Recipes

31 Reasons Garlic, Ginger, and Scallions Are the Holy Flavor Trinity

This combo makes everything better, except maybe ice cream. That would be weird.
A serving platter of stirfried bulgogi beef topped with sliced scallions.
Photo by Linda Xiao

Is there a more foolproof trio of ingredients than garlic, ginger, and scallions? Hard to think of any. This holy trinity of Cantonese cooking provides a fragrant base for any good stir-fry, but it's also versatile enough to use as aromatics in a variety of Eastern-inspired dishes, like kimchi, bulgogi, stews, even meatballs. Read on for our favorites.

  • Image may contain Food and Meatball
    Yossy Arefi
    1/31

    Ginger-Chicken Meatballs with Chinese Broccoli

    Ground chicken is leaner than other meats, but less fat doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice flavor thanks to all the aromatics.

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  • Image may contain Plant Food Meal Dish Produce Lentil Vegetable and Bean
    Alex Lau
    2/31

    Kung Pao Cauliflower

    Searing the cauliflower in this recipe before marinating softens the cauliflower, which opens up the florets and creates more surface area for the marinade to stick to. If you marinate it raw, it will burn before becoming tender.

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  • Curried meatball recipe
    Marcus Nilsson
    7/31

    Curried Meatballs

    This Indian dish utilizes plenty of fresh ginger and 16 garlic cloves.

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  • Image may contain Food Dish Meal Lunch Platter Animal Seafood Sea Life and Lobster
    Alex Lau
    8/31

    Rye Whiskey Stir-Fry

    A twist on the traditional garlic-ginger-scallion stir-fry base? Whiskey, of course! And it also gives you an excuse to light it on fire if you’re into kitchen pyrotechnics.

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  • Image may contain Noodle Food Pasta Cutlery Spoon Meal Dish Bowl Spaghetti and Vermicelli
    Hirsheimer & Hamilton
    19/31

    Soba and Maitake Mushrooms in Soy Broth

    This soup is trendy ramen’s healthier sibling: The buckwheat in soba is nutritious and a good source of fiber (in a maitake mushroom soy broth, flavored with garlic and ginger, too).

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  • Image may contain Cutlery Spoon Plant Food Produce and Vegetable
    Gentl & Hyers
    20/31

    Shrimp Fried Rice

    Flavor the rice for this hearty dish in scallion whites, garlic, and ginger. Reserve the scallion greens for sprinkling on top.

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  • Image may contain Dish Food Meal Egg Noodle Pasta Bowl and Plant
    Alex Lau
    21/31

    Turkey Ramen

    For this broth, you'll need 2 bunches of scallions (along with a whole head of garlic and a fresh piece of ginger). Then you'll need a third bunch of scallions to finish off the ramen.

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  • Image may contain Plant Bowl Food Vegetable Pottery Vase and Jar
    Eva Kolenko
    22/31

    White Kimchi

    Cabbage is a popular vegetable to ferment because of its naturally high water content—so high, in fact, that it creates its own brine. You really can't go wrong by letting it sit for days, even months, in that go-to trio of ginger, garlic, and scallions.

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  • This image may contain Bowl Dish Food Meal Soup Bowl Soup and Egg
    Gentl & Hyers
    25/31

    Turmeric-Ginger Chicken Soup

    Chicken noodle soup never gets old. If you don’t have udon for this recipe, use rice noodles or regular old spaghetti. 

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  • Image may contain Dish Food Meal and Plant
    Alex Lau
    26/31

    Filipino Chicken Adobo

    Depending on your personal preference, you can brush off and discard the peppercorns before cooking, or leave them on for stronger flavor.

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  • Image may contain Plant Food Seasoning Pottery Jar Vase Produce and Vegetable
    Danny Kim
    27/31

    Thai Duck and Grapefruit Salad

    Garlic, ginger, and scallions are the aromatic staples for the duck, but the grapefruit brightens everything up.

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  • Image may contain Bowl Food Dish Meal Cutlery Spoon Soup Bowl and Soup
    Ditte Isager
    28/31

    Spicy Pork and Mustard Green Soup

    You can never go wrong mixing up pork with ginger and garlic, but adding Sichuan peppercorns, red pepper flakes, and cumin makes this dish stand out. Tender mustard greens and scallions provide color and a slight crunch.

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Digital Recipe Editor. Jill edits all the recipes published online, so if something in your oven explodes, you will be able to partly blame her for that—but hopefully that never happens! Besides wasting way too much time on the Internet, she’s into Steelers football, reading nerdy books, forgetting deep conversations ... Read More
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