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.
I make this often using venison instead of beef. I add a bit more garlic and ginger. It is by far one of our favorite meals. I have used the hoisin sauce when I’m out of oyster sauce. Definitely a bit more sweet but still good. Great over Jasmine rice.
Made this tonight, with beef for me and tofu for hubby. Added snow peas, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms. It was so good! I doubled the sauce (used Oyster sauce) and it’s so perfect over rice. Will be making it again for sure!
My husband and I demolished this! I used the suggestion of hoisin sauce since I didn’t have oyster, and I ended up being out of cornstarch too. It was still excellent without a thicker sauce.
So tasty without any additional ingredients, but we added red pepper flakes for a bit of heat. New favorite recipe. Definitely going into rotation. Thank you!!
Just made this tonight and it’s fabulous! We added onions, peppers and mushrooms. Yum!!
This is the best stir fry recipe. I make it all the time with different veggies etc. I double the sauce with half the soy sauce. The best!!!
Thank you this turned out so delicious 🤤
Absolute BEST beef/broccoli I have EVER made (or eaten in ANY restaurant!). Super easy, practically no cleanup. Thank you so much!
My family loves this recipe. Turns out great. We have to double the recipe even then there are no leftovers.
You know it’s good when your family wants you to make it again instead of ordering out from the usual Thai restaurant we love getting our beef and broccoli from!!!! I will have to double the batch next time that way we can all have seconds (family of five) 😁 and left overs for my daughter to take for lunch.
Same here. I need to double it as we all wanted leftovers. I kept walking by and taking just one more bite…. While urging my husband to take his portion before it was all gone. It was so good! I probably used more ginger and garlic than called for. I would highly recommend this recipe. SO GOOD! 😋
Right there with you. I’ll double next time and up the garlic and ginger.
It’s delicious.
Can’t wait to try the beef and broccoli recipe.
I added julienned carrots and zucchini to the broccoli. I didn’t have any garlic but substituted garlic pepper to the veggies.
Turned out great! Used Calrose rice in my steamer, which I love because it holds the food better and doesn’t fall apart like minute rice.
Just wish I had made some egg rolls to go with it!
Another GRAND SLAM recipe! When I make this recipe my neighbors show up to eat also. I’ve been told that it’s better than the restaurant. Thanks again for another miraculous recipe.
Absolutely delicious! I added cashews after reading the comments!
This was amazing!
I did add some peppers, mushrooms and baby corn!
Will definitely make again!
I’m making this for dinner tonight and my husband is excited can this recipe be made in an instant pot? Do you have instant pot recipes? Also if I’m using min rice I won’t have to cook it until we’re ready to eat? I always like to start my dinners early so when everyone is ready to eat it’s not a mad dash to get it on the table lol I’m assuming it’ll stay good in the pan on stove with the cover on it until dinners ready thank you
This recipe is designed to be cooked on the stove, I wouldn’t be able to provide accurate Instant Pot instructions as I haven’t tested it that way! I do have a lot of other Instant Pot recipes on the site. Minute rice should be fine.
Excellent recipe. Neither greasy nor loaded with cornstarch, and easy to control the crunch on the broccoli. We find that Chinese restaurants tend to be hit or miss with Beef and Broccoli, but now it doesn’t matter any more. Thank you.
Absolutely delicious! Added mushrooms and cashews!! Next time I think I will add more broccoli. The broccoli expels such delicious flavors with this recipe I could eat so much more. Great recipe!!
Excellent beef and broccoli I did not adjust anything in the recipe.
Excellent beef with broccoli. Didn’t make any changes to the recipe.
This Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry is so delicious and easy to make. Glad I got to get all my needed Asian ingredients at Karman Foods, I also used San-J Tamari Soy Sauce in alternate to Dark Soy Sauce for an added twist of flavor; it’s perfect. The whole fam enjoyed it.
Added one small red pepper, half the quantity of sugar, one small jalapeño from our garden and it was great!
Simple and super delicious! Will be making it again.. Didn’t have the right cut when I made this so required tenderising it in a pressure cooker before stir frying. Safe to say the meat was well done (but very tender and juicy) with additional flavour from being tossed in a pan. It still turned out mouth watering.