炒制是将净药材置锅中加热翻炒。清炒不加辅料；加辅料炒则有麸炒、土炒、米炒、砂炒等。火候分文火、中火、武火，传统经验以「炒黄」「炒焦」「炒炭」区分程度。炒炭要求「存性」，即外部炭化而内部仍保留部分药性。
Stir-frying heats cleaned material in a pan with constant turning. Plain stir-frying uses no auxiliary; bran, earth, rice or sand may be added. Fire strength is graded gentle, medium or strong. Traditional endpoints are “yellow”, “scorched” or “charred” (the latter keeping some residual nature—“cunxing”).
炙制是加液体辅料后炒干。常用辅料有蜂蜜（蜜炙）、黄酒或白酒（酒炙）、米醋（醋炙）、盐水（盐炙）等。传统认为蜜炙有助润肺止咳，酒炙可增强活血通络，醋炙入肝止痛，盐炙引药入肾。这些说法属于传统经验总结，现代研究证据需另行查阅。
Zhi means roasting with a liquid auxiliary until dry. Common auxiliaries are honey, wine, vinegar and salt. Traditional claims associate honey with moistening the lung, wine with invigorating blood, vinegar with entering the liver, and salt with guiding to the kidney. These are empirical traditional statements; current evidence should be consulted separately.