Asian Pork Mince Recipes

Find 20+ Asian pork mince recipes that will make a delicious, budget-friendly and versatile ingredient part of your next meal! Our family has cooked using ground pork SO many times that we’ve got a range of ways you can try it, including steaming, stir frying and using it as a stuffing. Learn how to make easy weeknight side dishes, main meals and appetizers for every occasion!

If there’s one type of meat that is budget-friendly, easy to cook with AND packed with the nutrients your family needs, nothing beats pork mince (or ground pork for our American friends).

Our family uses it for so many of our recipes because it’s incredibly versatile – you can have it as part of an easy weeknight dinner or for a large family banquet.

Here, you’ll find out all the ways you can take ordinary ground pork and transform it into a fantastic meal you’ll keep coming back to – Asian style!

What Is Pork Mince?

Growing up in Australia, I quickly came to learn that any meat that went through a mincer was known as ‘pork mince’ or ‘minced pork’. It wasn’t until MUCH later in my life that I found out there were numerous ways to get meat minced and that it was called something else in another part of the world!

So for all my U.S. readers, any time I mention ‘pork mince’, I’m affectionately referring to ground pork!

Taste

Here I’ll try to describe its taste by breaking it down into a two components. Keep in mind that each part will vary depending on the cut:

Flavor

I find that when I cook pork, overall it tastes much fattier than chicken or beef. Depending on how it’s cleaned and cooked, it can have a mild gamy odor that you’ll be familiar with if you eat beef.

It also has a subtle sweetness and savoriness that is perfect for making stocks. Grandma always opts for pork meat or bones when making soups or noodle soups.

Texture

For mince, it can come off as slightly pasty after being boiled. Unless you’re mixing it with other ingredients, its texture is almost rough in the mouth but with a spring when you bite into it.

The higher the fat content, the more moist it will be whereas the leaner the mince, the tougher it is.

At the end of the day, it really comes down to what you prefer. There are some dishes with a flavor base that work really well with beef whereas others taste more balanced with pork.

Choose what works best for you and make the most of it!

Nutrition

There’s a fair number of nutrients in pork, including protein and fat as well as vitamins like zinc, iron, phosphorus, riboflavin and thiamin.

These benefits are said to assist with cell function and repair, which is ideal for building muscle mass.

Of course, to ensure that any of our Asian pork mince recipes fit your requirements, make sure to choose the cuts or meat to fat ratios that work best for you.

How It’s Made

There are two ways to make ground meat and both produce different textures:

• By hand – Chop the meat into cubes or slices, then use a large cleaver or two to beat at it in a drumming motion. Fold the ends into the center and repeat until all is minced. By doing so, you have a much finer result.
• Using a machine – This is what you’d get from supmarkets, but Grandma usually hand picks her own cut and asks the butcher to run it through the mincer twice before she takes it home to cook with.

Storage

If there are any leftovers, here are the ways to keep it fresher for longer. Raw mince can be keep frozen for up to 3 months whereas cooked can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.

• Raw – Keep it sealed tightly in an airtight plastic bag or in a container that can be submerged in water to thaw the ground meat in a pinch. Whenever we have extra uncooked mince, we make sure to keep it in the freezer and slowly thaw it overnight in the fridge.
• Cooked – Make sure everything is covered properly in an air-tight container. You don’t want to keep this in the fridge for too long, so eat it as quickly as you can!

Why Use Mince?

As with everything, not everyone can or will choose to eat every cut of meat. Here are some of those reasons:

• Health – Compared to other parts, mince can very easily by made leaner. This supports people who are looking after their body’s health. All you have to do is ask the butcher to grind leaner cuts through the machine for you.
• Taste preference – Small and easier to chew, ground meat is an ingredient that can be chosen over tougher or fattier cuts.
• Availability – If your local butcher doesn’t always have belly, chop or loin available, then mince might be something that is more readily in stock. They can always use the off cuts for it.
• Diet – Whether it’s religion or a particular diet you’re embracing, there are some that encourage getting nutrients from other sources.

Substitutes

You can replace the mince with chicken, beef, turkey or lamb mince. For a vegetarian option, crumbed tofu would work too. All will vary in taste and nutrition, so choose what fits your lifestyle!

Recipes

After going through all our published family recipes, I realized just how many ways we can use this star ingredient. These Asian pork mince recipes are our best ones with a variety of textures and flavors.

One way to find out which your favorite is is to give them a go!

Stir Fried

Heat up your wok or frying pan because here you’ll find ways to quickly sear the meat before working in all the authentic Chinese and Vietnamese aromas.

Steamed

This is where the Asian pork mince recipes are particularly healthy because they’re cooked through a steaming technique that retains its taste without too much additional oil.

As A Filling

I wasn’t far from the truth when I said that mince was versatile! If you mix it with a range of signature ingredients including oyster sauce or its substitues, you’ll get a satisfying filling that will take your meal to a whole new level!

As A Topping

This is probably the simplest way to use ground meat, but the ingredient definitely works its magic by adding extra texture. And doesn’t it just look scrumptious bejewelling a dish?

Cooked With Egg

Eggs are an easy ingredient to have in the fridge, which makes them the perfect candidate for whipping up a side dish with ground pork!

Grilled

You might be familiar with grilling meat for dishes like our noodle salad or pork chops, but we love starting a party with trays of Asian-style grilled mince. Make them into patties or skewers – they’re all super tasty!

Nem Nướng (Vietnamese Grilled Skewers)

FAQs

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This post was originally published on 6/4/21 and updated with new information in February 2023.

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