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.
Made this used, green, yellow & red peppers. Didn’t have ginger, so I used another seasoning I had. Get sliced to sirloin, omg it’s delicious 😋 a definite keeper -) Wish I could post a picture of it.
great!
Can’t wait to make it. Looks delicious!
OmgThis is really good recipe, thank you. Only thing I did different was swap the suger for Splenda. Seared the beef in a Carbon steel pan.
The recipe is keeper!
My husband really liked this I did everything exactly as the recipe called for other than putting in thinly sliced red onion. It turned out amazing!
I have tried a lot of recipes and this one was the simplest and taste the best go figure. Try this one you will not be disappointed
I made this and it was delicious! Added a bit more garlic and ginger (I used the tube) And 1 large onion. Husband likes his over long grain white rice.
GREAT recipe! I do add onions to the dish (I saute them with the bell peppers). And because I am gluten free I use Tamari in place of the Soy Sauce. That’s it. Beyond those two things I follow the recipe exactly and it is a family favorite!
I like it, easy to make. I used sirloin tip and frozen peppers and onions.
Excellent you can put it whatever you as stated want my mom made similar added mushrooms and broccoli along with steak and peppers and makes a good left over, I put mine on Udon noodles. It’s a keeper no matter what you put in!
This will be my 5th time making this. Added onions second time and adding mushrooms tomorrow. It was good as it was,no problem.
Second time I’ve made this. It’s always good and very simple. Will make again.
I doubled the sauce and served over rice noodles. No complaints from all 3 kids is a success in my book. Thanks for a great and easy recipe!
Great recipe. I did velvet the beef before cooking it and use thinly sliced bottom round. Good base recipe that can be altered, added some julienned carrots for extra fiber and vitamins. Thanks!
Easy peasy great recipe! Doubled the sauce and added a jalapeno pepper and teaspoon of Saracha as we love the heat!
I just made this. Absolutely delicious! I have saved this recipe and will definitely make again. I paired mines with white rice.
It was a nice simple recipe, but it was too salty.
Cut back on the salt and use low sodium soy sauce. Problem solved.
I’ve been making this recipe for years now!! We love it. We use different types of meat as well, whatever we have on hand. (Flank, rib eye, New York strip), we just add sesame oil, fresh ginger, jalapeño, and an extra soy sauce! But great as it.
How much Sesame Oil did you put in?
This has become a family favorite! We make it just about every week.
This was easy and delicious! We used an extra green pepper and added an onion.