James Kenji Lopez-Alt
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A Meal From the Wok: How to Stir-Fry Three Dishes in a Row
🕑 Added 2025-06-11 17:18:33 +0000 UTCThe other day I was cooking a meal for my family in the wok and thought it might be useful for you to see how I cook multiple dishes in a row without compromising their quality. All three of these recipes – Kung Pao Chicken, Fish-fragrant Eggplant, and Smoky Stir-Fried Cabbage – can be found in some form online at those links (the cabbage has a NYT paywall). Or you can get updated versions of them in my second book, The Wok (Signed copies available at Book Larder).
The Wok is an ideal vessel for cooking a full meal of piping hot dishes in a short amount of time. By far the most time consuming part is the prep work (chopping, marinating, pre-cooking, etc), but that can all be done well in advance. When it comes to finishing the dishes, wok cooking is typically lightning fast.
Basic rules: Stay organized, stay hot, stay clean. The more intentional your setup, the easier it is to bang out three dishes in a row without scrambling.
1. Prep Everything in Advance
Wok cooking moves fast. There’s no time to chop garlic or measure sauces once the heat is on. Line up all your ingredients—meats, aromatics, veggies, sauces—in separate bowls before you even turn on the burner. The more you do up front, the smoother it all goes.
2. Keep a Bus Tub (or Big Bowl) Nearby
This is your cleanup landing zone. Toss dirty prep bowls, utensils, and used paper towels straight into it as you go. That way you’re not losing space on the counter.
3. Have a Pitcher of Water and a Brush Ready
After each dish, you need to clean out the wok quickly. A pitcher of water makes it easy to rinse while the wok is still hot. Use a bamboo brush, or scrubber to scrub out the gunk. No soap—just water and elbow grease. Dump the dirty water in your bus tub or sink.
4. Reheat, Oil, Repeat
Put the wok back on the heat to fully dry it, then add fresh oil and move on to the next dish. This keeps flavors from mixing and helps maintain a clean, slick cooking surface.
Comments
Estella Ho
Thanks Kenji, this was a really awesome video. I love the idea of a bus tub to help keep the chaos at bay since stir fry rly is about having everything prepped and ready to go and it can feel a little crazy to keep all the pieces organized. Watching the process from start to finish was so informative and picked up a lot of little nuanced tips just watching. Appreciate your commentary as you cook.
Christopher Lewis
While I know he does not purport to be the godfather of woking or anything (is that a word?), but seeing Kenji lose a piece of chicken or two to the ground makes me feel a lot better about when I try to replicate at home!
NanaKathy
Thank you so much! I've struggled with using the wok for more than one dish, and this answers all my questions. Greatly appreciate your efforts - and love my "The Wok" cookbook, it is already well used, and looks like it.
Parduke
Hi Laura, I ran into a similar problem with a glass top electric range. I got around it by using a butane camp stove. The one I ordered is https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09RN22HDQ?th=1 I only ever use it with butane canisters and they usually last about 4-6 meals each. It gets ripping hot and pretty far up the sides
Sneaky Meade
@Laura same here. I got kenji's book the wok and it goes into great detail about that. Induction is not ideal for woks for exactly the reason you say, the sides get no love. My solution was to use my kettle burner - I used to make beer - but if you don't have one of those laying around you can get something decent for around $150 or less. Here is some good info written by, who else, Kenji. https://www.seriouseats.com/outdoor-wok-burner-review
Laura Fedoruk
Any advice on works with induction. I have a carbon steel flat bottom wok. I am thinking overcrowding may be one of my issues. But, I also find induction burners just don't seem to heat the sides effectively. Though my dutch oven handles get hot.
George L
A tour de force, Kenji! I’ve never seen so much food cook so fast in so little space!
Jon
This will be helpful, thanks. I have a small outdoor wok burner but think at the moment I’m just getting the taste of stuff burnt to the base of the wok instead of wok hei.
James Shanna
You mentioned cooking in batches on less powerful home burners. What are the clearest indicators that you've overloaded the wok? You said to watch out for steaming chicken instead of stir frying chicken, but I'm not sure what specific evidence I'm looking for.
