Among beef stir fry dishes, Beef and Pepper stir-fry is a favorite dish of ours and is very simple to make. Tender flank steak is especially tasty when sliced into thin strips and marinated. Long hot green peppers are a very popular item at the Asian grocery store, and also readily available at our local supermarket. They pack a ton of flavor when stir-fried at hot temperatures. Combine these two ingredients, and you have a real winner of a dish!
The one caveat here before I move on is that sometimes, these long green hot peppers are hot, I mean like sweat beads forming on top of your head while you’re eating them, hot! Generally, you wouldn’t think that beef and green peppers is a hot dish but they could be so use your own judgment and mix in some milder peppers if this scares you.
While I can’t speak to the origins of this dish, it can be very hot and spicy depending upon the heat level of the peppers you find. Sometimes, you’ll get a very mild flavor and sometimes, you get walloped with spicy deliciousness!
Wherever it’s from, beef and pepper stir-fry is a candidate for a regular weeknight rotation meal. Every time we make this beef and pepper stir-fry immediately with rice. at home, we wonder why we don’t make it more often.
With some practice, you can cook this dish using a searing hot wok to get some serious ‘wok hay’ going and bring out the flavors of the beef and peppers.
Beef Pepper Stir-fry: Recipe Instructions
To a medium bowl, add the flank steak, baking soda (if using), soy sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch, and oil. Mix well and set aside for 30 minutes at room temperature. For more tips see our post on selecting, cutting, and velveting beef for stir fries.
When you’re ready to cook, add oil to a wok and place over high heat until it’s almost smoking. Sear the beef until it’s just browned but still a little rare. If your carbon steel wok is as hot as it should be, the beef should not stick and you should see a nice seared color.
Turn off the heat while you transfer the beef to a separate bowl. Leave any oil/fat in the wok.
Heat the wok back up to medium-high heat and add the garlic, long hot green peppers, and long hot red pepper. Stir-fry for 20 seconds and then spread the Shaoxing wine around the wok to de-glaze it.
Stir-fry for another 20 seconds and add the beef back to the wok along with any juices from the bowl. Add salt, sugar, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and fresh ground white pepper. Turn the heat back up to high and stir-fry for another 1 to 2 minutes, or until the peppers turn darker.
If you like to have more sauce with the dish, add the chicken stock to further de-glaze the wok and reduce the liquid slightly. The cornstarch from the marinade will help thicken the sauce.
Plate and serve your Beef and Pepper Stir-fry immediately with rice.
Beef and Pepper Stir-fry
Ingredients
For the beef and marinade:
- 12 oz. flank steak (sliced into thin strips)
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda (optional tenderizer)
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
For the rest of the dish:
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 3 cloves garlic (sliced)
- 8 long hot green peppers (de-seeded and julienned into 3-inch strips)
- 1 long hot red pepper (de-seeded and julienned into 3-inch strips)
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- Fresh ground white pepper
- ¼ cup chicken stock (optional)
Instructions
- Add all the marinade ingredients to the beef in a bowl, mix well and set aside for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- When you're ready to cook, add oil to a wok and place over high heat until it's almost smoking. Sear the beef until it's just browned but still a little rare. If your wok is as hot as it should be, the beef should not stick and you should see a nice seared color. Turn off the heat while you transfer the beef to a separate bowl. Leave any oil/fat in the wok.
- Heat the wok back up to medium-high heat and add the garlic and peppers. Stir-fry for 20 seconds and then spread the wine around the wok to de-glaze it. Stir-fry for another 20 seconds and add the beef back to the wok along with any juices from the bowl. Add salt, sugar, soy sauces and fresh ground pepper. Turn the heat back up to high and stir-fry for another 1 to 2 minutes, or until the peppers turn darker.
- If you like to have more sauce with the dish, add the chicken stock to further de-glaze the wok and reduce the liquid slightly. The cornstarch from the marinade will help thicken the sauce. Plate and serve immediately with rice.
nutrition facts
This was delicious !!!!!
I forgot to take a picture but it looked like the picture on your blog.
It will be one of my go to’s
Toni
Ps I would rate this with 5 stars
Hi Toni, I bet it was. This beef and pepper stir-fry is one of my favorite one-plate dishes over rice.
Can the white and brown sauce be frozen? I don’t think we’d use a full recipe within a week…it’s just 2 of us.
Hi Leslie, you can definitely freeze the pre-made white or brown sauce for later use.
You guys are the best👏🏽Simple and tasty recipes. I will cook all the time now that you guys are my guide. Keep up the great work!
Thanks Virginia!
This turned out great!
Excellent to hear Julie, I love this dish!
Hi! Question: do you add the baking soda to the marinade? When I clicked on the link for your tenderizing/velveting tips, it reads that the baking soda should be added with water, then rinsed off prior to marinade. Thanks in advance for clarification!
Hi Marnie, in my post on How to prepare beef for stir fry the two step process of adding baking soda and rinsing (used by some Chinese restaurants) is one option. The shortcut option which I also mention and use most of the time, is to add a pinch of baking soda directly into the marinade – usually a pinch up to 1/4 teaspoon for a pound of meat. Happy cooking!
I love your website, keep up the good recipes. I would love a good authenic recipe on Chicken Fried Rice.
Thanks, Susan M
We have that recipe, Susan! Check it out: https://thewoksoflife.com/classic-chicken-fried-rice/
This looks so delicious. I have a challenge in that I have a wok, but not a regular gas stove, only electric and it doesn’t get hot enough. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Hi hilly, just follow the directions with your flat bottomed wok on the electric stove and you should be just fine!
This was fantastic! I couldn’t find the skinny peppers so used one green and one red bell pepper plus two Serrano peppers and some dried red chili pepper. Family LOVED this recipe thanks so much!!
Hi Valerie, I love it too, I ask Bill to make me this dish all the time :-)
My husband made this for us last night, popped in some pineapple chunks and used the halved cored pineapple as boats and sticky rice on the side. An absolute PLEASURE of a dish. We didn’t need to use the chicken stock as the sauce was just the perfect consistency and as we were using pineapple, we didn’t add any sugar, so we replaced the sweetness we were using.
Overall, a new fav dish we plan to make over and over again! Thank you so much for this amazing recipe!!
Excellent to hear you enjoyed it Jillian! Pineapple is a unique addition :)