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.
Can this be made in crock? Changes that need to be made? Thanks
I’ve never tried it before but I think it could work! Cook on low for 4 hours.
I have made this dish many times now. This is a real family favorite. Thank you for showing how to do at home.
Great tasting and quick recipe. Added some white onion into it and turned out great
I love this recipe!!!! I used light soy sauce, brown sugar, I went light on the cornstarch, I tripled the sauce and I’ve used top round and sirloin steak when I cant find flank. Thank you for this recipe, my family loves when I fix this meal!
What can you use in replacement of the cornstarch ?
You can omit it, the sauce will just be thinner!
You can always use flour and water mixed together as a thickening agent. 2 tbsp flour , 5 or water and shake in a bottle. Pour into mixture as it bubbles.
You can use flour, but make sure to whisk the flour into a small amount of water before adding to the sauce (otherwise it will get clumpy).
Loved it. I ran out of soy sauce but used San J Thai Peanut sauce for the steak sauce. It came out great
Delicious!
Delicious recipe!!
It was great!
Can I use powdered ginger instead of minced ginger
Yes use 1/3 of the amount!
Love this recipe… so so good. Followed the recipe and added onions. The sauce is delicious and would double it next time. One of my favorite recipes. Can’t wait to try some of your other meals. THANK YOU.
I made this with just half a pound of flank steak and added strips of onion and sliced mushrooms to fill it out. Came out great! The sauce was a teeny bit too thick for my preference, so I might use just slightly less cornstarch next time. Thanks so much for sharing! Reliable recipes are so helpful, especially now that more people are staying home and cooking more.
I tripled the sauce! This recipe is great, delicious & simple. Thanks!!
Made this a couple weeks ago. It was delicious and my husband loved it. We have a group dinner with friends and would like to make this. What would be good sides to go with it?
You can serve it with white or brown rice, with a salad on the side! Here’s a good option: https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/asian-slaw/
Excellent! Very tasty. I used flank steak, however, it was tough. Could I have cooked it longer than suggested ? Would have made it tough? Any suggestions? Thank you
It sounds like you may have overcooked it! Did you slice the meat against the grain?
Great recipe! Sauce tastes just like takeout. I doubled the sauce because I love covering my rice in it but other than that I followed the recipe exactly. Will definitely make again!!
Awesome recipe! I don’t know how I was making this before but this is my new standard. Husband and kids loved it! Next time will also double the sauce . Thank you.
Would give it ten stars!! We made it last night..better than takeout.. husband requested I make it again to today.. so I did!! Easy to make and delicious!! Whenever I make a recipe from your site.. they turn out amazing!! Thank you!!
I tried this recipe last night and it came out wonderful. I loved the recipe because it was simple and did not contain too many ingredients. I did not have a bottle of soy sauce; but found several soy sauce packages (From previous takeout orders) and used them instead (came close to the 1/4 cup recommended). I did add onions to the recipe and also seasoned the meat with salt, pepper and granulated garlic (also used real minced garlic as recommended) prior to placing it in the pot.
Thank you for this great recipe!!
I made this for dinner last night. So delicious and easy to make. These days, I am trying to limit my outside exposure so I’m looking for recipes that I can make with whatever I have on hand.This recipe fit the bill. Like you mentioned, I added onions. I used cauliflower rice instead of regular rice and it worked perfectly. Next time I will do as some others suggested and double the sauce (it was so good).
I made this tonight with cubed venison, at the end I doubled the amounts for the sauce. This was real easy and very tasty! Thanks
Could I use shrimp instead of steak?
Yes that’s fine!