CookingLight diet CookingLight diet

Superfast Asian Recipes

By Text: Jason Horn and Cooking Light staff
June 15, 2009
Photo: Jennifer Causey
These recipes, with flavors from China, Japan, Thailand, Korea, and more, all take 20 minutes or less to prepare.
Start Slideshow

1 of 46

Thai Green Curry with Shrimp and Kale

Photo: Randy Mayor
View Recipe: Thai Green Curry with Shrimp and Kale

Lacinato kale ups the green in this green curry dish, providing a delightful textural contrast to the tender rice noodles.

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 46

Pork Stir-Fry with Snow Peas

Photo: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Pork Stir-Fry with Snow Peas

A great stir-fry uses only 2 or 3 vegetables in the base, insuring all elements shine through as well as leaving enough room in the pan for a good sear.

3 of 46

Korean-Style Pork and Rice

Photo: Jenn Causey
View Recipe: Korean-Style Pork and Rice

Gochujang is a spicy, deeply savory sauce made from Korean chiles, fermented soybeans, and salt. It adds a mild heat to the finished dish so kids can still enjoy. Use the sauce as a marinade or baste for grilled meats, a dipping sauce for kebabs, or a stir-in for sandwich spreads. The pork mixture would also be fantastic in an East-meets-West sloppy joe: Pile on a toasted hoagie roll with a carrot and radish slaw, sliced green onions, and a squeeze of fresh lime.

Advertisement

4 of 46

Thai Sesame Edamame

Photo: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Thai Sesame Edamame

Enjoy a favorite bar snack at home in a matter of minutes. Salty and satisfying, edamame is a nutrient-dense, between-meals bite you can feel good about. Look for whole edamame pods in the freezer section of your grocery store.

5 of 46

Nutty Fried Rice

Photo: Romulo Yanes
View Recipe: Nutty Fried Rice

This hearty vegetarian dish is a fun twist on the usual takeout version of fried rice, incorporating lots of nutty flavor from toasted sesame oil, roasted cashews, peanut butter, and sesame seeds. The rice is drizzled with a savory, creamy peanut sauce that takes the whole thing right into indulgence territory. If you have a peanut allergy, opt for cashew, almond, or sunflower butter instead of peanut butter. Look for toasted sesame seeds on the spice aisle of your supermarket; it’s a great ingredient to keep on hand for busy nights because it saves a step.

6 of 46

Chicken Thighs With Ginger-Sesame Glaze

Photo: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Chicken Thighs With Ginger-Sesame Glaze

Make-ahead tip: Mix up the glaze first thing in the morning, and allow the chicken thighs to marinate all day long in the refrigerator to soak up even more flavor. After that, getting dinner on the table is as simple as heating up the grill pan.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 46

Orange-Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin

Photo: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Orange-Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin

Homemade teriyaki sauce is much fresher and more vibrant than bottled sauce and makes for a delicious sweet-salty glaze on lean pork tenderloin. Mirin lends this sauce a rich flavor; it’s a sweet rice cooking wine that you'll find near the rice vinegar on the Asian foods aisle. If you can't find it, you can substitute sweet Riesling, dry or cream sherry, or sweet marsala wine. It would be a shame to let any of that luscious sauce go to waste; serve over a bed of brown rice to soak it all up.

8 of 46

Chicken Yakitori

Photo: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Chicken Yakitori

Kids will love swapping forks for skewers to build their own kebab bites. The sweet-savory glazed chicken is perfect served with basmati rice and crisp steamed veggies.

9 of 46

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Photo: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Sweet and Sour Chicken

Our take saves 446 calories, 22 grams of fat, and 1,260 milligrams of sodium over one serving of a leading chain's sweet and sour chicken.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 46

Tofu and Edamame Noodle Bowl with Caramelized Coconut Broth

Photo: Linda Pugliese
View Recipe: Tofu and Edamame Noodle Bowl with Caramelized Coconut Broth

Grating jalapeño, ginger, and garlic allows them to infuse the coconut milk with bold flavor quickly, while caramelizing the mixture intensifies the savory-sweet appeal of this saucy noodle bowl.

11 of 46

Thai Beef Cabbage Wraps

Photo: Linda Pugliese
View Recipe: Thai Beef Cabbage Wraps

To add another bright touch to these sweet and spicy wraps, serve with fresh lime wedges and fresh cilantro.

12 of 46

Veggie Fried Rice with Crispy Ham

Photo: Linda Pugliese
View Recipe: Veggie Fried Rice with Crispy Ham

For this quick family dinner, a small amount of salty ham is crisped and used as a topping. That way you can use far less and still get a big flavor impact.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

13 of 46

Wasabi and Panko-Crusted Pork with Gingered Soy Sauce

Randy Mayor
View Recipe: Wasabi and Panko-Crusted Pork with Gingered Soy Sauce

Crunchy panko breadcrumbs are a Japanese secret that we use to make foods crisp without deep-frying. The crispy pork chops in this dish are enhanced with a two-minute sauce featuring the sinus-clearing horseradish heat of wasabi, and each serving contains just 215 calories. Serve with brown or white rice and your favorite vegetable.

14 of 46

Thai Chicken Sauté

Randy Mayor
View Recipe: Thai Chicken Sauté

One of our favorite ingredients, Sriracha, brings its considerable chile heat to this dish, but coconut milk counters the burn with sweet creaminess. Try this recipe with sliced pork tenderloin or tofu in place of chicken, or leave out the rice and serve with romaine or Bibb lettuce leaves as lettuce wraps.

15 of 46

Thai Basil Beef with Rice Noodles

Randy Mayor
View Recipe: Thai Basil Beef with Rice Noodles

With its brilliant purple stems and assertive flavor, Thai basil is a great choice here, but regular basil will work too. The aromatic herbalness of the basil gets a boost from spicy curry paste, pungent fish sauce, and tangy lime juice for an authentic Thai taste. This preparation is also good with pork tenderloin, chicken breasts, or shrimp.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

16 of 46

Wasabi Salmon

Randy Mayor
View Recipe: Wasabi Salmon

A combination of a five-minute soy-wasabi marinade and high-heat searing leaves a lovely brown crust on the fish in this recipe. You can try it with tuna, too; in that case, sear just a few minutes so the fish is medium-rare. Any kind of easy rice dish, from plain white to Garlic and Ginger Rice, makes an excellent side.

17 of 46

Tofu Fried Rice

Becky Luigart-Stayner
View Recipe: Tofu Fried Rice

With its familiar flavor and inviting warmth, fried rice is a great comfort food. This simple vegetarian version of the dish comes together in just about the time it takes to cook rice, and has just 376 calories per serving―both faster and healthier than delivery. You can easily substitute chicken, pork, beef, or shrimp for the tofu; just make sure the meat is cooked through before removing from the pan.

18 of 46

Sesame Noodles with Chicken

Beau Gustafson
View Recipe: Sesame Noodles with Chicken

The creamy-spicy peanut sauce in this dish is addictive; good thing this dish weighs in at under 500 calories per serving. Any protein―pork, beef, tofu, even edamame―can replace the chicken, and the sauce also makes a great salad dressing or dipping sauce for saté.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

19 of 46

Hoisin Pork and Snow Pea Stir-Fry

Randy Mayor
View Recipe: Hoisin Pork and Snow Pea Stir-Fry

Salty-sweet hoisin sauce is one of the secrets to more authentic Chinese flavor, but it's easy to find as just about any supermarket. It's the base of a thick sauce in this six-minute stir-fry that tops rice noodles. The picture shows thin rice vermicelli, but rice noodles are available in a variety of shapes and sizes.

20 of 46

Thai Beef Salad

Beau Gustafson
View Recipe: Thai Beef Salad

The secret of Thai cooking is to balance strong flavors. In this dish, pungent fish sauce, fiery serrano chile pepper, and sweet mandarin oranges come together to create flavor big enough to stand up to the tender steak, which cooks to medium-rare in about eight minutes. Noodles with Spicy Peanut Sauce are a great partner for this recipe and come together in minutes.

21 of 46

Sweet and Sour Shrimp

Randy Mayor
View Recipe: Sweet and Sour Shrimp

Cornstarch serves two purposes in this dish: A quick dredge in it gives the tofu and shrimp a nice crisp coating, and it also makes the sauce thick and glossy, just like you'd get at a restaurant. For an extra nutrition boost, serve over brown rice, or use rice noodles for something slightly different.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

22 of 46

Asian Chicken Salad

Becky Luigart-Stayner
View Recipe: Asian Chicken Salad

Main-dish salads are quick as can be, include a variety of flavors, and are among the most healthful dinners you can make. This recipe adds a great honey-ginger sesame vinaigrette to sweet carrots and snow peas, crunchy almonds, and tender chicken, while keeping calories well under 200, saturated fat under a gram, and providing more than a third of a day's protein per serving.

23 of 46

Szechuan Pork

Becky Luigart-Stayner
View Recipe: Szechuan Pork

This Chinese-inflected recipe is unbelievably simple. A little chili garlic sauce, ginger, soy sauce, and peanut butter give nice flavor to pork, with a bed of nutty buckwheat noodles adding substance to the dish. Use whatever veggies you have on hand―onion, carrot, or bok choy work just as well as bell pepper―and serve with fresh fruit like pineapple, melon, or grapes for a sweet counterpoint.

24 of 46

Asian Green Bean Salad

Howard L. Puckett
View Recipe: Asian Green Bean Salad

This light and fresh pasta salad, with its easy sweet-sour-spicy dressing, is wonderfully versatile. Serve as a side to just about any pork, beef, or salmon dish, or mix in canned tuna, leftover chicken, or chopped hard-boiled egg for a simple and healthful brown-bag lunch at work or school.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

25 of 46

Thai Green Curry Mussels

Randy Mayor
View Recipe: Thai Green Curry Mussels

Shellfish deserve a more prominent place at the weeknight dinner table, as they cook in a flash―five minutes in this recipe―and are so very tasty. Here, curry paste, fish sauce, coconut milk, and clam juice create an explosion of spice and briny flavor. Beyond rice, many different starches will work to soak up the juices; try noodles, flatbread like Naan, or crusty French bread.

26 of 46

Thai Shrimp and Chicken Soup

Randy Mayor
View Recipe: Thai Shrimp and Chicken Soup

This soup cooks for all of nine minutes, but that doesn't mean it's short on flavor. Full of powerhouse ingredients like fish sauce, ginger, and curry, as well as coconut milk for creaminess and lots of chicken, shrimp, and vegetables, a bowl of this soup is a satisfying and delicious meal, for just 262 calories per serving.

27 of 46

Spicy Asian Lettuce Wraps

Randy Mayor
View Recipe: Spicy Asian Lettuce Wraps

Who doesn't like eating with their hands once in a while? This seven-ingredient finger food builds immense flavor in about five minutes of prep time. Quick-cooking bean threads, also called cellophane or glass noodles, can substitute for any kind of Asian noodle, especially in Chinese and Korean recipes, and are available at most large supermarkets.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

28 of 46

Vietnamese-Spiced Pork Chops

Randy Mayor
View Recipe: Vietnamese-Spiced Pork Chops

The simple brown sugar-and-spice rub gives these pork chops a nice crust and excellent flavor. The technique of lightly scoring their surface before applying the rub ensures it is well distributed throughout the meat―try it with any kind of steaks or chops. A skillet gives great results here, but this recipe can be just as easily prepared on the grill for an extra smoky element.

29 of 46

Thai Beef Rolls

Beau Gustafston
View Recipe: Thai Beef Rolls

Get Asian flavor on the go with these no-cook, make-ahead, easily portable wrap sandwiches. Deli roast beef is dressed up with a sesame-and-lime dressing in a three-minute sandwich that will make you the envy of the lunchroom. Make a batch and stick them in the fridge for a great grab-and-go supper on busy nights.

30 of 46

Chicken-Peanut Chow Mein

Lee Harrelson
View Recipe: Chicken-Peanut Chow Mein

Chow mein noodles have a nice chewy texture that's a great match for the tender chicken and crunchy carrot and snow peas in this recipe. It's the same savory Chinese-American dish you can get at any restaurant, but our version has less than two grams of saturated fat per serving. Asian-flavored sautéed greens, like spinach or bok choy, are an excellent side.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

31 of 46

20-Minute Peking Duck

Becky Luigart-Stayner
View Recipe: 20-Minute Peking Duck

We bet making this restaurant classic at home never even crossed your mind, but this version is a breeze and just as tasty and special as the original. We substitute flour tortillas for the traditional crepelike pancakes to make things even easier. This meal can make any weeknight a dinner to remember.

32 of 46

Soba Noodle Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette

Randy Mayor
View Recipe: Soba Noodle Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette

Soba noodles, made from buckwheat, are a great item to keep in the pantry for easy meals: They cook quickly and contribute complex carbs and filling fiber to any dish, Asian or otherwise. The addition of edamame and shrimp makes this recipe a nutritional powerhouse, providing more than half of the protein and almost a third of the iron you need in a day with only 418 calories and 1.3 grams of saturated fat per serving.

33 of 46

Szechuan-Style Tofu with Peanuts

Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner
View Recipe: Szechuan-Style Tofu with Peanuts

This Chinese-style inspired dish with an abundance of aromas begs to become one of your favorite Asian dishes. Tofu and sautéed vegetables are combined in a spicy sauce and then laid over a bed of jasmine rice. Don’t forget the last minute sprinkling of peanuts before serving to give just the right amount of crunch.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

34 of 46

Fiery Beef and Rice Noodle Salad

Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner
View Recipe: Fiery Beef and Rice Noodle Salad

Once you take your first bite, you’re not going to want to put the fire out. Spice-levels from the habanero pepper are kept in check with a balance of sweet notes found throughout this dish. Not to mention, the cooling basil and cucumber that will give a blast of freshness to your palate.

35 of 46

Honey Cashew Chicken with Rice

Photo: Johnny Autry
View Recipe: Honey Cashew Chicken with Rice

You won't believe that a 20-minute meal can have this much flavor. Fresh veggies, tender chicken, and a savory sauce are served on a bed of quick-cooking instant rice. This meal is both convenient and delicious enough to serve for any occasion. 

36 of 46

Sesame Chicken and Noodles in Mushroom Broth

Photo: Johnny Autry
View Recipe: Sesame Chicken and Noodles in Mushroom Broth

All of our favorite Asian flavors are here in this delicious bowl. Tender chicken cutlets are given a crunchy topping and served on a bed of savory, sweet, and spicy ingredients.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

37 of 46

Mu Shu Pork Wraps

Photo: Mary Britton Senseney/Wonderful Machine
View Recipe: Mu Shu Pork Wraps

If your butcher is unable to cut an 8-ounce piece of pork loin, buy 1 pound and freeze the remainder for another use. Save your mushroom stems for stocks or broths.

38 of 46

Sticky Korean Lamb Skewers