Korean Spicy Pork

A super simple stir-fry recipe with thinly sliced pork tenderloin, sriracha, soy sauce and other common ingredients perfect over rice or in lettuce wraps.

JUMP TO RECIPE

There used to be a funky little Asian fusion restaurant downtown just on the outskirts of the university campus that had one dish that I absolutely LOVED… Korean Spicy Pork!

It was made with thin slivers of pork, sauteed or fried with a spicy sauce that just skirted the border of being too hot. It was spicy enough to make your scalp a little tingly but not so much that it distracted from the flavor. 

When it closed I was devastated because I couldn’t imagine never having that spicey stir-fry again! So I HAD to figure out how to make it.

I’ve tweaked this recipe here and there over the years and finally nailed it down to what I think is THE BEST version of Korean Spicy Pork.

I’m sure the restaurant used a more authentic recipe but I wanted to create something I could make with common ingredients so that’s what you’ll find here.

We typically have this with white rice and steamed broccoli but it's also DECICIOUS in lettuce wraps. I use bibb lettuce when I can find it otherwise, I use romaine (cutting each long piece into two "tacos").

Don't pass over this recipe if you:

1. Don’t usually cook Asian food because of the typical 947 ingredients required
2. Have never heard of this so you’re not sure if you’ll like it
3. Have never tried Korean food, or 
4. You think you can’t recreate amazing takeout favorites

Erase ALL of those thoughts from your mind because:

1. This only has a handful of ingredients, most of which you probably already have
2. YOU WILL LOVE THIS
3. YOU WILL LOVE THIS, and
4. Oh, yes you can! If I can, so can you!

NOTES ON COOKING SPICY PORK

• As the name implies, this is spicy. My kids have never batted an eye at the heat but if you’d like to make this milder, reduce the sriracha to 3 tablespoons and omit the black pepper.
• This cooks quickly so make sure your rice is done or almost done before you start cooking the pork (if, that is, you're serving rice).
• Consider doubling the sauce recipe if you like a lot of sauce or plan on having this over rice.
• This is amazing in lettuce wraps!
• You can use other cuts of pork but tenderloin is definitely my favorite. 

Recipe for Korean Spicy Pork

Recipe Updated February 2024: I updated the recipe from one tenderloin to two because they're usually packaged that way (more or less doubling the sauce). I also removed the wet ingredients (soy sauce and sriracha) from the initial seasoning of the pork because the added moisture made it harder to get a crispy sear on the meat. If you're looking for the old version, the "marinade" ingredients for ONE tenderloin were: 1 Tbsp each sriracha and soy sauce, 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper.

Spicy Pork

Yield: 8 Servings

Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 15 MinTotal time: 30 Min

A super simple stir-fry recipe for Korean-style spicy pork with spicy strips of pork tenderloin, sriracha, sesame oil, ginger and garlic.

Ingredients

Pork

• 2 pork tenderloins (2.5 - 3 lbs total)
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 5-6 green onions
• Vegetable oil

Sauce

• 1/3 cup sriracha
• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons barbeque sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

Instructions

Pork:

1. Cut each tenderloin in half lengthwise. Cut each long strip as thinly as you can so that you end up with thin little medallions of pork. Add pork to a medium bowl; set aside.
2. Toss pork pieces with sesame oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder until thoroughly combined.
3. Chop green onions into 2-inch pieces, reserving ends to be chopped as garnish later.

Sauce:

1. Combine sauce ingredients then stir well; set aside.

Cook & Assemble:

1. Add just enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom of a very large skillet or wok then heat over high heat.
2. Once skillet is very hot, add 1/4 of the pork in a single layer (cook in batches to ensure the pork cooks correctly). Cook for 2 minutes without disturbing (to get a good sear), then stir and continue cooking until pork is nicely browned.
3. Remove to a bowl or plate then continue cooking the rest of the pork, adding more vegetable oil as needed.
4. Once all the pork is browned, add onion pieces to the skillet then sauté for 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-low then add the sauce. Cook sauce with onions for 3 minutes then add the seared pork and stir to coat.
5. Serve with white rice and garnish with fresh chopped green onions.
6. RECIPE UPDATE: I made a few changes to the original recipe in 2024. I updated the recipe from one tenderloin to two because they're usually packaged that way (more or less doubling the sauce). I also removed the wet ingredients (soy sauce and sriracha) from the initial seasoning of the pork because the added moisture made it harder to get a crispy sear on the meat. If you're looking for the old version, the "marinade" ingredients for ONE tenderloin were: 1 Tbsp each sriracha and soy sauce, 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper.

Notes

• As the name implies, this is spicy. My kids have never batted an eye at the heat but if you’d like to make this milder, reduce the sriracha to 3 tablespoons and omit the black pepper.
• This cooks quickly so make sure your rice is done or almost done before you start cooking the pork (if, that is, you're serving rice).
• Consider doubling the sauce recipe if you like a lot of sauce or plan on having this over rice.
• This is amazing in lettuce wraps!
• You can use other cuts of pork but tenderloin is definitely my favorite.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

208.15

Fat

8.89 g

Sat. Fat

1.92 g

Carbs

6.53 g

Fiber

0.51 g

Net carbs

6.38 g

Protein

94.85 g

Sodium

1366 mg

Iron

4.85 mg

Calcium

18.55 mg

https://www.southyourmouth.com/2014/09/spicy-pork.html

Images and text © South Your Mouth LLC 2014

korean, spicy, pork, tenderloin, stir-fry, stirfry, asian, rice, easy, best, recipe, sriracha, lettuce wrap, restaurant

Main Dish, Stir-Fry

Korean, Asian

Keep up with my latest shenanigans by following South Your Mouth!

FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER