An all-encompassing guide on how to stir fry, this article discusses how the technique originated, whether you need a wok, and a step-by-step guide on how to stir fry any meal.

The most intuitive answer is a dish made by stirring and frying. Although that definition isn’t necessarily wrong, it is akin to a man furiously clutching a few blades of grass whilst oblivious to the field surrounding him. The English term stir fry was conceived in Buwei Yang Chao’s 1945 ‘How to Cook and Eat in Chinese’. However, the technique has been prominent in China since at least 600 CE, and its origins may be over 1000 years older than that.

Stir fry is a loose translation of a Chinese cooking method named ch’ao, which Chao (no relation) defined as “big-fire-shallow-fat-continual-stirring-quick-frying of cut-up material with wet seasoning”. This tongue-twister of a definition highlights many of the key characteristics of stir fry, including speed, temperature, organisation, sauce, and motion. Each of these characteristics are important and require understanding because their application may run counter to the intuitions of a Western home cook.

In stir fries, ingredients are cooked fast. This is for a few reasons. Most importantly, a minimal cooking time helps retain the nutritional value of the ingredients used. In addition, foods that spend less time cooking taste fresher by preserving their natural flavours and harder textures. Note then, that if a stir-fried carrot has no bite, it is over-cooked. Temperature is required for fast cooking. If the stove is not hot, then food cannot cook fast.

All ingredients should be prepared and ready to use prior to cooking. This includes cutting ingredients, marinating, and measuring out liquids. Cutting ingredients into smaller-sized pieces allows for them to be cooked faster. When all ingredients are not at hand, you must either sustain or lower the heat whilst you retrieve them. This is problematic. If you sustain the heat, by the time your ingredients are at hand the food cooking has burnt. If you lower the heat, whatever is currently within the pan will cook longer than it needs to and thus lose the benefits of fast cooking, defeating the purpose of stir fry. Either way, it is a lose-lose.

Organisation is also vital to maximising texture and flavour. Marination techniques such as velveting (egg-white and corn starch coating) creates a glue-like coating around meat, helping retain moisture whilst cooking. Other common marinade ingredients such as salt, sugar, soy sauce, white pepper powder, and Shaoxing wine assists in creating strong yet balanced flavour profiles. Moreover, par-cooking ingredients is a common technique used. For example, stir frying hardy vegetables like raw broccoli is time-consuming and often results in the broccoli burning. However, blanching broccoli for 1 minute prior to frying shortens its cooking time and maximises its nutritional value. Another example would be ‘passing through oil’, which involve a short period of deep-frying meat in order to tenderise it.

In essence, stir frying is like dancing the horah. The aim is to create a rhythm with your partner as you work in tandem towards a magnificent crescendo. Move too fast and you go flying before you have even begun. Move too slow and you spend the whole time chasing your partner. Stir fries are much the same. The aim is to create a rhythm between your cooking utensil and vessel, so that the food dances around the pan. The second the ingredient is cooked, dump it out. Move ingredients around too fast, your arms will get sore and inevitably need to rest or change pace, resulting in uneven cooking. Even worse, food may fly out the pan. On the other hand, move the ingredients too slow and you will be forced to chase them around as they burn or soften.

There is no specific type of motion that should be used during stir fry, as optimal methods depend on many variables, such as the ingredient, cooking vessel, utensil and heat levels used. For example, chefs in Chinese industrial kitchens will usually toss the food in the air as a primary means of mixing, perhaps also using a spatula to flip and ladle to stir and flatten. This is extremely difficult to replicate in a Western home kitchen because smaller cooking vessels allow for less movement when tossing, and the simultaneous use of two cooking utensils requires many years of practice before it becomes intuitive.

Therefore, it is recommended that when stir frying, home-cooks work to find their own rhythm by using their preferred cooking vessel and utensils, constantly moving food around the cooking vessel in whichever way for them is the smoothest and most comfortable. This consistency in pace is to help promote even cooking.

Finally, home-cooks must readily use their instincts to react to what is happening in the pan. This includes observing the smell, appearance, texture, and sounds of the ingredients in order to decide whether heat levels of cook times should be adjusted. Good instincts can only be honed through practice.

Chinese home kitchens differ to their Western counterparts in that Chinese stoves can reach far hotter temperatures. In addition, traditional Chinese woks have round bottoms, but flat-bottomed woks are more common in the West to accommodate electric and induction stoves with flat hobs. Since Chinese and Western kitchens are set up differently, Chinese cooking methods cannot be directly adapted to Western kitchens with the expectation of an identical outcome. Adjustments primarily concern what should be substituted for the round-bottomed wok, and how cooking times must be altered due to producing a lower volume of heat.

Since Western stoves typically do not get as hot as Chinese stoves, cooking times will inevitably be longer than what is found in Chinese home recipes. The same would be the case for Chinese home cooks trying to replicate their favourite restaurant, since industrial stoves are far hotter and larger than home stoves.

Importantly, not all Western stoves are created equally. Induction is great because it allows for rapid temperature changes. Gas is especially useful for when using woks as the flames help heat the sides of the wok, allowing for more even cooking. Both induction and gas stoves are superior to electric stoves because they can reach higher temperatures. Unfortunately, if you have an electric stove, stir frying will be a longer process, but is still doable.

The two best alternatives to a round-bottomed wok are the skillet and the flat-bottomed wok. Each has its own strengths and limitations and come in a variety of different builds.

Western cookware is made using many different materials, with some of the most common types being Teflon, stainless steel, and cast iron. Teflon cookware should never be used for stir fry because when this non-stick material is not designed to sustain high temperatures. When this does occur, the Teflon coating will deteriorate and likely end up in your food.

Carbon steel is the best material for stir fry because it is non-stick (when seasoned), sustains high temperatures, and responds well to rapid temperature changes. Cast-iron is also great, but unlike carbon steel takes a long time to warm up and cool down. Stainless steel is also certainly usable but requires constant alertness since food easily sticks.

Whether to use a wok or skillet is largely up to preference.

The primary benefits of skillets are their large surface areas. Since larger surface areas provide more space to cook food, it is consequently more difficult to overcrowd a skillet than a wok. They are also more accessible than woks and are likely already in your kitchen. Skillets generally range in size from 6-inch to 12-inch. 12-inch skillets are best for stir frying because they provide the most room for food to move around the pan. Either a cast-iron or carbon steel skillet would be best for stir frying. While carbon steel is more light-weight and can change temperatures rapidly, cast iron has better heat retention. Heat retention is especially important for pans with larger surface areas because it results in more even heat distribution throughout the pan and thus more even cooking overall. For more information on how to season a cast iron pan, read https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-season-cast-iron-pans-skillets-cookware.

The high walls of woks are advantageous because they allow for food to easily be moved around the pan. They are also lighter in weight than most skillets are thus easier to handle. Most importantly, the shape of the wok creates different zones of heat inside the vessel. Food cooked within a wok repeatedly passes through all these zones, resulting in a more dynamic flavour. For more information on how these zones work, read https://www.seriouseats.com/wok-skills-101-stir-frying-basics.  Generally, the best flat-bottomed woks to purchase are carbon steel, 12-14 inch in size, and have a wooden handle for easy gripping. For more information on how to find your ideal wok, read https://www.seriouseats.com/best-woks-5218113#toc-the-winners-at-a-glance. For more information on how to clean and season your wok, read https://www.seriouseats.com/equipment-how-to-buy-a-wok-which-wok-is-the-best.

Cut required ingredients into manageable and uniform pieces.

Par-cook required ingredients.

Measure out required liquids.

Keep ingredients organised and ready near cooking station.

Heat up dry pan until it is hot enough to cook with, about 1-2 minutes.

If you pour a small amount of water into the pan and the water reacts by dancing around the pan instead of evaporating immediately, you will know that your pan is hot enough. This is also known as the Leidenfrost effect.

Pour oil around the sides of the wok so that it dribbles down the sides to the centre. Swirl the wok around to ensure the entire surface area has been coated in oil. Lubricating the wok with oil prevent sticking and helps food brown.

Do not let the oil smoke, as the dish will turn bitter.

Fresh aromatics can be grated for an intense flavour, minced for a strong flavour, sliced for a mild flavour, or simply crushed and later removed for a subtle flavour. Examples of fresh aromatics include ginger, garlic, and spring onions.

Dried aromatics can either be ground for a strong flavour or left whole for a mild flavour. Examples of dried aromatics include dried chilli peppers, star anise, and cloves.

Aromatics are added at the beginning so that they can flavour the oil and in turn permeate the dish. They should be cooked until they become fragrant, which should take no longer than 30 seconds. Be careful of burning, which will result in the entire dish tasting especially bitter.

Press aromatics into the bottom of the pan to better flavour the oil. Then move the aromatics around the pan in tossing motions to cool them off slightly and prevent burning

Move aromatics around the pan in tossing motions to prevent burning whilst also pressing them into pan

These include the main body of what you are eating. Usually this will be meats and vegetables but could also be other ingredients such as tofu or fruit. Only add one main ingredient at a time to avoid overcrowding the pan

Add in a scattering motion (i.e., not all at once). This prevents the pan from dropping to much in temperature.

For meat, leave untouched for about 1 minute so it can begin to brown. Then, move constantly for the remainder of the cooking time.

For vegetables and other ingredients, most constantly from the moment they hit the pan.

Toss ingredients around in whichever way allows for a smooth and consistent movement.

If using a wok, always move ingredients away from the centre towards the side, allowing ingredients around the sides fall into the center. Since the primary heat of a wok is at its center, this promotes even cooking and prevents burning.

Remove from pan and reserve to bowl.

Add next ingredient and repeat until all main ingredients have been cooked

Add reserved ingredients back to pan

Add heat-friendly dry and wet seasonings. If using a wok, add liquids by pouring around the sides of the wok. This sears the liquid before it is incorporated into the main dish, creating a more complex flavour. These commonly include chicken stock powder, soy sauce, sugar and vinegar.

For drier sauces, cook until the pan starts sizzling and all moisture has been evaporated.

Add corn starch slurry. These are used to thicken sauces and are not always necessary.

Mix well and turn off heat.

Add final seasonings. These include ingredient that do not respond well to high heat and are thus added towards the end of cooking. For example, sesame oil burns easily which leads to a bitter taste. Additionally, the green parts of spring onions are delicate and often added at the end not just for colour but also to preserve their flavour.

Chin, K., & Kelly, G. (2023, September 7). The best flat-bottomed woks. Serious Eats.https://www.seriouseats.com/best-woks-5218113

Chin, K., & López-Alt, J. K. (2023, April 14). Wok skills 101: Stir-frying. Serious Eats. https://www.seriouseats.com/wok-skills-101-stir-frying-basics

Hom, K., & Leong, K. T. (1990). The taste of China. Simon & Schuster.

Hom, K., & Steinman, H. (1981). Chinese technique. Simon & Schuster.

Kuo, I. (1977). The key to Chinese cooking. Knopf.

mthmchris. (2019, March 14). Basic techniques: How to make any basic Chinese stir-fry (小炒基础). Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/Cooking/comments/b0zql0/basic_techniques_how_to_make_any_chinese_stir_fry/

Tan, C., & Van, A. (2012). Chinese Heritage Cooking. Marshall Cavendish International Asia.

Uwajimaya. (2022, September 29). The fundamentals of a stir fry. https://www.uwajimaya.com/blog/the-fundamentals-of-a-stir-fry/#:~:text=Stir%20frying%20is%20a%20cooking,other%20groups%20throughout%20East%20Asia.