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    Home » Quick and Easy Dinners

    Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry

    Published: Sep 25, 2020 · Modified: Jan 13, 2022 by Genevieve

    Jump to Recipe

    This Chinese style beef and vegetable stir fry is budget-friendly, simple and delicious. My favourite part? Done within 30 minutes! Lately, I've been loving quick and easy meals that are easy on the wallet and (of course) packed full of flavour.

    The key to achieving tender beef here is adding a little baking soda - a trick many Chinese takeout places make.

    A plate of beef and veg stir fry in the middle with a bowl of rice in the top left corner and a plate of rice with beef and veg on top at the bottom
    Jump to:
    • Ingredients
    • Cutting vegetables for stir fries
    • Step by step instructions
    • 📖 Recipe

    Ingredients

    Ingredients for this recipe, labeled
    • Beef strips are easy to find at major supermarkets or your local butcher. If you can't find any, replace with a couple of cheap steak cuts and slice them at home.
    • Broccoli and carrots are my choice of vegetables for this beef stir fry. Broccoli can take on a lot of flavour and sauces from this dish and carrots adds sweetness and a little something good for your eyes 😉 (beta-carotene - a compound your body then converts into vitamin A). But you can add whatever vegetables you like - such as capsicums (bell peppers) or green beans.
    • Brown sugar is used a lot in the recipes (instead of white sugar) in this blog as I find they add more flavour (molasses) to any dish!
    • Baking soda is your friend to lovely tender beef strips! Beef, when cooked to well done (often the case when making a stir fry), tend to get quite tough, especially the cheap cuts. A little baking soda help tenderise the meat and is used quite often at many Chinese takeouts!
    • Corn flour lightly coats and helps with attaching sauces to eat pieces of beef, keeping it slightly glossy and tasty!
    • Dark/light soy sauces combo is used here to ensure we get as much flavour as possible in this dish. Dark soy sauces are stronger in flavour, darker in colour and lighter on the salt content than light soy sauces. This combo is very common in Chinese cuisines - in achieving that rich, umami flavour.
    • Shaoxing wine is a Chinese cooking wine (really good quality ones can be consumed as a beverage) that is made with fermented rice. Similar to cooking with red or white wine, Shaoxing wine adds depth and aroma to a dish.
    • cut vegetables in similar sizes
    • mince ginger and garlic

    Cutting vegetables for stir fries

    Cut your vegetables and proteins in similar sizes.

    This is very important as it'll ensure even cooking, like left image above.

    A trick I use when mincing garlic and ginger is grating them with a cheese grater. Gets the job done in no time (just be careful of your fingers!).

    Step by step instructions

    • Marinate beef strips
    • Saute ginger garlic and onions
    • Add marinated beef strips
    • Cook vegetables
    • Add beef back in
    • Chinese beef and vegetables stir fry

    STEP 1. Marinate the beef strips with dark/light soy sauces, black pepper, Shaoxing wine, brown sugar, baking soda and cornflour. Allow about 10 minutes for beef to marinade.

    STEP 2. Saute minced ginger, garlic and sliced onions in a hot non-stick pan on high heat.

    STEP 3. Once lightly golden, add marinated beef in the pan and saute until the beef starts to brown but not cooked through. At this point, remove everything from the pan into a plate and set aside.

    STEP 4. In the same pan, add broccoli and carrots, saute for about 1 minute then add ¼ cup of water and cover the pan with a lid. Now reduce the heat down to medium/low. This will allow the vegetables to steam cook.

    STEP 5. Once vegetables are soft to your liking, add the beef mixture back into the pan. Pour in some light soy sauce and cornflour mixed with ¼ cup of water (this will help thicken the sauce up).

    STEP 6. Stir through on high heat for 1 - 2 minutes. Crack some more black pepper if you like!

    That's it! Serve immediately with fluffy steamed rice.

    Close up side image of a plate of rice with beef and vegetables and sauce on top

    Here you have it! Delicious, easy beef and vegetable stir fry. This is a great quick weeknight dinner or a work from home lunch.

    📖 Recipe

    Chinese beef and vegetable stir fry

    Chinese beef and vegetable stir fry

    This Chinese beef and vegetable stir fry is budget-friendly, simple and delicious. My favourite part? Done within 30 minutes! The key to achieving tender beef here is adding a little baking soda!
    4.75 from 8 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Main Course
    Cuisine: Chinese
    Keyword: beef, quick and easy recipe, rice, roasted vegetables, stir fry
    Prep Time: 15 minutes
    Cook Time: 10 minutes
    Total Time: 25 minutes
    Servings: 3 people
    Author: Genevieve

    Ingredients

    • 300 g beef strips
    • 2 cups broccoli cut into small florets (see note 1)
    • 1 carrot thinly sliced (see note 1)
    • 1 onion thinly sliced (see note 1)
    • 1 clove garlic minced
    • 1 tablespoon ginger fresh, minced
    • 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
    • 1 tablespoon cornflour (see note 2)
    • 2 tablespoon neutral tasting oil like sunflower or canola

    Beef marinade

    • 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
    • 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
    • ½ teaspoon brown sugar
    • 1 tablespoon corn flour
    • ½ teaspoon baking soda (see note 3)
    • black pepper
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions

    • Mix beef strips with beef marinade ingredients together and set aside for about 10 minutes.
    • In a hot, non-stick pan, saute ginger, garlic and onions with oil on high heat until lightly golden.
    • Add marinated beef into the pan and saute until brown and not cooked through. About 1 minute. Remove from pan and set aside.
    • In the same pan, add carrots, broccoli and saute for about 1 minute. Pour in ¼ cup of water, place a lid to cover and allow vegetables to steam. Turn heat down to medium as vegetable steam.
    • Once vegetables are soft to your liking, add the beef mixture back into the pan. Turn the heat back up to high.
    • Pour soy sauce and cornflour mixed with ¼ cup of water. Stir through for 1 - 2 minutes.
    • Serve with steamed rice.

    Notes

    Note 1. Cut vegetables thinly and in similar sizes to beef strips. This will allow even cooking and key to stir-frying as everything cooks quick! 
    Note 2. Corn flour mixed with water will help thicken the sauce which catches onto the beef strips and vegetables. Do not just put cornflour straight into the pan as it will clump up very quickly and you'll end up with lumpy bits all over. 
    Note 3. Baking soda helps tenderise the beef. Without it, the beef can get quite tough especially if using cheap cuts. 
    Tried this recipe?Mention @Casuallypeckish or tag #casuallypeckish!

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Nickie Cardamis

      March 08, 2021 at 2:16 pm

      5 stars
      Another easy to make healthy meal that tastes delicious! A great tip on the cornstarch for the meat! Really made the beef strip melt in your mouth!!

      Reply
      • Genevieve

        March 08, 2021 at 2:40 pm

        Thank you Nickie for your kind words! Super happy that you enjoyed this recipe 🙂

        Reply

    Trackbacks

    1. Chicken Noodle Stir Fry - Quick and Easy - Casually Peckish says:
      07/10/2020 at 12:00 pm

      […] For this recipe, I’ve used broccoli, cabbage and carrots as my choice of vegetables. Like my Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry, you can swap, add other vegetables to your […]

      Reply

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