This stir fry beef recipe makes a quick, easy and delicious weeknight dinner. It includes a flavorful stir-fry sauce made with pantry staples. It’s tasty and always a crowd-pleaser!
Looking for a delicious stir fry beef recipe that can be made with little prep time? This recipe is it! Check out the post for tips and tricks to make tender, flavorful stir-fry beef any night of the week.
Using this easy recipe, you can have tender beef, crispy veggies and a homemade stir-fry sauce for dinner. The entire meal comes together in just over 30 minutes! Plus, everything cooks together in one pan. This meal has lots of protein and plenty of fresh vegetables to keep you satisfied.
Also, the homemade beef stir fry sauce tastes great with other meat and vegetable combinations, too. Chicken, pork, and shrimp are all delicious choices.
If you love this recipe, be sure to also try my recipes for beef teriyaki, sticky chicken and pineapple pork stir-fry
Jump to:
- Why You’ll Love This Stir Fry Beef Recipe
- Ingredients for Beef Stir-Fry
- Ingredients for Stir Fry Sauce
- What Is the Best Beef for Stir Fry?
- How to Prepare Beef for Stir-Fry
- How to Prepare Vegetables for this Stir Fry Beef Recipe
- How to Make this Stir Fry Beef Recipe
- Make-Ahead Instructions for this Stir Fry Beef Recipe
- FAQs
- Expert Tips and Tricks
- Stir Fry Beef Recipe (with Shredded Vegetables)
Why You’ll Love This Stir Fry Beef Recipe
- Quick and easy dinner
- Flavorful stir-fry sauce
- Tender beef
- Full of vegetables
- Great for busy weeknights
Ingredients for Beef Stir-Fry
Here are some key ingredients for making delicious stir-fry beef:
- Steak: I prefer flank steak or round steak cut of beef, sliced very thin. Sirloin steak or skirt steak could work too!
- Oil: Canola oil, sesame oil, or vegetable oil will work here!
- Ginger: Freshly grated ginger packs in more flavor, but ground ginger will work too.
- White onion: The bite of the white onion nicely compliments the beef and other veggies. You could also substitute red onion.
- Green pepper: I love the combination of bell peppers, onions, and beef over white rice.
- Celery: Celery adds a nice crisp crunch to the stir-fry.
- Shredded carrots: Save time by buying pre-shredded carrots.
Ingredients for Stir Fry Sauce
These ingredients come together to make a amazing stir fry sauce!
- Hot sauce: Skip the hot sauce if you don’t like heat, but I think it adds great flavor.
- White vinegar: Add some acidity with white vinegar or rice vinegar.
- Soy sauce: Use regular soy sauce, reduced sodium soy sauce, or tamari for a gluten-free option.
What Is the Best Beef for Stir Fry?
Flank steak and round steak are the most popular choices for making stir fry.
Flank steak is an affordable and flavorful cut of meat to use in weeknight dinner. It is a lean, quick, and makes for easy beef stir fry. The best way to cut flank steak to ensure it is tender is to cut it against the grain.
How to Prepare Beef for Stir-Fry
- Meat is easier to slice when it’s cold. Placing the meat in the freezer for 10-15 minutes before slicing will help.
- Use a very sharp knife.
- Always cut across the grain. Do you see the horizontal lines in the steak? This simply means cut the other direction of the lines. See the photo above!
- Slice the meat as thinly as you can. This makes a flavorful stir-fry that’s easy to eat!
How to Prepare Vegetables for this Stir Fry Beef Recipe
The best way to prepare the vegetables for this beef stir fry recipe is to slice them into matchsticks, otherwise known as julienne cut. These slices are long and thin, creating plenty of surface for the homemade stir fry sauce.
To achieve these perfect results in your recipe for stir fry beef , follow these steps:
- Use a very sharp knife.
- Cut longer veggies such as carrots and zucchini into two-inch long pieces.
- Stand each piece on its end and slice down from the top, to create slivers about a quarter of an inch thick. Thicker vegetables will need to be cut in both directions while veggies like green peppers just need to be sliced thinly.
For this recipe for beef stir fry, I slice onion, green peppers and celery, but I shred the carrots. However, stir fry is a great way to use any vegetables you have in the refrigerator. Others veggies that are delicious in stir fry include:
- Zucchini
- Bok choy
- Mushrooms
- Brussels sprouts
- Green beans
- Broccoli
- Water chestnuts
- Baby corn
- Green onions
- Snow peas
- Red bell pepper
- Snap peas
- Bean sprouts
How to Make this Stir Fry Beef Recipe
- Make the stir fry sauce. Before you begin cooking, place all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl, medium bowl, or large glass measuring cup. Whisk to combine, then set it aside.
- Saute the beef with ginger and oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet or large wok.
- When it’s ready, the meat should have a brown color all over.
- Add the onion, green pepper and celery. Saute each until they start to soften. Add a little more oil if they stick to the pan.
- Finally, add the shredded carrots and the sauce and sauteed veggies. Cook just long enough to heat everything evenly.
Make-Ahead Instructions for this Stir Fry Beef Recipe
This easy stir fry sauce is best to make from scratch just before you start cooking the meal. This being said, you can make it up to 24 hours ahead.
If the ingredients appear to have separated, just whisk them to recombine. Preparing the sauce right before you make the dish ensures that your meat and vegetables won’t cook too long.
FAQs
Stir-fry beef may be tough if you cut thick strips of meat, or if it is cooked too quickly or too long. For tender beef, cut thin strips and cook over a low temperature.
I recommend using flank steak or round steak for tender, flavorful beef stir-fry. Don’t forget to slice your beef very thin!
Yes, you can use stew meat for stir fry. But I recommend using flank steak or round steak, which can be cut into very thin slices for tender beef.
Expert Tips and Tricks
- This stir fry beef recipe is a great way to use any vegetables you have in the refrigerator. Feel free to substitute in zucchini, broccoli, mushrooms, green beans, etc!
- Buy pre-shredded carrots to save time cooking. You could also use minute rice or frozen rice to save more time on a busy weeknight.
- Serve this with instant pot white rice for an easy meal!
I hope you like this easy dinner recipe as much as we do! If you try this stir fry beef recipe, be sure to leave me a comment/review below. I’d love to hear from you!
Stir Fry Beef Recipe (with Shredded Vegetables)
Video
Ingredients
- 12 ounce flank steak or round steak sliced very thinly
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 tablespoon ginger
- 1/2 white onion diced
- 1/2 green pepper diced
- 1 cup celery cut into thin, 1-inch matchsticks
- 3/4 cup shredded carrots
Sauce:
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1-2 teaspoons hot sauce
- 1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
- 6 tablespoons tablespoon water
Instructions
- Place a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the oil and heat for 30 seconds. Then add the beef and ginger. Cook until browned and cooked through, about 5-6 minutes.
- Add more oil if needed followed by the onion and green pepper. Cook for 4-5 minutes until softened. Add the celery saute for another 2-3 minutes.
- Add the shredded carrots and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the sauce and bring to a simmer. Cook for a few minutes until hot. Serve over rice if desired. Enjoy!
Erin,
Can you recommend a soy sauce without gluten?
Can’t wait to try this!
Thanks!
Shelly
Yes! There are many brands of soy sauce that don’t have gluten. Look for “tamari”. I really like San-J!
I love this asian inspired meal!
So good! Made this last night. Didn’t add salt to the sauce but I did salt the steak before cooking and it was just the right amount for us. Thanks for a great recipe!
This is a favorite in our house, one we reserve for special occasions. So flavorful and satisfying.
Very simple and delicious stir fry! I will try to cook this next week for out family dinner. I hope you can post more recipe like this. Anyway, I will also recommend a site about stir fry recipe, just View Here!