This recipe for beef and broccoli stir fry is a classic dish of beef sauteed with fresh broccoli florets and coated in a savory sauce. You can have a healthy and easy dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes!
I love stir fries for a quick meal that’s full of flavor. Some of my favorites include honey garlic chicken stir fry, teriyaki shrimp, and this delicious beef broccoli.
This chicken and broccoli stir fry has been one of the most popular recipes on my site for years, it was only a matter of time before a beef and broccoli stir fry came to be! This recipe tastes just like something you’d order at a Chinese restaurant, but is super easy to make at home.
How Do You Make Beef And Broccoli Stir Fry?
First, cook some broccoli, ginger and garlic in a pan until the vegetables are tender. Remove the veggies from the pan, and add the steak. Cook the steak until browned, you may need to do this step in batches. Return the vegetables to the pan, then make the sauce. The sauce is a mixture of beef broth, oyster sauce, sesame oil and soy sauce. Pour the sauce into the pan along with some cornstarch, then let everything simmer until the sauce has thickened. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Tips for the perfect beef and broccoli
- The beef in this recipe is thinly sliced flank steak. I find that it can sometimes be tricky to slice steak, so I typically put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes before I slice it. Freezing the meat helps to firm it up so that you can get thinner slices.
- If you’re not able to use flank steak, other great options include sirloin, skirt steak or New York strip.
- Oyster sauce is a brown Chinese sauce that can be found in the ethnic aisle of most grocery stores. It is different than fish sauce, which is typically used in Thai and Vietnamese cooking. If you can’t find oyster sauce or don’t want to use it, you can substitute hoisin sauce. Hoisin sauce isn’t exactly the same but still makes for a great dish.
- This dish is great for meal prep, and will stay fresh for up to 4 days in the refrigerator.
- Serve your stir fry over rice, noodles or quinoa. If you’re watching your carbs, you can also use cauliflower rice.
Beef Broccoli Variations
This recipe is delicious as written, but you can absolutely switch up the ingredients to customize it to your tastes.
- Protein: Instead of flank steak, try ground beef, sliced chicken breast, shrimp, pork tenderloin or cubed tofu.
- Vegetables: Feel free to add other veggies such as sliced carrots, bok choy, mushrooms, snow peas, bell peppers or baby corn.
- Add-Ins: You can add sriracha or chili oil for a bit of heat, or cashews, sesame seeds or almonds for texture.
This beef and broccoli stir fry is a great way to satisfy your Chinese food cravings without picking up the phone to call for takeout. I typically start a pot of rice at the same time I make my stir fry, that way all of my dinner components will be ready at the same time. Even my kids love this one!
Other recipes you’ll love
- Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef
- Pineapple Chicken
- Slow Cooker Orange Chicken
- Kung Pao Shrimp
Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry Video
Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 lbs flank steak thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon vegetable oil divided use
- 2 cups broccoli florets
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1/4 cup oyster sauce
- 1/4 cup beef broth or water
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the broccoli and cook for approximately 4 minutes or until tender.
- Add the ginger and garlic to the pan and cook for 30 seconds more.
- Remove the broccoli from the pan; place on a plate and cover.
- Wipe the pan clean with a paper towel and turn the heat to high. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil.
- Season the steak pieces with salt and pepper and add them to the pan in a single layer - you may need to do this step in batches. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until browned and cooked through.
- Add the broccoli mixture back to the pan and cook for 2 more minutes or until warmed through.
- In a bowl whisk together the oyster sauce, beef broth, sugar, sesame oil and soy sauce. In a small bowl mix the cornstarch with a tablespoon of cold water.
- Pour the oyster sauce mixture over the beef and vegetables; cook for 30 seconds. Add the cornstarch and bring to a boil; cook for 1 more minute or until sauce has just started to thicken.
- Serve immediately, with rice if desired.
Nutrition
This post was originally published on October 8, 2017 and was updated on February 25, 2020 with new content.
This is one classic dish that I can’t get enough of! My family loves everything about beef and broccoli and I love it when I can make it at home.
I cannot get enough of this recipe it’s so good!
This beef and broccoli stir fry would be a huge hit in my house!
So good! I was a bit nervous because this was my first time cooking beef, but it turned out really well! I used maple syrup instead of sugar, but other than that I followed the recipe exactly. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
The best and most uncomplicated recipe . Love love loved it ! Thanks do much. Pam
Was so excited to find this recipe will be making this today.
Absolutely delicious! Taste just like a good Chinese restaurant. I have cooked many recipes for beef and broccoli and this is the best. Only thing I changed was added some red pepper flakes because I like touch of heat. Highly recommend! Thank you for a terrific beef and broccoli stir fry!
Delicious, simple and straight forward. I had a chunk of flank steak in a vacuum bag in the freezer since 2015 and I finally found a recipe for it. It was delicious and the leftovers were equally good. (If you haven’t tried vacuum freezing, you owe it to yourself to look into it.)
I’m a 75 year-old bachelor which I’m sure is not your target audience, but I’m so happy I’ve discovered your web site. Your recipes are a joy to create as they are flavorful, unpretentious, and easy to assemble. I’ve collected a lot of recipes over the years and now I find myself replacing many of them with yours.
Soooo good. I made a triple batch it was delicious. I added some extra veggies.
I love this recipe and have made this several times now, although tweaked slightly to make it a bit hotter/spicier adding a spoon of szechuan and a squirt of hot chili sauce. Also use a pinch of white pepper to the beef. Always serve with white rice. Look forward to trying many of the other recipes featured on the Dinner at the Zoo website.
This meal was SO GOOD! Made it exactly as written, with the exception of topping it off with crunchy chow mein noodles, and it came out perfectly!!!
I haven’t used them for years, too many to remember. That does sound good as it will add another texture. Good idea.
Can you use flap meat instead of flank steak
That should be fine!
I’m always looking for a new beef and broccoli recipe. This is a good one! Made it tonight for dinner. Will definitely be making it again!!
Thanks! 🤗
Can you marinade the beef in the sauce?
That should be fine!
Made this for dinner tonight and wow is it good! The only things I changed were to use hoisin sauce instead of oyster sauce due to allergies and to use tamari instead of soy sauce. My daughter in law is gluten intolerant so i never keep soy sauce in the house. This was so yummy hubby had seconds! It was fairly easy to make, especially since I used frozen broccoli (forgot to buy it so the frozen came in handy lol) I know I will be making this again and again!
I have a shellfish allergy and cannot use oyster sauce. An Asian friend told me about a popular “mock” oyster sauce made of mushrooms that I found on Amazon. Tastes great!
Hi can I substitute the toasted sesame oil with anything else?
You can omit it if you need to, but the flavor won’t be as authentic!
I made this tonight and it was delicious! I used dried ginger and garlic because I was out of fresh, fresh would be better but dried is still good. I also used brown sugar and I think either white or brown would work. I used left over meat from a top round roast I made over the weekend. Thanks for the recipe! Sorry I changed so much lol work with what you’ve got 🙂
Ryes where you buy hoisin sauce
It’s found in the ethnic foods aisle of most grocery stores.
Do you have to use oyster sauce? Is there a sunstitute?
You can use hoisin sauce instead!
What does the k mean in the calories?
It’s kilocalories, this article explains it! https://www.livestrong.com/article/436625-what-are-kcal-calories/