This is one of my all time favourite week night dinners.
Beef & Broccoli Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 500 g ground (minced) beef
- 2 cloves garlic finely sliced
- 2 heads broccoli
- 2-4 tablespoons oyster or soy sauce
- 1 bunch coriander (cilantro) chopped
Instructions
- Preheat a large wok or frying pan on a very high heat.
- Add a few tablespoons peanut or other neutral flavoured oil and stir fry the beef.
- While the beef is browning, finely slice the broccoli stems and chop the head into bight sized trees. Add garlic to the beef and continue to cook until well browned.
- Add broccoli and a few tablespoons water and cover the pan.
- Continue to cook on a high heat with the lid on, stirring every 2 minutes until the broccoli is bright green and tender but still a tiny bit crunchy. If it starts to burn, add a little more water.
- Stir in oyster or soy sauce. Taste and season with extra sauce if needed. Serve with chopped coriander on top.
Prepare Ahead?
You could cook in advance and reheat if you like. Just leave the coriander to add at the last minute.
Leftover Potential
Will keep in the fridge for a week or so. Reheats well and is also delicious at room temperature.
Variations
vegetarian / vegan – replace the ground beef with crumbled firm tofu or 2 drained cans of lentils. It won’t brown up as much as the beef but will still be lovely. And make sure you use a ‘vegetarian’ oyster sauce – they are available.
no oyster sauce? – use soy sauce or try hoisin sauce or even sweet soy sauce (if you don’t mind the sugar).
chilli beef – add in some fresh or dried chilli.
ginger – my irishman likes to add a few tablespoons of finely shredded fresh ginger in with the garlic.
coriander-free – some people aren’t keen on coriander (cilantro). If you’re not sure, serve it on the side so everyone can add their own. Otherwise replace the coriander with fresh mint or parsley leaves.
nutty – a handful of roasted cashews adds a different dimension and some crunch. Especially good in the lentil vegetarian option.
more substantial (carb lovers) – serve with steamed rice or pita.
more substantial (low carb) – add some cashews, peanuts or macadamias.
more veg – add snow peas, carrots or sliced capsicum (bell peppers).
keto / ultra low carb – use soy sauce.
Waste Avoidance Strategy
beef – freeze it.
garlic – keeps in the pantry in a brown paper bag
broccoli – will keep for 2 weeks or loner in the fridge. Can be frozen. Best to chop before freezing for quicker defrosting.
oyster sauce – opened bottles best kept in the fridge.
coriander (cilantro) – freeze it in a plastic bag.
Problem Solving Guide
burning on the bottom – it can be a bit tricky getting the broccoli to cook in such a dry environment. Remember to add a little water and cover the pan tightly as it cooks so the broccoli steams from the top.
too salty – oyster sauces vary in their saltiness levels. I find it rare that I need to add extra salt. For now, a little sugar can help tone down the saltiness but next time try a different brand of oyster sauce.
too bland? – add in a little more salt and pepper. A dash of lime juice or lemon juice may also bring the flavours to life.
Serving Suggestions
Great on its own. With the browned meat and veg it feels like a complete meal in a bowl.
You could serve with steamed rice or cauliflower rice if you prefer.
And it might also me nice to serve it with a curry and another stir fry as part of an Asian-ish banquet.
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I really like the fact that you suggested alternative for everyone.
I prepared the original and really liked it.
So glad you enjoyed it Chantal! It’s one of my faves 🙂
This is amazing! I didn‘t expect this to work with lentils…
(I used the variations lentils, soy-sauce, parsley)
So glad you enjoyed the lentils Michael!
This was simple and great. Loved by the entire family! I sauteed an onion and used coconut aminos.
oh good to know it works with coconut aminos Rachel 🙂
#7 meal of the Challenge but a late comment – made two versions again, beef and tofu. We used vegetarian oyster sauce and used a lot of it! I always find tofu quite bland – let’s face it, it really doesn’t have any flavour, so a good sauce is essential. Added some red capsicum and cashews for extra crunch. Very quick and easy as usual (thank you Jules) and also had plenty of leftovers as we made two versions.
Great Jennifer – yes tofu definitely need a LOT of sauce 🙂
Super easy work night meal. Served on brown rice with a drizzle of soy sauce. Another recipe for the favorites file!
Excellent Deveri 🙂
Awesome easy recipe. My husband wasn’t a fan of the coriander so will leave off his next time. I loved it as is. Will become a regular at our house.
Excellent Naomi – it’s good with basil or mint or parsley too if your husband doesn’t like coriander 🙂
Easy and delicious. Doubled it and added rice to feed four teens tonight. They even indulged me with the cilantro garnish!
Excellent Cath!
Nice and fast, needed to include rice.
Great Amanda!
Day 4 challenge. This was very fast coming together as I always have all of these ingredients on hand but wasn’t crazy about the minced beef although it tasted lovely. Next time I will use sliced beef or tofu, or chicken.
Very nice. I’m a big broccoli fan so this was right up my ally.
I adore broccoli too Martina!
So broccoli is my favourite veggie. My daughter’s as well. She doesn’t usually eat beef but she Is low in iron, so it’s a must anyway. Well this was woofed down! We will definitely return to this meal again!
I struggle with low iron too Helen. If your daughter eats pate it’s the best source of iron. Mussels are high in iron too 🙂
Day 3 challenge dinner – I was worried my husband wouldn’t like it because of the amount of broccoli but it was a hit.
So glad he enjoyed it Michele!
I made this tonight as #2 for my 10 Day Challenge. I had about 300g of mince left that from the pack that I bought for the Fast Friday Cheeseburger Bowls a fortnight ago (frozen in the meantime of course), to which I added 1 tin of brown lentils – the lentils augmented the beef rather than perceptibly diluting it. For variety of veg, I stir-fried thinly sliced carrot, capsicum, flat mushrooms and the stem of one head of broccoli before the beef and lentils, and kept half of the result separate to have with a later dish. I used 1 Tbsp of hoisin, 1 of oyster and 2 of soy for the sauce, and had it with absorption-boiled brown rice. Good.
Love that you’re doing the beef and lentil combo Mark!
I did the beef and lentils combo again, but this time the lentils added a slightly chalky texture – 500g of mushrooms might make a better augmentation for the beef. For veg I used one head of broccoli, one capsicum and 2 zucchinis, and just oyster sauce. Good.
I think mushrooms AND lentils would be good here Mark – if the lentils were chalky sounds like they could have been cooked longer.
Although I had broccoli, I also had a bunch of baby bok choi, and two small capsicums technically past their use-by date. Stir-fry beef pieces and mushrooms, oyster sauce plus soy and a bit of sweet chilli. Came out rather wet even after cooking down the mushrooms (and I reduced the sauce for the leftovers), but still pretty good.
I made this as Meal 3 in the 10-Day Challenge (using tofu instead of beef). I often add more sauces when stir frying, but found that the 4 tablespoons of oyster sauce was very tasty and the dish was not lacking flavour.
Good to know it worked with tofu Julie 🙂
Hi, Jules. My apologies if you’ve explained this somewhere else on your site and I haven’t come across it yet…Why do you add olive oil to the pan before browning? Ground beef has become more expensive here in Texas the last few years, but growing up it was a staple because such an inexpensive way to feed a family. Even with the leaner options available, I don’t know anyone who adds the oil, but instead uses the fat in the meat with no added oil, draining the excess fat when less lean ground beef is used, and not draining when a leaner beef is used. Thanks for broadening my culinary horizons!
Great question Melanie!
I add the oil because when the cold beef hits the pan it takes a while for the fat to render out and start doing its job of preventing the protein part from sticking to the pan/wok. I buy the fattiest meat I can and still add the oil and I never drain the fat – that’s such a waste!
If your beef isn’t sticking though you can easily skip the extra oil. I like the extra fat but know it’s not for everyone!
Hope that helps.
Jx
I made this with thinly sliced steak and broccoli and substituted the oyster sauce with Worcestershire which I always have in the cupboard, left out the cilantro, would have gone very well with parsley. A great quick meal.
I would never have thought of Worcestershire sauce Denise but now you mention it, I can imagine it working really well!
This was the first recipe that I ever tried off of the blog, and it’s still one of my favs. I don’t tend to keep oyster sauce in the house, so I use the substitute that’s on your blog version of this recipe (1 part honey and 2 parts soy sauce). The cilantro is what really makes it for me, that bright fresh note on top. Thanks for a great adaptable recipe!
Yay Shayna!
Love this recipe. It’s just so simple and so tasty. We’ve had it a few times now. It is a staple week day dinner for us at the moment. When once we would have given up and bought take away when we get home a bit late – now we quickly work together to get this happening!
Thanks so much Jules.
Wonderful Libby!
It’s still a fave in our house too 🙂
Jx
I made this last night and loved it! I am a bit of a broccoli-holic though! I’m also trying to quit sugar as well, and I found an oyster sauce called Chang’s. It is only 9g of sugar per 100g (much less than most other varieties which had up to 40g sugar), I figure as I’m then only using about 1.5tbsp per serving that it is pretty reasonable. Next time I’m going to pop a few cashews on top!
Great Meriel!
It’s lovely with cashews 🙂 and thx for reporting on your low sugar oyster sauce! The other option is to use soy sauce instead… start with less and add to taste 🙂
And good for you quitting sugar!
Jx
P.S. Next time I’ve gotta try ginger!
Jules, I really like this. I used Grapeseed Oil and was curious about Ghee. Maybe next time? Also I love all your suggestions for variations. Maybe cashews next time. Maybe a different herb from my garden. I found a sort of healthy version of “Lee Kum Kee / Panda Brand Oyster Flavored Sauce” in that there’s no MSG added, which is the best I could do in Austin, Texas at the Flagship Whole Foods grocery store. What in the world is oyster sauce?
This is my first global cooking class and it’s going to be really fun!
It’s great with the cashews Gay,
My Irishman always adds cashews to any stir fry!
Oyster sauce is this crazy Chinese sauce… some have actual oysters in it but most are ‘flavoured’ so theres no actual oysters… Lee Kum Kee is a good brand to use.
I wish we had whole foods here in Australia.. it was my saviour when I was living in California.
JX
This is a favourite in our house especially with toasted cashews on top. Sadly I haven’t been able to cook it for quite some time. We have been 8 weeks (tomorrow) sugar free so I would love to find an oyster sauce with less sugar or with a sugar replacement like stevia. I just don’t think soy sauce on it’s own will be as good.
Liz,
I don’t worry about small amounts of sugar in things like oyster sauce when you’re only using a few tablespoons… But you could try soy sauce with just a tiny touch of stevia for added sweetness if you liked.
Jx
I also like to use ginger, but I was always buying it and then throwing it out because I didn’t use it fast enough, or forgoing it because it seemed like too much effort to make a special trip to the store for it or to peel it and mince it (resulting in stringy mush). One tip I learned was to peel it all, then freeze it (in plastic wrap/bag) and use a microplane or grater to grate the frozen ginger when you need it. It lasts forever and is much faster and easier than trying to mince fresh garlic, in my opinion. You also get nice little flakes that melt into the dish instead of large, stringy/woody chunks.
Great idea Karen!
I haven’t tried freezing ginger.
Jx
This is one of our favorite go-to recipes at my house. Super simple and tasty. My only issue is the sugar and preservatives in most oyster sauce, so I’d like to find a higher quality version. Like the above commenter, I always add sambal olek (chili garlic sauce) or sriracha for spice, and it took me a while to get used to serving dishes like this without any rice or carbs, but now we are used to it in my household, so it can be done! I often buy ground beef in bulk and freeze it- any tips on how to safely and quickly defrost ground meat if I forget to take it out of the freezer in the morning before work? I might try storing more meat in Cryovac packages in the fridge for a couple weeks like I’ve seen you do.
Hi Karen
If you can buy meat in cryovac is makes a big difference.
When you freeze your ground beef, best to put it into smaller bags so there’s 1-2 servings in each. This will help to defrost faster.
Then if you get stuck, what I do it put the package in warm-hot water from the tap for 5 minutes or so just to loosen the plastic. I then put it in a hot pan with the lid on and stir to break it up. It’s not ideal because some meat can get overcooked while you’re getting the middle bit to defrost. So the texture can be less than ideal. But it’s safe because you don’t have raw meat sitting around in the ‘danger zone’ temperatures for more than 5 minutes. Which isn’t a problem.
Great question!
Jx
Thanks! I will try the warm water technique. While not ideal, I’m sure ground meat is much more forgiving with this technique than frozen chicken, which I’ve also tried.
I’m considering getting a sous vide machine (because I love how easy it is to cook deliciously tender steak, lamb, and pork chops), which requires a vacuum sealing machine as well, so maybe I can use that to “cryovac” my own meat after I buy it.
Yes Karen!
I have toyed with the idea of getting my own vacuum sealing machine as well.
Jx
Cannot wait to make this. I am so glad I found you online!
It’s one of my favourites Danielle!
Enjoy
Not too long ago I served every curry and stir fry with rice. I’m over that now thanks to stonesoup recipes. Nothing better than a big bowl of veg, with just enough meat to make it interesting. I used soy sauce and Sambal olek but will seek out some oyster sauce for next time.
Hi Kim
Very happy we’ve got you away from big bowls of rice!
Great idea to use sambal olek
J
Made this for my day 3 challenge dinner. Had forgotten how much we love this!
Served with rice for my boys (and men).
And Tabasco for my chilli-loving Irishman.
Used 3 tablespoons soy sauce and it was perfect with the garlic.
My Irishman asked if we could have it again next week!