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
- 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 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.
- 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.
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
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.
Ingredients
- 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!
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a review in the comment section! I always appreciate your feedback and I know other readers do, too!
Stay in touch with me in our 
Made this again tonight. Delicious. Thank you again.
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and leave
I made tonight followed most of recipe added bok choy oion carrot carlic ginger and snow peas with fried rice
Anyone know how I can change my profile picture on Ubereats?
My 16 yo daughter and I made this broccoli beef recipe tonight exactly as shown. We were so impressed…my daughter is a bit of a broccoli beef snob. Isn’t that black Chinese vinegar something? We will definitely make this again. We’ll done! Thanks for sharing.
I JUST PRJNTED MYU FIRST (NO ONLY) RECIPE FROM YOUR SITE. I AM GOING TO STOP THE EMAILS TO ME. I PRINTED THE RECIPE. BUT… I HAD TO WASTED MY VALUABLE INK PRINTING YOUR ADVERTISEMENT. I FIND THIS PRAPOSTEROUS AND AM GETTING OFF NOW!
Damn! You made me fall in love with them again!
It’s the best recipe ever!
Make for Christmas – delicious!
Hi is it ok to replace oyster sauce with teriyaki sauce?
Thank you
Yes that’s fine. You won’t get the same flavor, but but sauces are sweet savory. It will still be delicious
I made this tonight with a Cauliflower “Fried Rice” from “Skinnytaste” and my family adored it. I used thin sliced Rib-Eye and cut them into strips (I’m LCHF) and it turned out beautifully! I substituted Arrowroot Flour for Cornstarch (same amount of Carbs), but less toxic.
Thanks so much James! – Jaden
I made this today for unexpected visitors. Used extra vegies and placed beef on 2 minute noodles. It was a hit. Problem is, these visitors are not my favourites and this recipe will probably have them visiting more often!
Thanks Gwen!
My beef sticked on the pan . I followed your instructions to leave it until brown but ended up burnt. What could I have done wrong? Thanks!
Hi Ghay, Did you use enough cooking oil so that the beef wouldn’t stick?
Could this be made with beef brisket?
Hi Sherri, Yes absolutely! Slice thinly ACROSS the grain. Jaden
I’d like to make this, but will be serving someone that can’t have seafood (so oyster sauce is out). What would be a good substitution for that?
Hi Kat – Lee Kum Kee makes “Vegetarian Stir Fry Sauce” that tastes very similar.
Thanks! I’ll try that.
Looks fantastic and I am sure it is very. I like broccoli and will try this recipe. I will also try it with shrimps and let you know how good it surely will be!
Thanks for this recipe, it was very detailed and we felt confiddent making this recipe. It turned out great!
This recipe looks yummy!
We usually order take out but this looks so easy and delicious! I want to give it a try! Thanks!
Perfect recipe. It was really easy to make and better than restaurant dish 🙂
Thanks for this great recipe, it was easy to follow and everyone, including our young children liked it. One downside for me was that it has a bit of a fishy taste. Next time we make will be using only half the oyster sauce and will double up on the rice wine.
We also made it more fun by frying an onion and sliced mushrooms separately, then added it all together. It’s hard to justify beef without onions, so this too added to this great recipe.
Just had to let you know that you have spoiled me. I have made this dish several times. DELISH! Came home from vacation and didn’t feel like cooking, so we ordered take-out Chinese. I ordered the beef and broccoli. My mistake, big time. NEVER again. It was tasteless and lacking in beef. Yours is far superior. Thanks for making me a beef and broccoli snob….teehee.
I have some thin cut t- bone steaks and im wanting to make this recipe with them . Is there any particular way to cut them or is the cut of meat good enough to cut any way ?
Matt- those steaks will be perfecct. Tender enough to slice any direction, unlike flank or skirt. Slice them thinly to make them easier to eat without a knife.
Hello there I really want to try to make this recipe in the crock pot if I were to do that would I have to double the amount of stir fry liquid? Would I need to add some liquid to it? Any advice would be appreciated
Hi there – I’ve never made this in a crockpot. I prefer the stir fry, so that the beef stays tender and the broccoli perfect.
I made this recipe with chicken tonight. I doubled the amount of stir fry sauce because I added matchstick carrots, peppers, onions, baby corn, water chestnuts. It was excellent. Thank you.
Good video. Short and to the point!
where can i get that wok, if you could link it please, thanks
Here you go: http://store.steamykitchen.com/detail/392677/nonstick-enamel-light-cast-iron-wok-13-in-red-by-steamy-kitchen
I made this recepi last nigh i loved it and my family too .
Made this for dinner – quick and easy to prepare and tasted absolutely delicious! I added carrots (for more nutrition and colour too!) and this will definitely be a regular dish at more meals to come!
The last time I tried beef & broccoli was the PF Changs imitation recipe. Lets say that was #epic #fail. I already have one recipe for this weekend, but I have this bookmarked for my future cooking endeavors. This looks really good though 🙂
This looks yummy and easy. Thanks for sharing.
I just finished making this and was so disappointed. First off, didn’t have the black vinegar but un-aged balsamic was suggested as a substitute so I used that. I didn’t have rice wine so used rice wine vinegar…perhaps that was the problem; the two vinegars. The soy sauce was sodium reduced. Is that an issue? I have a very nice J.A. Henkel’s stainless steel stirfry pan. I did everything as instructed. Had made brown rice. Put the beef broccoli mixture on top of the rice and couldn’t wait to eat it. Well, it tasted awful. All I could taste was the oyster sauce and I can’t seem to get that taste out of my mouth! I soooo wanted this to work and totally expected it to work. I found there was not NEARLY enough of the soy sauce/cornstarch & pepper mixture to coat the meat. Also, the stir fry sauce didn’t seem adequate either. Anyone have any suggestions?
Well, you made a bad substitution. “Chinese rice wine” is not “rice vinegar”.
One is a wine. The other is a vinegar. While both are made from rice, the are completely different products. It’s as if you substituted red wine vinegar for red wine.
I learned how to make this beautiful dish tweny years ago in Chinese cooking class (I am not Asian but love the food). In order to destroy any bacteria, I blanch the broccoli in boiling water for a minute, then run it under cold, running water for a minute to stop the cooking. The broccoli keeps if not enhances its gorgeous color and is more digestible for the over-40 crowd. During Lent, I have prepared this dish without meat, just increased the amount of broccoli, or cube some Tofu and add it.
Most of all, so far I have never added the black vinegar, instead I increase the oyster sauce and sherry (not cooking cherry but pale dry cocktail sherry).
Off to the market, I’m salivating.
I live in China and I was looking for new recipes and this one is a must try. Thanks
My mom’s version is a favourite!
ever heard of food photography? sheesh.
The photos in this look perfectly beautiful. No need to be rude
Do you have a preferred brand of oyster sauce?
I like Lee Kum Kee – the bottle should have 2 ladies on a boat, not the Panda brand, which is a less superior product that Lee Kum Kee makes.
My family LOVES Beef with Broccoli. I am making this for dinner tonight! Thanks for taking the mystery out of Asian cuisine, Jaden! 🙂
That is a very mouthwatering substance and the ingredients sound amazing! I’ll definitely have to try this recipe out, thanks for posting!
I just made this tonight for dinner and it was great! To be a lil healthier though I used turkey cutlets….I was a bit confused w/the black vinegar. In my area there are Asian markets galore…and I couldn’t find it. Though I looked for something that EXACTLY said black vinegar. I understand it could also be replaced with a brown rice vinegar? I wasn’t sure so I played it safe with balsamic…did add dry roasted peanuts. OTHER THAN THESE couple things I followed everything to a T – very easy and scrumptious.
I’ve never heard of brown rice vinegar! Possibly it’s rice vinegar made with brown rice.
Anyways, the balsamic vinegar is much better substitute!
One of Trevor’s favorites, I’ll have to try this version. I think Sunshine Market carries the black vinegar here in Knoxville.
This is a staple of mine. Love it. I’ll have to order some Chinese black vinegar online.
Video looks pretty easy–think I can do this:) Deanna,the broccoli is steamed in the video.
Thank you!
I have made this recipe several times. It is a family fave!
I make this recipe at least twice if not more a month. It truly is a winner and is fast, easy, and delicious. This reminds me I should try more of your recipes in your cookbook.
Nice video, Jaden. Really, I mean wow. 😉
xoxo
Cheri
In the photo it looks like there are ginger coins. Also the broccoli looks steamed rather than mixed with the meat/sauce.
Great video! Nice to see the cooking in action. Your voice and explanations flowed so smoothly. Would love to see you do more videos.
This recipe is what encouraged me to buy oyster sauce for the first time ever. 🙂 Still one of my favorites, thanks for sharing the recipe!