This is the easiest, most delicious and nutritious Beef Stir Fry recipe! With a sticky sauce and noodles, it’s a full one-pot meal.
It’s also ready in 30 minutes, has simple ingredients and is lip-smackingly good. Perfect for a quick midweek family dinner or something tasty for the weekend too.
I absolutely LOVE quick and easy dinners that feel like a real treat. This is the best beef stir fry recipe for ticking this box!
Sometimes Chinese-style stir fry sauces can be a bit tricky to master, but this one is super simple and contains just a handful of store cupboard ingredients, with mouth-watering results.
Complicated should not be on the agenda for family cooking and this recipe alone reminds us that simple flavours, ingredients and methods are often the best when it comes to feeding our families.
I’d love to know whether this is as much of a crowd-pleaser in your family as it is in mine!
Why you’ll love this Beef Stir Fry recipe
⭐️ Healthier and cheaper than a takeaway
⭐️ One pan meal in under 30 minutes
⭐️ That sticky sauce… SO GOOD!
About this Beef Stir Fry with Noodles Recipe
I’ve explored the idea of fakeaways in quite a few different recipe forms recently, and their popularity is certainly not waning any time soon.
It makes sense doesn’t it? The ability to create a real treat of a dish which has loads of flavour but still manages to be healthy and relatively inexpensive definitely beats a long wait for an overpriced takeaway that probably isn’t very good for us.
I’m not saying takeaways don’t have their place now and then, but if you can whip up a Chinese Beef Stir Fry recipe in less than half an hour and everyone loves it, why would you not?!
Other fakeaways you might love include Gyoza Noodle Soup, Chicken Chow Mein, Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Chicken, Homemade Doner Kebab, Chinese Style Beef and Broccoli, Chicken Fried Rice and Veggie Enchiladas.
If you’d like to try a more elaborate and authentic Chinese Stir Fry sauce, take a look at this recipe by The Woks of Life.
Ingredients for a Beef Stir Fry
For the beef:
- Steak – Flank steak or sirloin steak work really well. Rump steak is also fine.
- Cornflour
- Chinese 5 spice
Vegetable mix:
- Green peppers – Or another colour if you prefer
- Spring onions
- Red chilli
- Garlic – Fresh or jar/paste/frozen is OK too
- Ginger – Same for this (cheat or fresh)
For the sauce:
- Tomato ketchup
- Soy sauce
- Sweet chilli sauce
- Rice vinegar
- Water
Noodles:
- Dried egg noodles
- Sunflower oil – This needs to get hot so don’t use olive oil. Sesame oil also works well for a little extra flavour.
How to make Beef Stir Fry
1. Cook the noodles in a pan. While they’re cooking, prepare your vegetables and set aside.
2. Cut the steak into thin strips and mix with Chinese 5 spice in a bowl until well coated. Set aside.
3. Mix the sauce ingredients into a bowl and set aside.
4. Cook the steak in hot oil and remove when crispy. Cook the pepper and chilli for 1 minute, then garlic, ginger and spring onion for another minute, then the veggies for 1 minute. Add the noodles and steak and mix well.
Hint: Don’t be afraid to get your pan SMOKING HOT. This is what will get your beef crispy and delicious. (Obviously take extra care when doing this.)
Substitutions
- Chilli – Omit this if your family doesn’t like the heat, or you can sprinkle it on at the end for the grown-ups instead.
Beef Stir Fry Leftovers
In the fridge You can keep this recipe in the fridge for 3 days. Reheat fully by before serving. You may need to add a splash of water before reheating.
In the freezer Cooked noodles don’t generally freeze very well, but I would rather freeze than throw it away. If you can freeze it without the noodles, that would be best. Make sure you defrost throughly before reheating.
Top tips for making this Beef Stir Fry
Use up your veggies
If you have anything lurking in your fridge that needs using up, add them in if you think they’ll be a good fit! Anything like mushrooms or green beans will work.
Time saving
If you have more time to play with earlier in the day, chop up your veggies and mix the sauce together ahead of time. Then you can cook the rest up in about 10 minutes!
Beef Stir Fry FAQs
Yes, sure. Omit the beef and use a meat alternative, or add extra veggies in instead.
Trim the fat off and cut it into thin strips – about the size of a little finger – so it cooks quickly and gets nice and crispy.
No! We’re sizzling the beef with this recipe to get that crispy consistency, which it wouldn’t get if we’d left it in sauce. Also, this way is much quicker!
Cut it into thin strips and make sure the oil is hot. This will help it to cook through quicker and not become too overcooked.
Also, make sure you follow the step where we remove the beef from the pan while we do our veggies. It doesn’t need too long.
Let me know how you got on and what you thought of these recipes. Please rate the recipe using the ⭐️ below.
Also I’d LOVE to see your cooking creations. If you’d like to share yours with me, you can tag me on Instagram (@tamingtwins).
Beef Stir Fry {with Noodles and Sticky Sauce}
Ingredients
For the beef:
- 500 g Steak See notes.
- 2 tbsp Cornflour
- 2 tsp Chinese 5 spice
For the vegetables:
- 2 Green peppers Deseeded and sliced into thin strips.
- 3 Spring onions Trimmed and sliced.
- 2 tsp Red chilli Finely chopped.
- 2 Cloves Garlic See notes.
- 4 cm Ginger See notes.
For the sauce:
- 2 tbsp Tomato ketchup
- 3 tbsp Soy sauce
- 3 tbsp Sweet chilli sauce
- 3 tbsp Rice vinegar
- 4 tbsp Water
For the noodles:
- 150 g Dried egg noodles
To cook and garnish:
- 2 tsbp Sunflower oil See notes.
Instructions
Preparation:
- Cook the noodles in a pan of boiling water according to the pack instructions.
- While the noodles are cooking, prepare all of your vegetables and put to one side.
- Prepare the steak by slicing into thin strips. Mix it with the flour and Chinese 5 spice in a bowl until well coated. Set aside.
- Prepare the sauce by mixing all of the ingredients in a small bowl and setting aside.
To cook:
- When the noodles are nearly cooked, heat up a wok or deep frying pan with the oil in until very hot.
- Add the steak strips (you may need to do this in batches so you don't overcrowd the pan). Don't shuffle them around TOO much or they won't crisp. As they get crispy and browned remove them to a side plate with some kitchen roll on.
- Add the pepper and chilli to your now-empty pan. Cook for 2 mins. Add the garlic, ginger and the spring onion. Cook for 1 minute more. Add the sauce to the veggies in the pan. Cook until glossy, about 1 minute more.
To serve:
- Add the drained noodles and the browned steak to the pan and stir to coat everything in the sauce.
- Serve topped with more spring onion and chilli if you like it hot!
Sim @ Sim's Life says
That looks absolutely delicious – do love a dish with spring onion! A great Winter Warmer! 🙂 Sim x
Baby advisor says
Lovely recipe Sarah! my kids would love to eat noodle more I am sure. I am going to give your recipe a try. I love these beautiful photos xxx
Rach says
Wow! Loved this and mine actually looked similar to the photo!
Sarah Barnes says
Ahh so pleased you liked it Rach!:)
trishanatechnologiest says
tasty one to try
Roger Shepherd says
Superb recipe easy to follow and is exactly as shown.
Lauren says
A nice, quick easy dinner that even 20 month twins love. Only problem is the mess they make with the noodles!!
Christine Partridge says
Amazing. A lot of store cupboard ingredients. Will definitely be doing this again.
DELICIOUS 😋
Andi says
I absolutely love a good stirfry, all those great flavours in your mouth you just can’t beat it.
My youngest niece’s boyfriend knocked this up for dinner last night, it was super delicious and the beef was so so tender. I immediately asked him for the recipe which he obviously kindly gave me or I wouldn’t be posting on here, I will definitely be serving this up in the near future to family and friends. Five stars!!
Amanda says
Absolutely delicious and so quick and easy.
Lyndoe says
First ever attempt at a stir fry. What brilliant recipe; the sticky sauce is amazing and makes the whole dish!! My husband loved it and he is quite picky. I’m making it tomorrow again for us both and for my daughter; she’s not forgiving with her criticism so fingers crossed… I’ve also bookmarked your yuk sung recipe and can’t wait to try it. (I’ve purchased a mini chopper from Amazon as I need all the help I can get). Thank you Sarah. Delicious. 🙂
Christian says
Loved following this recipe. All preparation, then a few minutes to cook. Also easy to split cook when the family has to eat at different times.
Jerusha says
Just tried it and it was absolutely amazing the sauce was perfect and It added so much flavour to the veggies… I added a bit of crushed black pepper to the sauce and it was so good.
Margaret Smith says
Just made your beef stir fry Sarah! The family of grown ups loved it! Took me a while to chop everything but next time I will have that done in advance!
Delicious! Very happy with it!
Thank you Sarah!!!! 🤗
Lesley says
Delicious and not too spicy for kids
Susie says
Just made this for supper. Delicious really enjoyed it. Cut the recipe in half as made for two.
Tristan & Julian says
Really easy and soooo good! I made it for two so reduced the amounts but added some pak Choi. Took me a bit longer to prep everything but I’m quite slow at chopping.
Great sauce, will be using it for other dishes.
Ann Lessard says
this is the 3rd time I have made this, each time it gets more tasty as I get used to using the spices always go’s down a treat & never any left overs. Great recipe, I do add more veg , mushrooms green beans carrots as we are veggie lovers. Thank You for this recipe.
Paul says
Just tried it, and it’s absolutely delicious!
Going to try it again, but with chicken next time!!
That sauce is next level!!
Madeleine Cooper says
Made this for our evening meal. Absolutely gorgeous. It had a kick as I added extra chillies as we love spicy food. I also added some Mange tout. Will definitely be making this again.
Hannah says
Absolutely delicious. So easy to make. Will be putting this on the dinner rotation!
Meryl wilkinson says
Better than a takeaway