Do you ever wonder what goes into that delicious beef stir fry that we enjoy when we dine out? This recipe here is about to reveal the secrets! The best news is this stir fry is done in under 30 minutes!
Out of beef or simply not a fan? Take a look at our Speedy Sesame Shrimp Stir Fry.
What takes no time and effort at all? This Beef, Mushroom and Snow Pea Stir Fry.
This stir fry is the meal you want to have up your sleeve when the last thing on your mind is cooking. It’s easy, quick but feels like you ordered a takeout. All of this without the expense or unhealthy ingredients.
I love giving a healthy makeover to our takeout favourites. This Chinese Chicken Curry is one example, that also became a reader favourite.
This beef stir fry is a dish that the whole family will love provided you choose the vegetables that your kids eat! Mine love crunchy and sweet snow peas or mangetout as they are known in the UK!
The Ingredients
Making Asian food can be very intimidation if you don’t come from that part of the world. I am not trying to lump a whole bunch of Asian countries together here but simply acknowledging the fear and hesitation that come with it.
With a little research and practice it’s possible to produce recipes that are fresh, delicious and easy to make!
This particular recipe for a beef stir fry relies on fresh aromatics like ginger, garlic and red chillies for the base flavour.
The sauce is a simple combination of dark soy sauce and oyster sauce. If you want to impart a deeper flavour to your Chinese dishes, dark soy sauce is a better choice than the light one. It’s thicker and more concentrated.
You can choose any vegetables that can go in it. Broccoli, cauliflower or cabbage are all stellar choices for this flavour-packed beef stir fry.
Lastly, you can easily substitute steak with chicken or shrimp.
Flavourful Stir Fry Recipe Tips
- First, use fresh ingredients like real ginger, garlic and chillies. And have everything peeled, cut and ready before you start cooking. Stir frying is a speedy process. No time to stop and chop!
- Secondly, cut ginger up in matchsticks, slice your red chilli, and mince your garlic. Their taste comes through beautifully when they are not all grated in a mush.
- Thirdly, make sure you have all ingredients listed to create that savoury beef stir fry sauce. Leaving out one small ingredient will make the taste less complex and definitely not as satisfying.
- Lastly, turn your heat up to high, which allows your vegetables to cook beautifully while staying crunchy instead of stewing! The keyword is fry here and it’s not possible without high heat!
- Also don’t forget to add a teaspoon of sesame oil at the very end instead of the beginning. It’s meant to be used as a flavour enhancer rather than a cooking oil.
- Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves and sliced green onions before serving for extra oomph!
What to serve with it
This beef stir fry could be enjoy with rice or noodles. My kids also crunched on some prawn crackers.
For more Asian inspired recipes, check out:
- Sticky Asian Chicken Recipe
- Asian Pulled Pork Buns
- Asian Salmon with Carrot and Cucumber Slaw
- Oven Baked Honey Soy Chicken
This recipe was originally published in 03/2017. Updated and republished in 04/2021
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 "/2.5 cm long piece of fresh ginger or 1 tbsp ginger paste peeled and cut into matchsticks
- 3 large or 5 medium garlic cloves minced
- 1 red chilli sliced, seeds removed
- 1 ½ lbs/700 g beef steak sliced
- 4 tbsp oyster sauce
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 8-10 mushrooms sliced thickly
- 2 cups/150g snow peas/mangetout
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp fresh cilantro leaves
- 2-3 green onions sliced diagonally
- salt to taste
Instructions
- In a large frying pan or a wok heat the oil and add ginger, chilli and garlic, cook over medium heat for 1 minute until golden and fragrant.
- Add beef and cook for 5-7 minutes over high heat until the beef is sealed, add oyster sauce and soy sauce, stir to coat.
- Add mushroom and snow peas and stir fry for 2-3 minutes over high heat, you might need to add a splash of water if your pan is getting too dry but bare in mind that mushrooms will also release liquid, add sesame oil and take off the heat. The snow peas should be bright green and still crunchy but cooked.
- Garnish with sliced green onions and cilantro leaves before serving with rice or noodles.
