Best Thai Stir Fry Recipe
This Thai stir fry is a hearty, filling and ridiculously delicious representation of Thai cuisine.
If you’re like me, and love the versatility and ease of putting a stir fry dish together, you’ve got to give this easy recipe a shot.
When I want to whip up a protein and fiber packed meal for my family, and want to stick to a simple, no fuss recipe that doesn’t need too many ingredients or complicated cooking methods, I end up turning to stir fries like these.
What’s best is the fact that you can tweak and play around with the ingredients for this recipe based on what you prefer and have at hand.
Another plus is the fact that stir frying actually helps retain a lot of flavor and nutrients from the food, especially the veggies.
Contents
Easy Thai Stir Fry Cooking Times
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Cook Time: 20 min
- Total Time: 25 min
- Yield: 4
Ingredients For the Thai Stir Fry Recipe
To make the Thai stir fry, you’ll need a few simple ingredients.
- 1 ½ lbs. ground beef
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 bag of cabbage ready made coleslaw
- 1 Tbsp. minced garlic
- 1 Tbsp. minced ginger
- 1 Tbsp. Chili paste
- 2 Tbsp. Lime juice
- 1 Tbsp. fish sauce
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1 tsp. sesame oil
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- Fresh basil or cilantro as garnish
How to Make the Thai Stir Fry
Once you have all your ingredients ready, here’s the simple process you’ll need to follow to put this dish together.
Step 1: Cook the Ground Beef and Onion
In a large skillet or wok, add the ground beef and onion, and cook on medium heat until crumbled and cooked through, which should take approximately 5-6 min.
Step 2: Add in the Spices and Seasonings
Do not drain. In a small bowl add the garlic, ginger, pepper, chili paste, lime juice, fish sauce, sesame oil, and soy sauce, stir to combine.
Step 3: Add the Veggies and Cook
Add the coleslaw mix to ground meat then cook and stir over medium high heat for 3-4 minutes.
Step 4: Throw in the Fish Sauce
Add Thai sauce mixture then stir well.
Step 5: Continue Cooking
Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking for 5-10 minutes or until cabbage is tender.
Step 6: Garnish and Serve
Serve with rice and garnish with fresh Thai basil, green onions or cilantro and serve immediately.
Tips & Tricks to Make the Thai Vegetable Stir Fry
- While sesame oil is the best choice for this recipe, if you don’t have it, you can just use vegetable oil or olive oil instead.
- If you don’t have the ground beef that the recipe calls for, you can use ground chicken instead and whip up a quick chicken stir fry instead. Just remember that the cooking time for this chicken stir fry will be less as opposed to a Thai stir fry that uses ground beef.
- If you’re adding more veggies to this stir fry, make sure you chop them into bite sized pieces, and cook them in the correct order.
- Start off with the Chinese broccoli and other harder veggies, and then move on to the smaller, tender ones like snow peas, green beans and bell peppers.
- If you don’t have the time to scratch make the stir fry sauce, you can just use a bit of bottled oyster sauce and a dash of Thai fish sauce to replicate the flavors.
- If you want to loosen the stir fry sauce, you can add a dash of coconut milk into it and let it simmer for a few minutes.
What Other Veggies Can I Use?
The best part about most stir fries is the fact that you can use almost any veggies of your choice.
I love using Chinese broccoli stems, baby corn, snow peas, snap peas, thinly sliced bell peppers, bok choy and green beans.
You can also just grab a Thai style mixed vegetable pack or a Chinese style stir fry pack from your supermarket. I usually do this when I want to cut down on my cooking time and kitchen effort.
What Else Can I Add to the Stir Fry Sauce?
The key flavors in Thai stir fries lie in the stir fry sauce, and you can tweak that based on your personal preference.
I love using light soy sauce or low sodium soy sauce most of the time, but when I want that bit of color to my vegetable stir fry dish, I choose dark soy sauce.
Chopped garlic and Thai fish sauce are two essentials that your stir fry sauce needs to have. They are what will lend the stir fry sauce that garlicky taste and a bit of that unmistakenly Thai flavor.
You can also add a bit of brown sugar to balance out the tanginess from the vinegar.
To lend a bit of an umami flavor to the dish, you can also add some powdered dry shiitake mushrooms or chopped shitake mushrooms into the mixture.
And if you don’t have all the stir fry sauce ingredients you you need, you can just use some premixed stir fry sauce available in most Asian specialty stores or supermarkets too. I have heard lots of good things about the Golden Mountain sauce.
How Do I Store the Leftovers?
Your leftover stir fry can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 days. You can then reheat it in the microwave and serve it whenever you want to.
How Do I Serve the Thai Stir Fry?
This Thai stir fry tastes perfect when served with some Thai jasmine rice.
Don’t forget to top the stir fry with a generous sprinkle of chopped herbs of your choice. You can stick to using the classic Thai basil or opt for finely chopped parsley or green onions.
Best Thai Stir Fry Recipe
This Thai stir fry is a hearty, filling and ridiculously delicious representation of Thai cuisine.
If you're like me, and love the versatility and ease of putting a stir fry dish together, you've got to give this easy recipe a shot.
When I want to whip up a protein and fiber packed meal for my family, and want to stick to a simple, no fuss recipe that doesn't need too many ingredients or complicated cooking methods, I end up turning to stir fries like these.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs. ground beef
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 bag of cabbage ready made coleslaw
- 1 Tbsp. minced garlic
- 1 Tbsp. minced ginger
- 1 Tbsp. Chili paste
- 2 Tbsp. Lime juice
- 1 Tbsp. fish sauce
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1 tsp. sesame oil
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- Fresh basil or cilantro as garnish
Instructions
How to Make the Thai Stir Fry
Once you have all your ingredients ready, here's the simple process you'll need to follow to put this dish together.
Step 1: Cook the Ground Beef and Onion
In a large skillet or wok, add the ground beef and onion, and cook on medium heat until crumbled and cooked through, which should take approximately 5-6 min.
Step 2: Add in the Spices and Seasonings
Do not drain. In a small bowl add the garlic, ginger, pepper, chili paste, lime juice, fish sauce, sesame oil, and soy sauce, stir to combine.
Step 3: Add the Veggies and Cook
Add the coleslaw mix to ground meat then cook and stir over medium high heat for 3-4 minutes.
Step 4: Throw in the Fish Sauce
Add Thai sauce mixture then stir well.
Step 5: Continue Cooking
Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking for 5-10 minutes or until cabbage is tender.
Step 6: Garnish and Serve
Serve with rice and garnish with fresh Thai basil, green onions or cilantro and serve immediately.
Notes
Tips & Tricks to Make the Thai Vegetable Stir Fry
While sesame oil is the best choice for this recipe, if you don't have it, you can just use vegetable oil or olive oil instead.
If you don't have the ground beef that the recipe calls for, you can use ground chicken instead and whip up a quick chicken stir fry instead. Just remember that the cooking time for this chicken stir fry will be less as opposed to a Thai stir fry that uses ground beef.
If you're adding more veggies to this stir fry, make sure you chop them into bite sized pieces, and cook them in the correct order.
Start off with the Chinese broccoli and other harder veggies, and then move on to the smaller, tender ones like snow peas, green beans and bell peppers.
If you don't have the time to scratch make the stir fry sauce, you can just use a bit of bottled oyster sauce and a dash of Thai fish sauce to replicate the flavors.
If you want to loosen the stir fry sauce, you can add a dash of coconut milk into it and let it simmer for a few minutes.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 571Total Fat: 34gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 18gCholesterol: 154mgSodium: 1673mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 2gSugar: 8gProtein: 49g
More Thai and Asian Recipes to Try
If you loved trying your hand at this stir fry dish and are inspired enough to try some more Thai and Asian foods and recipes in your kitchen, here are a few good ones you might want to look at.
