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Beef and Broccoli recipe: tender flank steak marinated and seared at a high temp, mixed with broccoli in a thick soy-based gravy, like your favorite takeout, but better!
This beef and broccoli recipe uses simple pantry ingredients and is super easy to throw together.
HERE IS WHAT OUR READERS ARE SAYING:
“Made this last night and the whole family loved it! My husband kept asking if I really made the sauce from scratch 😀” – Michelle
Beef and Broccoli… this recipe is truly better than any takeout restaurant I have had!
I’ve put a lot of thought into this over the years and I think I have finally come to the conclusion that Chinese cooking is my favorite. Asian food. All of it. A lot of people would agree with me!
I’ve had versions of this dish that weren’t the best. I had to go to more expensive local restaurants to get the good stuff. Not anymore!
With this recipe, you can experience the best Asian restaurant Beef and Broccoli homemade! (But, this is even better!)
And, believe me, this beef and broccoli recipe is one of those awesome, simple recipes! Adapted from Rainy Day Gal.
Some of our other favorite ASIAN INSPIRED RECIPES we have on our site include: Asian Glazed Air Fryer Salmon Recipe, Slow Cooker Asian Pork Meatballs with Pineapple, and Crunchy Asian Ramen Noodle Salad Recipe.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
- Tender Meat from the Marinade: Adding baking soda, cornstarch, and soy sauce to the steak helps break down the muscle fibers, ensuring you get soft, tender beef in every bite. It’s the same trick you might see in a restaurant version of broccoli beef.
- Fast Cooking Times: Because the meat is cut into thin strips and the broccoli florets are fairly small, the entire dish cooks quickly. This means dinner hits the table faster, which is always a bonus when your taste buds are calling!
- Delicious Sauce: The low sodium soy sauce, brown sugar, and fresh ginger come together to create a sweet and savory sauce. It’s the kind of sauce that begs to be drizzled over a warm bowl of rice.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED (SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST FOR THE FULL RECIPE CARD):
- Flank steak
- Baking soda
- Granulated sugar
- Cornstarch
- Soy sauce
- Water
- Vegetable oil
- Broccoli (cut into bite-sized florets)
- Beef stock
- Brown sugar
- Garlic (minced)
- Fresh ginger (minced)
- White vinegar
- Flour
HOW TO MAKE BEEF AND BROCCOLI RECIPE:
- First, marinate the meat for at least one hour.
- Once you are ready to cook this after the meat has marinated, it is a very fast process. Make sure you read all the directions first, have everything and won’t be interrupted. It is cooked over extremely high heat so you can’t walk away from it.
- Sear broccoli over high heat set aside.
- Add beef to the skillet, and sear until you form a crust on all sides. About 8-10 minutes.
- Add broccoli back to the pan and the gravy, toss to coat and cook an additional minute. Serve and enjoy!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS RECIPE:
WHAT IS BEEF AND BROCCOLI?
Beef and Broccoli is a staple Americanized Chinese dish. You can find this at any Chinese food restaurant.
With seared beef and fresh broccoli at a high temperature, this dish goes together very quickly, making it an ideal weeknight meal.
WHAT’S IN THE SAUCE?
The beef stir fry is tossed in a thick soy gravy made with soy sauce, beef stock, garlic, and ginger.
This dish is extremely flavorful, and irresistible.
Yum, really try and get a good sear like the picture above. It makes all the difference, so good!
I have made this multiple times already after finding the original recipe on pinterest, it is sooo good!!
WHAT BEEF SHOULD I USE?
I love using flank steak for my broccoli stir fry recipe because it cooks up so fast in a hot wok—usually about 3-4 minutes—and doesn’t overcook, giving you restaurant-style beef that stays nice and tender.
Just remember to slice your steak against the parallel lines of the cut of meat to get that perfect thinly sliced steak.
If you can’t find flank steak, a London broil or flat iron steak works really well too. I’ve tried it myself, and it turned out just as yummy.
The only thing to watch for is that you don’t overcrowd the pan, so each piece can soak up the flavorful sauce.
For a great recipe the first time you try making stir fry at home, this is it! And if you end up with leftover beef, you can toss it into an instant pot beef dish later or serve it over jasmine rice.
Either way, you’ll have a tasty dinner in no time.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH BEEF AND BROCCOLI?
I love to serve this asian beef and broccoli with just plain steamed white rice.
But you can also serve over some noodles or whatever you prefer.
HOW TO MAKE WHITE RICE?
I love to add 2 tablespoons of butter, 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, and a few cracks of fresh black pepper to mine. Stir to combine.
In a small saucepot over medium-high heat, add 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil.
Add one cup of long-grain white rice, stir a couple of times around the pot. Cover, reduce heat to low.
DO NOT remove the lid, cook on low for 20 minutes. Take off the heat, let sit 5 minutes.
Fluff with a fork to serve.
HOW TO STORE:
This can be refrigerated in an airtight container for about 2 days and frozen in freezer bags, completely cooled, for up to 2 months.
Tools used to make this recipe:
DANA’S TIPS AND TRICKS:
- If you can’t find flank steak a good substitute is skirt steak or London broil (top sirloin).
- Make sure your cooking skillet is very hot for this recipe.
- Make sure you slice against the grain on the beef, this ensures the tenderness of the beef.
- This recipe can also be made with chicken.
- You can freeze this recipe, read above for my tips on that.
Want a fun and easy dinnertime recipe?
This Beef and Broccoli is exactly what you need!
It’s the best part of any night!
If you like this recipe, you might also like:
If you’ve tried this BEEF AND BROCCOLI RECIPE let me know in the comments how it turned out! You can follow me over on PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM OR FACEBOOK to find some more of our mouthwatering recipes!
Best Beef and Broccoli Recipe
Ingredients
Steak Marinade
- 1 & 1/2 pound flank steak
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 Tablespoon water
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
Beef and Broccoli
- 1/3 Cup low sodium soy sauce definitely use low sodium here!
- 3 Tablespoon beef stock
- 2 Tablespoon brown sugar packed
- 4 garlic cloves minced fine
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger root minced fine
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
- 2 Tablespoon flour
- 3 Tablespoon oil divided
- 2 broccoli crowns cut into bite sized pieces
Instructions
Steak Marinade
- Trim excess fat off the flank steak, and it cut into 1 1/2 to 2-inch slices against the grain.1 & 1/2 pound flank steak
- Mix the baking soda, sugar, cornstarch, soy sauce, water, and oil in a bowl and whisk together.1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch, 1 Tablespoon soy sauce, 1 Tablespoon water, 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- Add the cut steak to a gallon sized zip lock bag and pour in the marinade. Massage the marinade into the meat so all of it is covered.
- Place in fridge and let marinate for 1 hour.
Beef and Broccoli
- First, mix the “gravy” by placing the soy, stock, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, vinegar and flour into a small bowl, whisk to combine until there are no lumps of flour. Set aside.1/3 Cup low sodium soy sauce, 3 Tablespoon beef stock, 2 Tablespoon brown sugar, 4 garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon fresh ginger root, 1 & 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar, 2 Tablespoon flour
- In a large, heavy bottom skillet, heat over high temp until very hot. Place 2 Tablespoons of the oil into skillet.3 Tablespoon oil
- Place broccoli into the oil, very carefully (make sure broccoli is COMPLETELY dry or you will get hot oil splattered all over). Saute broccoli for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Place broccoli on a plate and set aside.2 broccoli crowns
- Keeping the heat over high heat, add in the remaining vegetable oil. VERY CAREFULLY add in the marinated steak and half of the sauce. Make sure beef covers the bottom of the pan and let sit for 1 minute to form a good sear. Stir and flatten to cover the bottom of the pan again, sear for another minute. Keep doing this until beef is nicely seared and cooked through, there is no pink left. the can take 8-10 minutes.
- Add in the broccoli and the remaining sauce. Toss to coat and let cook one additional minute. Serve with your favorite sides, enjoy!
Notes
- If you can’t find flank steak a good substitute is skirt steak or London broil (top sirloin).
- Make sure your cooking skillet is very hot for this recipe.
- Make sure you slice against the grain on the beef, this ensures the tenderness of the beef.
- This recipe can also be made with chicken.
- You can freeze this recipe, read above for my tips on that.
Nutrition
Love This Recipe?
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This is the best homemade beef & broccoli recipe I have ever tried! I was wondering of you had the nutrition facts for it? Thanks!
Made this tonight, didn’t ave low sodium soy sauce so I just added some extra beef broth and a little bit of water and it came out amazing!!
Made this tonight and we LOVED it!!! Thank you for sharing!!!
Normally stew meat is very tough and needs to be cooked for a long time, I don’t recommend it personally. Thanks for asking!
Can you use stew meat for this recipe?
Definitely need to use low sodium soy sauce. Even with that, I found the recipe too salty. Next time, I think I would decrease the soy. Otherwise it was tasty.
I’m farrr from an expert on gluten sensitivity. SO, to be safe definitely leave the flour out. Can you use cornstarch instead? If so, go for that and it will have the same effect. Otherwise, the sauce will be very soupy and not like a gravy. If that doesn’t bother you, then go for it!
This looks yummy and I very much want to try it, however, I am allergic to Gluten. I have GF soy sauce already on hand, but is there something I can sub for the flour or is it ok to just leave it out?
That’s amazing! Thanks so much for letting me know!
Oh my..this is the best…our family just loves it…I have made it at least 10 times and guess what?..we are having it again…thank you so much for sharing this awesome recipe!
Wow! Made this tonight for dinner, it was amazing. I usually buy regular soy sauce, but so glad this recipe called for low sodium. It was perfect, the sauce thickened beautifully and this dish tasted so great over rice. Looked pretty too! This recipe is a keeper!
YAY! So glad you love this recipe, thanks for letting us know!
I’ve made this twice now! It’s SO good! Made it with steak the 1st time and altered it tonight with chicken breast and chicken broth (in place of beef stock). Both ways are fantastic! Love Chinese food and I love being able to make it at home and know how many calories we are ingesting. I could seriously lick the pan with that sauce. So so good!
This is totally my kind of dinner! Thanks for linking up with What’s Cookin’ Wednesday!
Asian food is the bomb-diggity! even if it’s been Americanized. Thanks for sharing on Weekend bites, I can’t wait to give it a try