My Mom's Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Author Notes: The velvety strips of marinated beef stir fried with tender-crisp broccoli in a flavorful brown sauce are perfect served over steamed white rice.
The best part is the marinade, which ends up becoming the sauce after it's stir-fried with the beef. It's already quite fragrant due to the soy sauce, garlic, and sesame oil, but my mom adds a secret ingredient that really brings it over the top: cinnamon! Such a tiny amount is added that you can't really taste it, but the aromatic spice somehow boosts all the other flavors in the sauce in a way you wouldn't expect. —Joy Huang | The Cooking of Joy
Serves 4
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 4 tablespoons rice wine
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 pound flank or sirloin steak, sliced thinly against the grain
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
- 6 cups broccoli florets
- Salt, to taste
- 1/2 cup water
- Whisk together the soy sauce, cornstarch, rice wine, sesame oil, sugar, minced garlic, and cinnamon. Toss with the sliced steak and marinate for at least 30 minutes.
- In a large frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over high and add the broccoli florets. Season with salt and stir-fry until bright green. Add 1/2 cup water and cover. Steam until the broccoli is cooked through but still crisp and not mushy. Transfer the broccoli to a bowl, and wipe down the pan.
- Add remaining 2 tablespoons of oil and heat on high again. Add the steak and marinade to the pan. Rinse out the container that the beef was in with 1/2 cup water and add that liquid to the pan. Stir-fry until the beef is just done and no longer red. Add the broccoli back into the pan and continue to stir fry for another minute or two to combine. Serve hot, over steamed rice if desired.
- This recipe is a Community Pick!
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best One-Pan Dinner
More Great Recipes:
Broccoli|Entrees|Vegetables|Beef & Veal|Steak
Topics: Meat, Comfort Food
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4 days ago Whats4Dinner
A definite keeper!!! Used sherry instead of rice wine. I also doubled it since I'm feeding a pack of wolves here but only had leftovers for two lunches. This will definitely go into the rotation ;-)
4 days ago Joy Huang | The Cooking of Joy
Thanks for your comment; I'm glad you liked it!
6 days ago Laura
I asked for rice wine at whole foods and was informed that all sake is rice wine. Now I'm getting the sense this isn't right but you didn't specify a kind of rice wine... Can I use the sake?
6 days ago Joy Huang | The Cooking of Joy
I usually substitute rice cooking wine whenever I see sake in a recipe so it would probably work! For what it's worth, I found this article about rice wines: https://www.malafood.com...
Apparently the type of rice wine I use is Taiwanese michiu. I learn something new every day!
6 days ago Laura
I trusted my gut on not using the sake and instead got mirin rice wine. Followed the recipe exactly and it was perfect! Thanks so much!
13 days ago ReeceAmy
Yum! This was fab - many thanks Joy. I made a few tweaks to accommodate allergies (no cornstarch, no sugar and used avocado oil.) Served on top of cauliflower fried "rice." Lovely meal.
13 days ago Joy Huang | The Cooking of Joy
Yay, I'm glad you liked it!
17 days ago Heather
Just to clarify, when you cook the meat, you're not really searing it, right? Like mine was kind of boiling in the liquid. (??)
17 days ago Joy Huang | The Cooking of Joy
The beef should be cut thin enough that you wouldn't want to sear it (since that would make it too dry). If you use a large enough pan, you shouldn't get the "meat boiling in sauce" effect, but it is, essentially, thin strips of beef being stir fried with sauce.
17 days ago teresa anderson
Ooops, just realized that the recipe calls for rice wine, NOT rice wine vinegar. I don't have rice wine, so the vinegar will just have to do.
17 days ago Joy Huang | The Cooking of Joy
I would use sherry or just more water instead of vinegar; vinegar would add an unwanted flavor to the marinade.
17 days ago nutcakes
Is Mirin what you mean or do you mean the plain Chinese type of rice wine in the large bottles?
17 days ago Joy Huang | The Cooking of Joy
I mean the plain Chinese type of rice wine in large bottles. Mirin would be way too sweet for this application.
18 days ago Tameka
Gratitude to you and your mother for such a great recipe. I really enjoyed reading the story behind this dish--thank you for sharing this gift with all of us!
I made the dish last night, subbing seitan for the beef and sodium-free homemade veggie broth for the water and it was a delight. My husband raved and my two small children gobbled it up. Thanks again!!!
17 days ago Joy Huang | The Cooking of Joy
Ooh, I've wanted to make a vegan version of this. Did you buy the seitan or make it yourself? If you bought it, what kind did you get? I don't have much experience with it, but I'd love to try it!
11 days ago Tameka
I have been experimenting with making my own seitan for years, but still haven't got it the way I want it yet. So...I used Ray's Seitan ("Wheat Meat") for this recipe. Comes in a refrigerated tub. Had a great texture and took the flavor on quite nicely. I marinated it for about 5 hours though, as I prepped the meal when I had spare time earlier in the day, so dinner would be quick. Could very well work with the 30 minutes you suggested. Thanks Again and good luck with your seitan experiment!
18 days ago Yulia
This was slightly underwhelming, maybe because I only marinated the beef for thirty minutes. I also found it a little hard to tell when the beef was done because the brown sauce camouflaged the meat, so maybe the problem is also that I accidentally overcooked the beef a little. I followed the recipe as written, though I used a big cast iron wok instead of a large flat-bottomed pan. I can see myself cooking the beef more easily in a large pan with the strips laying in the sauce instead of bubbling in it at the bottom of a wok. I didn’t think it would make that much of a difference though! Oh well.
18 days ago Yulia
Not hating though. Joy's recipe for scallion rolls looks DELECTABLE and I trust her recipes enough to try that next. :)
18 days ago Joy Huang | The Cooking of Joy
=) No worries; not every recipe will work for everyone. I hope you have better luck with the hua juan!
19 days ago Suen
Wow! My dad does almost exactly the same stir fry but with gailan (芥蘭). The tip made me smile as that's the same thing mom taught me too! We're from Malaysia. I guess the cooking techniques and recipes spread with the diaspora.
18 days ago Joy Huang | The Cooking of Joy
Cool!
19 days ago charity
Any thoughts on how this would taste with salmon?
19 days ago Joy Huang | The Cooking of Joy
I know my mom has cooked salmon with a soy-based sauce before, but I think she usually roasts it instead of stir-frying it. Not sure how well salmon would hold up in a stir fry.... Have you tried it before?
18 days ago charity
I have- i usually remove the skin then marinate it whole. When it comes time to cook it i toss it in the skillet and crumble it a little as it cooks. Kind of like ground beef. I hate to modify the recipe in the first go but this sounds delicious and the only thing I have on hand is salmon. I'll give it a try with this sauce and let you know how it turns out.
20 days ago Sophia
This is wonderful! I substituted Worcestershire sauce for the soy sauce, baking soda for the corn starch, lamb for the beef, and coriander for the cinnamon and added some barbecue sauce to the marinade! It was amazing, and I can't wait to make this again!
20 days ago Joy Huang | The Cooking of Joy
Sigh, my cousin, the troll =P
20 days ago Whats4Dinner
You're such a good sport :-)
21 days ago Tasha
looks delicious. would this work with chicken? any adjustments that need to be made?
21 days ago Joy Huang | The Cooking of Joy
Usually when I think of a traditional chicken and broccoli stir fry there isn't any soy sauce in it so maybe you could try this without the soy (but up the salt). Or just try as is and just sub the chicken for the beef; it would probably still be quite good! Please let me know how it turns out!
21 days ago Joy Huang | The Cooking of Joy
Oh, and if you're going to make it without the soy sauce, I'd substitute some fresh ginger for the cinnamon, too.
2 months ago Katelinlee
This turned out great, thank you!
2 months ago Joy Huang | The Cooking of Joy
You're welcome!
11 months ago drbabs
Barbara is a trusted source on General Cooking.
What a nice simple recipe. I added some more vegetables and a minced chili for some heat. I also added about 1/2 cup of chicken broth to the leftover marinade and used that to make the sauce when I put the vegetables back into the pan with the meat. Really great easy delicious dinner. Thank you!
11 months ago Joy Huang | The Cooking of Joy
You're welcome! Glad you were able to adapt it and make it work!
11 months ago Gardener
I made this for dinner. Delicious! My husband, who does most of the stir fry cooking in our kitchen, couldn't guess the secret ingredient that gave the dish it's mysterious, complex flavor. When I revealed cinnamon, he was truly shocked and impressed. Thanks for sharing your mom's recipe. Love it.
11 months ago Joy Huang | The Cooking of Joy
Yay, I'm glad you guys liked it! The cinnamon is definitely unexpected, isn't it? But it just works so well for some reason....
11 months ago Gardener
It really does. The flavor is reminiscent of star anise but somehow more satisfying.
11 months ago txchick57
That looks great. I don't eat meat but it looks like you could sub strips of tofu or even portobello. I'll try it and report back.
11 months ago Joy Huang | The Cooking of Joy
I'd probably use seitan as a substitute, but dried or pressed tofu could work as well. Let me know how it went for you!
Showing 39 out of 39 comments