What can I make with ginger?
Ginger keeps well, costs little, and turns into comfort food with barely any help. Recipes using ginger are below, plus roasting and storage notes.
12 recipes with ginger
Golden Milk
Warm turmeric-spiced milk for wind-down.
Indian8m2Vegetable Stir Fry
Crisp-tender veggies in a glossy ginger-soy sauce.
Chinese15m2
Chai Tea Latte
Spiced black tea simmered with milk.
Indian15m4
Teriyaki Salmon
Glazed salmon fillets with a sweet-savory sauce.
Japanese20m2Suya
Grilled skewered beef crusted in spicy peanut yaji.
Nigerian23m4
Bulgogi
Sweet-savory marinated beef, quickly grilled.
Korean25m4
Beef and Broccoli
Tender flank steak stir-fried with broccoli in a glossy soy sauce.
Chinese-American25m4
Chana Masala
North Indian chickpeas stewed in tangy tomato-onion gravy.
Indian35m4
Palak Paneer
Cubes of paneer in a creamy spinach curry.
Indian35m4
Chicken Tikka Masala
Tender yogurt-marinated chicken in a creamy spiced tomato sauce.
Indian45m4Traditional Lo Mein
A classic Chinese stir-fry noodle dish made with lo mein noodles, vegetables, and often meat or seafood.
Chinese45m4Tteokbokki
A popular Korean street food made with chewy rice cakes and a sweet and spicy sauce.
Korean45m4
How to get the most flavour out of ginger
- 1Cut into even pieces so everything finishes at the same moment.
- 2Roast at 425F on a preheated sheet pan for caramelised edges, or sear hard in a skillet if you want it fast.
- 3Do not crowd the pan; steam is the enemy of browning. Use two trays if you have to.
- 4Season in layers: salt before cooking, then acid and fat after, so the ginger tastes finished rather than plain.
What goes well with ginger
Ginger is at its best with butter, rosemary, garlic, olive oil, black pepper and cream. Any two or three of those, plus ginger, is already a dinner rather than an ingredient list.
Storing ginger
Store ginger unwashed - moisture is what causes rot. Leafy types last longest wrapped loosely in a towel inside a bag; roots prefer somewhere cool and dark, not the fridge door. Anything starting to soften is ideal for soups, stocks, and roasting.
Substituting ginger
If you are out of ginger, look for something that behaves the same way in the pan rather than something that tastes the same. Match the moisture level, the cooking time, and the richness, and adjust the liquid slightly if your substitute releases more water. When in doubt, describe what you actually have in the chat and Mr. Chef will rewrite the recipe around it.
Ginger recipes: common questions
- What can I make with ginger and not much else?
- Plenty. With ginger plus an onion, garlic, oil, and salt you already have the base of a skillet dinner, a soup, or a simple sauce. Add a starch - rice, pasta, bread, or potatoes - and it becomes a full meal. The recipes above are ordered so the ones needing the fewest extra items come first.
- What is the quickest ginger recipe?
- Look for the entries above marked 20 minutes or less. As a rule, anything cut small and cooked in a hot pan beats anything roasted whole, and one-pan recipes save more time in cleanup than in cooking.
- Can I substitute ginger?
- In most recipes yes, as long as the replacement plays a similar role - similar moisture, similar cooking time, similar richness. Swapping across roles (a watery vegetable for a starchy one, for instance) usually needs a change in liquid or cooking time too.
- How do I use up leftover ginger?
- Fried rice, a frittata, a grain bowl, a soup, or a quesadilla will absorb almost any leftover ginger without a recipe. If you want something specific, tell Mr. Chef exactly what is in the fridge and it will build a recipe around it.
- Are these ginger recipes vegetarian-friendly?
- Many are, and the vegetarian and vegan collections filter the whole library down to recipes with no meat or no animal products at all. In the chat you can also say "vegan" or "no dairy" and every suggestion will respect it.