet because I had brought 2 on special. I will be adding this to my favourite stir fry collection. Thanks Nagi for another fabulous tasty recipe.
I messed up somewhere – it never caramelized or got sticky. The flavor was great and everyone loved it, but it didn’t come out looking as delicious as yours.
I put the marinade together in the morning, added the pork and put it in the fridge. It was super cold when I added it to the pan eight hours later, could that be it?
I also doubled the recipe – maybe cooking it in smaller batches would achieve the caramelized, sticky perfection?
I’m definitely trying this again, it was a smash hit with the family despite my failure. You are a wonderful resource for those of us who are trying to expand their kitchen skills and palates.
Definitely bring to room temp before cooking and cook in batches or it will just stew.
I’m having the same issue. I’m cooking it right now! It is not caramelising. I haven’t doubled its quantities. It does smell amazing though
Hi Nag, I was wondering if it’s possible to make a larger batch of the marinade sauce and keep it in a bottle in the fridge or freezer? It sounds scrumptious and I’d like to have it on hand for whenever the moods strikes to make this stir fry! How long do you think it’ll keep? Thanks. 🙂
Hi Jenny! Unfortunately I don’t think it will keep for more than 3 days and I would not recommend it anyway because of the fresh garlic in it (which, once minced, goes off after 3 days). But the other option is to mix it with meat then freeze it straight away! The meat kind of marinades as it is freezing and then when it’s defrosting 🙂 N x
Ah ok, that’s good to know. Great idea to freeze the meat and sauce together! Thanks Nagi for the advice!
Eager to try this recipe so I started making it but realized I may have misunderstood your substitute for Gochujang paste. As I don’t have any on hand I started making the substitution but have this (possible stupid) question: Is the substitution an equal amount?
The recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of Gochujang but do I use 3 times the amount of the substitution or the substitution recipe is the same as the 3 tablespoons?
Side note: Insomnia had me up at 4AM (it’s now 8:30AM) and I may be overthinking it all.
That’s ok Michael, we all experience that! ❤️ Just use the mix in Note 3 as it is, the quantities specific and use that instead of the Gochujang in the recipe! N x
Delicious! I love the sweet heat of the marinade. Will add this one to the regulars. Thank you!
That’s so great to hear Catherine! I’m so pleased you enjoyed this, thanks for taking the time to let me know! N x
Made this last night and it is amazing! I’ve never had Korean food before, but I’d bought some gochujang sauce so gave it a try (had to borrow a pear from a neighbor). The flavor is so complex and lingers in your mouth. Not too spicy at all. The only thing I would do differently is to slice it thinner. My slices were about 1/4″ thick. Totally yummy.
Terrific to hear RenoSue! So glad you enjoyed it, thanks for taking the time to leave a review! N x ❤️
Hi Nagi! I’m a college student just learning how to cook, and I’ve been living off your recipes! We’re using chicken thighs instead of pork. When we cook the chicken, should we cook the marinade with it for the sauce?
Hi Natalie, I’m so pleased you like my recipes! Just follow the recipe exactly using chicken instead of pork 🙂 N x