Stir frying (Chinese: 炒; pinyin: chǎo) is a Chinese cooking technique in which ingredients are fried in a small amount of very hot oil while being stirred or tossed in a wok. The technique originated in China and in recent centuries has spread into other parts of Asia and the West. It is similar to sautéing in Western cooking technique.

Scholars think that wok (or pan) frying may have been used as early as the Han dynasty (206 B.C. – 220 A.D.) for drying grain, not for cooking, but it was not until the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) that the wok reached its modern shape and allowed quick cooking in hot oil. Well into the 20th century, while only restaurants and affluent families could afford the oil and fuel needed for stir fry, the most widely used cooking techniques remained boiling and steaming. Stir fry cooking came to predominate over the course of the century as more people could afford oil and fuel, and in the West spread beyond Chinese communities.

炒（中文：炒；拼音：chǎo）是一种中国烹饪技术，将食材在少量非常热的油中煎炸，同时在炒锅中搅拌或翻炒。 该技术起源于中国，近几个世纪以来已传播到亚洲其他地区和西方。 它类似于西方烹饪技术中的sautéing。

学者们认为，炒锅（或平底锅）可能早在汉代（公元前 206 年 - 公元 220 年）就已经用于烘干谷物，而不是用于烹饪，但直到明朝（1368-1644 年）才使用炒锅 达到了现代的形状，并允许在热油中快速烹饪。 进入 20 世纪，虽然只有餐馆和富裕家庭才能买得起炒菜所需的油和燃料，但最广泛使用的烹饪技术仍然是煮和蒸。 随着越来越多的人买得起油和燃料，炒菜在本世纪开始占主导地位，并且在西方传播到华人社区之外。