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Home / Healthier Chinese Food Style Beef and Broccoli

Healthier Chinese Food Style Beef and Broccoli

Tender, juicy beef and broccoli smothered in a special glossy sauce. Who needs to order takeout when you have a Beef and Broccoli recipe sourced from a Chinese restaurant ?

Copycat Chinese takeout recipes are a firm favourite in my world, with recipes like Chow Mein, Cashew Chicken, Fried Rice and Egg Foo Young on heavy rotation along with this Beef and Broccoli. For a full Chinese banquet, start with an appetiser of Spring Rolls or Potstickers. And don't miss Chicken and Broccoli stir fry!

Close up of Chinese Beef and Broccoli in a skillet.

Beef and broccoli recipe

I've attempted on several occasions to wheedle recipes out of my local Chinese restaurant – with little to no success.

I'm beyond the age of hair flipping and lack the lashes for batting my eyes to any effect, but I do dial up the charm – full wattage smile, laying on the compliments, hitting them up after I've ordered a truckload of takeout.

Alas, I've gotten nowhere.

So imagine my delight when I discovered a Chinese cooking blog called Woks of Life run by a Chinese-American family who used to own a Chinese restaurant! And that's where the base for this recipe came from – the Woks of Life Beef and Broccoli stir fry.An actual real-deal restaurant recipe!!

Steamed broccoli for Chinese Beef and Broccoli

Beef and Broccoli Sauce

The sauce base for Chinese Beef and Broccoli is extremely simple. They key here is the right ratios:

  • soy sauce;

  • Chinese cooking wine OR Mirin (see recipe for subs);

  • sugar;

  • cornflour/cornstarch for thickening; and

  • Chinese Five Spice Powder – a hint of this is the signature flavour in Beef and Broccoli!

What is Chinese Five Spice powder?

It's a spice mix made up of (surprise, surprise?) five spices – cinnamon, cloves, Szechuan pepper, fennel and star anise. It's a common spice blend found in supermarkets nowadays that doesn't cost any more than other standard spices.

Chinese Five Spice Powder

The Sauce serves a dual purpose – as the main Sauce for the stir fry, as well as adding a little flavour directly to the beef. It doesn't need to be marinated, just set it aside while you prep the other ingredients.

Sauce for Chinese Beef and Broccoli in a glass bowl, alongside beef being marinated.

Best beef for stir fries

In the video and the photos of the finished dish in this post, I've used an economy beef eye fillet (Australia – Harris Farms sells it for $20/kg) which is beautifully juicy and tender, perfect for stir fries.

Any quick cooking cut of beef is suited to this recipe. Basically, the rule of thumb is: if you'd throw it on the BBQ and eat it as a steak, it's great for stir fries.

But you can also make a Beef and Broccoli witheconomical beef – even stewing cuts (!!) – by using a little known Chinese restaurant secret method totenderise beef using baking soda. It's simple, highly effective and will make your beef incredibly tender in every stir fry –just like you cheerful local Chinese restaurant!

Slices of beef in a bowl being tenderised the Chinese Restaurant way using backing soda

Beef and Broccoli – not authentic, and that's ok!

I haven't travelled extensively throughout China but in the time I did spend there, I can say with certainty that I never saw Beef Broccoli on any menu. Broccoli is actually very expensive in China!

So I'm pretty sure Beef and Broccoli is a westernised version of a Chinese dish, or just a Western Chinese dish.

Either way, it's a big Chinese takeout favourite – with good reason. Tender beef with juicy broccoli generously smothered with a savoury Chinese brown sauce with the signature hint of Chinese Five Spice Powder, this is one of those dishes that's a crowd pleaser for all ages!

Try the noodle version one day – Beef Broccoli Noodles. It's everything you know and love about Beef and Broccoli – with noodles! – Nagi x

PS Update – also try the new Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry. Extra saucy!

More Chinese Takeout Favourites

  • Chow Mein

  • Honey Prawns

  • Cashew Chicken

  • Kung Pao Chicken

  • Prawn (Shrimp) Stir Fry

  • Spring Rolls  – better than egg rolls!

  • Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)

  • See all Chinese Takeout Recipes

Chinese Beef and Broccoli in rice in a bowl, ready to be eaten.

PS Plenty of sauce – see? Because everyone loves the sauce!

Close up showing sauce soaked rice in a bowl with Chinese Beef and Broccoli

Close up of Chinese Beef and Broccoli in a skillet.

WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT

Sometimes it helps to have a visual, so watch me make this Beef Broccoli recipe!

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Servings 3 -4

Tap or hover to scale

Recipe video above.Faster than take out, healthier and tastier. This is a recipe from a Chinese restaurant! If using economical beef, consider tenderising it the Chinese way ("velveting", simple, highly effective!)

Sauce

  • 2 tbsp cornstarch / cornflour
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp dark soy sauce (Note 1)
  • 1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce (Note 1)
  • 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine) (Note 2)
  • 1/8 tsp Chinese five spice powder (Note 3)
  • 1 tsp sesame oil (optional)
  • 1/8 tsp tsp black pepper

Stir Fry

  • 2 tbsp oil
  • 12 oz / 360g beef fillet, flank or rump (Note 4 for tenderising option)
  • 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp fresh ginger, finely chopped
  • 4 - 5 cups broccoli florets (1 head), cooked (Note 5)
  • 1 cup water

Serving:

  • Sesame seeds (optional)

  • Place cornflour and water in bowl then mix. Add remaining Sauce ingredients.

  • Slice the beef into 1/4" / 0.5cm thick slices. Place the beef and 2 tbsp of the Sauce into a bowl and set aside.

  • Heat oil in a skillet over high heat. Add beef and spread out, leave for 1 minute until browned.

  • Stir beef for 10 seconds, then add garlic and ginger. Stir for another 30 seconds or until beef is no longer pink.

  • Pour Sauce and water into the skillet and quickly mix.

  • When the sauce starts bubbling, add broccoli. Stir to coat the broccoli in Sauce, then let it simmer for 1 minute or until Sauce is thickened.

  • Remove from heat immediately and serve over rice. Sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired.

1. Dark soy sauce makes the sauce colour darker and it has more flavour than light soy sauce.  Can use all-purpose soy sauce or just light soy sauce in place of both the soy sauces but the sauce colour will be lighter. Do not use all dark soy sauce - flavour will be too strong.

2. Chinese cooking wine is an essential ingredient in Chinese stir fry sauces and without it, it will lack that true "restaurant" edge. Dry sherry is a terrific sub, or cooking sake. Mirin can also be used but omit the sugar.

If you cannot consume alcohol, replace 3/4 cup of the water with low sodium chicken broth.

3. Chinese Five Spice Powder is a mix of five spices. It is available in the herb and spice section of supermarkets and it costs no more than other spices.

4. Beef -As with all stir fries, this cooks very quickly so you need to use a decent cut of beef for it. Rump, flank, sirloin, t-bone and scotch fillet are excellent for this recipe.

Slice the beef against the grain. When you look at the beef, you will notice that the fibres are mostly going in one direction. Place the beef in front of you so the fibres are going left to right. Then cut through the fibres i.e. cut perpendicular to the direction of the fibres (see here for illustrative image). Cutting it this way makes the beef more tender!

Slow cooking cuts, like chuck, are not suitable unless you tenderise it (seeHow to tenderise beef the Chinese restaurant way)

5. If par boiling, place the broccoli into a pot of boiling water, then when it comes back up to a boil, let it boil for 40 seconds (for just cooked) or 1 minute (for tender) then drain. The residual heat will cook the broccoli through while sitting in the colander.

6. Adapted from this recipe from Woks of Life, my "go to" resource for Chinese takeout recipes!

7. Nutrition per serving, excluding rice.

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry Nutrition

Originally published March 2015, updated with new photos, new words, slightly more streamlined recipe and a recipe video!

Serving: 405 g Calories: 392 cal (20%) Carbohydrates: 16.7 g (6%) Protein: 43.5 g (87%) Fat: 18.3 g (28%) Saturated Fat: 3.8 g (24%) Cholesterol: 89 mg (30%) Sodium: 1101 mg (48%) Potassium: 517 mg (15%) Fiber: 4.1 g (17%) Sugar: 4.1 g (5%) Vitamin A: 950 IU (19%) Vitamin C: 187.3 mg (227%) Calcium: 100 mg (10%) Iron: 3.1 mg (17%)

Keywords: Beef and Broccoli, Beef Broccoli Recipe

Beef and Broccoli recipe original published March 2015, updated 2018 with new photos, new words, slightly more streamlined recipe and a recipe video!

Chinese Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry - a recipe from a Chinese restaurant! Extra saucy, easy to make and you can get all the ingredients from the supermarket.

LIFE OF DOZER

He'll take the beef over the broccoli……

Dozer Chinese Beef and Broccoli

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Source: https://www.recipetineats.com/chinese-beef-and-broccoli-extra-saucy-take-out-style/