Pork Mince Stir Fry with Rice Noodles
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This Pork Mince Stir Fry is a perfect choice if you are looking for a quick, gluten-free midweek dinner. You can make it in about 20 minutes and it’s packed with vegetables and tossed with silky rice noodles.
Pork mince is a great protein to turn to if you are short on time. It is rich with flavour and doesn’t need any prep so you can add it straight into your frying pan.
Sprinkle over a little stir-fry seasoning and cornflour as you are frying it off, then all you need to do is add your prepped veggies, noodles, easy stir fry sauce and it’s ready.
Not all rice noodles are the same either. I will suggest the best ones you should choose for this recipe so you can make them ahead of when you start your stir fry and they are easily mixed into your dish when the time is right. No sogginess, stickiness or chewy results.
Why You’ll Love This Pork Mince Stir Fry
- Pork mince is perfectly seasoned as soon as it hits the pan so you are building flavour immediately.
- Easy to prepare fresh colourful vegetables which you can customise to your favourites.
- Silky rice noodles ribboned perfectly throughout the stir fry.
- 5 minute stir fry sauce which is so much better than shop bought.
- On the table in 20 minutes so perfect for busy weeknights.
- Gluten-free due to an easy swap for making your own stir fry sauce which uses tamari rather than soy sauce.
Ingredients Needed
Dried rice noodles. I have tried so many different varieties of rice noodles and my favourites are the dried flat noodles that are softened for 3 minutes in just-boiled water. I find these are the best ones to make ahead at the beginning of the recipe and don’t really clump together (like the ones that you need to cook over a heat). Just drain them and run them through cold water so they stop cooking and the noodles separate. They can then be added to your dish at the end without getting sticky. You can find these kind at any high street supermarket. I’ve used ones from Sainsburys, Tesco and Waitrose (my locals) and they all were a great success.
You can swap for the straight to wok style of rice noodles found in the refrigerator aisles in the supermarket and they also work well. They are a bit more expensive though and I don’t think they are worth the miniscule amount of effort they save.
Vegetables. My favourite vegetables for this stir fry are carrot, sugar snap peas, red pepper, pak choi. They are all relatively quick to cook and quick to prepare. You have sweetness from the carrot and red pepper plus greenery from the sugar snaps and pak choi. You want to choose vegetables with texture too so this has the crunch from the carrot and sugar snaps. Finally the freshness from the pak choi at then end of cooking brings it together.
Oil. I like to use groundnut oil (peanut oil) in my stir fries due to the high smoking point of this oil. However, if there are nut allergies then you can swap for coconut oil or olive oil or a vegetable oil. I always have olive oil in and it works just fine even though it’s not necessarily considered good for stir frying. We’re not getting up to the high restaurant heats so I never find it a problem.
Pork Mince. If you can choose really good quality pork mince, use at least 20% fat for the best flavour. I buy most of my meat from Field & Flower which I have on a bi-weekly order. However, supermarket pork mince works perfectly and is economical.
Stir fry seasoning. This is a homemade stir fry seasoning blend which I developed to work in league with the stir fry sauce. I make a big batch of it and use across most of my stir fries. It contains dried onion, garlic, salt, white pepper, Sichuan pepper, ginger and cinnamon.
Cornflour (cornstarch). The cornflour does a double function in this recipe. It’s added to the pork mince which tenderises the meat. It also helps to thicken the stir fry sauce once that’s added later.
Stir Fry Sauce. This is a homemade stir fry sauce which is made with gluten-free tamari. Bottled stir fry sauces often contain soy sauce (contains wheat) and hidden gluten. This homemade sauce can be made in under 5 minutes using just 5 ingredients. It’s very simple and just whisks together the tamari with honey, ginger garlic paste, rice vinegar and chilli paste.
Sesame seeds. These are optional but are nice sprinkled over the top of the finished stir fry for flavour and a little crunch.
How To Make Pork Mince Stir Fry
For full recipe instructions go to the recipe card at the end of this post.
Prepare the vegetables into uniform sizes.
Prepare the rice noodles according to the packet instructions. Drain into a colander then rinse with cold water and set aside until needed.
Mix all the ingredients for the stir fry sauce in a small bowl then set aside until needed.
Heat the ground nut oil in a large wok or frying pan over a medium - high heat. Add the pork mince, followed by the stir fry seasoning and the cornflour to coat and cook for 6-8 minutes, breaking up with a wooden spoon or meat mincer, until browned.
Add the carrot batons, red pepper and sugar snap peas. Stir fry for about 3 minutes until beginning to soften.
Stir in the pak choi and cook for 1-2 minutes until just slightly wilted.
Add the cooked rice noodles and pour over the stir fry sauce. Toss everything together for 2-3 minutes until the noodles are coated and heated through.
Serve immediately into bowls and scatter over the spring onions and a sprinkle of sesame seeds to garnish.
Tips & Troubleshooting
Prepare the rice noodles, vegetables and stir fry sauce before you begin any cooking. It’s a very quick cook so you need everything on hand.
Depending on which vegetables you choose (if it’s different from the original recipe below) always start by cooking the hardest vegetables. e.g. broccoli first, and the more watery vegetables last, e.g. beansprouts or pak choi.
After you have added the stir fry sauce you should only need to cook your stir fry for another 1-2 minutes, just until the sauce has thickened and has coated the whole stir fry perfectly.
If you don’t want to use noodles you can omit them and serve your pork mince stir fry with rice or cauliflower rice instead.
FAQs
If your stir fry is erring on the soggy side this usually means that the vegetables and/or rice noodles have been overcooked. The vegetables only need minimal cooking and should retain their crunch. The rice noodles should only be added in right at the end of cooking, along with the stir fry sauce.
Stir fries do soften a lot more on re-heating and I don’t recommend making the whole dish to serve at a later date. If you want to make some elements ahead of time then I recommend prepping the vegetables and stir fry sauce up to 2 days and keep in the fridge. This will cut down on time on the day of cooking / serving.
I don’t recommend freezing the whole pork mince stir fry dish as the quality lessens. The vegetables get softer and the rice gets very soggy. However, if you just want to freeze the leftovers for eating at a later date then it’s safe – just the texture isn’t as good.
You can use frozen vegetables, cook them directly from the freezer, rather than thawing, for the best results.
More Gluten-Free Recipes You’ll Love
Gluten-Free Chicken Stir Fry is the perfect quick weeknight dinner ready in under 30 minutes. Freshly made with colourful vegetables and a homemade stir fry sauce. Delicious with rice or noodles.
Sticky Lemon Chicken with Honey is deliciously tender with crunchy sesame coating. A quick weeknight staple made with pantry-friendly ingredients.
These quick and easy Stir-fried Vegetables are packed with crisp colourful vegetables and a garlic ginger sauce for a simple side dish.
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Pork Mince Stir Fry with Rice Noodles
Ingredients
- 180 g dried rice noodles
- 1 large carrot
- 100 g sugar snap peas
- 1 red pepper
- 2 heads pak choi
- 3-4 spring onions
- 1 tablespoon groundnut oil
- 500 g pork mince
- 1 tablespoon stir fry seasoning - recipe here or see below
- 1 tablespoon cornflour - cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
Stir Fry Sauce
- 3 tablespoons tamari
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
- 1 tablespoon chilli paste
Instructions
- Prepare the vegetables into uniform sizes. Peel and julienne the carrot, trim the sugar snap peas, de-seed and finely slice the red pepper, halve the pak choi into leaves and stems then slice lengthways. Slice the spring onions on the diagonal for garnishing at the end of the dish.
- Prepare the rice noodles according to the packet instructions. Drain into a colander then rinse with cold water and set aside until needed.
- Mix all the ingredients for the stir fry sauce in a small bowl then set aside until needed.
- Heat the ground nut oil in a large wok or frying pan over a medium - high heat. Add the pork mince, followed by the stir fry seasoning and the cornflour to coat and cook for 6-8 minutes, breaking up with a wooden spoon or meat mincer, until browned.
- Add the carrot batons, red pepper and sugar snap peas. Stir fry for about 3 minutes until beginning to soften.
- Stir in the pak choi and cook for 1-2 minutes until just slightly wilted.
- Add the cooked rice noodles and pour over the stir fry sauce. Toss everything together for 2-3 minutes until the noodles are coated and heated through.
- Serve immediately into bowls and scatter over the spring onions and a sprinkle of sesame seeds to garnish.
