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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.
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?!
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…
Under 15 minutes
Gyoza Noodle Soup {15 Minute Meal}
Under 30 minutes
Chicken Chow Mein {Quick & Easy Recipe}
Slow Cooker Chicken
Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Chicken {Easy Fakeaway}
Slow Cooker
Doner Kebab RECIPE {Slow cooker & Air Fryer}
Slow Cooker Beef
Chinese Style Beef and Broccoli {Slow Cooker Fakeaways}
Ingredients for a Beef Stir Fry
For the beef:
- Steak – Flank steak or sirloin steak work really well. Rump steak is also fine.
- Cornflour PLEASE NOTE: Cornflour in the UK is NOT the same as it in the US! There it’s known as ‘corn starch’. Corn flour in the US is something different (the same as cornmeal in the UK), so please don’t use this
- 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.
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
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 (2.5 cups) Steak, See notes
- 2 tbsp Cornflour, See notes
- 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 (4 cups) 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
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This post was originally published on February 26, 2021 and updated later to make improvements.
This sounds delicious! I don’t have any rice vinegar -can I substitute it with something else?