Easy Pepper Steak Recipe
Published October 13, 2023. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This quick-cooking pepper steak recipe is loaded with bell peppers in an umami sauce for a better than take-out meal. You will love how fast this cooks and how tasty it is.
We are huge Chinese food fans and love the big bold flavors it offers. If you are similar, you must try my General Tso’s Chicken or Beef Stir-Fry.
Pepper Steak
Pepper steak is a simple dish consisting of thin slices of steak that is marinated and stir-fried with bell peppers, onions, and a Stock and oyster sauce-based sauce. It’s also common to add a more than-normal ground pepper into the marinade when seasoning it. Once the recipe is prepped in its entirety, it cooks in under 5 minutes.
Pepper steak is a popular Chinese take-out dish from Fujian province in China and has been in the United States since the late 1940s. While it was originally made with pork, it became popular to use beef once it made it to the US. Be sure to watch my video below.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Steak – I used flank steak. Other great cuts of meat are skirt steak, top round, bottom round, sirloin, filet, or ribeye.
- Peppers – Red, yellow, or orange bell peppers are best. You can use green bell peppers, but they lack flavor. Feel free to use a combination of any of these.
- Onions – You can use a red, white, yellow, or sweet onion. You’ll also need green onions and garlic cloves.
- Ginger – Fresh ginger is used in this dish to enhance flavor greatly.
- Soy Sauce – Any good shoyu or tamari soy sauce will work.
- Sugar – Granulated sugar helps to sweeten up the sauce.
- Egg – A large egg that is chilled or at room temperature will work.
- Stock – I think beef stock is best, but you can use chicken stock, vegetable stock, or water.
- Cornstarch – This is used for velveting the beef and thickening the sauce.
- Baking Soda – Adding some baking soda to the marinade helps to tenderize the beef.
- Wine – Any rice wine will work. I prefer to use Shaoxing.
- Oil – You must use a neutral oil with a high smoke point, like avocado oil. You can also use vegetable, canola, or sesame seeds.
- Seasonings – I use coarse salt and ground black pepper.
How to Make Pepper Steak
Thinly slice the flank steak against the grain and on a bias.
Add the steak to a medium-sized bowl and mix it together with the egg, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, oil, pepper, cornstarch, and baking soda. Set it to the side to marinate.
In the meantime, prepare the bell peppers, onions, green onions, garlic, and ginger.
To make the sauce, mix together the beef stock, soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch until combined. Set it to the side.
Add the 3 tablespoons of oil to a large wok over high heat and heat until it begins to smoke lightly.
Place in the marinated steak and immediately push it up the sides to cover more surface area to sear the steak. Cook for 1 minute.
Stir fry the beef by placing a ladle, spoon, or metal spatula to the center of the pan, and using your other hand, rock the pan back and forth to stir, and while frying. Do this for 1 to 2 minutes or until the beef is cooked. Set it to the side on a plate.
Add 1 teaspoon of oil to the same wok over high heat and stir-fry the peppers and onions for 30 to 45 seconds.
Stir in the garlic and ginger for 30 seconds.
Add back in the cooked steak.
Pour in ½ to 2/3 of the sauce and stir fry for 10 to 20 seconds to see if the ingredients are completely coated. If you enjoy more sauce, add the remaining. It is better to add a little at a time until the desired amount of sauce is achieved.
Finish by stirring in the green onions.
Serve hot in a wide shallow bowl. Try serving it with my Stir Fry Noodles.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: This is meant to be eaten as soon as it’s done cooking.
How to Store: cover it and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. You can freeze this covered for up to 3 months. Thaw it in the refrigerator for 1 day or until thawed.
How to Reheat: Add the desired amount of pepper steak back to a hot wok with 1 to 2 tablespoons of oil and stir fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until hot.
Chef Notes + Tips
- You can cook this in a large cast iron or non-stick skillet if you do not have a wok.
- If there is still some oil left over from stir-frying the steak, there is no need to add more when cooking the peppers and onions.
- Dry sherry is also a great substitute for the Shaoxing wine.
More Steak Recipes
Video
Pepper Steak Recipe
Ingredients
For the Steak:
- 1 pound flank steak
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
For the Stir-Fry:
- 1 large seeded julienne red bell pepper
- ¼ peeled thinly sliced yellow onion
- 2 julienne green onions
- 3 finely minced garlic cloves
- 2 teaspoons finely ground fresh ginger
- 3/4 cup beef stock
- 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Thinly slice the flank steak against the grain and on a bias. See how I do this in the video.
- Add the steak to a medium-sized bowl and mix it together with the egg, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, oil, pepper, cornstarch, and baking soda. Set it to the side to marinate.
- In the meantime, prepare the bell peppers, onions, green onions, garlic, and ginger.
- To make the sauce, mix together the beef stock, soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch until combined. Set it to the side.
- Add the 3 tablespoons of oil to a large wok over high heat and heat until it begins to smoke lightly.
- Place in the marinated steak and immediately push it up the sides to cover more surface area to sear the steak. Cook for 1 minute.
- Stir fry the beef by placing a ladle, spoon, or metal spatula in the center of the pan and, using your other hand rock the pan back and forth to stir and while frying. Do this for 1 to 2 minutes or until the beef is cooked. Set it to the side on a plate.
- Add 1 teaspoon of oil to the same wok over high heat and stir fry the peppers and onions for 30 to 45 seconds.
- Stir in the garlic and ginger for 30 seconds.
- Add back in the cooked steak.
- Pour in ½ to 2/3 of the sauce and stir fry for 10 to 20 seconds to see if the ingredients are completely coated. If you enjoy more sauce, add the remaining. It is better to add a little at a time until the desired amount of sauce is achieved.
- Finish by stirring in the green onions.
What could I replace the oyster sauce with? My husband has a fresh and seafood allergy.
You can usually find a vegan version for it. There is no perfect sub though for it.
This is the best pepper steak recipe I’ve eaten, and I’ve tried many. Thanks!
Excellent!
I have made Pepper steak for years…yours is the best so far
Excellent!
We loved it, thank you!!!!
My pleasure!
Hi I’m working on the prep for this and the ginger has me concerned. I’ve never worked with fresh ginger as I’ve relied on the stuff in the glass container. Obviously not an Asian food lover. And it’s seriously ugly: not something people just pick up at the store and say “Oh, let cook with this beauty”.
So…could you offer some tips for using fresh ginger in case this recipe becomes a favorite? Thank you.
Hi, Sue. If you just search ginger in my search bar on this site you’ll get every recipe that I’ve ever used ginger in, and by the looks of it, there are 20 recipes.
Easiest and best pepper steak recipe I have found!
This was top notch amazingly good. Better ingredients and attention to detail takes a good meal to exceptional! The fresh ginger and garlic really come thru. I used a basic white wine in place for the Shaoxing wine and macadamia nut oil in place of avocado oil. Accompanied this with jasmine rice.
Very good recipe! I especially benefited from your video on how to cut the steak for this recipe. It was very tender and tasty! I will leave out the sugar next time. It was a little sweet for us. I highly recommend it.
Delicious and very easy
Thank you Chef Billy yummy recipe 😁🤩👋😋
Delicious
I have always loved Asian food, but was always afraid to try preparing it myself. Chef Parisi made it look easy! Now I make it at home! Thanks for teaching me to cook@
Thank you for trying this!
Just made this, oh my Lord, sooooo good! We used rice noodles and it all went together so well. Will definitely be making this again, so much better than the restaurant.
My pleasure, thank you for trying this!
Was absolutely delicious….on the menu rotation
I had a variety of peppers and threw them in also….
glad you enjoyed, thanks for trying this!
Recipe 😋gorgeous 😁🤩👋
Thanks!
I have always loved Asian food, but was always afraid to try preparing it myself. Chef Parisi made it look easy! Now I make it at home! Thanks for teaching me to cook!
Hi from Terry, from Beerwah Queensland Australia (on Google maps),
I cooked this dish for my wife and I, just the two of us. We like our vegetables so I added some broccoli pieces, some green beans and snow peas to the other elements. Preparation is the key to me and the cooking very quick and easy.
The flavours were great and I scored 11 out of 10. I used some available sweet sherry which did the job. A wonderful recipe which is now added in my favourites. Thank you Billy for sharing.
Billy,
Where would I find the type of wine that you used in this recipe? I never heard of it. If I can’t find it, can I use any white wine?
You can buy sherry wine in any grocery store. It will not say “sweet” on the label but I assure you that’s what it is. It will say “dry” sherry if it is indeed the dry version.