This Chinese-inspired beef and broccoli stir-fry features tender steak, crisp broccoli, and a bold, garlicky sauce — all ready in just 30 minutes.
This beef and broccoli stir-fry has been on repeat in our kitchen for years. ♡
It’s fast, easy, and packed with bold, savory flavors that always hit the spot. The stir-fry sauce is anything but boring — perfectly balanced with rich, garlicky, gingery, slightly sweet notes. The steak turns out perfectly tender, and the broccoli stays just the right amount of crisp. Best of all, everything comes together in one pan in about 30 minutes, making it perfect for busy weeknights.
We love serving it over rice (or my favorite fried rice), noodles, or tucked into lettuce wraps for a lighter twist. However you dish it up, this beef and broccoli recipe is always a winner!
Recipe Tips
Step-by-step instructions are included in the recipe below, but here are a few extra tips to keep in mind:
- Slice the beef against the grain. This is an essential step to make each bite of steak more tender.
- Partially freeze your flank steak before slicing. If you have the time, popping the steak in the freezer for 20–30 minutes before slicing will make it much easier to cut.
- Don’t skip the baking soda in the marinade. It helps tenderize the beef and gives it that signature silky texture.
- Use high heat for the stir-fry. A hot pan will ensure a good sear on the beef and help keep the broccoli nice and crisp.
- Stir-fry in batches if needed. If your pan is small, cook the beef in two rounds to avoid overcrowding and steaming
Recipe Variations
Here are a few variations that you’re welcome to try with this recipe:
- Swap the beef. Try thinly sliced chicken, pork, tofu or shrimp for a different protein.
- Add more veggies. Bell peppers, snap peas, mushrooms, or carrots would all work well here.
- Make it spicy. Stir in some chili garlic sauce or a pinch of red pepper flakes to amp up the heat.
- Make it gluten-free. Use tamari or coconut aminos instead of soy sauce and double-check that your oyster sauce is gf.
- Add noodles. Serve the stir-fry over lo mein, udon, or rice noodles instead of rice.
More Favorite Stir-Fry Recipes To Try!
Looking for more simple Chinese-inspired stir-fry recipes to try? Here are a few of our favorites:
Beef and Broccoli
Ingredients
Marinade:
- 1 pound flank steak
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon neutral oil
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Sauce:
- 1/2 cup beef stock
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine*
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
Stir-Fry:
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil
- 1 (12-ounce) bag broccoli florets
- 4 scallions, sliced into 2-inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon grated or minced fresh ginger
- 4 cloves garlic, grated or minced
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
Instructions
- Marinate the steak. Thinly slice the steak against the grain into bite-sized pieces. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the cornstarch, oil, soy sauce and baking soda until combined. Add the steak and toss to coat. Set the bowl aside and let the steak marinate for at least 10 minutes (or up to 30 minutes).
- Prepare the sauce. In a separate bowl, whisk all of the sauce ingredients together until combined.
- Stir-fry the broccoli. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil to a large sauté pan or wok over medium-high heat. Add the broccoli and sauté, stirring occasionally, for 6 to 8 minutes or until crisp tender. Transfer the broccoli to a clean plate and set aside.
- Stir-fry the beef. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the pan. Add the beef in as even a layer as possible. Cook undisturbed for about 1 minute or until the bottom side has caramelized. Flip the beef, add in the ginger and garlic, and cook for 1-2 more minutes, stirring and flipping the mixture as needed, until the beef is nearly cooked through to your liking. (It will continue to cook slightly more in the sauce.)
- Combine. Carefully add the broccoli, scallions and sauce to the pan (be careful, the liquid may sputter!) and toss everything until evenly combined. Continue cooking for 30-60 seconds or until the sauce has thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the sesame oil until combined.
- Season. Taste and season with additional soy sauce if needed.
- Serve. Serve warm over rice (or fried rice) and enjoy!
Notes
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
Made this tonight and it is delicious! It will be added to my recipe binder with all my others.
Awesome!!
My first time on your site…l am loving your writing…and the pics of Broccoli and SiSi….adorable ! I think I’m going to like your site..and you ! : ) can’t wait to try this . L am picky about my food too…having had some so so beef and broccoli and some terrific one too. But l find it is always better to try making it yourself . L will let you know how we like it !
Thanks for your kind words, Doris — we hope you enjoy the recipe! :)
This was awesome. Great flavors. I made this for about 25 people and there was zero left over. I would agree it would be best served immediately, I made it about 2 hours before I served it and the broccoli was mushy but still tasted great.
Thank you, Celeste, we’re so glad it was a hit with everyone!
Sadly, this recipe did not meet my expectations. The thick, delicious sauce turned out to be more like meat soup. I’m not sure what went wrong. I used a wok. There was a decent amount of liquid in the wok before I added the sauce from cooking the meat. Should I have drained this? I know some people reduced the amount of water in the sauce mixture but I decided to follow the recipe. It didn’t look like too much.
We’re sorry to hear that, Lindsey, and we appreciate your honest feedback. It sounds like the sauce just didn’t thicken enough, so it likely needed to cook longer to reduce down some more.
Made this last night, it was so good! I also doubled the sauce like others did. And I added extra garlic(we love it) This will be our heavy rotation!
Thanks for sharing, Steve — we’re so glad you and your family enjoy this!
Made this for lunch today. I was debating ordering take out or making it at home. Since I’m trying to eat healthier, I decided to make it at home. I had all the ingredients except the flank steak. This turned out delicious. Better than the local take out restaurant in town. I did add a little more soy sauce and a little bit of sugar to mine, but otherwise followed directions. I have pinned and will definitely make it again. Thank you for the recipe. :)
Thanks for sharing with us, Melanie — we’re so happy you enjoyed it! :)
This looks tasty–wondering if it will freeze well and at what step should I freeze? I’d like to have as little work as possible after it is thawed… Thanks
Thanks, Bekah — we hope you enjoy! And yes, you should be find to freeze this.
First, this tastes SO. GOOD.
The sauce: insane delicious.
The broccoli: perfect crispness.
A couple notes on my experience (I’ve made it twice): Both times it took much longer than 1-2 minutes for the sauce to thicken up, and I had to use more cornstarch than listed.
The second time I reduced the water in the sauce to 1/2 cup and still had to use (almost) another Tbsp of corn starch, and cooked for maybe 6-8 minutes after adding sauce. That being said, even with the additional cook time the broccoli was still perfect and did not get soggy at all, so if the same happens to you, have no fear. It will still turn out great. So good!!!
Thank you for sharing, Alia — we’re so happy you enjoy the recipe!
My husband/son devoured this! I used the sesame seed/green onions as garnish. Will never order takeout again.
We’re so glad to hear that, Sheila! :)
I made this for dinner tonight and my whole family loved it! It really does taste like it came straight out of a Chinese restaurant. I’ll definitely be making this again. The only thing I’ll do different is make more sauce cause I live in the south and we love our gravy and sauces lol thanks for sharing!
We’re so glad to hear that, Tarrin! :D