Hunan Cuisine · FFET10133
Hunan Chili Stir-Fried Pork
Sliced pork stir-fried over high heat with fresh green chilies, black beans and garlic, an everyday Hunan dish.
A shallow white porcelain plate holds glossy, softly wrinkled green chili strips mixed with thin golden-brown slices of pork belly, a few black fermented beans and a little minced garlic, with wooden chopsticks across the rim.
The regional cooking of Hunan, leaning to sour and hot flavours, skilled with cured meats, simmering and stewing.
Hunan chili stir-fried pork is an everyday Hunan dish of sliced pork stir-fried over high heat with fresh green chilies, often with fermented black beans or garlic. A January 2025 report links Hunan's heavy use of chili to its damp climate and the belief that chili drives out cold and damp and stimulates appetite. By that month, Fei Dachu had taken the dish across the country. The chain was founded in 2003, took its present name in 2016, opened a store outside Hunan in Shenzhen in 2018 and had more than 200 stores as of October 2026. Neither of the 2 reports gives the dish's origins or date, and no dated text was found.
What
Hunan chili stir-fried pork is sliced pork stir-fried over high heat with fresh green chilies. 2 recipes use pork belly with fermented black beans or garlic and soy sauce; another version uses black-pig front-leg meat and screw chilies.1,2,4,5
How
The 2 recipes cook green chilies and pork separately, then combine them over high heat with fermented black beans, garlic and soy sauce. One begins by browning the pork until it releases fat; the other begins by frying the chilies until soft.4,5
Why
A January 2025 report links Hunan's heavy use of chili to its damp climate and the belief that chili drives out cold and damp and stimulates appetite.2
Impact and influence
By January 2025, the Fei Dachu chain had taken the dish across the country; in June 2026, chili stir-fried pork was its signature dish. As of October 2026, the chain had more than 200 stores.2,3
No tale about this food has been found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is my home version of chili stir-fried pork. I followed two published recipes, leaving out the oyster sauce and the small hot chilies and using one kind of green chili to keep the flavor simple. The amounts and timings are my own choices at home.
Ingredients
- Pork belly, skin removed 250 g, sliced about 3 mm thick
- Cooking wine, for the marinade 1 tablespoon (15 ml)
- Cornstarch, for the marinade 1 teaspoon (about 3 g)
- Light soy sauce, for the marinade 1 teaspoon (about 5 ml)
- Green chilies (screw chilies or a thin-skinned green pepper) 250 g (about 4 to 5), washed, dried and cut on the slant into pieces about 3 cm long
- Fermented black beans 1 tablespoon (about 10 g), roughly chopped
- Garlic 3 cloves, sliced
- Ginger 3 slices, shredded
- Light soy sauce, for seasoning 1 tablespoon (15 ml)
- Dark soy sauce 1/2 teaspoon (about 3 ml)
- Sugar a small pinch
- Cooking oil 15 ml
Steps
- Mix the pork with the wine, cornstarch and 1 teaspoon of soy sauce and leave it for 10 minutes.
- Heat the wok without oil and dry-fry the green chilies over medium-high heat, stirring often, until the skin wrinkles, shows a few scorched spots and softens; I usually give it 2 to 3 minutes. Take them out and set them aside.
- Add the 15 ml of oil to the wok, spread the pork slices over medium-high heat and fry them until the edges are golden and the fat runs, about 3 minutes. Cut open a thick slice: the pork is done when no pink is left inside.
- Add the garlic, ginger and black beans and fry for 30 seconds to 1 minute until fragrant, then stir in the 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, the dark soy sauce and the sugar.
- Return the chilies to the wok, turn the heat to high and toss for about 1 minute so the chilies are coated, taste for salt, and serve at once.
Tips
- I always dry the chilies well before they go in, because wet chilies in a dry wok spatter hard; this is my own experience.
- If I want it milder, I remove the seeds before slicing; this is my own way.
Allergens: soy, wheat