Beef Stir Fry Recipe
Published March 22, 2024. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This quick-to-prepare tasty Beef Stir-Fry Recipe is loaded with thin slices of beef and fresh vegetables in a delicious homemade sauce. We love this recipe and make it weekly because it’s easy to make.
We love quick, Asian-Inspired weeknight meals that are jam-packed with flavor. If you do, too, then check out my General Tso’s Chicken or Chicken Fried Rice.
Beef Stir Fry
Beef stir fry is a simple Asian-inspired dish of thin slices of beef quickly fried in a wok using the “stir-fry” method with vegetables and then finished with a savory and salty sauce. The result is crispy, tender food. This recipe has many variations, and you can customize it to your liking by substituting different vegetables and proteins.
How to Stir Fry
This is an ancient technique in which a large pan called a wok, made of carbon steel or cast iron, is placed over a boiling open flame burner. Oil is used, and then your ingredients are added.
- To stir fry, ensure your oil is rolling smoke over high heat before adding any ingredients.
- Once the ingredients are added, hold the wok handle with one hand while holding a spoon or ladle in the other hand. The spoon or ladle is placed directly into the center of the wok, touching the bottom of the work.
- Using your hand holding the handle, move the wok backward and forwards vigorously while using your spoon hand to mix your ingredients around the work, ensuring they do not stick to the pan.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Steak — I used flank steak in this stir fry, but you could also use filet mignon, strip steak, sirloin, or ribeye.
- Onion – You can use a red, white, yellow, or sweet onion. In addition, you’ll need some fresh whole garlic cloves.
- Ginger—The beef marinade uses freshly grated ginger. You can substitute 1/2 teaspoon of ground dry ginger.
- Soy — Any good shoyu or tamari soy sauce will work. If you are soy-free, you can substitute coconut aminos.
- Egg – Chilled or room temperature large eggs with work.
- Corn Starch – This is mixed with water and used as a Slurry to thicken the stir fry sauce.
- Oil – Any high-smoke point neutral flavored oil like avocado is good.
- Vegetables – I used a combination of bell peppers, carrots, and broccoli. Other vegetables you could use are zucchini, squash (yellow, butternut, or spaghetti), bok choy, cabbage, snow peas, sugar snaps, green beans, bamboo shoots, sprouts, or baby corn.
- Mushrooms – I use either shiitake or oyster mushrooms. However, any mushroom is good to use in this dish.
- Oyster Sauce — This will add some exceptional flavors. While oysters are an ingredient, they are masked behind everything else, so don’t worry. You can use a vegan oyster sauce as a substitute.
- Sugar – You can use granulated or brown sugar.
- Sherry—The sauce uses regular dry sherry. You can also use Shaoxing wine or dry vermouth. For an alcohol-free substitute, try mixing equal parts apple cider vinegar with water.
How to Make Beef Stir Fry
- Slice your beef very thin and place it in a bowl
- Mix the beef with the marinating ingredients.
- Prepare all vegetables and set aside.
- Add oil to a hot wok over high heat until it begins to roll smoke.
- Add in the beef and immediately push it outside of the pan so that each piece cooks.
- Stir fry for 2 to 3 minutes
- Set the meat aside.
- Add more oil to the pan and wait till it rolls smoke.
- Add in vegetables and stir fry for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Pour in sauce ingredients and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add in the cooked meat and mix until combined.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: This is meant to be eaten when it’s done cooking.
How to Store: Cover it and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. It does not freeze well as it will turn your vegetables to mush.
How to Reheat: Add the desired amount of stir-fry to a hot wok with a little oil and stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until hot.
chef notes + tips
- In place of the beef, you can use chicken, shrimp, tofu, or pork.
- Try serving this with White Rice or Stir-Fried Noodles.
More Beef Recipes
Video
Beef Stir Fry Recipe
Ingredients
For the Beef:
- 1 pound thinly sliced flank steak
- 3 finely minced cloves of garlic
- 1 teaspoon peeled finely grated fresh ginger
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons corn starch
- coarse salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
For the Vegetables and Sauce:
- 2 seeded and thickly sliced red bell peppers
- 1 cup julienned shiitake mushrooms
- ½ peeled thinly sliced yellow onion
- 4 green onions cut into 2” long pieces
- 2 heads of trimmed broccoli
- ½ cup matchstick carrots
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons dry sherry wine
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 4 cups cooked jasmine rice
Instructions
- Add the sliced beef, salt and pepper, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, egg, and corn starch to a bowl and mix until completely combined.
- Next, add 3 tablespoons of cooking oil to a large wok over high heat.
- Once it begins to roll smoke add in the beef and immediately move it up the sides of the pan so that it doesn’t clump, and all of the pieces can get cooked.
- Stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes and set aside.
- Add 3 tablespoons of cooking oil to the wok and return it to the burner over high heat until it rolls smoke again.
- Add in the bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, and green onions and stir fry for 1 to 2 minutes or until a light sear has been created.
- Pour the oyster sauce, sherry, sugar and soy sauce to the wok with stir-fried vegetables and cook for 1 to 2 minutes stirring constantly.
- Add the broccoli and carrots to a separate large pot of boiling water and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Strain and add it to the wok with the other ingredients.
- Serve the beef stir fry with jasmine rice and add optional garnishes of sliced green onions and sesame seeds.
Second time making this recipe, so delicious and very easy as long as all your veggies are prepped, Thanks Chef for sharing this, love it!!!
My pleasure!
Excellent recipe! It was tasty and the portions are perfect!
Amazing!
I made this last night for dinner and oh my goodness, it tasted like I got it from a restaurant!!! Plus, I got to clean out all the bits of veggies from the fridge!! I will definitely be putting this in my rotation of meals. Thanks for another great recipe!!
My pleasure. Thanks for giving this one a shot!
Cannot wait to make this your recipes are so good. I enjoy them all. Love watch you on TV too.
I added crushed red pepper for more spice but very easy and tasty. Family loved it. Will make again
Excellent!
I made the beef stir fry and the orange chicken on Wednesday. They both were delicious!
Amazing!
Quick question, Chef: can the meat marinate for a few hours or should it be done just before cooking? Although it’s common to marinate meat for up to 24 hours, the addition of cornstarch and egg makes me think that is not the case here.
You could try it, may get a little too thick.
Great recipe whole Family loved it Thank you Chef
my pleasure!
😁😋thank you for your recipe ChdfBilly tasty 🤤
Another home run! Didn’t have the broccoli at home but did have some water chestnuts, cabbage and zucchini. Amazing. Can’t wait to have friends over and put this together for them.
This is a wonderful recipe that works for any meal, lunch, dinner, guests, leftovers, etc. I added a tablespoon of sesame oil to the vegetable mix and it added one more star.
I love your roast beef recipe. I made it Easter Sunday. It was The best roast beef I have ever made. I have made your cheesecake too. It was out of this world. Everybody loved it my Easter dinner was such a success.
I made this stir fry for me and my husband and used shrimp. Great and easy recipe. I love all your recipes and tips you have to offer . really enjoy reading them each day.
Ooh, you’re gonna love this one. Better than Chinese take out.
Great flavor. Very tender meat. Love the variations. I actually tripled the recipe for potluck. Everyone loved it.
Thank you
This one is a keeper. I used chicken breast, the veg that Billy recommended and added snow peas, bamboo shoots and bean sprouts. Forget takeout, this was off the grid delish. I used sherry vinegar as that’s all my food store had; was still great.
Was
This was excellent. I made it with just beef and broccoli and it was just like the restaurant we love! My husband loved it too.
We had this the other night and it was great.
My first stir fry in a new wok! Actually, my first time using a wok. Great instructions. (I did overcook the veggies a little.)
The video helped. Another great recipe! Thank you chef.
thank you!
My son said this is the best meal I ever made. He is 23 so has had a lot of meals I cooked! Thanks Chef!
love it!
Great recipe. Better than the restaurant and so easy..
many thanks!
This is so delicious and so easy to make! My husband loved it and I will make this often, using your techniques and suggestions to change up the ingredients and flavors. Thank you!
Made this dish at least 3 times in the last two weeks!! It’s delish!! We will definitely be eating this again. ❤️
thank you so kindly!!
Another keeper! I made with chicken tenderloins and zucchini in place of flank steak and broccoli because that’s what I had on hand. Everything else, I followed exactly. Chef you’re making me a better cook by each recipe made! Thank you!
awesome!
Oh My Goodness!!
I made this last night!!
It was SO good!! Though I did use only half the oyster sauce.
I’m so glad you posted this recipe! I love anything stir fried especially with Jasmine rice! Definitely a keeper!! And I have leftovers! 😊
Excellent!
This was delish, even with my errors the taste is amazing!! Will make again and even better next time! The leftovers tasted even better! Definitely a keeper recipe!! Thanks Chef Billy!
I made this stir fry recipe for my family, we all love stir frys and make them often. This recipe was amazing. Thank you Chef
My pleasure
I’ve been making decent stir fry dishes for a long time but this recipe took it to another level. My husband said it was my best ever and it was! I used frozen green beans instead of broccoli and had to swap the Shaoxing wine for rice wine vinegar. Thank you Chef Billy:)
My pleasure!
Made this stir fry last night with addition of asparagus best stir fry I’ve made, increased servings to 8 which is a very handy feature on your recipes
thanks
delicious!
Made this last night. DELICIOUS. I had no idea my daughter had a beef stir fry at school lunch only days before. She said it was terrible so she’d rather eat something else than stir fry again. Once this dish started cooking she slowly came back to the kitchen. i caught her nibbling out of the pot on 3 occasions once the meal was complete! I’m guessing she liked it a little bit more than her school stir fry!
thanks for giving it a shot!!
Loved this recipe and to me it was very easy. I did use low sodium soy sauce. I will try next time with shrimp or chicken but the beef was fantastic! I did use a wok and I think before watching you, I was not getting the wok hot enough. Thanks for pointing that out.
Perfect!
Delicious
so good!!
Amazing 😊
Thanks for giving it a shot!!
Easy and great. Will be a repeat with shrimp or chicken.
Yes! thanks for giving it a shot!!
Made this beef stir fry for dinner tonight. My husband took the lid off the top and said “Ohhh Boy!!” Our son is a. Trained chef and he eats everything slowly and carefully, said “this is really good!” Chef Parisi, you are elevating our everyday meals! What I loved about this recipe is that it comes together fast and I had all the ingredients already in the cupboard for it! Excellent flavor!
Love it!
Love this Beef Stir Fry recipe. We had this for Dinner tonight…
This has become a weekly staple in our home. Easy and so delish!!!
Easy and delicious I’ve made twice
I use this as a base for my own broccoli beef, and omitted the added sugar, increasing the very dry sherry. It’s delicious, and anyone making any variation is going to be extremely pleased with the results!
I’m anxious to try this but with chicken. Would l add the egg to marinate when using chicken instead!
Correct
I am waiting for the rice to finish up. Made with left over pork tenderloin and added a great flavor. Used frozen broccoli instead of fresh, since it boils it turned out soft. I should have doubled the liquid to put overtop the rice. Delish Billy, you’ve done it again!
Delicious! A new keeper. Our kids—who can be fussy about veggies—couldn’t get enough. Substituted and added lots of veggies (included sprouts, tofu, baby corn, asparagus) and didn’t have any cooking wine so left that out. Will definitely be making this again!
This was so good. Even though I grabbed cube steaks instead of the flank steak it was still super yummy. Another keeper.
I see that the oyster sauce can be omitted for vegetarian, but is there anything that can be substituted if it is omitted due to allergies? Thanks!
Unfortunately no.
I always want to make stir fry but needed these tips. Delicious.
I love all the veggies in this Beef Stir Fry recipe. I always opt for the veggie options over just plain meat. And the sauce on this really makes it all taste so perfect! Sweet, salty, savory — yum!
My husband would love to see this beef stir fry on the table. I love that it doesn’t take forever to make.
There are so many good tips in this post, thank you! I feel more confident about the steps for a good stir fry, a dish I LOVE, but often have a hard time replicating the flavors of at home. Now I’m hungry for a shrimp zucchini stir fry using your technique!