Perfect crispy strips of beef in a tangy spicy sauce. This is my favourite dish from the Chinese takeaway, so it has a lot to live up to.
I'm going to show you how to get that lovely craggly exterior and even better, we don't need to use the deep fryer!
This is one of my go-to dishes. Whenever I ask Chris what he fancies for tea, you can pretty much guarantee that he'll pipe up 'Crispy Chilli Beef!'.
It's actually my favourite meal from the Chinese takeaway too. We always order a portion, but it can be a bit hit-and-miss. Sometimes it's great, other times the beef is so crispy it's hard to tell if there's any beef in it all all.
I want my crispy coating, but I also want to taste the beef - which is why I prefer the homemade version. A crispy, craggly coating with tender beef inside - perfect every time!
📋 What do we need?
- I like to use thin-cut or quick-cook sirloin steak for the BEST flavour. You can replace with ribeye, or you can also use flank/skirt steak or rump steak. If you're using flank/skirt or rump steak, be sure to cut really thinly, as it can be chewy if sliced too thick. Always sliced AGAINST the grain.
👩🍳PRO TIP - Place the steaks in the freezer for around 30 minutes to firm up a little. This will make it much easier to slice the steak nice and thinly.
🔪 How to make Crispy Shredded Chilli Beef
**Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.**
- Place thinly sliced steak in a bowl and coat in one small egg.
- Add in cornflour, salt, pepper and white pepper and mix it all together. It will stick together, but be need that sticky coating for that lovely crisp exterior.
- Fry the steak in 2 batches in very hot oil. I prefer to shallow fry (so I don't have to dispose of a big pan of oil afterwards!) - so we only need about 4 ½ tablespoons of oil for the whole recipe.
- Remove the steak from the pan, then fry up slices of onion along with sliced red chilli, ginger and garlic.
- Now we're going to add the sauce to the pan. This is made up of rice vinegar, dark soy sauce, caster sugar, ketchup and sweet chilli sauce.
- Mix it all up in the pan and let it bubble for a minute, then add the beef back in and toss it all together to coat the beef.
Serve up with noodles, boiled rice or egg fried rice.
Want more sauce?
This recipe makes enough sauce to coat the beef, with a tablespoon or two of sauce left at the bottom of the pan.
If you want more sauce, you can double the sauce ingredients (double the ginger, garlic, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, ketchup and sweet chilli sauce). It's a very rich sauce, so if you wanted it to be a little lighter, you can use half light soy sauce and half dark soy sauce.
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Crispy Chilli Beef
Ingredients
- 360 g ¾ lb thin cut sirloin steaks - - (approx 3 thin steaks) cut into thin strips *Note1
- 1 small egg
- 4 tbsp cornflour - (cornstarch)
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ⅛ tsp white pepper
- 4 ½ tbsp sunflower oil - divided
- 1 medium onion - peeled and sliced into thin strips
- 1 red chilli - – finely sliced- discard the seeds if you don't like it too hot
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 3 garlic cloves - - peeled and minced
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 3 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp tomato puree - (tomato paste)
- 6 tbsp caster sugar - or superfine sugar
- 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce - I use Thai-style
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place the steak strips in a bowl and add the egg. Mix together to thoroughly coat the steak in the egg.
- Add the 4tbsp cornflour, ¼ tsp each of salt and pepper and ⅛ tsp of white pepper.
- Toss together to coat the steak. It will be a sticky mixture.
- Heat 3 tbsp of the oil in a large frying pan (skillet) or wok over a high heat until very hot.
- You will probably need to work in two batches, so when the oil is hot, add in half the beef - a strip at a time - and spread it out.
- Fry the steak until dark brown and crispy. Try not to move the meat around too much as this reduces the amount of crispiness you get. It generally takes about 5 or 6 minutes to crisp up the beef, with about 3 or 4 stirs during that time.
- Using a slotted spoon or tongs, remove the beef from the pan and place in a bowl lined with kitchen roll to soak up excess fat.
- Add a further tablespoon of oil and repeat - cooking the second batch of beef and then placing in the bowl with the first batch.
- Once you’ve removed all the beef from the pan, add the remaining ½ tbsp of oil to the pan and turn the heat down to medium.
- Add in the sliced onion and cook for 2 minutes until slightly softened.
- Add in the finely chopped chilli, 1 tsp minced ginger and 3 minced cloves of garlic and cook whilst stirring for 30 seconds.
- Add the 2 tbsp rice vinegar, 3tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp tomato puree, 6 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp tomato ketchup and the 2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce to the pan.
- Turn up the heat and let it bubble for a couple of minutes until the sauce starts to reduce a little.
- Add the beef back in, give it a stir and heat through for 1-2 minutes – until the beef is hot.
- Serve with rice or noodles.
Video
✎ Notes
Can I make it gluten free?
Yes! Replace the soy sauce with tamari. I've done this lots of times and it works really well.Also check your tomato puree, ketchup, sweet chilli sauce and rice vinegar, so make sure they're gluten free
Can I freeze it or make it ahead?
This recipe works best when made and served right away. Freezing/chilling then reheating means the beef won't be crispy.However, it does still taste really good. So if you did want to freeze it, then cool, cover and freeze. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator and reheat thoroughly in the wok or a microwave until piping hot throughout. You can add a splash of water if it's a little dry. Ingredient swaps This recipe also works great with leftover roasted meat - you can use cooked and sliced/shredded pieces of chicken, duck, roast beef or my personal favourite - roast lamb in this dish.
Cook in the same way as you would the raw steak (you need to cook it for the same amount of time to get the coating nice and crispy). Nutritional information is per serving and doesn't include rice or garnishes
Nutrition
This post was first published 19th April 2014. Updated March 2021 with new photos, video, tips and recipe tweaks.
If you came to this page looking for the crispy tangy chilli beef with broccoli, you can find it here (click on the image).
Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links – which means if you buy the product I get a small commission (at no extra cost to you). If you do buy, then thank you! That’s what helps us to keep Kitchen Sanctuary running. The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on several factors. For more information please see our Terms & Conditions.
Boxy says
Was looking for a chilli beef recipe to use up some leftover roast beef. The only thing I did different to the recipe was use cooked beef but treated as raw steak. I didn't have rice vinegar in the cupboard so used white wine vinegar. The result was delicious, I'm definitely going to buy a bigger joint of beef next time and make this again.
Chantell Panashe Kampiyawo says
Okay I came across this on Instagram and it looked so good. I made it and it tasted SO good
Audrey says
Amazing
Pam says
I came across kitchen sanctuary by chance. I'm not a cook by no means of imagination! I have followed her videos so easy to follow that I have managed my 1st true meal start to finish not something from the freezer. the outcome of the CRISPY chilli beef was a masterpiece so this week we tested that it wasn't a fluke that I was able to bring a homemade dish to the table so I followed the instructions of PATHIA curry and low and behold I succeeded a 2nd week on the trot. next week I'm planning slow cooker beef coconut for the in-laws...I feel confident!
thank you Nicky
Paula says
This is not my type of Chinese but I thought my husband and son would like it. To my surprise, I loved it!
Phil says
Love this recipe, the flavours really do complement each other.. Probably the only thing I did different was go easy on the sugar, we are not fans of over sweet. Otherwise this recipe is worthy of a restaurant.
Joanna says
I actually leave out the tomato purée, ketchup and sugar and add more if the other sauce. Really good recipe! This is now a main stay
Karen says
Great recipe, I left out the egg and used the cornflour straight onto the beef. It worked fine. Still lovely and crispy. The sauce tasted really authentic
Ian says
Absolutely delicious, bit messy with the frying of the steak and the splash screen was in the way too much but everything cleans up. Made it for a Saturday night tea for my son and daughter in law and they loved it too. Will definately be making this again
Jaz says
Anybody do this in an air fryer?
Sarah says
Love this recipe it is one of our favourites , fab every time , So glad I found kitchen sanctuary , I use all your recipes now! I am going to cook the chicken in white wine tomorrow!
Robert Taylor says
Excellent, and very well presented.
Karen says
Fab! I’ve always used Mark Sargeants (Gordon Ramsey’s crew) but this is way better!
Graeme Petty says
Hi Nicky
i have cooked this dish many times over the years most times perfectly , other times not so perfect.I decided to give yours a go and was surprised at what a difference using the egg made to the level of crispiness in the beef.Something i had never seen before or not thought of doing.It was absolutely perfect.
Mikey says
Over the past month or so, I have cooked up three recipes from this website, and I have several more in the pipeline for a later date. With this find we have here, it is only apparent why - easy to cook as it is exciting to eat, also not bad on the wallet either. The meal was simply delicious and tasted possibly better than any Chinese delivery in my area.
I will definitely be on that short-notice shortlist.
Aaron says
Delicious!!!