This beef with oyster sauce recipe is simple, savory, and delicious with steamed rice. Served over a bed of blanched Chinese broccoli, it’s also a full and balanced meal!
The Magic of Oyster Sauce
Oyster sauce may sound like it tastes fishy, but nothing could be further from the truth. Oyster sauce is pure savory flavor, and it adds oomph to marinades, sauces, braises, and more. In this recipe, we’re using it in the marinade as well as the sauce.
If you’ve never used oyster sauce, go to your local Chinese grocery store, grab a bottle, and taste how this simple ingredient (made with oyster extracts) can transform a dish.
We like Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce (it’s a few dollars more than their regular oyster sauce). Read more about oyster sauce in our Ingredients Glossary article!
A Perfect Pairing
Oyster sauce is especially great with beef, amplifying and enhancing the flavor of the meat. You’ll see oyster sauce feature prominently in dishes like our Beef and Broccoli, Beef with Black Bean Sauce, and even Beef Lo Mein.
The fact that these two ingredients go so well together is perhaps why Beef with Oyster Sauce is a popular dish you’ll find on Cantonese restaurant menus.
Such restaurants serve no-frills rice plates, noodle dishes, casseroles, and more. This dish is just that—no frills, homey, tasty, and filling. The flavor of the beef is maximized by the oyster sauce in the sauce and marinade, and complemented by the addition of oyster mushrooms, ginger, garlic, and onion.
Let’s get right to the recipe!
Recipe Instructions
Combine the sliced beef with the water, cornstarch, oil, oyster sauce, and baking soda, if using. Set aside for 30 minutes (or up to 4 hours in the refrigerator).
Make the sauce by combining the chicken stock, oyster sauce, sugar, cornstarch, dark soy sauce, and white pepper.
Fill your wok halfway with water and bring to a boil, along with a teaspoon of oil.
Blanch the Chinese broccoli for 1 minute, or until cooked to your desired tenderness. Drain and set aside in a colander. Do not rinse! Arrange the Chinese broccoli around the rim of a serving dish.
Heat your wok over high heat until lightly smoking, and add 1 tablespoon of the oil. Sear the beef and remove from the wok.
Over medium heat, add the remaining oil, along with the ginger. Cook for 30 seconds, then add the garlic. Cook for 15 seconds.
Increase the heat to high, and add the onion and mushrooms. Stir-fry for 15 seconds, until the onions are just beginning to scorch.
Add the Shaoxing wine. Stir-fry for another 30 seconds, then stir the sauce mixture to make sure the cornstarch is incorporated. Add the sauce mixture, and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly.
Then stir in the beef. Stir-fry until the beef is coated in the sauce.
Pour off any liquid that may have pooled on the plate from the Chinese broccoli, and mound the beef mixture in the center. Serve immediately.
Beef with Oyster Sauce
Ingredients
For the beef and marinade:
- 12 ounces flank steak (thinly sliced against the grain)
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon oyster sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda (optional tenderizer)
For the sauce:
- 1/2 cup low sodium chicken stock
- 1 1/2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar (or brown sugar)
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 1/8 teaspoon white pepper.
For the rest of the dish:
- 8 ounces Chinese broccoli (washed and cut into pieces)
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (plus 1 teaspoon; can substitute any neutral oil)
- 1 slice ginger
- 1 clove garlic (sliced)
- 1 small onion (cut into wedges)
- 1 cup oyster mushrooms (torn into smaller pieces)
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
Instructions
- Combine the sliced beef with the water, cornstarch, oil, oyster sauce, and baking soda, if using. Set aside for 30 minutes (or up to 4 hours in the refrigerator).
- Make the sauce by combining the chicken stock, oyster sauce, sugar, cornstarch, dark soy sauce, and white pepper.
- Fill your wok halfway with water and bring to a boil, along with a teaspoon of oil. Blanch the chinese broccoli for 1 minute, or until cooked to your desired tenderness. Drain and set aside in a colander. Do not rinse! Arrange the Chinese broccoli around the rim of a serving dish.
- Heat your wok over high heat until lightly smoking, and add 1 tablespoon of the oil. Sear the beef and remove from the wok.
- Over medium heat, add the remaining oil, along with the ginger. Cook for 30 seconds, then add the garlic. Cook for 15 seconds.
- Increase the heat to high, and add the onion and mushrooms. Stir-fry for 15 seconds, until the onions are just beginning to scorch. Add the Shaoxing wine. Stir-fry for another 30 seconds, then stir the sauce mixture to make sure the cornstarch is incorporated. Add the sauce mixture, and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly.
- Then stir in the beef. Stir-fry until the beef is coated in the sauce. Pour off any liquid that may have pooled on the plate from the Chinese broccoli, and mound the beef mixture in the center. Serve immediately.
As a non-seafood eater, I definitely used to avoid dishes like beef with oyster sauce, because ew, oysters, right? Then I clued into the fact that there was for sure oyster sauce in my beloved beef & broccoli and that the stuff is freaking delicious. Now it’s one of my staples I make sure to never run out of!
Still haven’t made peace with fish sauce, though. It’s just a bit much for me.
I cook a lot of Asian food and shied away from fish sauces because they all tasted too fishy. Then I found AYU Sweet fish sauce . You can find it on Amazon and at a company called Toiro Kitchen. It is a little spendy but sooo good.
I made this last night and it was fantastic. I love to cook and I like to adjust and tweak recipes to find the hidden greatness in each one. I won’t mess with this one and I can’t wait to make it again. Next up from your site I plan to take a stab at the cashew chicken recipe. I have been looking for a good one for years and I suspect this could be it.
Would chicken work in this recipe?
You should use boneless chicken thighs, Wanda.
Quick easy and delicious
Oh this dish looks delish! I must try it soon with a less expensive piece of meat. Flank steak is so expensive nowadays. Thanks!!
Hello – this looks delicious! I was wondering what other cuts of beef you can use if you don’t use the flank steak? Is it possible to use a cheaper cut of beef but marinate it longer to make it more tender? What do you recommend? Thanks!
Yes, you can use beef chuck which is more economical, and tenderize it with baking soda, as in this technique: https://thewoksoflife.com/prepare-beef-for-stir-fry/. Happy cooking!
How wide should the flank steak be cut? If the piece of steak is 8 inches wide do you divide it in half with the grain?
Yes, that would be perfect. Divide it lengthwise into two 4-inch long pieces, and then slice against the grain, so you get thin, 4-inch long strips. You can also slice the beef diagonally, alternating the angle, to get pieces approximately that length (if that makes sense).
Great recipe. Use this one all the time. Keep up the excellent work!
Thank you Annette!
I made this last night and let me tell you that it was a HIT!!! My grandchildren couldn’t get enough!! I substituted the flank steak with flat iron steak. It was a better cut and much more tender to chew. Thank you for sharing this!!!! I love every recipe you post!
Wow, Marla! That makes you one of the first people to try this recipe! It’s so exciting for us to put out a recipe and then immediately have our readers try it. Thank you so much for commenting to let us know how it went!