Beef and Broccoli
The most useful stir-fry in the repertoire: velveted beef, crisp-tender broccoli and a savoury oyster sauce gravy, on the table in about an hour, most of it the beef sitting in its velveting. The velveting is what makes cheap beef taste expensive.
Photograph credit: Ground beef on sticky rice with broccoli, pickled garlic, guacamole habanero sauce, and… by Daderot · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
A pinch of bicarbonate of soda raises the surface pH of the beef, which prevents its proteins from contracting tightly during high-heat cooking — the same tenderising effect Chinese restaurants rely on. Blanching the broccoli first means it needs only seconds in the wok, so it stays bright and snappy.
What People Ask
How long does Beef and Broccoli take to make?
15 minutes of preparation and 12 minutes of cooking, plus 35 minutes of marinating and resting, so allow 1 hour 2 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 4.
Photograph credit: Ground beef with blue cheese and roasted broccoli on mixed greens with mustard… by Daderot · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
How to Make Beef and Broccoli
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Toss the sliced beef with the bicarbonate of soda and 2 tablespoons of water and leave 20 minutes, then rinse thoroughly and pat dry.
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Mix the beef with the soy sauce, Shaoxing wine and cornflour, then the tablespoon of oil, which stops it clumping in the wok. Rest 15 minutes.
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Whisk the sauce ingredients together and keep beside the hob.
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Blanch the broccoli in boiling salted water for 90 seconds, then drain and run under cold water. Dry thoroughly — wet broccoli will steam instead of searing.
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Heat a wok over the highest heat until smoking. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and spread the beef in a single layer. Leave 45 seconds without touching it, then stir-fry 60 seconds until just browned. Remove.
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Add the last tablespoon of oil, then the garlic and ginger for 20 seconds.
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Add the broccoli and toss 60 seconds, then return the beef.
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Stir the sauce and pour it around the edge of the wok. Toss for 60 to 90 seconds until it thickens and glazes everything.
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Serve immediately over steamed rice.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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A Few Pointers
- Rinse the bicarbonate off properly or the beef will taste soapy.
- Slice against the grain and as thin as you can. Half-freezing the steak for 20 minutes makes this far easier.
- A wok that is not smoking is not hot enough. Cook in batches rather than dropping the temperature.
Ingredient Swaps
- If you only have ground ginger, a quarter-teaspoon for each tablespoon of fresh is the ratio usually given; it tastes warmer and less bright than the fresh root.
- An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
Pairs Well With
A cold lager or a light Pinot Noir · Serve with jasmine rice · Finish with orange segments
Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Stir-Fried Water Spinach, Vegan Fried Rice.
Keeping and Reheating
Refrigerate 3 days. Reheat in a hot wok for 2 minutes; the broccoli softens on standing but the flavour holds.
Beef and Broccoli Nutrition
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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