Beef And Broccoli Stir Fry

This is one of those dishes that’ll make your whole family say “More, please!” My Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry is a dish that’s as easy as it is scrumptious.

With tender beef, crisp broccoli, it’s immensely flavorful without the goopy brown sauce. It’s a perfect main dish for those busy weeknights when you want something quick AND utterly delicious. And the best part? It’s an easy recipe that’s big on flavor without being heavy.

Why This Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry Is So Good

• It’s an Easy Stir Fry Recipe: This is a super easy recipe that’s likely to become a family favorite. Whether it’s your first time or you’re a seasoned stir-fry aficionado, this recipe truly delivers on simplicity and taste.
• Crisp and Tender Broccoli: Forget about mushy veggies! The broccoli in this dish is steamed to crisp perfection, making every bite a fresh and flavorful experience. Vibrant green with just the right amount of crunch, it knocks other broccoli recipes out of the park.
• Perfectly Seared Beef: We’re using thinly sliced beef, perfectly marinated and seared on high heat. Whether you’re using flank steak, sirloin, or even flat iron steak, you’ll end up with juicy beef that’s incredibly succulent.
• A Rich and Robust Flavor: The secret’s in the sauce! We’re ditching the overly thick, brown sugar-laden sauces and going for something light yet rich in taste. With a mixture of oyster sauce, rice wine or dry sherry, and Chinese black vinegar, this stir fry sauce is just thick enough to cling to the juicy beef and fresh broccoli florets.

Ingredients

• Flank or sirloin steak
• Soy sauce
• Cornstarch
• Black pepper
• Broccoli
• Cooking oil
• Garlic
• Ginger

For The Stir Fry Sauce

• Oyster sauce
• Rice wine or dry sherry
• Chinese black vinegar/balsamic vinegar

How To Make This Beef And Broccoli Stir Fry – Step By Step

1. If you are using flank steak, slice into thin pieces, ACROSS the grain. If using sirloin, grain doesn’t matter. In a bowl, combine the beef with the soy sauce, cornstarch and black pepper. Marinate for 10 minutes at room temperature.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the ingredients for the Stir-Fry Sauce.
3. In a wok or large skillet, add 1 cup of water and bring to a boil. Add the broccoli and cover to steam for 3 minutes. The broccoli should be bright green, crisp tender and you should be able to just pierce the stem with a fork. Drain.
4. Discard the water in the wok and dry the pan well. Set the pan over high heat, swirl in the cooking oil. When the wok is hot, add the marinated beef, use your tongs to spread the beef out all over the surface of the wok in one layer. Let beef cook, undisturbed, for 2 minutes, until nicely browned. Flip the beef, again spread the beef out over the wok and brown the other side.
5. Push the beef aside and add in the garlic and ginger. Stir fry the garlic and ginger for 30 seconds. Then mix together with the beef.
6. Pour in the Stir-fry Sauce and stir to combine. Simmer until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 15 seconds. Add the cooked broccoli back into the wok and toss to coat well.

An Easy Stir Fry

This easy beef and broccoli recipe is a great way to satisfy your Chinese food cravings without reaching for Uber Eats. You can kick off a pot of white rice, jasmine rice, or brown rice at the same time as you make the stir fry, that way all your dinner components will be ready at the same time. 

Make sure you have all your ingredients ready to go, because things move really fast when you fire up the wok! 

Secret Ingredient In This Beef And Broccoli Stir Fry

This dish is light but still has a robust flavor. Due, in no small part to the secret ingredient: Chinese black vinegar. It delivers a salty, sweet and savory flavor to your sauce mixture that works so well. If you can’t find Chinese black vinegar, then balsamic vinegar (unaged), work just as well. 

Perfectly Seared Beef

The trick to getting the beef perfect is… to leave it alone in the pan! Just let each side sizzle and sear, don’t overflip!

Variations To This Stir Fry 

This Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry is awesome as is, but you can vary the recipe. Here are some ideas:

• Instead of flank steak, try ground beef, sliced chicken breast, shrimp, pork tenderloin or cubed tofu.
• Feel free to add other veggies such as sliced carrots, bok choy, mushrooms, snow peas, bell peppers or baby corn.
• You can add sriracha or chili oil for a bit of heat, or cashews, sesame seeds or almonds for texture.
• Looking to lower your salt intake? Opt for low-sodium soy sauce instead of regular soy sauce.

Top Tips For This Beef And Broccoli Stir Fry 

• The beef in this recipe is thinly sliced flank steak. It can sometimes be tricky to slice steak, so I typically put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes before I slice it. Freezing the meat helps to firm it up so that you can get thinner slices.
• If you’re not able to use flank steak, other great options include sirloin, skirt steak or New York strip.
• Oyster sauce is a brown Chinese sauce that can be found in the ethnic aisle of most grocery stores. It is different than fish sauce, which is typically used in Thai and Vietnamese cooking. If you can’t find oyster sauce or don’t want to use it, you can substitute hoisin sauce. Hoisin sauce isn’t exactly the same but still makes for a great dish.
• This dish is great for meal prep, and will stay fresh for up to 4 days in the refrigerator.
• Serve your stir fry over rice, noodles or quinoa. If you’re watching your carbs, you can also use cauliflower rice.

Beef And Broccoli Stir Fry – Video

For those who think you can’t sear or brown meats in a nonstick pan – I’m here to prove you wrong! YES YOU CAN. I’ll show you how.

More Chinese Recipes

• Chinese Broccoli Beef over Noodles
• 100 Flower Blossoms: Cauliflower and Broccoli Stir Fry: Learn why this dish is perfect for good luck and good fortune!
• Chinese Sweet & Sour Spare Ribs Recipe
• Chinese Eggplant Recipe with Spicy Garlic Sauce

Have you tried this Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry recipe? Feel free to leave a star rating and I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. 

Chinese Broccoli Beef Recipe

Jaden

The secret ingredient in this dish is Chinese black vinegar. If you don't have this, substitute with young, unaged balsamic vinegar. The aged, good quality balsamic vinegar is too sweet - so make sure you get the cheaper, young balsamic. To keep this dish vegetarian, replace the beef with fresh, thick, meaty shitake mushrooms (cut in half) or even sliced portobello mushrooms. If you use flank steak, make sure you cut ACROSS the grain....which is perpendicular to the grain, for the most tender steak. If you cut WITH the grain, the meat will be tough.

5 from 11 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Chinese

Servings 4 people

Calories 162 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1/2 pound flank or sirloin steak
• 1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound broccoli cut into bite-size florets
• 1 tablespoon high-heat cooking oil canola, vegetable, rice
• 2 cloves garlic finely minced
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

FOR THE STIR FRY SAUCE

• 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 2 teaspoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry (or omit)
• 2 teaspoons Chinese black vinegar or young/cheap balsamic vinegar

Instructions

 

• If you are using flank steak, slice into thin pieces, ACROSS the grain. If using sirloin, grain doesn't matter. In a bowl, combine the beef with the soy sauce, cornstarch and black pepper. Marinate for 10 minutes at room temperature.
• In a small bowl, mix together the ingredients for the Stir-Fry Sauce.
• In a wok or large saute pan, add 1 cup of water and bring to a boil. Add the broccoli and cover to steam for 3 minutes. The broccoli should be bright green, crisp tender and you should be able to just pierce the stem with a fork. Drain.
• Discard the water in the wok and dry the pan well. Set the pan over high heat, swirl in the cooking oil. When the wok is hot, add the marinated beef, use your tongs to spread the beef out all over the surface of the wok in one layer. Let beef cook, undisturbed, for 2 minutes, until nicely browned. Flip the beef, again spread the beef out over the wok and brown the other side.
• Push the beef aside and add in the garlic and ginger. Stir fry the garlic and ginger for 30 seconds. Then mix together with the beef.
• Pour in the Stir-fry Sauce and stir to combine. Simmer until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 15 seconds. Add the cooked broccoli back into the wok and toss to coat well.

Notes

The beef in this recipe is thinly sliced flank steak. It can sometimes be tricky to slice steak, so I typically put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes before I slice it. Freezing the meat helps to firm it up so that you can get thinner slices.

If you’re not able to use flank steak, other great options include sirloin, skirt steak or New York strip.

Oyster sauce is a brown Chinese sauce that can be found in the ethnic aisle of most grocery stores. It is different than fish sauce, which is typically used in Thai and Vietnamese cooking. If you can’t find oyster sauce or don’t want to use it, you can substitute hoisin sauce. Hoisin sauce isn’t exactly the same but still makes for a great dish.

This dish is great for meal prep, and will stay fresh for up to 4 days in the refrigerator.

Nutrition

Calories: 162kcalCarbohydrates: 10gProtein: 15gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 34mgSodium: 562mgPotassium: 551mgFiber: 2gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 705IUVitamin C: 101.4mgCalcium: 70mgIron: 1.7mg

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!