This stir-fried spinach with miso and ginger is cooked in a lightly sweetened ginger, miso, soy, and rice wine sauce and served with scallions and sesame seeds. It’s a fast, easy, and unbelievably enticing way to get your greens.
Adapted from Ching-He Huang | Wok On | Kyle Books, 2019
Ridiculously easy and slightly addictive, this stir-fried spinach with miso and ginger embellishes garlicky wilted spinach with a tangy and tasty sauce. If you’re like us and have a lonely tub of half-empty miso paste calling to you from the back of the fridge, this recipe is your answer.–Jenny Howard
Stir-Fried Spinach with Miso and Ginger
Ingredients
For the ginger miso sauce
- 1 inch piece ginger peeled and grated
- 1 tablespoon red miso paste
- 1 tablespoon tamari or low-sodium light soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons hot water
- 1 tablespoon Shaohsing rice wine or dry sherry
- Pinch superfine sugar
For the stir-fried spinach
- 1 tablespoon peanut oil
- 1 pinch sea salt optional
- 2 garlic cloves peeled and crushed
- 14 ounces baby spinach leaves or other sturdy greens such as regular spinach chard, or kale, leaves stripped from the stalk and torn into pieces
For serving
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
- 1 to 2 scallions trimmed and thinly sliced (optional)
Directions
Make the ginger miso sauce
- In a small bowl, whisk together the ginger, miso, tamari, water, rice wine, and sugar until well combined.
Make the stir-fried spinach
- Place a wok or very large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the peanut oil and carefully give the wok or skillet a swirl to coat the surface with oil.
- Add the salt, if using, and quickly stir to dissolve. Add the garlic, stir for a few seconds, and then add the spinach. Using tongs or a large spoon, toss the spinach for a few seconds and then stir in the ginger-miso sauce. Continue to cook the spinach, tossing and stirring, until it wilts and is coated with sauce, 1 to 2 minutes.
For serving
- Divide the ginger miso spinach among plates or heap it onto a platter. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and scallions, if using, and serve immediately.
Notes
*WHAT IS RED MISO?
A key ingredient in Japanese cooking, miso is basically a cultured mixture of four things—soybeans, grains (like rice or barley), salt and koji (a mold). That’s the short explanation. What you need to know is that this paste is fermented and packs a major salty, funky, umami punch. Red miso is a darker paste and has a more assertive, pungent flavor. It can be pretty intense if you’re not used to it, so start with a little at a time and work your way up.Show Nutrition
Recipe Testers' Reviews
Love the flavors here! This stir-fried spinach with miso and ginger comes together easily, quickly, and is delicious.
I actually think regular spinach or Swiss chard or kale might be even better here as you lose the taste of the baby spinach a bit with all the flavors in the sauce. Also, I didn’t love the scallions on this. I think that could be an optional thing. Overall, though, I was very happy with this dish.
I completely forgot to add the pinch of sugar (oops!). It was still delicious.
Wok cooking does for stir-fried spinach with miso and ginger what wok cooking should do—marry the ingredients in minutes while preserving, even heightening, the individual flavors. I don’t have a wok so I borrowed my friend’s, did most of the prep work while the pan was heating, and in no time at all I had flash-cooked tender baby spinach draped in a fragrant gingery sauce.
Although I would happily eat it by itself, I served it with steamed rice and another super speedy dish—Chinese stir-fried eggs and tomatoes (I kept the wok on the heat and proceeded to make the egg dish).
Originally published October 15, 2019
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Debbie Vargo
Need a really fast and very tasty side dish? This stir-fried spinach with miso and ginger is a great choice, especially if you’re looking for recipes to leverage a big tub of leftover miso paste! That was the case for me.
The recipe comes together in less than 15 minutes. The sauce is very tasty and, when combined with the spinach, toasted sesame seeds, and scallions, makes a very nice balanced side dish. It’s tangy and there are nice hints of ginger and garlic. I served it alongside pork chops for dinner tonight.
I didn't add the pinch of salt called for with the spinach as the miso sauce was well seasoned.