Beef and Mushroom Stir Fry is a quick and easy dish that will have you thinking of your mom’s cooking, or your favorite Chinese restaurant’s effortless rice plate lunch.
Some Brief Nostalgia
I remember we used to make this dish regularly when I was working as a teenager in upstate New York at my parents’ Chinese restaurant.
Despite being an old favorite, somewhere along the way, this dish went out of vogue with Chinese restaurants. Perhaps it was because most restaurants would use canned mushrooms that resulted in a rubbery stir fry, or maybe the fresh mushrooms were better used elsewhere.
But that’s beside the point, because you can still make this great beef and mushroom stir-fry at home!
A Quick & Easy Rice Plate
This humble Beef and Mushroom Stir Fry makes the perfect quick and easy weeknight rice plate meal. With a wok-full of sauce to pour over your rice, you really can’t go wrong. Use the fresh mushrooms of your choice.
We used button mushrooms, but you could go fancy and use shiitake mushrooms, or even add other green veggies and maybe a sliced carrot. It’s all up to you. That’s the beauty of a simple stir fry like this—you can make it your own!
A little trick I’ve used to modify this recipe from the archives is stirring in a tablespoon or two of butter in at the end. Because we all know that beef and mushrooms love butter, and if you caught wind of our Soy Butter Ribeye Steak or Soy Butter Shrimp and Shiitake Mushroom Pasta, you also know that butter + soy sauce is a winning combo.
Note that the beef marinade in this recipe calls for ¼ teaspoon baking soda, which is optional. The baking soda will tenderize the beef and give it the texture you might be familiar with in stir-fries from your local Chinese restaurant. That said, you don’t have to use it if you’d rather not have that texture.
Give this beef and mushroom stir-fry a whirl!
Beef & Mushroom Stir-fry Recipe Instructions
Prepare the Beef:
Combine 12 ounces of sliced beef, 1 tablespoon water, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon oil, 2 teaspoons oyster sauce, and ¼ teaspoon baking soda (if using). Mix all of the ingredients into the beef. Set aside for 10 minutes.
For more detailed information on preparing beef for stir fry just like restaurants do it, see our post on How to Prepare Beef for Stir Fry.
Prepare the Beef and Mushroom Sauce
Combine warmed beef stock or water with 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce, 2 tablespoons oyster sauce, ½ teaspoon sesame oil, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon sugar and 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper.
Use pure beef stock only. Many are made with celery, tomato, and carrot, which will make this stir-fry taste like beef stew! If you can’t find a purer stock, use water and/or a beef bullion cube.
Just remember to adjust the seasoning accordingly, as they can be salty. You can add more water and cornstarch slurry to offset this effect.
Assemble the Stir-fry
Heat your carbon steel wok until it’s just smoking. Spread 2 tablespoons oil around the perimeter, and add the beef.
Use your wok spatula to spread the beef out, and sear for 30 seconds. Stir-fry the beef for another 30 seconds until it’s 80% done, and transfer the beef back to the bowl.
Without washing the wok, turn the heat back on to medium. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the wok, and immediately add the ginger, white portion of the scallions and garlic.
Stir-fry for 15 seconds, and add the mushrooms.
Next spread 1½ tablespoons of Shaoxing wine around the perimeter of the wok to deglaze…
And stir-fry everything for 20 seconds.
Add the stock and sauces to the wok, and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally to deglaze the wok and heat the sauce.
Once the mixture starts to simmer, add the beef and any juices from the bowl along with the rest of the scallions. Stir-fry everything to combine.
Immediately stir up your cornstarch slurry (the water and cornstarch has likely separated by now).
Slowly drizzle about two thirds of the slurry into the sauce while stirring. For more detailed information on the many ways to use cornstarch to get authentic results at home with our recipes, see our post on How to Use Cornstarch in Chinese Cooking.
Within 10 seconds, you should see the sauce thicken. Add more cornstarch slurry if you like your sauce thicker, or add more stock or water if the sauce is too thick. (Remember your sauce will thicken slightly as it cools.) Either way, move quickly during this step so you don’t overcook your beef. Turn the heat off as soon as the sauce is to your desired consistency.
At this point, if you like a little extra richness and the combination of soy sauce and butter, stir in a tablespoon of butter just before plating the dish!
To serve, spoon cooked white rice onto a plate and immediately serve your beef and mushroom stir-fry poured over the top.
Beef and Mushroom Stir-Fry Rice Plate
Ingredients
- 12 ounces flank steak (340g, sliced ¼-inch thick)
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil (plus 3 tablespoons, divided)
- 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda (optional)
- 2½ cups beef stock (warmed, no added vegetable in stock or water)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
- 3 slices ginger
- 2 cloves garlic (sliced)
- 2 scallions (cut into 2-inch pieces at an angle, white and green portions separated)
- 10 ounces mushrooms (white button, cremini, or shiitake mushrooms, sliced)
- 1½ tablespoons Shaoxing wine
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch (mixed with 3 tablespoons water)
- 1 tablespoon butter (optional)
Instructions
- Combine 12 ounces of sliced beef, 1 tablespoon water, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon oil, 2 teaspoons oyster sauce, and ¼ teaspoon baking soda (if using). Mix all of the ingredients into the beef. Set aside for 10 minutes.
- Combine warmed beef stock or water with 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce, 2 tablespoons oyster sauce, ½ teaspoon sesame oil, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon sugar and 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper. Use pure beef stock only. Many are made with celery, tomato, and carrot, which will make this stir-fry taste like beef stew! If you can’t find a purer stock, use water and/or a beef bullion cube. Just remember to adjust the seasoning accordingly, as they can be salty. You can add more water and cornstarch slurry to offset this effect.
- Heat your carbon steel wok until it’s just smoking. Spread 2 tablespoons oil around the perimeter, and add the beef.
- Use your wok spatula to spread the beef out, and sear for 30 seconds. Stir-fry the beef for another 30 seconds until it’s 80% done, and transfer the beef back to the bowl.
- Without washing the wok, turn the heat back on to medium. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the wok, and immediately add the ginger, white portion of the scallions and garlic. Stir-fry for 15 seconds, and add the mushrooms.
- Next spread 1½ tablespoons of Shaoxing wine around the perimeter of the wok to deglaze, and stir-fry everything for 20 seconds.
- Add the stock and sauces to the wok, and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally to deglaze the wok and heat the sauce. Once the mixture starts to simmer, add the beef and any juices from the bowl along with the rest of the scallions. Stir-fry everything to combine.
- Immediately stir up your cornstarch slurry (the water and cornstarch has likely separated by now). Slowly drizzle about two thirds of the slurry into the sauce while stirring.
- Within 10 seconds, you should see the sauce thicken. Add more cornstarch slurry if you like your sauce thicker, or add more stock or water if the sauce is too thick. (Remember your sauce will thicken slightly as it cools.) Either way, move quickly during this step so you don’t overcook your beef. Turn the heat off as soon as the sauce is to your desired consistency.
- At this point, if you like a little extra richness and the combination of soy sauce and butter, stir in a tablespoon of butter just before plating the dish!
- To serve, spoon cooked white rice onto a plate and immediately serve your beef and mushroom stir-fry poured over the top.
nutrition facts
Wonderful recipe. Thank you.
I used pre cooked, roasted beef which was very tough and tasteless. By 3+ hours marinading the beef, plus and added ingredients the beef was wonderful.
Hi carol, interesting note on using cooked roasted beef, but definitely not a preference. Happy cooking!
An easy and tasty meal, with great instructions. Will definitely make this again. Thanks
Glad you enjoyed it Frank, Happy cooking!
Easy, fast and delicious. Will put this in my emergency dinner rotation and remove nuggets and fries.
Hi Rebekah, beef and mushroom over rice is definitely a better alternative to nuggets and fries :)
My parents grew up in Kingston, NY and when I was a child we would visit the town and one of the mandatory stops was a meal at the local Chinese restaurant.. I think my Dad went to school with the owner. This is the dish that we had to have. The only difference was that the meat was ground. We were told that the secret was that the ground meat included the scraps from the filet mignon. I have been trying to reproduce that recipe for many years and this recipe is perfect. Thanks for returning me to a wonderful time of my life.
Hi Bob, thanks for sharing that story – food memories are always the best ;-)
Thank you, Bill, for bringing this great dish back to life.
Having given up on it many years ago after eating countless platefuls of tough and stringy beef from sundry UK takeaways, I thought I would give your recipe a try at home and I’m so glad I did.
Absolutely delicious. The beef was unbelievably tender and succulent and the sauce extremely flavoursome.
As beef and mushrooms are two of my favourite foods, this has now become one of my top five home-cooked Chinese dishes, along with my own versions of King prawns with ginger and spring onions, Kung-Po chicken, Singapore noodles and egg-fried rice.
Just wish I could recreate the Special chow mein, as made by our local Chinese takeaway, the Treasure House in Hemel Hempstead, some 25 miles north-west of London, England. It has a wonderful smoky, but not burnt flavour that I suspect is impossible to recreate in a domestic kitchen.
Look forward to trying more of your recipes in the weeks and months to come.
Very best wishes,
John Towers
Hi John, so happy to hear you enjoyed our classic beef and mushrooms. I’m guessing what the special chow mein you mention is but try our soy sauce pan fried noodles or our HK shrimp or vegetable pan fried noodles. You may be surprised at the flavors you can produce at home :)
I have been cooking with this site for about 4 months now, with tremendous success! I have tried many different recipes and all are great!
It just occurred to me, reading your comment about the ” smokey flavor”… which, of course, comes from that incredible wok hey! Haven’t been able to duplicate it at home. I think I might try a drop of the hickory liquid smoke seasoning to these dishes!
I wonder what Bill thinks about it?🤔
Hi Gingercook, the smoky flavor of wok hei can’t be replicated with liquid smoke. It’s the carbon steel wok and intense heat of the wok, creating the wok hei from the Maillard reaction on steroids :) Modern stoves these days are much hotter, so pre-heating the wok and making smaller batches of food with the burner on high can get you a hint of wok hay at home.
This was a great recipe and pretty easy to make!
Thanks David, glad you enjoyed it!
Love this dish! Excellent balance and depth of flavors! I used a combination of shiitake and white button mushrooms.
Hi Derek, shiitakes and button mushrooms are a great combo for this dish!
This was quite tasty, but the amount of sauce was excessive. I wonder if it should have been 1.5 cups of beef broth instead of 2.5? It appeared more like a soup in my wok, so I used a slotted spoon to serve it. I might try it again using less broth.
Hi Alicia, it’s likely that the difference is in the stovetop heat, because the amount of broth does account for some reduction. Not sure if you used room temperature or warmed broth, which is best. Whatever it was, you can definitely use less broth next time.
I need help with this recipe. Using your scale on the recipe, I changed the original from 4 to 8 servings and followed the new doubled recipe. At steps 7 and 8, added the stock, sauces and cornstarch. Step 9 indicates that the sauce should begin to thicken within 10 SECONDS. Unfortunately mine did not begin to thicken for 30 MINUTES even after the addition of more cornstarch. According to the doubled recipe, 5 cups of stock are to be used and that is what I used (even though it did seem excessive). Is that stock amount correct? what might have I done wrong? Suggestions? Thank you for your help
Hi Elaine, it’s likely that the heat from the wok is a little lacking due to the doubled recipe. It takes a lot to heat up double the stock, and less of it will evaporate and reduce with the lower heat. If the sauce doesn’t thicken right away, cooking it longer will only thicken through reduction of the liquid. So in this case, mix up some more cornstarch slurry and add it slowly until you reach the consistency you want. If you don’t care for lots of sauce, you can reduce the stock as well. Happy cooking!
Hi, looks amazing. I currently have some nice quality beef mince and shitake mushrooms and some greens in the fridge that need to be cooked ASAP. Could I reduce the beef quantity and use some of the mince instead? Or bad idea? Thanks for all the great recipes.
Hi Sam, you could use beef mince, especially since you have it already, but the beef slices are very nice since they taste/feel more substantial for this dish.
This tastes just like the beef with oyster sauce from a now-closed restaurant my family used to go to in Oakland, CA Chinatown. I am literally the hero of my family now that I have found this. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Eric, yes, the recipe is very similar to beef and oyster sauce dishes you’ll find at restaurants. Enjoy!
Any chance you have a recipe for beef with oyster sauce? It was the first thing I searched for when I found this site. This one tastes close to what I remember, but an actual recipe for that dish might make my head explode.
Hi Eric, I remember beef with oyster sauce on many menus and although it has not made it into our recipe archives yet, it’s on our list :)