This pepper steak stir fry is thinly sliced flank steak cooked with red and green bell peppers in a savory sauce. A quick and easy meal that tastes even better than take out!
I always order pepper steak at my local Chinese restaurant, it’s one of my favorite dishes. This homemade version is ready in minutes and has that same great restaurant flavor.
There’s nothing better than a delicious Asian dish that’s not only easy to make, but also better than takeout. This pepper steak stir fry is a restaurant quality meal made in the comfort of your own home!
HOW DO YOU MAKE PEPPER STEAK STIR FRY?
This dish is a combination of sauteed bell peppers, browned steak and a savory sauce. The recipe starts by cooking the sliced peppers until tender. The next step is to add the thinly sliced flank steak into the pan. The finishing touch is the 2 minute sauce which gets poured over the meat and vegetables and then simmered until thickened. Add a bowl of steamed rice and dinner is ready!
I used red and green bell peppers in my Chinese pepper steak because that’s what I had on hand. However, any color of bell pepper is perfectly fine. Some bell peppers are sweeter than others. Red, yellow and orange peppers are typically sweeter than green peppers. Some pepper steak recipes call for tomatoes or onions, feel free to add those into the mix if you like.
To make your steak easier to slice, you can place it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. Partially freezing the meat firms it up and makes it easier to get super thin slices. I typically use flank steak for this recipe as it’s readily available and super flavorful. However, sirloin goes great in place of the flank steak, if it’s preferred or if you have easier access to it.
WHAT KIND OF MEAT IS PEPPER STEAK?
Pepper steak isn’t an actual type of meat. The title can make it appear to be a specific type of steak but it’s just the name of the dish because it contains peppers and steak. The steak often used in pepper steak dishes is flank, sirloin, or round steak.
CAN THE STEAK BE COOKED IN THE OVEN?
If you would like to cook the steak in the oven, that’s perfectly fine to do, although you won’t get that seared brown crust. Simply make sure you don’t leave the meat in the oven for too long so that it dries out and becomes tough. You can place your steak in an oven proof pan and bake it for up to 15 minutes, depending on how well-done you like your steak. Be sure to stir it halfway through the cook time.
My family and I absolutely love a good stir fry. It’s so much nicer to make this steak stir fry at home rather than having to get everyone together to go out and eat. We like serving it over rice or sometimes eating it by itself. Either way, it’s delicious.
OTHER BEEF RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE
- Steak Bites with Garlic Butter
- Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak
- Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers
- Soy Marinated Flank Steak
- Philly Cheesesteak Pasta
Pepper Steak Stir Fry Video
Pepper Steak Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil divided use
- 1 red bell pepper cored, seeded and cut into strips
- 1 green bell pepper cored, seeded and cut into strips
- 1 1/4 pounds flank steak thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Heat 1 teaspoon of the vegetable oil over medium high heat in a large pan.
- Add the peppers and cook for 3-4 minutes or until just tender. Remove the peppers from the pan and place on a plate.
- Add the remaining oil to the pan. Season the flank steak with salt and pepper to taste.
- Increase heat to high. Add the steak to the pan and cook for 5-6 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Add the garlic and ginger, then cook for 30 seconds.
- Place the peppers back in the pan with the steak.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, sugar, 1/4 cup water and cornstarch.
- Pour the sauce over the steak mixture and bring to a simmer. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until sauce has just thickened, then serve.
Kelly says
June 13, 2019 at 2:55 pmI use pot roast, chuck roast, rump roast what ever is cheap. I Put it in a pressure cooker cook 40 min then slice . I stir fry up peppers, mushrooms and onions then use some of the juice from the pot roast and then add the soy, brown sugar and corn starch. I also make a double batch of sauce. One of the best pepper steak sauce recipes ever. Husband loves it so I make it often.
Amy says
June 13, 2019 at 12:34 pmThis is the best Pepper Steak recipe I have ever tried!! I mixed up the sauce and marinated my steak strips(I wasn’t sure how tender my steak strips from the store would be…) in it for about an hour and a half before taking them out and preparing the recipe as stated. I also used my cast iron frying pan instead of a wok(I don’t have one). Delicious!!
Christina H Carlee says
June 12, 2019 at 12:06 pmI made this pepper steak recipe today and it turned out wonderful! I had a porter house steak already thawed in fridge, so I sliced that off the bone and it worked great. I used extra light virgin olive oil instead of vegetable oil because that is what I had on hand. There was no olive oil taste at all in the finished dish. As suggested, I added a large onion sliced up thickly and I sauteed that along with the green and red bell peppers. At the end, I added some quartered tomatoes. I used low sodium soy sauce. The only other change I made was that I added 1/2 cup of sodium-free beef broth to the soy sauce/corn starch mixture because I like to have a little more sauce. It turned out great! I served it over brown rice. Super tasty and not too salty. 5 stars. I will definitely be making this again.
Susan Pauly says
June 5, 2019 at 3:54 pmNormally my husband doesn’t use a recioe for pepper steak. Made this tonight. We added onions
and used fresh garlic and also used sirloin because it was on hand. It was DELICIOUS, TENDER, FAST.
We will make this all the time now and also for company !! Thanks so much !
Terri says
May 25, 2019 at 3:12 pmCan I put all this in my crockpot without cooking the meat and stir everything together? Then cook 5 hours?
Sara says
May 26, 2019 at 9:32 amI’d recommend following this technique where you coat the meat in corn starch, you can use the same cooking time too: https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/slow-cooker-mongolian-beef/
Debbie says
May 20, 2019 at 8:46 amThis tastes better than restaurant food! I made it again for guests this time and they thought is was take out!
Jayden says
May 6, 2019 at 11:40 amIs flank steak tender or is there something I would need to do to tenderize it? I’d like to try this recipe, but there are few things worse that tough meat. Advice?
Sara says
May 6, 2019 at 3:47 pmFlank steak is naturally tender as long as you slice it thinly across the grain and don’t overcook it!
Connie Barlow says
May 4, 2019 at 9:56 amHow can you make this dish spicy?
Sara says
May 5, 2019 at 4:00 pmAdd some crushed red pepper flakes!
Paige says
April 28, 2019 at 8:32 pmI used coconut aminos instead of soy sauce but it is freaking fantastic. We just ate it and my family LOVED it. Will be making again and again!
Kristjn says
April 28, 2019 at 10:52 amlove! going to make this again and again! big hit in our family!
Susan says
April 19, 2019 at 4:49 pmDelicious! My family thoroughly enjoyed this recipe. I always read the comments, and at the recommendation of a few others, I added onion. Thank you for a tasty, quick, and easy pepper steak stir fry recipe.
Christine says
April 17, 2019 at 6:43 pmI made this this evening – we like our flank steak rare so I marinated it for 24 hrs in V-H med garlic sauce. Then I broiled the steak separately. I used 1/2 a yellow and 1/2 an orange pepper, sweet onion (1/2), mushrooms, 4 garlic cloves and fresh ginger. Turned out beautifully – thank for your recipe!!
Dave K says
April 16, 2019 at 1:53 pmThis is an awesome recipe and it really does taste better than take out! Everyone loved it. I added vidalia onion and probably put extra garlic and ginger in (I did not measure) . I like spicey so I also added a little hot chili oil to my plate. I plan to make it thai style next time by adding some thai basil. Thanks for this recipe!
Vickie Newkirk says
April 3, 2019 at 2:34 pmMy mom made this all the time when we were growing up. (I’m 63 now.) I’ve misplaced my recipe, but your’s looks very much like it, except ours had onions. Making it tonight for the grandarlins.
Thanks!
Maureen Long says
March 31, 2019 at 10:15 amI am on a sodium free diet (1500 grms at the most) How can I reduce the sodium in this recipe?
Sara says
March 31, 2019 at 8:00 pmI would recommend using low sodium soy sauce and you can cut the amount of soy sauce by 1/3 if needed.
Ralph W says
April 1, 2019 at 9:01 amI cut the Soy (lower sodium) in half and it was still very good. It makes it salt safe!
Trish says
March 23, 2019 at 8:42 amDo you have to use sugar in the sauce?
Sara says
March 23, 2019 at 10:07 amYou could use sugar substitute instead, or some other sweetener such as honey!
Connie says
March 14, 2019 at 6:09 pmI made this recipe tonight and we loved it! I had chuck steak that was already cooked, so I sliced it thin, added 1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil, and used it. I didn’t have fresh ginger so had to use the powdered instead. I added a carrot cut into match sticks and cooked it with the peppers. Thanks for a delicious, easy recipe!
Sara says
March 14, 2019 at 10:24 pmSounds great, glad you enjoyed it!
Suzana says
March 14, 2019 at 1:42 pmReally good thanks a lot
Sara says
March 14, 2019 at 2:53 pmSo glad you enjoyed it, thanks for reporting back!
Daniela says
March 12, 2019 at 3:48 pmJust made this for dinner, I was a huge hit! My husband and my boys told me it was so good as they went for seconds. Thank you for this amazing recipe!
Sara says
March 12, 2019 at 9:00 pmSo happy to hear you enjoyed it, I appreciate you reporting back!