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Broccoli Beef - Best homemade recipe featuring tender beef in a brown sauce. You'll never need to order it for takeout ever again, and it's healthier.
Broccoli Beef
Beef and broccoli is the most popular Chinese beef stir-fry dish in the United Status. It’s the poster child of American Chinese food so much as that the most popular item in Panda Express is this dish!
The rich brown sauce with tender beef and healthy broccoli has captured the hearts and palate of many people. This recipe is from my Easy Chinese Recipes cookbook, the best selling and top rated Chinese cookery book.
Unlike spicy Szechuan beef, beef and broccoli tastes mild with its savory sauce. It’s not spicy, hence, it’s a popular choice for everyone.
Another of my favorite beef stir fry recipe is ginger and scallion beef.
If you don’t have beef, make my classic Garlic Broccoli or Shrimp and Broccoli recipes instead!
Ingredients For The Brown Sauce
There are two types of sauces in Chinese stir-fry: white sauce and brown sauce. Here are the ingredients for delicious and authentic brown sauce.
- Soy Sauce
- Oyster Sauce
- Sesame Oil
- Corn starch
- Sugar
- Water
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
Tips For The Best And Tender Broccoli Beef
Here are the techniques and tips used by Chinese and Cantonese chefs in the best restaurants, and I am sharing with you the secrets:
- Cut the beef against the grain. This will ensure that the beef is tender and not rubbery.
- Velvet the beef to make sure you have silky, smooth and tender beef. Velveting is a secret techniques used by Chinese chefs to seal in the moisture of protein while stir-frying. The key ingredients for velveting is corn starch.
- Blanch the broccoli in hot boiling water first before stir-frying.
- During the stir-frying process, quickly toss the broccoli with the beef. Do not overcook the broccoli.
- The brown sauce should be light and not starchy or sticky. It should just barely coat the beef.
For perfect wok stir fries, please check out my Chinese stir-frying techniques.
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe is only 397 calories per serving.
What To Serve With Beef And Broccoli
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Other Recipes You Might Like
Beef and Broccoli
Ingredients
- 8 oz (230g) beef tenderloin, flank steak or flap meat, cut into pieces
- 6 oz (170g) broccoli florets
- water, for boiling
- 2 1/2 tablespoons oil
- 2- inches (5cm) ginger, peeled and sliced
Marinade:
- 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon rice wine , or sherry
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil, optional
- 3 dashes white pepper
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 4 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Marinate the beef with all the Marinade ingredients for about 15 minutes.
- Bring the water to a boil and add a few drops of oil. Blanch the broccoli florets in the hot water for about 10 seconds. Remove the broccoli immediately with a strainer or slotted spoon, draining the excess water. Set aside.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok or skillet over high heat. Stir-fry the beef until it is 70% cooked. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Heat the remaining oil in a wok or skillet over high heat. Add the ginger and stir-fry until fragrant. Transfer the beef to the wok or skillet and stir-fry until cooked through and the center of the meat is no longer pink, about 1-2 minutes. Add the broccoli and then the sauce, stirring to combine the ingredients well.
- As soon as the sauce thickens, remove from the heat and serve immediately.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
The marinade was thick and pasty. Does that seem right? Regardless, the dish was delicious and my family loved it! I’ve just discovered your website (via Pinterest) and I’m going to search for more!
For the marinade, you add them to the beef, and the marinate. Thanks and welcome to Rasa Malaysia. :)
I have a question. Why don’t you use oil or water velveting with the meat? I am merely curious if that would help. Thank you. Love your recipes!
Hi Kortez, water and oil won’t do the job.
i’ve messed up beef & broccoli many times, whether it was too salty or beef was too tough. this recipe was PERFECTION. one of my favorite dishes is beef & broccoli even though i’m Asian. anyhow, i marinated the beef in baking soda for 30mins, then rinsed it out. i mistakenly marinated the beef with the sauce, rather than the marinade and let it sit for 15mins. when it was time to cook it, i added the marinade in and let it sit for another 10mins – then finally cooked it as instructed. i added another heaping of the sauce and it still turned out perfectly flavored. THANK YOU!
Hi! This looks awesome and I definitely have to try it but I was hoping to make chicken and broccoli tonight for dinner, can I follow this recipe for that?
When I make Beef & Broccoli – to make beef more tender, can I add baking soda to the marinate – or use baking soda first for 15 min, then rinse, then marinate?
Yes, you can marinate and then rise and then marinate, please refer to my cashew chicken recipe.
When I marinate the beef in Beef & Broccoli – can I add baking soda to increase tenderness or use the baking soda first and then rinse it off after 15 mins and then do the marinate
Alternative to oyster sauce
Ive seen a vegetarian mushroom version at asian grocery stores. Comparable brands so i think the taste is decent substitute for oyster sauce. Ive ate at chinese gourmet vegetarian restaurants in Singapore and didnt miss the flavor. Of course they probably concocted their own sauce but it was an eyeopener that chinese vegetarian could be that good and polished.
Bee.. to get the beef tender for a fork to cut the meat like – marinating the sliced beef in egg white was suggested – have you ever tried this procedure. Thanks
What kind of soy sauce works best for this recipe? Light or dark soy sauce?
Light soy sauce.
I’ve tried this recipe and even without the rice wine or sherry it still tastes good and my husband loved it. As a working wife, this and your other easy to prepare dishes were a big help. Glad I found this site.
Thanks Josette. :)