Szechuan Beef

Before You Start

Slice against the grain for tender beef.

Cook the beef in batches so it browns.

Add the Sichuan pepper at the end for the strongest tingle.

How to Make Szechuan Beef

Tap a step to highlight it, or turn on Cook Mode for large type and step-by-step focus.

1. Toss the beef with the cornflour and 1 tablespoon of the oil. Mix the soy sauce, wine and sugar in a small bowl.

   Mark done

2. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok until smoking. Fry the beef in 2 batches for 2 minutes each, until browned. Remove.

   Mark done Start 2 min timer

3. Add the remaining oil and stir-fry the celery and carrots for 3 minutes.

   Mark done Start 3 min timer

4. Add the chilli bean paste, garlic and ginger and fry for 30 seconds.

   Mark done Start 30 sec timer

5. Return the beef, add the sauce and Sichuan pepper and toss for 2 minutes. Scatter with spring onions.

   Mark done Start 2 min timer

Something wrong or unclear in this recipe? Report a problem with this recipe.

What's Going On Here

Szechuan beef sits beside the better known Kung Pao in many Chinese-American menus, and it is the beef version of the same hot and numbing flavours. Where Kung Pao is sweet and sour, this is darker and deeper, built on fermented chilli bean paste, soy sauce and Sichuan pepper. Dark, deep and tingling.

Slice the steak thin, across the grain, and freeze it for twenty minutes before slicing if it is hard to cut cleanly. Thin pieces cook in seconds and stay tender. Coat the beef in cornflour and a little oil so it fries without clumping and holds the sauce when it goes in the wok.

Fry the beef in two batches over a very high heat; a crowded pan steams, and steamed beef is grey and chewy. Then fry the celery and carrot, add the chilli bean paste, garlic and ginger, and return the beef with the sauce. The pepper gives a tingling warmth rather than pure heat, so adjust the quantity to taste. Taste the pepper first.

Leftovers, Reheating and Keeping

Keeps for 3 days in the fridge. Reheat in a hot pan.

Ingredient Swaps

• Out of spring onions? A small regular onion, finely sliced, or a few chives stirred in at the end both cover the job.
• Dried chilli flakes can stand in for the chilli. Heat varies a great deal between chillies and between jars, so start with a small pinch and add more to taste.
• 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.

Serving Szechuan Beef

• Steamed rice
• Cucumber salad
• Stir-fried bok choy
• Egg noodles

Szechuan Beef 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

Cooked this? Keep a note for next time

Your own rating out of 5

5 stars★ 4 stars★ 3 stars★ 2 stars★ 1 star★

Your note

Save note

Private to you: notes and ratings are saved in this browser only, are never sent anywhere, and other readers cannot see them.