Stir-Fried Cabbage and Pork in Fish Sauce Butter
Published March 11, 2025

- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1tablespoon neutral oil, such as canola or safflower
- 1pound ground pork
- Salt and pepper
- 3scallions, thinly sliced
- 3garlic cloves, minced
- 1tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 3tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1pound green or red cabbage, chopped into 1-inch pieces (about 5 cups)
- 1tablespoon fish sauce
- 1tablespoon lime juice, plus wedges for serving
- ¼teaspoon crushed red pepper
- ½cup coarsely chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish
- Cooked rice (such as short-grain white or brown rice), for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Add pork, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally and breaking up the meat until no longer pink, about 5 minutes.
- Step 2
Add scallions, garlic and ginger, and stir until fragrant, 30 seconds. Transfer the pork mixture to a plate.
- Step 3
Add 2 tablespoons of the butter to the skillet and stir until melted. Add cabbage, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender and golden in spots, 5 minutes.
- Step 4
Stir in the pork mixture (and any accumulated juices), then add fish sauce, lime juice, crushed red pepper and the remaining 1 tablespoon butter, and mix well. Turn off the heat. Season with salt and pepper and stir in cilantro.
- Step 5
Divide pork and cabbage mixture over rice in bowls. Top with more cilantro and serve with lime wedges for squeezing over.
Private Notes
Comments
Perfect combination of tasty, quick, cheap, and relatively healthy. When I make it again (which I’m sure I will) I’ll use a wok or a Dutch oven instead of a large frying pan, as it was a little too full to comfortably stir. Great recipe.
@Carly Fish sauce is quite salty, and varies according to brand. This will determine thee need for additional salt.
Very good weeknight dinner! It definitely needs a good bit of salt- 1 lb of cabbage 1 lb of pork requires a lot. I wish NYT recipes would recommend at least a base amount of salt to start with. “Season with salt” implies a sprinkling (to non-chefs), which is definitely nowhere near enough for most dishes.
Made for the second time. Half recipe, but full amount of garlic, ginger, and fish sauce. Subbed basil for cilantro (I have that gene). Really, really tasty, big flavors, very quick for a weeknight, becoming a family favorite. Great with a Viognier or southern Rhône blend.
PHENOMENAL! No notes. Made zero modifications and it was perfect. Extremely easy and quick. Will be adding to the rotation!
Made this for dinner and it was delicious! I used dew drop cabbage that I got from Trader Joe's, added shitake mushrooms, subbed red chiles flakes for a bit of gochugaru and reduced the butter from 3 to 2 tablespoons. Will absolutely make this again for a quick weeknight meal.
