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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!
Colleen
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.
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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!
Your pork recipes look so de. I am going to try one of this night,
This recipe is IT! The pork was so flavorful and savory, and the sauce wasn’t too sweet. As a beginner cook, it took me a while to thinly slice the tenderloin and then longer to sear each one properly. And I ended up marinating the pork for almost 40 hours out of laziness. But I didn’t notice any issues from that, and I’ll definitely make this again!!
I made this tonight for my family. I used GF soy sauce so it was gluten free. It was sooooo delicious!! Everyone raved-the flavor was so good and it was sooooo delicious easy and quick to make after work.
Can you use gochujang instead of sambal olek? Thanks!
Yes!
Prepping this for tomorrow’s meal….looks great! I don’t see tha amount of sesame oil it calls for?
Hi Amy! Just a little drizzle at the end will work!
Prepping this for tomorrow’s meal….looks great! I don’t see tha amount of sesame oil it calls for?
I made these tonight and omg my favorite pork recipe now!!
I have made this dish several time The first time I thin sliced the pork vs roasting Always amazing!!
This recipe looks really good and I was wondering do you think this would work for chicken as well?
Absolutely! Thinly sliced chicken breast or thighs would work great.
Made this tonight using Gochugang and it was delicious. I used a grill pan to roast onions and peppers, then once they were charred I knew the pan was hot so quickly cooked the pork as instructed. I mixed cuisines and served it with veggies, beans and guacamole. This will be in regular rotation. Thank you!
There was silence at the table, because everyone was eating and loving their meal! Delicious recipe, and easy to make on a weekday.
This was so easy and absolutely delicious!! Can’t wait to make again.
This pork is delicious!! Will certainly make this again! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
This was so quick, easy, and delicious! I ended up using Gochujang because it was what I had on hand, and it worked great! Definitely saving this to make again!
This pork is a regular in our household, I think my husband would eat it daily (as would I!) Simple, quick, tons of flavor!
I never leave reviews but I love pinch of yum recipes and this one might be my favorite one of all time which is a huge statement because I love so many. It’s fast, easy and soooo delicious. I’ve made this recipe at least 10 times and my whole family loves it every time!
Soooooo good!!!!! Totally worth the oil splatters burning me left and right! I sub 1/3-1/2 cup sweet chili sauce for the paste because I don’t usually have paste on hand. Served over rice….so good 😍 This is always a favorite in our house! Thank you!!
This recipe is amazing! Easy snd delicious. I was very hesitant to cook, sliced pork tenderloin in my cast iron pan. I’ve only ever cooked the meat in the oven and to my amazement it was perfect !This is now one of my favorite recipes and making it again tonight. Love you blog
Made this tonight and it was delicious!! I did double the ingredients (except for the sugar). Thank you for the recipe!!
This dish is going on my menu for this week! Looks delicious. I love your dishes that you have it served in…have a link for those?!
Hi, Natalie! Thanks for the kind words. 💛 The bowls are actually handmade by Lindsay’s father-in-law.
Wow! They are beautiful and so unique; what a treasure!
We had pork tenderloin and were looking for easy inspiration to use it creatively – this was it! We had everything on hand for the marinade. Came together in a snap, cooked up quickly and easily, and I served with sauteed carrots & baby bok choy that I sauteed in the pan after the pork. I deglazed the pan first with some extra soy sauce and some water and threw in a pinch more brown sugar + salt with the veggies.
Only modification I made to the pork was adding 1 extra TB of soy sauce because we like a little extra marinade. Added into our list of regulars!
Soooo flavorful and delicious! Tastes like something I would order in a restaurant. I added a little store-bought peanut sauce with mine because I like a sauce, but the recipe was not lacking in flavor. My husband loved it too!
OMG your spicy 5 ingredient pork was absolutely delicious and very easy to make I had never sliced pork tenderloin and cooked in a pan , I always baked it Not any more !!! Your blog is my go to for recipes Thank you
I think that there is a typo in the recipe, 11 inches of ginger seems like rather a lot to me!
I am assuming that was meant to be 1 ½ inches?
Hi Mark! Sorry about the confusion. It should read as 1 (one) 1-inch piece of ginger.
I made this with nearly a 1/3 cup of ginger the first time, and it was still pretty awesome haha. 1 inch of ginger in the future will save some $$ tho!! 😉
Tried this out for dinner tonight. It was quick, easy and tasty. Will be adding this to my menu planning options moving forward.
Thank you for posting this recipe!