Spicy Turkey Stir-Fry With Crisp Garlic and Ginger

Name: Spicy Turkey Stir-Fry With Crisp Garlic and Ginger
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons neutral oil, such as safflower or grapeseed; 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced; 1 (2-inch) knob ginger, cut into matchsticks; Fine sea salt; 2 tablespoons coconut oil or more neutral oil; 3 scallions, white and green parts separated, thinly sliced; 1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more to taste; 1 pound ground turkey, preferably dark meat (or use ground pork); 2 tablespoons lime juice, plus more to taste; 1 tablespoon fish sauce; 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce, plus more to taste; 1/2 teaspoon sugar or honey (optional); Cooked sticky or white rice, for serving; 2/3 cup cilantro leaves and tender stems, for serving; 1/3 cup torn basil leaves (or use more cilantro), for serving; 1 fresh bird’s-eye or serrano chile, thinly sliced, for serving

By Melissa Clark

Total Time: 25 minutes
Rating: 5(5,284)
Comments: Read comments

This quick-cooking stir-fry is packed with umami from fish sauce and soy sauce, and heat from both red-pepper flakes and fresh chile. Pungent and herbal, it’s a terrific weeknight dish that’s fast but never bland. The key here is to let the turkey get deeply brown, so don’t move it around in the pan too much. Serve it over rice for a substantial meal, or a bed of crisp lettuce if you want something lighter.

Featured in: A Ground Turkey Dish Worth Getting Excited Over

or to save this recipe.
Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone
As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.
Subscribe
Share
Print Options
Include recipe photo

Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

2tablespoons neutral oil, such as safflower or grapeseed
4garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1(2-inch) knob ginger, cut into matchsticks
Fine sea salt
2tablespoons coconut oil or more neutral oil
3scallions, white and green parts separated, thinly sliced
¼teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more to taste
1pound ground turkey, preferably dark meat (or use ground pork)
2tablespoons lime juice, plus more to taste
1tablespoon fish sauce
½teaspoon soy sauce, plus more to taste
½teaspoon sugar or honey (optional)
Cooked sticky or white rice, for serving
⅔cup cilantro leaves and tender stems, for serving
⅓cup torn basil leaves (or use more cilantro), for serving
1fresh bird’s-eye or serrano chile, thinly sliced, for serving

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Preparation

Step 1
In a cold 12-inch skillet, combine oil, garlic and ginger. Place over medium heat until sizzling, then continue to cook, stirring frequently, until garlic and ginger are golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined plate and sprinkle lightly with salt.
Step 2
Add coconut oil to pan, then stir in scallion whites and cook until starting to brown, about 2 minutes. Stir in red-pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute.
Step 3
Stir in turkey, raise heat to medium-high, and cook, breaking up meat with a spoon, until golden and crisp, about 7 minutes. Don’t stir the meat too much, so it can turn deep brown.
Step 4
Remove pan from heat and stir in lime juice, fish sauce and soy sauce. Taste and add more lime juice, red-pepper flakes, soy sauce and sugar or honey if you like.
Step 5
Gently mix about two-thirds of the fried garlic and ginger into the turkey. Serve turkey over rice, topped with cilantro, basil, scallion greens and fresh chile, and garnished with remaining fried ginger and garlic.

Ratings

5 out of 5

5,284 user ratings

Have you cooked this?

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Comments

Blue Jay6 years ago

Great! Doubled the scallions, used about 1/4 cup soy sauce, added a teaspoon of rice vinegar, and left out the honey. (I prefer savory to sweet). Next time, I will add sugar snap peas for crunch. I cooked the turkey first, then added the scallions, garlic, and ginger. I'd rather not have to scoop out food only to add it back later. This worked just fine.

Vicki B6 years ago

I'm not a fan of the fish sauce. Is there something else that I could substitute that's not fishy?

MH6 years ago

Great variety of textures and flavors: crunchy, crisp, sour, and spicy. As noted below, this is a variation on larb gai, a Northeastern Thai dish typically eaten as an appetizer with sticky rice. I added some broth, extra lime juice and about a half teaspoon of sugar to get the flavor I remembered from larb, with plenty of torn mint leaves before serving. Paired it with stir-fried broccoli rabe and sticky rice. Yum!

Eh4 days ago

Really not great. Dry, flavorless. There’s a similar recipe by Carla Lalli Music that’s better

Janet1 week ago

I took the advice to double the garlic and ginger topping and a glad I did. You could even triple it. Even with extra soy sauce, I found it a bit bland, so in place of sugar I added some oyster sauce at the end and let it caramelize in the pan before taking it off the heat. Tucked very lightly sautéed snap peas in the bowl next to rice and turkey. In addition to the garlic ginger topping and fresh herbs, I added chopped salted peanuts. The extra lime at the end really made it. With these small changes, I will definitely make this again.

LC1 month ago

Terrific flavor and easy to make. However, 3 modifications I recommend: - palm sugar, if available (if not, stick with white sugar, not honey) - cook the bird's eye chili in the oil, instead of chili flakes - use Thail basil, NOT Genovese basil

Private comments are only visible to you.