How to Make Restaurant-Style Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
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How to Make Restaurant-Style Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
If you're craving a delicious beef and broccoli dish that reminds you of your favorite Chinese restaurant, then you've come to the right place!
This dish features thinly sliced beef and crisp broccoli, coated in a thick and savory soy-based sauce.
In this recipe, we'll include a secret restaurant hack called velveting, which guarantees ridiculously tender beef.
You’ll dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes.
How to Make Restaurant-Style Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry (Thịt Bò Xào Bông Cải Xanh)
What You Will Need
To recreate this restaurant-style beef and broccoli, you'll need the following ingredients:
For the beef marinade:
Beef — You have a lot of options. You can use New York strip steak, sirloin steak, flank steak, ribeye, or tenderloin.
Since we using a restaurant hack to tenderize the beef, you can also use economical cuts of beef.
This includes leaner and therefore tougher cuts of beef, such as eye round, bottom round, top round, and any roast cuts.
Regular or light soy sauce — Light soy sauce, also known as all-purpose soy sauce, is the main flavoring agent that provides a salty umami flavor to the dish. If you have a bottle of soy sauce that isn’t labeled light nor all-purpose, you have light soy sauce. You can use it for this recipe.
We are lightly marinating the beef with light soy sauce. We will add a lot more to the sauce.
Baking soda — Baking soda is our secret ingredient to tenderize the beef. In Asian restaurants, the technique to tenderize meat with baking soda is called velveting.
Water — Helps to activate the baking soda and spreads it evenly on the beef.
Corn starch — Corn starch helps to absorb any excess moisture to prevent frying grease when deep-frying.
It also creates a crust that will absorb the delicious sauce.
If you don’t have corn starch, substitute with tapioca starch or potato starch.
Egg — I’m using one whole chicken egg. The egg binds the starch to the beef.
For the sauce:
Water — The base of the sauce.
Regular or light soy sauce — Light soy sauce is the main flavoring agent for the sauce.
Oyster sauce — Oyster sauce is another popular flavoring agent that adds a different level of salty umami to the dish.
Sugar — I’m using granulated cane sugar to balance out the salty flavors of soy sauce and oyster sauce.
Dark soy sauce — Dark soy sauce is mainly used to darken the sauce.
For the stir-fry:
Garlic — You can’t make a savory dish without an aromatic. For this recipe, we are using fresh garlic.
Vegetable oil — Vegetable oil is used to deep fry the beef and a little is used to fry the garlic to bring out its aroma.
Broccoli florets — Fresh broccoli complements the tender beef.
You can also replace some broccoli with some thinly sliced carrots for a more colorful dish.
If you're not a fan of broccoli, you can substitute it with other vegetables like snap peas, bell peppers, or bok choy.
For the slurry:
A slurry is a mixture of corn starch and water. This is used to thicken the sauce.
How to Make Restaurant-Style Beef & Broccoli Stir Fry (Thịt Bò Xào Bông Cải Xanh)
How to Make it
Step 1: Prepare the Beef
Trim off the excess fat, cut out the gristle, if any, then slice it into thin bite-size pieces, against the grain.
In a bowl, combine the thinly sliced beef with soy sauce, baking soda, and water. Set aside and let it marinate and sit for at least 15 minutes.
The baking soda will work its magic, tenderizing the beef. If you are using tougher cuts of meat, let it sit a bit longer. Then add beaten egg and corn starch and mix to combine. Set aside.
Step 2: Prepare Sauce and Slurry
In medium bowl, whisk together water, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar until combined.
In a small bowl, whisk together water and corn starch until the starch is completely dissolved.
Step 3: Blanch Broccoli
In a large wok or skillet, bring water to a boil. Add the broccoli florets and blanch for 2-3 minutes or until they turn bright green and can be pierced with a fork with some resistance.
Step 4: Fry the Beef
Using the pan from earlier, discard the water and wipe dry. Add oil and heat over medium-high heat to shallow fry the beef until they are golden brown on all sides. Remove the beef from the skillet and set it aside.
Step 5: Stir Fry Everything Together
Remove the oil from the pan. Wipe wok clean with paper towels. Add a little bit of the used oil from the beef back into the wok. Heat on medium-high then add garlic and sauté until fragrant. Add sauce.
Add beef and broccoli. Toss everything together until the sauce coats the beef and broccoli evenly. Continue cooking for two minutes, allowing the flavors to meld together.
Step 6: Add Slurry and Finish
Add the slurry, which should thicken the sauce almost immediately.
You’re done. Transfer the beef and broccoli to a serving dish. Serve with rice or noodles for a complete meal.
FAQs
Is baking soda safe to eat?
Yes, of course. Just remember baking soda is in a lot of baked goods. So if you’re not dead yet, I think we’re good. However, a lot of baking soda can cause bitterness so don’t add more than what’s stated in the recipe.
I don’t have oyster sauce. What can I use instead?
You can replace the oyster sauce with hoisin sauce. Keep in mind hoisin sauce has a hint of sweetness. If using hoisin sauce, lower the granulated sugar amount by adjusting to taste.
You can also replace the oyster sauce amount with more soy sauce.
I don’t have dark soy sauce. What can I use instead?
Dark soy sauce is mainly used for color. So if you don’t have dark soy sauce, you can simply omit and the dish will be a bit lighter in color. Alternatively, you can replace the granulated white sugar with dark brown sugar to replace the missing color.
This is too much work. Can’t I just put everything together in a wok?
Of course, you can, but it won’t be as good. I tried this once on a day when I was incredibly tired and didn’t feel like doing any extra steps. It turned out edible, but far from any restaurant’s version.
If you want a much simpler version, check out this recipe instead.
But if you want high-quality beef and broccoli of tender beef and crisp and vibrant-green broccoli, there are extra steps. But don’t you worry. There are no extra pots or pans to wash. This recipe takes you through a succession of steps that only uses one pan for everything.
Recipe below. Enjoy!
How to Make Restaurant-Style Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Ingredients
Instructions
- Trim the beef of excess fat, if any, and cut against the grain into thin bite-size slices. In a bowl, toss together beef, baking soda, and water. Let the mixture sit for 15 minutes to tenderize. Crack the egg into the beef mixture and toss evenly. Add corn starch and toss evenly again. Set aside.
- Make the stir-fry sauce and slurry mixture: In a medium bowl, combine sugar, water, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and dark soy sauce. Set aside. In a small bowl, mix together tapioca starch and room-temperature water until fully dissolved. Set aside.
- In a large wok or skillet, add water (about 1 inch) and heat to a rolling boil. Add broccoli florets and blanch for 2-3 minutes or until they turn bright green and can be pierced with a fork with some resistance.
- Empty the water from the skillet. Wipe it down with paper towels to ensure the skillet is completely dry. Add vegetable oil (about ½ inch). Heat on medium-high or 375°F. Add beef slices, one by one to prevent sticking. Fry for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown on all sides then remove from skillet.
- Remove oil from the wok. Wipe wok clean with paper towels. Add 1 tablespoon of used oil from the beef. Heat on medium-high then add garlic and fry for 10 seconds. Add stir-fry sauce, broccoli, and beef. Toss until combined and cook for 2 minutes to allow the beef and broccoli to absorb the sauce.
- Re-whisk the slurry sauce until smooth in case it has settled to the bottom then add to the skillet. Toss everything together until combined. Once the sauce thickens, you're done! Serve beef and broccoli with rice or noodles for a complete meal.
Notes
- You can use New York strip steak, sirloin steak, flank steak, ribeye, and tenderloin. Since we using baking soda to tenderize beef, you can also use economical and tougher cuts of beef such as eye round, bottom round, top round and any roast cuts.
- If you don't have corn starch, substitute with potato or tapioca starch.
- You can replace some broccoli with some thinly sliced carrots for a more colorful dish. If you're not a fan of broccoli, you can substitute it with snap peas, bell peppers, or bok choy.
