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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.

Beef stir fry with noodles and sticky sauce

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!


Beef noodles with green peppers and sticky sauce

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?!

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.

More Fakeaway recipes…


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

stir fry vegetables

1. Cook the noodles in a pan. While they’re cooking, prepare your vegetables and set aside.

Stir fry beef steak with coating

2. Cut the steak into thin strips and mix with Chinese 5 spice in a bowl until well coated. Set aside.

stir fry sauce ingredients

3. Mix the sauce ingredients into a bowl and set aside.

Beef stir fry with noodles and sticky sauce

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.

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

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!

FAQs

Can I make this a vegetarian stir fry?

Yes, sure. Omit the beef and use a meat alternative, or add extra veggies in instead.

How should I cut up the steak for the stir fry?

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.

Don’t I need to marinate the beef for this stir fry recipe?

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!

How do I stop the beef getting too tough?

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).

4.99 from 73 votes

Beef Stir Fry {with Noodles and Sticky Sauce}

This easy Beef Stir Fry with noodles coated a delicious sticky sauce is a one pan dinner. It's also ready in under 30 minutes.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 4 People

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!

Notes

Steak: Flank steak or sirloin steak works well for this. Just trim the fat off and cut into thin strips so it cooks quickly. They should be about the size of a little finger.
Garlic and ginger: Peel and crush before adding, or you can use ready prepared frozen or from a jar if you prefer.
Oil: The oil needs to be suitable for heating to a very hot temperature. (Don’t use olive oil, it will burn!)
A note on your pan when cooking: Don’t be afraid to get the pan SMOKING hot! (Obviously keep a close eye on it and keep children away.) But this heat is what will get you that delicious crispy beef.

Nutrition

Calories: 480kcalCarbohydrates: 43gProtein: 34gFat: 20gSaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 76mgSodium: 1479mgPotassium: 548mgFiber: 4gSugar: 13gVitamin A: 395IUVitamin C: 54.4mgCalcium: 40mgIron: 3.5mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Chinese
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Sarah Rossi founder of TamingTwins.com and author of 'What's for Dinner?' books.

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4.99 from 73 votes (54 ratings without comment)

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25 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Delicious recipe!! Definitely making this meal my family’s go to stir fry recipe!!! Try this recipe, it’s worth it.

  2. 5 stars
    I decided to innovate and cooked the beef in my air fryer, added the veg and then the sauce. Tossed in the cooked noodles at the end. Everyone enjoyed it, thank you.