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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.
Another lovely recipe, Bee. Thank you.
I go to your site always to find my recipes. Today I am going to make the Beef & Broc. I love your recipes they are so easy to follow and are just awesome. Since retiring I get to do my favorite thing COOK. You make me look like a great cook Thanks
Hi Etta, you are so nice. Yes my recipes are good and delicious, many people said so, and they are super easy. You’re a great cook! :)
I dont eat oyster. Any substitute for oyster sauce? Thanks.
Can you have fish sauce? If not, just soy sauce but it won’t taste as great.
Is there any non-alcoholic substitute to rice wine?
No, you can skip.
Non-alcoholic beer.
Watered down Saki tastes like beer. I have used beer in marinated beef broccoli and it is fine.
Yeah, it should work since the quantity used is so little. :)
We loved this recipe. I referred to your cashew chicken recipe to velvet the meat which to me, was a big difference from how my meats end up usually. I will always do it this way from now on. I didn’t add the sugar because we don’t care for the sweetness. It seems like every place I go now adds sugar to the meals, the ragoons, etc. We prefer it all without. I do have a question. Where I come from, Iowa, my favorite restaurant (closed now) made a dish called Prawns, Beef, Broccoli. It was wonderful and what I always ordered. The sauce was lighter in color and had a better taste, in my opinion, than just Beef and Broccoli. I’m wondering if you have had this or know of a place to get a good recipe? I did a basic search and didn’t find one. Tonight I am trying your Cashew Chicken recipe. I do believe I will be on your site quite a bit. Thank you. Oh and can you recommend an online store to purchase ingredients? We live an hour from any place that may have them and this would help a ton. Thanks again.
Hi Jackie, thanks for your email. I am really happy that you like my recipes. I am sorry but I have no idea about the dish you mentioned. For ingredients please check out http://asiansupermarket365.com
This is an amazing recipe you given recipe , I tried it in my hotel last week and It was Truly mind blowing, all my customers were satisfied at most and really thanks for giving us such a recipe :)
I tried this recipe tonight and we all liked it. Wish my broccoli had been in better shape and could have used more of it. I will be making this again some day. I am trying to remember what recipe we try and like now, so I can use them again the next time I want the same dish. :)
Instead of blanching the broccoli, I often put the cut up broccoli in a microwaveable bowl with some water. Cover with lid and microwave for a couple of minutes. This is like steaming the broccoli and it will not be overcooked and the color is still very green. Many Chinese also add a little egg white to the marinade and it yields a velvety mouth feel.
Excellent recipe, and high-quality beef made it perfect. Thanks!
Made this the other night & it was dee-lish!!! Thanks for sharing.