Quick Thai Steak and Asparagus Stir-Fry

This Quick Thai Steak and Asparagus Stir-Fry is the most flavorful and quick weeknight meal. The soy sauce and ginger marinade is so versatile and it can be used in lots of different stir-fry variations. Or use it to marinate your favorite meats for grilling season.

But first… Today’s blog post and recipe are extra special to me because this is blog post #50! So time for a little bit of Spice and Sugar Mama story time. Grab yourself a warm glass of milk and strap yourself in for some rambling.

I feel discouraged at times and I feel like I can’t dedicate the time that I want to dedicate to my blog. I am always my harshest critic. There is a lot that goes into blogging. A lot more than people think. I know certainly a lot more than I thought. I knew that blogging would be difficult and time consuming. And I knew that there would be lots to learn along the way in my blogging journey.

I most definitely dedicate 40 hours plus a week to the blog. However, a lot of this is back end stuff. It’s hard to feel accomplished sometimes because not every ounce of my work goes into a blog post that I can proudly look back on.

I am no tech wizard by any stretch of the imagination. The visions of just taking a single shot of my finished dish and throwing together a quick, yet perfectly helpful post crashed and burned quickly. I was picturing making a blog post as quick and painlessly as posting something on Facebook or Instagram. I did not realize that I literally was building my website from scratch from the ground up.

There are so many things to learn and so many things that go into a blog post on the back end. And those things will literally be completely different by the time you get them right. Everything is constantly evolving with social media and search engines. It’s very overwhelming to keep up with. It’s impossible, actually.

So I do my best to just keep focused on my mission to share my favorite family recipes. At the end of the day, I’m doing this for me and for my children to look back on when they’re older and cooking for babies of their own. It’s important not to lose sight of why you started blogging in the first place.

People see a neatly assembled blog post and recipe. There are hours of research, recipe development, blog post writing, proof reading, photo taking and photo editing. As I mentioned, with things constantly evolving in the world of food blogging, you have to keep your past work updated as well.

I do love blogging and I feel like it’s a great creative outlet for me. Some weeks I seem to have endless time to put together my blog posts. Some weeks, it seems impossible. The only realistic time for me to do the majority of my blogging is at nighttime once the babies are in bed. And to be honest, I want to just pass out myself most nights. I’m pretty sure the baby senses my desperation for some extra sleep on nights that I’m blogging until 3 or 4 a.m. Those are always the special mornings that she decides 5 a.m. is when she would like to lay her beautiful eyes on me.

The moral of my rambling is that I’ve really discovered how much I love blogging in these last nine months. I’m passionate about food and cooking for my family and I’m really happy to be sharing my recipes online. I’ve also found a lot of support along the way through the blogging community.

Lastly, I am so very grateful for anybody that has discovered my small corner of the internet.

Now… on to my Quick Thai Steak and Asparagus Stir-Fry. I felt that this would be a great recipe to share to celebrate my 50th blog post milestone. This recipe combines my loves.. Thai food and quick dinners, as also evidenced in Easy Peanut Chicken with Broccoli.

This recipe was developed out of over purchasing asparagus and steak. Aidan, Tonio and I have come to enjoy grilled steaks with asparagus and a side of rice as a late dinner on Saturday nights. Once the babies are sound asleep, we have a nice relaxing dinner all together. The seasonings Anthony uses on our steaks before grilling is pure perfection.

We did overbuy a few months ago. Overbuying is what led me to come up with Thai Coconut Chicken Drumsticks with Brown Sauce as well so I won’t complain. It always works out. I said I would make some sort of stir-fry with them. And I knew I wanted to do something that came together very quickly and if it turned out well, then great, I would share it on the blog. And if it was a hot dumpster fire then I would forget this meal happened in less time than it took to cook it. Luckily, things took a positive turn. This recipe turned out amazing. And best of all, it’s very easy.

Asparagus is my favorite vegetable and the marinade on the steak makes this a flavorful and quick weeknight dinner favorite. This is a very versatile recipe and you could do so much with the marinade. You can swap out either the steak or the asparagus with your favorite variations. Or you can toss in extra vegetables to make it your own.

What kind of steak should I use?

My brother William, the professional slicer of meats, gets me and the family meats often. Being that he is my animal carcass hook up, I asked him for some specifics of what I should recommend. There are lots of cuts that would make a delicious stir-fry. Any cuts from the top round to the bottom round will be excellent. Search for some of these cuts at the grocery store:

-New York Rib Cap
-Ribeye
-Beef Chuck Tender
-Flank Steak

What could I use in place of the flank steak?

What really makes this stir-fry is the stir-fry sauce. I would bathe in this sauce and you can literally use it in so many different dishes. Try some of these options:

-Boneless skinless chicken or chicken tenderloins
-Pork
-Tofu
-Ground beef, pork, turkey or chicken
-Kielbasa
-Turkey breast

What vegetables add-ins or substitutions can be used for this dish?

Asparagus is always my #1 favorite go-to vegetable. However, if you wanted to replace it or add some extra veggie deliciousness to the skillet, then try some of these ideas below.

-Zucchini
-Broccoli
-Carrots
-Summer squash
-Cabbage
-Bell peppers
-Tomatoes
-Pea pods
-Green beans
-Mushrooms
-Spinach
-Onion
-Bok choy
-Corn

Directions:

Slice the flank steak into thin one inch strips and place in a medium mixing bowl. Combine all of the ingredients to make the Stir-Fry Sauce and Marinade. Stir until well combined. Reserve ½ cup of the sauce and set aside for later use.

Pour the remaining Stir-Fry Sauce and Marinade over the sliced flank steak. Allow to marinate for at least 10 minutes. In the meantime, slice the Thai Chilis in half and chop the cloves of garlic. Cut the asparagus into two-inch thick pieces. NOTE: You should discard the “woody” bottom part of the asparagus. Slice where the white and green colors meet which is typically about 2 inches from the bottom stem area.

Heat a pan sprayed skillet on medium high heat. Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Add half of the marinated flank steak. Cook for 7 minutes while stirring frequently. Remove the cooked flank steak to a bowl and set aside. Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and repeat the cooking process for the second batch.

Turn the skillet down to medium heat and heat the ¼ cup of vegetable oil. Add asparagus, garlic, Thai chilis, salt and pepper. Cook for 4-5 minutes while stirring frequently.

Add the cooked flank steak and the reserved ½ cup of marinade. Stir-fry for 3 minutes. Serve with jasmine rice and enjoy!

I love all different food cuisines but my heart (and stomach) are happiest when I’m cooking and eating Thai food. Thank you again for all of the support! (And be sure to give this Chicken and Shrimp Pad Thai a try) 😉

Let me know in the comments below how your Quick Thai Steak and Asparagus Stir-fry turned out. What’s your favorite quick weeknight dinner?