Cooking with Fresh Ginger: Tips, Techniques, and Flavor Pairings

Fresh ginger is one of the best flavor boosters in the kitchen: spicy, bright, zesty and uplifting. I use it in stir-fries, cocktails, baked goods and marinades. It’s an easy, high-impact way to add depth to many dishes. And there’s a simple hack for peeling ginger that makes prep faster and less wasteful.

Ginger can be sliced, chopped or minced and used in recipes such as Ginger, Mint, and Lime Marinade, Honey Ginger Salmon, and Butter Chicken. Below are tips on preparing, storing and using fresh ginger, plus a collection of sweet and savory recipes that showcase its flavor.

How to Peel Ginger With a Spoon

Ginger’s skin is very thin and uneven, which makes a standard vegetable peeler awkward on its knobs. A plain teaspoon is a better tool: hold the spoon with the convex side toward you and gently scrape, pulling toward you. The thin skin peels away easily, even around nubs and curves, and you’ll quickly have ginger ready to chop, slice or mince.

Use the spoon’s edge to scrape up and over the knobs to remove skin without wasting much flesh.

Kids can help with this simple task — hand a willing child a knob of ginger and a teaspoon and they can scrape the skin off while feeling useful in the kitchen. Make sure everyone washes hands afterward, since ginger’s oils can sting if they touch their eyes.

Removing the peel from a knob of ginger is safe and easy — then explore dozens of recipes (drinks, salsas, marinades, stir-fries) that use fresh ginger.

Do You Need to Peel Ginger?

If the ginger is mature or larger, peel it and trim any woody bumps before adding it to a dish. For drinks or marinades that will be strained, you can skip peeling unless the skin is thick or rough. Young, small ginger with very thin skin usually doesn’t need peeling.

How to Mince or Grate Fresh Ginger

Many recipes call for minced ginger so the flavor spreads evenly without large spicy chunks. Here are common methods:

• Microplane: Grates ginger into a fine pulp and removes most fibrous bits.
• Knife: Slice into coins, cut into thin sticks and finely mince to desired texture.
• Food processor: Good for larger amounts (about 2 tablespoons or more), especially if you have a small processor for small batches.

How to Add Fresh Ginger to Recipes

I use fresh ginger in both savory and sweet dishes. Its slightly spicy brightness plays beautifully with garlic and onions and is central to Thai, Malaysian, Korean, Burmese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Chinese cooking. A tablespoon of minced ginger is often a great addition to many Asian recipes.

Ginger also appears in Caribbean and West Indian, Indian, European and American dishes — it’s versatile and pairs well with citrus, honey, soy, miso, and fragrant herbs.

How to Use Fresh Ginger

• Mince and add to stir-fries.
• Use in glazes and marinades.
• Add to Asian-style pan sauces.
• Stir minced ginger into noodle dishes, dressings and salsas.

Ginger Simple Syrup

To add ginger to drinks, make a simple syrup: bring 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar to a boil, add lightly crushed ginger slices, simmer a few minutes, then remove from heat and steep 20 minutes as it cools. Strain, refrigerate up to 2 weeks, and add the syrup to cocktails or mocktails.

Ginger Tea

Simplest method: thinly slice a 1-inch piece of ginger, lightly crush the slices, simmer in a cup of water with a teaspoon of honey and a squeeze of lemon for 5 minutes, then strain and drink hot.

How to Store Fresh Ginger

Ginger keeps in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Cut away any shriveled spots before using. For longer storage, freeze ginger in an airtight bag with the air pressed out — it grates easily when frozen and doesn’t need defrosting. You can peel before or after freezing.

Peeled ginger wrapped in plastic will keep about a week in the fridge; minced ginger in a sealed container up to five days.

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28 Sweet and Savory Ginger Recipes

Below are favorite recipes that highlight fresh ginger, from Asian-inspired mains to salads, marinades and drinks.

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