30-Minute Beef and Broccoli
This Beef and Broccoli recipe is ready in about 30 minutes, making it a great weeknight dinner. Tender beef and broccoli florets cook in a delicious stir-fry sauce – pile it all on rice for a meal that’s better and less expensive than takeout.
Broccoli Beef Recipe
It’s only been in the last few years that I’ve been making some favorite Chinese takeout dishes at home because I spent a long time thinking it was too hard, would take too long, and just wouldn’t be the same as my favorite takeout dishes. One of my favorites to make is beef and broccoli. It’s a 30-minute dinner that satisfies a takeout craving.
And while my version is very Americanized – I don’t use a wok, and I make do with ingredients I can find at my regular grocery store – I’ve been surprised at how easy it is to make some of these dishes at home and how close they are to the originals in appearance and in taste.
How to Make It
This is a pretty quick recipe, so it helps to prep your ingredients first. The broccoli goes in the hot pan first and cooks until it’s crisp-tender. Then the steak goes in, followed by the sauce. At the end, you combine all of the components so the beef and broccoli are coated in the velvety smooth sauce. It’s so savory, perfect with rice, and a few eggrolls on the side complete the experience.
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PrintBeef and Broccoli
30-minute beef and broccoli! Be sure to prep all of the ingredients first because all of it cooks very fast. Serve it with rice, noodles, or all on its own. No take-out menu required.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stir-Fry
- Cuisine: Chinese-American
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, divided
- 3 cups fresh broccoli florets
- 12 oz sirloin, sliced thin
- Cooked white rice, optional
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk the soy sauce, water, brown sugar, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, ginger paste, and cornstarch until combined. Set the sauce aside.
- In a 10-inch skillet, heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat until it’s hot, but not smoking. Rotate the pan to ensure the oil evenly coats the bottom of the pan. Adjust the heat to medium and add the broccoli to the pan. Cook it in the oil, stirring frequently, until it’s crisp-tender, about 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the broccoli to a plate and set aside.
- Add 1/2 tablespoon of oil to the same pan. Once it’s heated, add the sliced sirloin in an even layer. Cook the beef for 1 to 2 minutes on each side. Transfer the beef to the plate with the broccoli and set aside.
- Pour the sauce into the pan. Simmer the sauce for 2 to 3 minutes, or until it thickens. Add the broccoli and beef to the pan and stir to coat it in the sauce. Cook them in the sauce for a minute or so. Serve with the cooked white rice.
Notes
Soy sauce: If you are sensitive to salt, use low-sodium soy sauce. You can also reduce the soy sauce to make the dish less saucy.
Leftovers: This recipe makes two generous servings and can be doubled. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for three to four days.
The nutrition estimate does not include the rice.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2 of recipe
- Calories: 452
- Sugar: 8g
- Sodium: 4117.7mg
- Fat: 20.5g
- Saturated Fat: 8.8g
- Unsaturated Fat: 9.4g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 22.4
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 45.9g
- Cholesterol: 100.5mg
The nutrition is an estimate only. It was calculated using Nutrifox, an online nutrition calculator.
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Substitutions
Beef: I prefer sirloin, but tenderloin, tri-tip, or strip steak are also good. Flank steak is another option, but I recommend marinating it first. To do this, double the sauce and use half of it to marinate the steak.
Oil: Any high-smoke point oil will work. Don’t use olive oil.
Heat: Instead of red pepper flakes, add a squeeze or two of sriracha sauce when you mix up the sauce.
Extras: For garnish, add some sesame seeds and sliced green onions.
Recipe FAQ
If you use a tender cut of beef, you don’t have to marinate it. If you want to use flank steak, you will want to marinate it first so it’s tender. You can double the beef and broccoli sauce recipe and use half of it as a marinade.
This is up to you. I use regular soy sauce because I usually serve the beef and broccoli with plain white rice and I find the saltiness is balanced out. If you’re sensitive to salt, I recommend using low-sodium soy sauce.
Also, this beef and broccoli recipe is extra-saucy. Some readers have reduced the amount of soy sauce to make less sauce with success, so keep that in mind.
This recipe is great for meal prep because beef and broccoli keeps well in the refrigerator for three to four days. If you want to make it ahead, I recommend waiting to cook the rice until you’re ready to serve it. Rice dries out in the fridge, so a fresh batch tastes better.
Make it the next time you get a craving for Chinese food – it won’t disappoint!
Happy cooking,
More Recipes with Steak
Post updated from the archives. First published in January 2015.
Looks delicious! Love the heat from sriracha. I’m doing this!
Wow this looks incredible! Love your photography style.. Hm I am not a huge rice lover and I always think of anything else but rice. Just yesterday when I made a sticky soy sauce chicken I served it with rice NOODLES. 🙂
your recipe sounds delicious.. ingredients are exactly what I love.. so I ll give it a try 🙂
Thanks, Claudia! I thought about serving it with noodles, but thought I needed at least one recipe with rice 🙂
I am making this! You don’t even know how excited I am!! I used to only order General Tso’s Chicken, until I branched out and tried Beef & Broccoli – and now that is my favorite! This looks delicious! Pinned!
Beef & Broccoli is the best! Although, I like General Tso’s chicken, too… actually, I like it all!
I always order beef and broccoli when i get asian takeout too. Lke you, I never have made it myself either.. so this recipe is just ideal for me. It looks perfect and delicious!
I was happy with the way it turned out – so much easier than I thought it would be!
I’m making this for my second time now. This is an amazing recipe. Blows Panda and my local chinese joints out of the water. I think I’ll probably eat this every week for at least awhile.
So glad you like it! Thank you for letting me know 🙂
I made this for lunch the other day – better than my local Chinese restaurant! I will definitely make this again.
So glad you like it!
I love how easy this is although next time I might not add as much soy sauce.
I’m glad you enjoyed it! If you reduce the soy sauce you might want to increase the water the same amount 🙂 Thank you for sharing your feedback!
A+. Very easy. One pan. Delicious. Next time I will cut back on the soy sauce. I noted your comment above about replacing with water. In addition to the broccoli, I added a bag of frozen Chinese vegetables and served with rice. This is way better than the local Chinese restaurants that we have tried.
Oh that’s great! So glad you liked it 🙂
This is one of my favorite dishes to eat and cook. It’s fresh goodness and less expensive than if you ordered take out and you know exactly what I’m it and no MSG!!! Love Love Love
Oh, thank you! So glad you like – it’s one of my favorites, too!
LOVE homemade versions of take-out dishes like this beef and broccoli. Thank you for this one!
This is one of my favorite things to get when ordering take out. Now I can make it at home, thanks!! 😀
This was really good! The whole family enjoyed it, even the kids. I will reduce the amount of ginger by about 25% next time but won’t change anything else. Delicious! Thank you for the recipe.
So glad you enjoyed it, Amanda!
First off, I’m the type of “cook” that could burn water. But I decided to give this a try since my wife is a massive broccoli beef lover (and very picky about it) and the directions seemed easy to follow. The results were amazing and my wife is already planning out days on the calendar that she wants me to remake it. Going to go through the rest of your recipes and start trying something new each week.
So glad you liked it!
I liked the technique in this, and the broccoli was the perfect texture… but the sauce was WAYYYY too salty, even though I used a low-sodium soy sauce. To give you some perspective, I am a salt lover and I’m not shy about salting my food or sensitive to salt in the least. It was just too salty even for me! I think next time I’ll use half the soy sauce this recipe calls for and sub in some white wine or water for the rest. This recipe is a good base technique I’ll be using for now on, however.
I’m happy to hear you liked the technique!
Perfect flavors! This was so delicious. I used fresh ginger instead of the ginger paste, it turned out great. It was a hit for the whole family. Very quick and easy for a weeknight meal. Thank you!!
So glad you liked it, Melanie!