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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!
Beef And Broccoli Ingredients
- Beef tenderloin
- Broccoli florets
- Water
- Oil
- Ginger
- Soy sauce
- Rice wine
- Sesame oil
- White pepper
- Cornstarch
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
- Cornstarch
- Sugar
- Water
Please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full details on each ingredient.
How To Make Beef And Broccoli
Step 1. Marinate the beef with all the marinade ingredients for about 15 minutes.
Step 2. 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.
Step 3. Prepare the sauce in a small bowl. Stir to mix well. Set aside.
Step 4. 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.
Step 5. 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.
Step 6. As soon as the sauce thickens, remove from the heat and serve immediately.
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.
- Prepare the sauce in a small bowl. Stir to mix well. 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.
Great recipe :)
the whole family loved it and are looking forward to it again…
Awesome please try more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
Hi Bee,do u have videos for your recipes? i would love to see a video of one of your beef stir fry recipes because mine fails each time, no matter what i do the beef is so chewy and not tender at all. :( no idea what im doing wrong but if i could see a video of your technique maybe it can help. i have given up on trying your beef recipes but getting a little sick of chicken haha.
Hi Nadine, I don’t have it but I hope to create one for you soon. I think you might have cut your beef the wrong way. Please cut and slice against the grain to have soft and tender beef. :)
Bee, the sauce is so tasty. I have tried so many recipes and they don’t taste good at all. Your Beef and Broccoli is the best so why eat out and be served with alot of salt, grease and MSG?? If I can make this, anyone can !! Thanks so much Bee
Hi Jada, all recipes on Google page 1 are horrible, just a look at the recipes I know they won’t taste good at all. Please try more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
I am a little Chef, I add 1 tsp chopped garpic and for the sauce instead of 4 TBSP of water use 4 TBSP of beef broth you can use water but the beef broth gives a way better flavor..
Sounds good thanks Chef Chris.
Hi again Bee,
Thanks for responding. Correction, I was saying(in general)l that I tried OTHER recipes from other popular websites, I never tried the Google recipes you mentioned. In any case, Love your Beef and Broccoli and plan to cook that very often. I will try your other recipes. Thanks Bee.
I see. No worries, totally understand. :)
Healthy and easy to make. Best recipe
Awesome, thanks for trying my beef and broccoli.
I made this tonight and it was very good. I did velvet the beef first in a mixture of cornstarch, baking soda, shoyu and white wine for one hour. I added asparagus and mushrooms with the broccoli so I doubled the sauce ingredients. It was delicious, just had to add a bit more cornstarch as sauce was a little runny. Would make this again so will add to my saved recipes. Arigato for sharing. )
Hi Luchan, thanks for trying my beef and broccoli recipe. Please try more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
Make Beef & broccliy every 2 weeks your recipe is the same as mine. Only thing I add red peppers and use brown suger every one who is over for dinner loves this dish.
Hi Roland, awesome, beef and broccoli is delicious with red peppers. Do try out more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
This was a great recipe! After many trial and error beef broccoli recipes; I finally found a keeper! My very picky husband also enjoyed this!
Thanks!
I have never seen Beef & Broccoli on a menu in Australia but decided to give it a try as it actually meets all of my family’s fussy eaters requirements (and I love your recipes). Well everyone loved it. The only request from fussiest is that I make more next time.
Awesome, so happy to hear Toni! :)
Hi, tried this for dinner last night. It got the thumbs up from everyone. Thanks a mil :p
Awesome Joy. So happy that you tried my beef and broccoli recipe.
Terrific recipe, it became an instant favourite for me and my family. With the marinade, I simply added half a teaspoon of carb soda and allowed it to sit for 2hrs. Thank you for the post, Darryl ?