You should always have beef and broccoli on your weekday dinner menu because it’s so quick to make, healthier than takeout, and tastes great.

I really think you should try making takeout at home at least once if you’ve been ordering it. This Chinese beef and broccoli dish is particularly flavorful and easy to make. You don’t need a wok for this dish, yet you can still obtain the same taste.

I was very excited to share this recipe with you since…

You can make everything in one pan. The broccoli doesn’t need to be blanched again!
The meal has a lot of sauce and works well with rice.
No need for a wok! You can still obtain that restaurant-style taste with a flat skillet.

Beef with Broccoli from China (牛肉炒西兰花)

Time to get ready: 15 minutes
Time to cook: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 2 to 4

This beef and broccoli is a common Chinese takeout dish, but it’s equally simple to make at home. Most take-out meals aren’t as healthy as this one. This simple dinner is as colorful as it is tasty, with tender beef and crunchy broccoli in a rich brown sauce. For a real Chinese take-out dinner, serve it over hot rice. {Can be made gluten-free}

If you want this recipe to be gluten-free, use dry sherry instead of Shaoxing wine and tamari instead of soy sauce.

Meat and Marinade

1 pound of flank steak, skirt steak, or another cut (*see footnote 1)
1 tablespoon of peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda (optional) (*see footnote 1)

Sauce

1/2 cup of chicken stock (or beef stock)
2 tablespoons of Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce (*footnote 2)
2 teaspoons of brown sugar (or white sugar)
1 tablespoon of cornstarch

Stir-fry

Cut a head of broccoli into small pieces.
1 tablespoon of peanut oil (or veggie oil)(*Footnote 3)
3 cloves of garlic, chopped up
2 tablespoons of ginger, chopped up

What kind of beef to use

Flank steak is my favorite cut of beef and broccoli, and skirt steak is my second favorite. A strip is a fancy cut that costs a lot of money and doesn’t taste as well.

What if you need to utilize a cut of beef that is tougher yet less expensive? Keep reading to find out how to make steak that is particularly tender and juicy.

How to make tough beef tender

If you have to utilize a tougher cut, like brisket, chuck, or round roast, the easiest way to do it is using baking soda. In Chinese restaurants, it is typical to make beef that is extremely juicy and tender. Simply mix in 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda (not baking powder) with the marinade and let it sit for at least 30 minutes before cooking.

Other veggie options

It’s fine to add additional kinds of vegetables to this recipe if you want to.

You can replace half of the broccoli with 1 cup of sliced carrots, red peppers, snap peas, or snow peas.

If you want to use carrots, add them at the same time as the broccoli so they can steam together.

You can add vegetables that cook faster midway through steaming the broccoli and steam them for around 20 to 30 seconds. At the end of cooking, step 6, put them back in the pan.

Putting things in their place

Before you start cooking, make sure you have the following ingredients on your table:

Beef that has been marinated
Broccoli florets cut up
Sauce that is mixed
A bowl with ginger and garlic in it

You will need to move extremely rapidly when you start cooking so that the steak doesn’t get too done. So it’s necessary to be ready for anything.

How to do it

Cut the beef into 0.5 cm (1/4 inch) thick slices or 1 cm (1/2 inch) thick sticks. Put it in a small bowl. Add soy sauce, peanut oil, and cornstarch (*Footnote 1). With your hands, gently mix until all the slices are covered in a thin layer of sauce. While you get the other ingredients ready, let the meat marinate for 10 minutes.
Put all the sauce ingredients in a bowl that is medium-sized. Blend well.
Put 1/4 cup of water in a big nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and wait for it to boil. Put the broccoli in and cover it. Steam the broccoli for about a minute, or until it is barely soft and the water has evaporated. Put the broccoli on a platter. If there is still water in the pan, use a paper towel held in tongs to wipe it out.
Add the oil and swirl it around to cover the bottom. Put it over medium-high heat until it’s heated. Put the steak in a single layer. Let it fry for 30 seconds without touching it, or until the bottom side is golden. Turn it over and cook the other side for a few seconds. Stir and heat until the outside is gently browned and the inside is still pink.

Put in the ginger and garlic. Stir it a few times to let the taste and smell out.
Put the broccoli back in the pan. Stir the sauce again until the cornstarch is completely dissolved, then pour it into the skillet. Cook and whisk for approximately a minute, or until the sauce thickens. Put everything on a dish right away. Serve hot as a main course.

How to make beef and broccoli

It’s quite easy to cook beef and broccoli!

Put a little water in the skillet and steam the broccoli.
Sear the meat
Add the spices and give it a brief stir.
Put in the broccoli and the sauce.
Mix everything together until the sauce gets thicker.

That’s all!

Finally, if you want your beef and broccoli hot, add a little chili oil or sriracha to the dish to make it taste better.

This beef and broccoli has a lot of sauce, so there will be enough to cover your rice. Don’t forget to start the rice at the beginning of supper. So the rice and main dish will be ready at the same time for a great Chinese meal!

The argument about woks and skillets

I always tell home cooks to use a flat skillet instead of a wok. You can get very comparable results, and sometimes even better ones, when you cook on an electric stove with a skillet. If you want to read more about this, I wrote about 10 reasons not to use a wok and Wok vs. Stir Fry Pan: Which is the Right Tool for You?

The sauce for Chinese beef and broccoli is incredibly tasty. It makes cooking on a skillet easier to handle. Also, if you cook at home, your stove might not be as strong, thus you might have to cook the dish in more than one batch. Using a skillet on an electric stove is better because it has a bigger contact area, which helps the food sear better.

You can use practically any nonstick skillet to create beef and broccoli as you would get from a restaurant, but a deeper pan like this nonstick deep pan works best because you won’t spill as much when you stir the dish. If you wish to use a wok on an electric burner, select one with a big bottom that can cover the biggest heating element.

Notes

If you need to use a cheaper but tougher cut of beef, such chuck, brisket, or round roast, add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda to the marinade and let the meat sit in it for 30 minutes before cooking. This process makes the meat more soft and will make it highly juicy.
Dark soy sauce will give the sauce a nice dark color and a hint of caramel flavor. If you don’t have it, you can avoid it. You can add 1/2 teaspoon of molasses to the flavor if you don’t want to use dark soy sauce.
You can drizzle 1/2 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil over the food at the end of cooking, after turning off the heat, if you don’t have peanut oil. It will make the taste better.

Video

Guide to Substituting Ingredients

Easy Chinese Cooking

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Nutrition

1 serving has 291 calories, 13.9 grams of carbohydrates, 26.6 grams of protein, 14.3 grams of fat, 4.2 grams of saturated fat, 48 milligrams of cholesterol, 790 milligrams of sodium, 487 milligrams of potassium, 1.5 grams of fiber, 4.5 grams of sugar, 45 milligrams of calcium, and 2 milligrams of iron.