Okra and bacon is a super ono combination. This 3 ingredient stir fry recipe can be made in 15 minutes using 1 pan. It is delicious and rewarding. Just cook the bacon till crisp, add the okra and cook til golden. Finish with a little soy sauce and enjoy with rice.
Why This Recipe Works
You just need three ingredients for this dish: okra, bacon, and soy sauce!
It doesn't get any easier than that ^_^
Cook the bacon until crisp. Then add the sliced okra and stir fry. Season with soy sauce and then the dish is finished. It's a high reward, low effort type of dish that feels both indulgent (bacon) and healthy (okra) heheh.
As with most recipes on this site, we always eat Okra and Bacon with a big bowl of rice.
This recipe is endlessly forgiving. You can use more/less bacon, more/less okra. You can even skip the soy sauce or replace it with a bit of salt.
The one thing that I always do is to drain half of the bacon fat before adding the okra. Why? I love bacon fat, but too much fat will make this dish heavy for no good reason.
Keep half the bacon fat and you'll end with a beautiful balance. The bacon fat helps get the okra crisp and adds a lot of good flavor.
Ingredients
Here's what you'll need:
- Okra
- Bacon
- Soy sauce
Super easy!
Okra
We can find okra at many markets in Hawaii and they're often at the local farmer's markets (like Kaka‘ako Farmers Market and KCC Farmers Market).
You can use the green or purple okra. To prepare the okra, all you have to do is rinse and pat dry. Then trim off the tops and slice them into half-inch pieces.
Because this is a stir fry dish that cooks quickly, try picking okra that's on the smaller side. Smaller okra is more tender and will cook faster. Use bigger okra for dishes that take longer to cook.
Step by Step Directions
Prepare the okra.
Wash the okra and gently pat dry. Trim off the tops from each okra piece. Slice the okra into small half-inch pieces. Set aside.
Prepare the bacon.
Slice the bacon into the bite size pieces.
Cook the bacon.
Heat a pan to medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook until the bacon is crisp. I usually cook 4-5 minutes. You can cook longer to get extra crispy bacon or less time for softer bacon. There's no right or wrong, it's just about personal preference.
Drain off half the bacon fat (optional but recommended).
Cook the okra.
Add the sliced okra to the pan. Stir fry for 8-10 minutes until the okra is cooked through and lightly browned.
Season and eat.
Add the soy sauce, and stir to mix. Cook for another mix and then the dish is ready to eat!
Enjoy with a big bowl of hot rice ^_^
FAQs and Tips
Okra and Bacon will keep 2-3 days in the refrigerator in a sealed container.
Just reheat in the microwave in 30 second increments. If you want to get the bacon extra crisp, reheat the dish in a frying pan on the stove.
Yes there are many! The most common is adding diced onions and/or minced garlic to the dish. This gives it ton of extra flavor. I add it the same time I cook the bacon to make things easy.
So do we! Here are a few other okra recipes we often make:
- Okra and Ginger Soy Sauce - Especially good on a warmer day. Boiled okra that's thinly sliced at an angle and tossed with grated ginger and soy sauce. Just wonderful!
- Boiled Okra - We call this dish "okra sashimi" at home hehe. It's just okra that's boiled and then chilled. We dip it in soy sauce with wasabi like we would sashimi. So simple and really delicious.
So many! First you need a big bowl of rice. And then you can serve Okra and Bacon alongside a few other dishes (or just eat it solo for a simple meal).
Here are the dishes we like to pair:
- Ginger Fried Rice - Serve this in place of plain white rice.
- Garlic and Fish Sauce Eggplant
- Luau Stew or Local-Style Chicken Tofu - Always good to pair a stir fry dish with a more wet/soupy dish for balance.
- Misoyaki Butterfish - A classic.
Okra And Bacon Recipe
See below and enjoy ^_^
Okra And Bacon
Okra and bacon makes for a wonderful flavor pairing! This 3 ingredient stir fry recipe can be made in 15 minutes in 1 pan. It is delicious and rewarding. Simply cook the bacon till crisp, add the okra and cook til golden. Finish with a little soy sauce and enjoy with rice!
Ingredients
- 1 pound okra
- 4-6 bacon slices
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
Instructions
- Wash the okra and pat dry. Trim off the top and slice the okra into small half-inch pieces. Set aside.
- Slice the bacon into the bite size pieces.
- Heat a pan to medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook for 4-5 minutes until the bacon is crispy. Drain off half the bacon fat (optional).
- Add the sliced okra and stir fry for another 8-10 minutes until the okra is cooked through and lightly browned.
- Add the soy sauce, and stir to mix. Cook for another mix and then it's ready to eat!
- Enjoy with a big bowl of rice ^_^