Beef broccoli is a total comfort food for me – my mom made a lot of stir fries when I was growing up, and this one was one of my favourites. I love the way the crunchy broccoli florets sop up the yummy savoury sauce.
Stir fries are a super quick, healthy, fresh and delicious weeknight option. And I love when you can stretch a couple of steaks into dinner for four by filling them out with lots of veggies.
Despite that, when racking my brain for dinner ideas, I seldom think them – I don’t know why! They’re such a staple to many of my friends.
The biggest thing to remember when stir-frying is to prep all of your ingredients before you start cooking – the 30 minute marinade here affords you the time to do all of your chopping and mixing at a leisurely pace, and maybe wash a few dishes while you’re at it.
Because you’re working over high heat, your ingredients are going to cook quickly. Restaurant stir-fried dishes always feature perfectly crisp-tender vegetables, vibrant in colour and still a bit crunchy – while their homemade counterparts too often fall victim to the unprepared cook and end up soggy and wilted. This particular dish is pretty easy, featuring just broccoli – so it’s not too fussy. But when stir-frying multiple veggies in other recipes, you want to make sure you’ve done your fancy mise-en-place before you ignite the burner.
Next, you want to take your time and cook things in batches – broccoli first, then beef. Â If you over-crowd your pan or wok, the food will steam instead of frying. Â When cooking the beef (or any other meat), be sure to get your oil nice and hot, and arrange the pieces in a single layer. Â Don’t flip until they release willingly – you want to nice browning, as this contributes a lot to the flavour and appearance.
Are stir-fries on regular rotation in your house? What are your favourites?
Beef Broccoli Stir fry
Ingredients
For marinade:
- 1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 lb steak thinly sliced against the grain
For stirfry:
- ½ cup chicken stock
- 3 tbsp oyster sauce
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp vegetable or peanut oil
- 2 cloves garlic thinly sliced
- 1 fresno chile thinly sliced (optional)
- 1 head broccoli chopped into medium florets, stems thinly sliced
- 1 onion thinly sliced
Instructions
- Combine rice vinegar, soy sauce and sugar in a medium bowl. Add steak and toss to coat. Marinate 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.
- Meanwhile, whisk together chicken stock, oyster sauce, soy sauce, cornstarch and sugar. Set aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add garlic, chile, broccoli and onion and cook, stirring often, until broccoli turns bright green. Transfer to a large bowl and add remaining tablespoon oil to skillet. When shimmering hot, shake excess marinade off of beef and add it to pan in a single layer. Brown well on both sides. Return broccoli mixture to skillet, add sauce, and cook, tossing frequently, until sauce thickens and broccoli is crisp-tender, about 2 minutes.
