Tender strips of beef, stir fried with chunky pieces of onion and vegetables, in a sticky, garlic hoisin sauce.
Serve it with rice or noodles for a quick and tasty dinner.
I entirely believe that a stir-fry is the perfect mid-week dinner. On those hectic weeknights, having a hearty, nutritious dinner which doesn’t take much time or effort to prepare, is essential for me. In my house, we have a stir-fry at least once a week!
This beef stir fry with a velvety soy-hoisin sauce is just so simple to prepare and is on the table in 30 minutes, but leaves you with a dinner that you’ll be craving for weeks! 😋
📋 Ingredients
Steak – I like to use thin sirloin or ribeye steaks as they’re beautifully tender in this stir fry and they stay tender during fast, high-heat cooking.
You can use a cheaper cut if you prefer, just be sure to cut off any excess fat and slice it thinly, against the grain. If you are using a cheaper cut of beef you can velvet the beef first (see notes below). Or, you can switch out the steak for strips of chicken or pork.
Oil – Use a neutral oil with a high smoke point, such as avocado, rapeseed, or sunflower oil. The sesame oil is added later for flavour.
Chinese Rice Wine – This is made from fermented glutinous rice and has a slightly sweet flavour. You can use white rice wine, or Shaoxing rice wine (which is amber in colour and slightly richer). If you don’t have rice wine, you can replace it with dry sherry.
📺 Watch how to make it
Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- The first step is to make the sauce, by mixing the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl.
- Next, season the steak and fry in a wok with oil, make sure to keep everything moving so the beef doesn’t stick to the wok.
- Once the beef is cooked, set it aside, but leave the oil in the wok for the vegetables.
- Add in the veg and stir-fry until softened the desired amount, then pour in the sauce we prepared earlier and stir it together.
- Finally, toss back in the steak and heat with the veg and the sauce, and now we’re ready to serve!
Pro Tip
This recipe makes a lovely thick sauce that just coats the beef and veggies, however, if you like to have a thinner sauce that you can stretch further, add a splash of water or stock until you reach your desired thickness.
I like to serve it on top of a mountain of egg fried rice or fluffy white rice.
Pin this now to find it later
Pin It🍽️ What to serve it with
- My favourite way to serve this is on top of a large pile of Egg Fried Rice, however, these sides also work brilliantly:
- Cauliflower rice or Onion Fried Rice
- Stir-fried Noodles with Beansprouts
Packed full of veg and smothered in that savoury hoisin sauce!
🍲 More fantastic stir-fried dinners
This recipe tastes best when cooked and eaten right away, but you can make it ahead if you prefer.
If you do, I would definitely recommend you use sirloin, as it stands up better to the reheating process, whilst still being tender. The vegetables will be softer upon reheating.
To make ahead, make the beef stir fry, quickly cool, cover and refrigerate for up to a day.
Remove from the fridge 30 minutes before you want to reheat it to take the chill off it, then reheat over a medium-high heat in a wok. Stir often to prevent it sticking and add in a good splash of water or beef stock to help loosen up the sauce.
Cook for about 5-6 minutes, until piping hot throughout.
Swap out the beef for thin strips of pork or chicken
Add in other quick cook vegetables – such as thin strips of carrot, tenderstem broccoli, sliced bell peppers, beansprouts (mung bean sprouts) or thinly shredded cabbage.
You can double or halve the recipe, sticking to the same ingredient ratios.
If you’re doubling the recipe, it’s likely you’ll have to cook the steak in two batches, otherwise the steak will sweat in the pan (rather than fry and brown) and will become chewy.
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Beef Stir Fry
Ingredients
Steak:
- 450 g (1 lb) thin steak into chunky strips, against the grain (I use sirloin or ribeye – see notes for other cuts)
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 3 tbsp oil any high smoke point neutral oil – such as avocado, rapeseed or sunflower – is fine.
Vegetables:
- 1 tbsp oil any high smoke point neutral oil – such as avocado, rapeseed or sunflower – is fine.
- 2 medium-sized onions peeled and chopped into chunky wedges
- 200 g (1 1/2 packed cups) mange tout sliced in half
- 3 medium pak choi (about 350g/13oz altogether) roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 1 tsp minced ginger
Sauce:
- 2 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 3 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp Chinese rice wine (or replace with dry sherry)
- 2 tbsp honey
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) beef stock (use reduced salt if preferred)
To Serve:
- boiled rice, fried rice or noodles
- chopped spring onions (scallions)
- sesame seeds
Instructions
- First make the sauce. Take a small jug or bowl and add the cornflour, sesame oil, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, Chinese rice wine and honey. Stir together until the cornflour is mixed in, then stir in the beef stock. Put to one side.2 tbsp cornflour, 1 tsp sesame oil, 2 tbsp dark soy sauce, 3 tbsp hoisin sauce, 1 tbsp Chinese rice wine, 120 ml (1/2 cup) beef stock, 2 tbsp honey
- Toss the steak slices with the salt and pepper.450 g (1 lb) thin steak, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/4 tsp salt
- Heat the oil in a wok (or large frying pan) over a high heat until hot, then add the steak.3 tbsp oil
- Fry the steak for 2-3 minutes, moving it around the wok so it doesn't stick together, until browned.
- Spoon out the steak into a bowl, leaving any oil behind in the wok. Turn down the heat to medium.
- Add another tablespoon of oil to the wok. Add in the sliced onions and stir fry for 2-3 minutes until just starting to soften. Add the mange tout and stir fry for one minute.1 tbsp oil, 2 medium-sized onions, 200 g (1 1/2 packed cups) mange tout
- Add in the pak choi, garlic and ginger. Stir fry for a further minute.3 medium pak choi, 2 cloves garlic, 1 tsp minced ginger
- Add in the sauce we mixed in the jug to the wok and stir together. Let it come to a gentle simmer. If it looks too thick you can add in a splash of water.
- Add the steak back to the wok and stir through to coat in the sauce. Cook for a further 2 minutes to heat the steak back through.
- Serve with rice or noodles, topped with spring onions (scallions) and sesame seeds.boiled rice, fried rice or noodles, chopped spring onions (scallions), sesame seeds
Video
Notes
Steak
I like to use thin sirloin or ribeye steaks as they’re beautifully tender in this stir fry. You can use a cheaper cut if you prefer, just be sure to cut off any excess fat and slice it thinly, against the grain. If you are using a cheaper cut of beef (such as rump, sizzler, flank, hanger, skirt, chuck, blade or denver) and you want to ensure it’s as tender as possible, you can velvet the beef first. It takes about 35 minutes. Here’s my method for velveting beef.Can I make it ahead?
This recipe tastes best when cooked and eaten right away, but you can make it ahead if you prefer.If you do, I would definitely recommend you use sirloin, as it stands up better to the reheating process, whilst still being tender. The vegetables will be softer upon reheating. To make ahead, make the beef stir fry, quickly cool, cover and refrigerate for up to a day.
Remove from the fridge 30 minutes before you want to reheat it to take the chill off it, then reheat over a medium-high heat in a wok. Stir often to prevent it sticking and add in a good splash of water or beef stock to help loosen up the sauce. Cook for about 5-6 minutes, until piping hot throughout.
Ingredient swaps
- Swap out the beef for thin strips of pork or chicken
- Add in other quick cook vegetables – such as thin strips of carrot, tenderstem broccoli, sliced bell peppers, beansprouts (mung bean sprouts) or thinly shredded cabbage.
How to scale up and scale down this recipe
You can double or halve the recipe, sticking to the same ingredient ratios. If you’re doubling the recipe, it’s likely you’ll have to cook the steak in two batches, otherwise the steak will sweat in the pan (rather than fry and brown) and will become chewy. Nutritional Information is approximate, per serving not including the serving suggestion of rice/noodles.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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How do u velvet beef ?
right here: How to velvet beef
I used pork instead of beef, plus added mushrooms as well. I had it with noodles and flat bread, it was simply delish!
I tried it with thin strips of chicken thigh cooked until crispy! Equally delicious as the beef which I made yesterday!
Halved this recipe for the two us and loved it!!! I used M&S thin cut rib eye steak which cooked beautifully and was very tasty with the sauce and crunchy veg! Going to try it with chicken next time (but suspect beef will be best)!