Beef with Broccoli
Saving Money with Homemade Beef with Broccoli
There is a super good Chinese restaurant in my town. Their food is absolutely delicious. The best way I can describe it is, “clean.” Do you know what I’m going for here? Not oily. Crisp, fresh. Also? Very expensive – like $70 for three Chinese restaurant staples. You can see the problem. And in my brain, the one that will never forget being really poor, I can’t justify spending that kind of money. This beef with broccoli is my attempt to recreate one of those delicious meals without spending a fortune.
The Life Altering Experience that is Fried Broccoli
One of my delightful qualities is my need to dissect everything I eat and figure out how it was made. I’m sure that’s super enjoyable for my husband. In this entrée, I felt that I needed to concentrate on two things: the sauce and the broccoli. Those two elements, in my opinion, are what set this place apart from other Chinese restaurants. The broccoli was particularly interesting. I grew up eating boiled broccoli, maybe with some butter on it. It was pretty unappealing. The broccoli at this place is crispy! How? Where are the soggy stalks? After some experimenting, I realized that the best broccoli is fried in a little bit of sesame oil. It is life altering! I have gone from broccoli avoidance to absolutely loving it.
But Wait! There is also a Delicious Sauce!
So the sauce. I have been making Chinese restaurant inspired dishes for a while now and make the sauce depending on the other ingredients. Sometimes I add honey, sometimes mustard. The basis of every version, however, is brown sugar, soy sauce, warm water and hoisin sauce. A little cornstarch added in thickens the sauce which makes it stick to the meat and veggies..
Beef with Broccoli All with a Yummy Sauce
How to put it all together, then. I like to prep all the pieces before I begin the cooking because things move pretty quickly. Start by slicing a small yellow onion and a red bell pepper. You can actually use any color bell pepper, but I think the red really pops. Next up, slice the steak fairly thin. I used to choose flank steak or skirt steak as they are the most tender and flavorful. Now they cost an absolute fortune, so I switched to top round. It’s not quite as good, but with the veggies and sauce, it doesn’t make that much difference. You should also mix the sauce before beginning. Brown sugar, soy sauce, warm water (warm water helps the brown sugar dissolve), hoisin sauce, and cornstarch.
Have We Talked about Fried Broccoli?
I find it more convenient to use two frying pans for this dish. In one, I cook onions and pepper in olive oil until translucent. In the other pan, a deeper skillet, I brown the steak in olive oil. When the onion and pepper are cooked through, I remove them to a bowl and add a splash of sesame oil. There’s no need to clean out the pan. Cook the broccoli a few minutes until it is very lightly brown. Have I mentioned how good fried broccoli is? SO GOOD.
No Takeout, Just Cooking In
Once you’re done cooking, toss the onion, pepper, and broccoli into the skillet with the steak and cover the whole thing with the sauce. Stir and let it sit. That’s it! Served over rice (I have been making coconut rice!) beef with broccoli is a simple, relatively quick meal, that is also super tasty and relatively inexpensive. Forget about the takeout and cook in!
If you enjoy this recipe and would like to support my purchases of things like steak – and broccoli – please consider a small donation to my page: https://ko-fi.com/goodenoughkitchen. Anything is so appreciated!
Beef with Broccoli
Ingredients
- 1 lb steak flank steak, skirt steak, top round
- 1 small yellow onion
- 1 red bell pepper any color is fine
- 1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
- 2-4 tbsp olive oil
- 1-2 tbsp sesame oil
Sauce
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
Instructions
- Slice the onion and pepper into thin strips.
- Slice the steak into thin strips.
- Wash and cut up the broccoli. You will be using the top "floret" part. You can also be lazy like me and buy a bag of the florets.
- Make the sauce. In a medium bowl mix together the brown sugar, soy sauce, warm water, and hoisin sauce. Use warm water to help the sugar dissolve. Then add the cornstarch and whisk in. Try to get rid of the lumps.
- Add one tablespoon of olive oil to a skillet. Add the onions and peppers and cook over medium high heat.
- Cook the onions and peppers until translucent, but not brown, about 5 minutes. You can add a bit more olive oil if necessary.
- While the veggies cook, add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil to a deep skillet and heat over medium high heat.
- Add the steak to this second skillet. Cook until the meat is browned, turning the pieces over from time-to-time. This should take about 5-7 minutes.
- When the onions and peppers are cooked, transfer them to a bowl and set aside.
- Add one tablespoon of sesame oil to the skillet you used for the peppers and onions. No need to clean it out. Add the broccoli.
- Cook the broccoli in the sesame oil over medium high heat until it is lightly browned, about 3-4 minutes. You can add a little more oil if necessary.
- Once the meat is cooked, add the onions, peppers and sauce to the pan. Stir to coat everything and let simmer gently over medium heat while you finish cooking the broccoli.
- When the broccoli is cooked, add it to the meat and veggies, stirring to coat with the sauce.
- Heat through, about 3 minutes.
- Serve on top of some delicious fluffy rice!
