How to Use Fresh Ginger

Ginger is a flavor that lends itself well to an astounding amount of applications. It’s used in drinks, sweets, and savory applications from noodles to barbecue sauce. It’s incredibly versatile and can be found incorporated in a wide variety of cuisines.

If you’re curious how to incorporate fresh cooking into your cooking, look no further. Here we break down some our out favorite ways to use fresh ginger.

Ginger is often referred to as a root, but it’s actually the stem of a tropical plant that’s native to China. It has strong, warming flavor with floral and citrus notes. Its distinctive mild heat comes from gingerol, which is related to capsaicin — the chemical found in hot peppers that gives them their spice — but is much milder.

Fresh ginger adds a huge boost of flavor to savory dishes. Combine it with complementary flavors like garlic, lemon, soy, Chinese five spice, miso, or turmeric, among many others. Fresh ginger can be minced or grated and used as a base for sauces or added to wet rubs for meat. Sliced ginger can be added to soups or broth to infuse them with gingery flavor.

Fresh ginger can simply be steeped into a tea with lemon and honey or you can get more adventurous and make ginger kombucha or a simple syrup to add ginger flavor to lemonade and cocktails.

Ginger’s strong flavor can really shine in sauces and marinades where it has time to permeate the liquid and meld with the other ingredients. Try adding ginger to Korean BBQ marinade , honey-lime sauce, or homemade barbecue sauce.

Ginger’s powerful flavor can be infused into oil (alone or with other aromatics) as an easy way to add flavor to everything from stir-fries and sautés to dressings and sauces.

Ginger is a powerful addition to the flavor base for stovetop dishes like rice, noodles, and other sautés. Add minced, grated, or even pureed ginger to the skillet with cooking oil along with other aromatics and spices to bloom and release their flavor into the fat before adding additional ingredients.

Ginger adds a punch of zingy flavor to salad dressing, like a classic ginger carrot dressing Finely minced or grated it’s easy to incorporate with or without the help of a bender.

Pickled ginger is more than an accompaniment for sushi. It’s bright, spicy flavor is a great addition to salads, or on top of rice or noodle dishes. The brine is also a great addition to salad dressings and sauces. Pickling ginger is also a great way to store it. It can last refrigerated in an airtight container for up to two months.

Ginger’s mild spice and floral aroma works very well in sweet dishes. While many recipes call for powdered ginger, fresh ginger can add a special something to sweets like ginger peach cobbler bars , molasses cookies, or apple butter.

• Sesame Ginger Slaw
• Slow Cooker Ginger Chicken Congee
• Easy Lemon-Ginger Spinach
• Ginger Dressing
• Iced Green Tea with Mint & Ginger
• One-Pan Miso-Ginger Chicken and Rice Skillet
• Garlic and Ginger Turkey Lettuce Wraps