Easy Beef and Broccoli Recipe {Chinese Fakeaway Recipe}
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Tender beef and al dente broccoli- an iconic duo. This beef and broccoli recipe is loaded with umami, requires just 15 minutes of your time for cooking and uses pantry staples to form a deliciously savory sauce.
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Quick and Easy: Like other Chinese stir fry recipes, this broccoli beef stir fry is cooked over a high heat and in one pan, making it super quick and easy. Plus there’s less to clear up!
- Bold flavors: I love that this short ingredient list results in such a huge amount of flavor. It’s a classic combination: ginger, soy sauce, garlic and scallions/spring onions. The result is always a crowd pleaser.
- Sticky Sauce: The beef stock, soy sauce and corn flour combine to make a delectable sticky homemade sauce. Perfect to scoop up some rice that you can serve alongside this steak and broccoli stir fry.
- Healthier and Cheaper than Takeout: Less salt and additives are used when you make beef and broccoli at home- plus at £1.81 per serve, you can make this way more often!
- Gluten Free: I thicken the sauce with corn flour, making this recipe easily adjustable to be gluten free. Be sure to use GF stock and also tamari instead of soy sauce.
If you’ve got a taste for beef after trying this yummy steak dish, consider making one of the following recipes; Slow Cooker Beef Curry (One Pot), Beef Keema (Mince Curry), Beef udon noodles
Best Cuts Beef to Use in Beef and Broccoli
Cuts of steak that work great- ribeye has more fat, so this will be more tender. Sirloin is slightly leaner but will still be amazingly tender as we’re cooking it so quickly. Flank steak would also work great here.
Ground/minced beef- if you want to make this beef broccoli recipe even more affordable, you can opt for ground beef. Something under 20% fat will impart a lot of flavor with the fats released from the mince, if you want to make it healthier or less calorific, opt for 5% fat ground beef.
Stir fry beef packets- in your supermarket you may see ‘stir fry beef’- that works great for this recipe.
How to Tenderize Meat for Tender Broccoli Beef
An optional step that you can add to tenderize your beef and make the best beef and broccoli is is velveting.
This is where we coat the beef (or any meat that you’re about to fry) with cornflour and a splash of water ahead of time, ideally more than one hour before in the fridge.
Variations/ Adaptations
Make it Vegan/Vegetarian by using mushrooms in place of the beef, and vegetable stock in place of the beef stock.
Make it soy free by using coconut aminos as an alternative to soy sauce for this broccoli beef recipe.
Make it keto friendly by using soy sauce instead of sweet soy sauce.
Ingredients
The main ingredients that make this Beef and Broccoli recipe fantastic are the following:
Soy sauce
I have listed soy sauce in this recipe but if you have sweet sauce- that’s even better. It’s slightly stickier and sweeter, adding further depth to this beef with broccoli recipe.
Broccoli
I use regular broccoli in this recipe but you could use tenderstem/ broccolini if you prefer. This will slightly reduce the cook time, as it will be more submerged in the beef stock.
Garlic & Ginger
If possible, use fresh garlic and ginger rather than ground/powder as these two ingredients are key to broccoli and beef stir fry.
See the recipe card for full information on all ingredients and quantities.
How to make Beef and Broccoli
- Slice the beef into strips. Also, separate the florets from the broccoli stalks and slice the stalks into thin strips.
- Preheat a stainless steel pan over high heat. Once hot, add the oil. Season the beef strips with salt and pepper, then add them to the searing hot pan with oil (Image 1).
- Fry beef strips for 2 minutes, stirring them around the oil until browned all over, then remove from pan and set aside (Image 2).
3. Reduce the heat to medium-low, then deglaze the pan with a splash of beef stock.
4. Add the sliced stalks, the fresh ginger, and the garlic to the deglazed pan. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 3 minutes (Image 3).
5. Next, add the broccoli florets and the rest of the beef broth to the pan and heat over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally (Image 4).
6. Next add the soy sauce and the cornflour slurry (1 Tbsp corflour combined with 2 Tbsp cold water) into the pan and stir to combine. Once combined, add the beef strips back to the pan (Image 5).
7. Cook all together until until the sauce has thickened and the beef strips are hot, approximately 2 minutes. Add lime wedges and a sprinkle of chilli flakes for garnish (Image 6).
*Extra Note: If you have time, you can velvet the beef which is adding cornflour and a splash of water to the beef ahead of time. Combine to coat the beef pieces and place in the fridge until it’s time to cook. This will help tenderize the beef.
Want a delicious starter to eat before this meal? Try one of these delicious soup recipes; Gyoza Soup (Japanese Dumpling Soup), 10 minute Vegetable Noodle soup, Thai Noodle Soup with Chicken
Tips for the best result
- Prep all your ingredients ahead so you can add everything quickly to the hot pan.
- Get your pan screaming hot before adding the beef. This will get the best sear.
- Use an oil with a high smoke point like vegetable, canola, avocado, or grapeseed.
- Slice the beef thinly for super fast cooking. This will prevent the beef from drying out.
- Don’t overcrowd the pan, this will ensure everything gets a great sear and prevent the beef from cooking through steaming.
Make Ahead and Meal Prep Suggestions
Make ahead
- As mentioned earlier, if you can velvet the beef, that’s even better. So make ahead instructions for this dish would be to velvet the beef and then cook a number of hours later when you’re ready to eat.
Meal prep
- If you want to make the whole beef and broccoli stir fry ahead of time, you can make this recipe for meal prep! It’s a great source of protein, loaded with nutrient dense ingredients (hello broccoli plus stalks) and it’s delicious enough to repeat 4 servings!
You can pair this easy beef and broccoli recipe with rice, noodles, cauliflower rice or even double up and have a larger serving with no carbs, for a keto/low carb meal.
Serving Suggestions
This meal is best served over white or brown rice, but I also love it over udon noodles, lo mein noodles, and even quinoa. I recommend staring with a soup or salad. Here are some great options to try:
Leftover Storage and Reheat Instructions
Refrigerator: Store in the fridge for up to 3-4 days in a sealed airtight container.
Reheat: To reheat the beef and broccoli recipe, I like to add the contents of the meal prep container into a frying pan and then add a couple of tbsp of boiling water. Heat over a medium/high heat and serve as soon as it’s piping hot, so you don’t overcook the beef.
Recipe FAQs
The traditional Chinese dish is made up of beef, broccoli, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, MSG and some other adaptable ingredients.
If you have time, you can velvet the beef which is adding cornflour and a splash of water to the beef ahead of time. Combine to coat the beef pieces and place in the fridge until it’s time to cook. This will tenderize the beef.
Add additional beef stock or boiling water. If you use water, add more salt to ensure the flavor isn’t diluted.
Add another 1tbsp of cornflour combined with 2 tbsp of cold water.
I wouldn’t recommend making this in the slow cooker or crock pot as we want to sear the beef and cook it quickly to ensure it’s tender. However, if you really wanted to you could use a braising steak/casserole beef to cook over 4-5 hours which will result in tender beef. However this isn’t very traditional!
I wouldn’t if possible as the al dente broccoli is one of the reasons that this recipe is so great. If you opt for frozen broccoli, it will most likely be quite mushy at the end.
Absolutely! This will make the recipe even more affordable: use ground beef—under 20% fat for more flavor or 5% for a leaner option.
If you tried this Beef and Broccoli Recipe, it would mean so much to me if you could leave a review & a star rating to let me know how you found it! I love hearing about your experiences – it motivates me to keep creating more and more recipes for you guys 💛 Let’s get cooking! – Mimi x
Easy Beef and Broccoli Recipe
Ingredients
- 360 g beef strips £5.10
- 2 small heads of broccoli £0.79
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger peeled & finely grated (£0.72=£0.36)
- 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped (£0.39)
- Lime wedges to serve £0.30
- A few spring onions thinly sliced to serve (£0.60/2= £0.30)
Cupboard Essentials
- 2 tbsp neutral oil
- 3 tbsp soy sauce or sweet soy sauce if you have
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 400 ml beef stock
- Optional chilli flakes
Method
- Season the beef strips with salt and pepper. Slice the broccoli into florets and the stalks into thin strips.
- To a stainless steel pan (if possible), place over a high heat and leave to preheat. Then, add the oil and coat the base of the pan. Once searing hot, add the beef strips. Fry for 2 minutes, then set aside.
- Reduce the heat to medium/low and deglaze the pan with a splash of stock. Add the stalks into the pan, along with the fresh ginger and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 3 minutes.
- Next, add the beef stock and broccoli florets into the pan. Increase the heat to medium and cook for around 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Pour the soy sauce and cornflour slurry (1 tbsp cornflour combined with 2 tbsp cold water) into the pan. Stir to combine, then add the beef strips to heat through. Once thickened, taste to adjust the seasoning and turn off the heat.
- Top with lime wedges, spring onion and optional chilli flakes for a little kick of heat.
- Note: If you have time, you can velvet the beef which is adding cornflour and a splash of water to the beef ahead of time. Combine to coat the beef pieces and place in the fridge until it’s time to cook. This will tenderize the beef.
Notes
- Prepare all your ingredients in advance so you can quickly add them to the hot pan.
- Heat your pan to a high temperature before adding the beef for the best sear.
- Choose an oil with a high smoke point, such as vegetable, canola, avocado, or grapeseed oil.
- Slice the beef thinly to ensure it cooks quickly and stays juicy.
- Avoid overcrowding the pan to ensure a perfect sear and prevent the beef from steaming instead of searing.
Nutrition
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