5 Ingredient Spicy Pork! A fancy-feeling dinner recipe that actually comes together in snap. Serve it in bowls, stir-fry it with some veggies, or add it to burritos!
5 Ingredient Spicy Pork
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Made this tonight and it was fantastic! Super easy – as promised, the pork sliced easily after a quick visit to the freezer. I marinated for about 4 hours. I paired this with brown rice and broccoli and carrots (which I chopped and marinated with ginger, garlic, soy sauce, olive oil, and sesame oil). It received rave reviews from my husband and my 2 year old!
Maybe it’s because of Sauce Week exhaustion (a very real and good thing), or maybe it’s just because 5 ingredient recipes are always good – but either way, I am really feeling this spicy pork this week.
The original recipe is from these Spicy Pork Bowls on Bon Appetit, and I can’t remember who shared it first on our team Slack #potluck channel, but it got passed around and loved and eventually printed and grease-stained, and now just the pork itself has become a staple in my kitchen.
Keeping this post quick today because what’s there to show you, really? You shake up 5 ingredients in a jar. That’s basically the recipe.
You will have no problem finding ways to eat this pork, but let me just recommend it with eggs and kimchi and rice for a breakfast bowl, with noodles and stir-fried veggies, in a fusion burrito, and with the standard rice / carrots / greens combo as seen here.
ALSO DO NOT FORGET: a drizzle of sesame oil, a splash of soy sauce, and a quick shot of rice vinegar will serve you well, flavor-lovers.
Tools For The Job
Check Out Our Video For How To Make Spicy Pork:
5 Ingredient Spicy Pork
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings (4, if you’re me) 1x
Description
5 Ingredient Spicy Pork! A fancy-feeling dinner recipe that actually comes together in snap. Serve it in bowls, stir-fry it with some veggies, or add it to burritos!
Ingredients
5 Ingredient Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons hot chili paste (I like sambal oelek, but sriracha can also work)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely grated
- 1 garlic clove, finely grated
Pork:
- 1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin, very thinly sliced (see notes)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Extras:
- 1 1/2 cups rice, uncooked
- 2 carrots, sliced into coins
- 3 cups spinach, cooked down
- 2 tablespoons green onions, sliced
Instructions
- Shake all the sauce ingredients in a jar. Pour the sauce over the pork and allow it to rest for 20 minutes – 1 hour.
- Heat a good searing skillet (such as cast iron) *affiliate link over high heat. Add just a little bit of vegetable oil.
- When the oil is hot and shiny, add the pork in a single layer (you may need to do this in batches). Cook, undisturbed, for 1-2 minutes until you are getting that nice caramelized look. Flip and repeat to finish.
- That’s it! Serve with rice and veggies (details in notes section) and enjoy your flavortown masterpiece.
Notes
Bowl extras: I like to serve these with rice and sautéed carrots and greens. Just throw the carrots and greens in the pan after the pork is cooked to get all that yummy flavor. Cook rice according to package directions.
The real trick here is getting the pan hot enough to cook the meat VERY quickly – you want that golden brown sear, but you don’t want your pork to be sitting in a hot pan for more than just a few minutes because it will start to get tough. We want FAST high heat. To get the thinnest slices of pork, put your pork tenderloin in the freezer for a bit before slicing and use a very sharp knife. This will be a lil splattery. That oil is hot – be careful of your hands and your white shirts. Wear an apron! I also usually need to spend a little time giving my cast iron some TLC after making this. Totally worth it.
How To Clean a Cast Iron Pan After Cooking (My Go-To, Everyday Method)
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Sauté
- Cuisine: Korean-Inspired
Keywords: spicy pork, easy pork recipe, pork recipe
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our easy summer dinners page. Check it out!
It looks very yummy.I’ll be making this recipe this weekend and I am so excited! Thanks for sharing such a delicious recipe with us. I can’t wait to catch up with all your ‘Recipe’!!
This looks delish and so easy! I’ll definitely be trying it. Can we use pork loin if we don’t have tenderloin?
We’d recommend sticking with pork tenderloin for this one! It will hold up better to the high fast heat.
I just had egg salad sandwiches for breakfast and now you’r really going to make a few people feel hungry with this post 🙂
It’s looks delicious. Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe.
Thoughts on whether this could be done w broiler vs stove top?
How do you think this sauce would do with tofu for us vegetarians? Should it be added before cooking the tofu or after?
We would probably cook the tofu in the sauce!
Sounds delicious can you use the sauce on beef also?
Definitely!
I’ve been making a similar recipe for years. Swap the hot sauce for black pepper and add EVOO. Marinade the entire pork tenderloin and roast. So good. Excited to try this variation!
It really looks delicious. I want to do the same. Thanks.
Tried this recipe last night with chicken breast instead of pork and it was excellent. It’s tough to think of different ways to cook chicken breast without the end result being dry, tough, and bland, but this recipe results in flavorful and moist chicken. This will be my new go to for meal prep!
Glad to hear the chicken worked, Priya!
Do you ever do this in a sous vide or instant pot? (and this is also my request for more IP recipes!! 🙂 )
Made this tonight, cooked it in the marinade using a sous vide. It was fantastic! we also made a sauce by thickening marinade with some arrowroot powder. Yum!
When you say thin slices how thin do you mean they should be sliced like 1/4 inch slices?
Very thin! We’d maybe even aim for about 1/8 inch.
alot of people wish cooking was this easy I love to cook but sometimes I wish I just need 5 or less ingredients. this is so simple and quick and a great meal for this who love a kick and pork. I have a thing for spicy foods and I live pork so this would be perfect plus the fact that I only need five things to make it
This is yummy. Will prepare it tonight.
The images alone makes me want to go home and cook this tonight!
This is so simple and quick and a great meal.
So good! I put it on the grill (sear station), and it was perfection.
Made this today, delicious!
I love me some spicy pork.
Would it work to quickly stir fry in a wok?
Definitely!
Made this tonight and it was a hit! Defintily didn’t cut the meat in thin enough slices so it took longer to cook but it was delicious!
Glad you enjoyed it, Emily!
I made this last night and LOVED it!! I added some rice vinegar and sesame oil to the sauce and let it marinate for a few hours. We ate it with quinoa and kimchi. So tasty.
Glad to hear it! 🙂
I made this last night with very thinly sliced chicken breast and it was AMAZING! Thank you.
Made this tonight and it was fantastic! Super easy – as promised, the pork sliced easily after a quick visit to the freezer. I marinated for about 4 hours. I paired this with brown rice and broccoli and carrots (which I chopped and marinated with ginger, garlic, soy sauce, olive oil, and sesame oil). It received rave reviews from my husband and my 2 year old!
So glad to hear it, Colleen!
This is SO good. I used chili garlic sauce for the heat, and it was delicious. My kids loved it too. I did spend a bit of time cleaning my cast iron, but it was worth it.