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Draft: not yet reviewed by a clinician

Use this page to prepare questions for your care team. It does not replace their advice. Your own targets and doses come from your nephrologist, diabetes team and renal dietitian.

Pork and cabbage stir-fry with rice

Stir-fry sauces from a jar are often very high in sodium. This sauce uses 1 tablespoon of reduced-sodium soy sauce for 4 people, with ginger, garlic, honey and vinegar. Cabbage and red pepper stay crisp and are lower-potassium choices than broccoli or spinach.

Serves 4 · 30 minutes · Lower potassium · Lower phosphorus · Dialysis-friendly

Carbohydrate per serving

47 g carbohydrate (about 3 carb choices of 15 g). It comes from the rice, the honey and the vegetables. For about 55 g, add ¼ cup more rice (11 g).

Per serving

Energy Carb Protein Potassium Phosphorus Sodium Fluid Fiber
374 kcal 47 g 23.3 g 538 mg 275 mg 179 mg none 2.6 g

Checked by scripts/build_handbook.py: sodium at most 600 mg per serving; "lower potassium" means at most 600 mg and "lower phosphorus" at most 300 mg per serving. See how recipes are checked.

Ingredients that are not in the app's food list (herbs, spices and a few others) add about 6 mg potassium per serving; they are counted above.

Ingredients

Ingredient Amount Grams
Pork tenderloin, roasted 10 oz pork tenderloin, cooked weight (about 14 oz raw), cut in thin strips 284 g
Canola oil 2 tbsp canola oil 28 g
Cabbage, raw 2 cups sliced green cabbage 140 g
Bell pepper, red, raw 1 cup red bell pepper strips 150 g
Onion, raw ½ cup sliced onion 80 g
Garlic, raw 2 cloves garlic, chopped 6.0 g
Ginger root, fresh 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger 6.0 g
Soy sauce, reduced sodium 1 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce 14 g
Honey 1 tbsp honey 21 g
Vinegar, cider 1 tbsp cider or rice vinegar 15 g
Cornstarch 1 tbsp cornstarch, mixed with 3 tbsp water 8.0 g
Rice, white, long-grain, cooked 3 cups cooked white rice, cooked without salt 474 g

Steps

  1. Mix the soy sauce, honey, vinegar and cornstarch with 3 tablespoons of water.
  2. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large pan or wok over high heat. Stir-fry the raw pork strips for 3–4 minutes until no longer pink (145 °F, 63 °C), then lift them out.
  3. Add the rest of the oil, then the onion, cabbage and pepper. Stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger for 1 minute more.
  4. Return the pork, pour in the sauce and stir until it thickens and coats everything, about 1 minute. Serve over ¾ cup rice.

Why it works for kidneys

  • Pork tenderloin has more potassium than chicken (about 360 mg per 3 oz), so this recipe uses 2½ oz a serving and lower-potassium vegetables to stay under 600 mg.
  • Pick plain pork, not "enhanced" or marinated pork, which has added sodium and phosphate.
  • The cornstarch thickens the sauce, so you need less soy sauce for the same flavor.

Make it fit you

  • Chicken instead of pork: the same weight of chicken breast or thigh; it lowers potassium a little.
  • More vegetables: bean sprouts, snow peas or water chestnuts are lower-potassium stir-fry choices.
  • On dialysis: use 12 oz cooked pork for 4 (3 oz each) if your team wants more protein; potassium rises to about 600 mg a serving, the top of the line.

Log it in the app

Log one serving as these foods from the app's food list (grams per serving), or save them once as a meal (Planning and menus):

  • Pork tenderloin, roasted: 71 g
  • Canola oil: 7.0 g
  • Cabbage, raw: 35 g
  • Bell pepper, red, raw: 38 g
  • Onion, raw: 20 g
  • Garlic, raw: 1.5 g
  • Soy sauce, reduced sodium: 3.6 g
  • Honey: 5.3 g
  • Vinegar, cider: 3.7 g
  • Rice, white, long-grain, cooked: 119 g

Sources

Not yet reviewed by a clinician. Facts and sources last checked 2026-10-06.