Here at The Woks of Life HQ (i.e. our house), our tomato plants are finally going totally bonkers, which means more tomatoes than we sometimes know what to do with! But vine ripe tomatoes definitely call for special recipes, and this classic Cantonese beef tomato stir-fry is one of my favorites! You can find this dish at restaurants in Chinatown as it is one of the staple “rice plate” dishes that Cantonese people love to have for a quick meal.
I grew up with a large backyard garden managed by my mother’s super green thumb. Aside from juicy vine-ripe tomatoes, we had loads of snow peas, string beans, spinach, squash, choy sum, bok choy, and all kinds of peppers. I shared some of the best quality time with my mom in the garden starting with tilling the garden in the spring, watering and weeding it daily, and, of course, the best part: harvesting the crops.
At the end of the summer when we were picking tomatoes on a daily basis, my mother always made this beef tomato stir fry over a plate of hot steaming rice. Back then, when we were kids, we loved the beef and the mellowed sweetness of the tomato sauce mixed with rice, and you’ll see why when you make this dish! In fact, the combo of flavors was my favorite growing up.
In this recipe, I start with a base sauce mixture of soy sauce and ketchup, simmer it until thick, and then round things out with some juicy tomato wedges—it really hits the spot! That being said, this beef and tomato recipe is a seriously saucy stir-fry, which I think makes it kid-friendly (it worked for me!) and clearly puts it in the comfort food category (it’s a Cantonese version of gravy!). But, best of all, it is definitely a 30-minute meal (and only because you NEED to have the rice as a base for this dish; rice can take a bit longer to cook depending on your rice cooker).
While this dish brings back memories of childhood for me, it’s just a tasty way to use up those tomatoes and, if you’re a tomato lover, satisfy those cravings! All across America, home gardens are busting out ripe tomatoes on the vine and people are eating salads, roasted tomatoes in their ratatouille pasta, and making sauces to jar. This year, make this your end-of-the-summer dish. If you don’t have tomatoes in your garden, head to your local farmer’s market and get some for this dish! Trust me, you will make this more than once.
Beef Tomato Stir-fry: Recipe Instructions
Marinate the meat with the cornstarch, the first teaspoon of oil, and salt. Set aside for one hour. Also, combine all the ingredients for the sauce base in a separate bowl—ketchup, light soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and white pepper. Set aside.
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.
Add 1 tablespoon of oil to coat the wok and heat until just smoking. Spread the beef around the wok and sear for 1 minute until 80% done and remove from the wok. Set aside.
Heat another tablespoon of oil in the wok over medium heat. Add the ginger slices, and let caramelize for 10 seconds. Turn the heat up to high, and add the minced garlic, shallot, and the white portions of the scallion. Toss for 10 seconds.
Add the tomato wedges to the wok.
Spread them around the wok in an even layer, and let sear for 15 seconds. Add the Shaoxing wine, and stir-fry the mixture for another 10 seconds. Now push everything to one side of the wok. On the cleared space of the wok, add the sauce base. Stir until bubbling to meld the flavors together.
Now it’s time to add the beef and any juices in the bowl to the wok. Stir–fry everything on high heat until mixed well and sizzling (about 20 seconds). Be sure not to overcook the tomatoes or they will disintegrate into the sauce!
Toss in the remainder of the scallions and add the cornstarch slurry a little at a time until the sauce is thickened to your liking. Let the sauce cook for 15 seconds after adding the last bit of the cornstarch slurry to ensure the starch is cooked.
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.
Plate and serve your beef tomato stir-fry immediately on a big bed of rice!
Beef Tomato Stir-fry
Ingredients
For the beef marinade:
- 1 pound flank steak (450g, sliced into ¼-inch thick pieces)
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For the sauce base:
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 1½ teaspoons sugar (or to taste)
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- ground white pepper (to taste)
For the rest of the dish:
- 2 tablespoons vegetable or canola
- 2 slices ginger
- 1 clove garlic (finely minced)
- ¼ cup shallot (sliced)
- 1 scallion (cut into 2-inch pieces at an angle)
- 4 to 5 large tomatoes (cut into wedges)
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch (mixed with 1 tablespoon water)
Instructions
- Marinate the meat with the cornstarch, the first teaspoon of oil, and salt. Set aside for one hour. Also, combine all the ingredients for the sauce base in a separate bowl. Set aside.
- Add 1 tablespoon of oil to coat the wok and heat until just smoking. Spread the beef around the wok and sear for 1 minute until 80% done and remove from the wok. Set aside.
- Heat another tablespoon of oil in the wok over medium heat. Add the ginger slices, and let caramelize for 10 seconds. Turn the heat up to high, and add the minced garlic, shallot, and the white portions of the scallion. Toss for 10 seconds.
- Add the tomato wedges to the wok. Spread them around the wok in an even layer, and let sear for 15 seconds. Add the Shaoxing wine, and stir-fry the mixture for another 10 seconds. Now push everything to one side of the wok.
- On the cleared space of the wok, add the sauce base. Stir until bubbling to meld the flavors together.
- Now it's time to add the beef and any juices in the bowl to the wok. Stir–fry everything on high heat until mixed well and sizzling (about 20 seconds). Be sure not to overcook the tomatoes or they will disintegrate into the sauce!
- Toss in the remainder of the scallions and add the cornstarch slurry a little at a time until the sauce is thickened to your liking. Let the sauce cook for 15 seconds after adding the last bit of the cornstarch slurry to ensure the starch is cooked. Plate and serve immediately on a big bed of rice!
I love tomato beef chow mein from restaurants but have never been able to replicate the mein. They use fresh noodles and the result is a sheet of noodles that are brown and crispy on both sides. Are the noodles cooked or par-boiled first or cooked right from the package? Do you have instructions to duplicate restaurant pan-fried noodles? Thank you.
Hi V, check out the following recipes: ; ; . Hope these are the same noodles that you are talking about. Pan-fried noodles are usually egg noodles :-)
I made this tonight for tea and wow it is just like Beef and tomato
we get from the takeaway I will keep this recipe and make it many more times thank you
Amanda
Hi Amanda, wait until the tomatoes are in season and at the farmer’s market. It is even more awesome. You’re welcome and glad you enjoyed it!
This is great! Would recommend
Thank you, Lara!
First, thanks for this wonderful recipe! My wife and I love it. It reminds me of home every time I cook it.
-Tips on Cooking Technique Without a Wok-
I don’t have a wok and initially, when I made this dish, there was tons of watery tomatoes without the stir-fry taste that I love.
Just wanted to leave a tip here to help those in a similar situation. I figured this out with the help of Food Lab and lots of trial and error. This is for when you don’t have a wok or have a smaller frying pan, this dish still works well if you’re willing to do a little extra work.
Get the pan to about 350 degrees F (on an instant-read infrared thermometer) or medium heat with some oil in it and then stir fry half the beef to get the “wok hay” stir-fry flavor following this recipe to 80% doneness. It’s helpful to manually flip each piece after it’s almost done with chopsticks or tongs. When finished, set aside, repeat to stir-fry the second half of the beef.
Rinse and wipe down the pan. Add oil, get the pan to about 350 degrees F. To prevent watery tomatoes, stir-fry 1/3 to 1/2 of the tomatoes alone until just before the desired texture and add the proportional amount of beef and sauce. Stir to warm everything and set aside. Repeat with the rest of the tomatoes.
When the final portion of tomato beef is about finished, reintroduce the tomato beef that was cooked before and set aside. It will all be warmed up in a few minutes. No watery tomatoes and plenty of yummy stir-fried taste without a wok! This technique works well for any dishes with vegetables (onions, bell peppers, etc.) and not having a wok to work with.
**A note about the recipe. I prefer to double the salt in the marinade and to marinate the beef overnight. It lends itself to more deeply flavor the meat with more time for the salt to penetrate. Also, oyster sauce makes a great sub for ketchup.
Thanks TY for sharing your thoughts and experiences!
This was an absolute home run that hits the comfort zone spot! This definitely brought back memories for me growing up in Chinatown and ordering take out of beef and tomatoes, with it’s succulent tomato flavor that is the perfect amount of savory, sweet and acidity. I cannot THANK YOU enough for sharing this recipe.
I had made this dish with shrimp because I (in my old age-dom) somehow thought it was made with shrimp and went grocery shopping before looking for a recipe. I figure it would probably still turn out OK and was happy I moved forward with it. I probably got confused with the shrimp with tomato sauce dish, another classic Cantonese dish. I also ran out of cornstarch (or perhaps threw it out since it expired?) and ended up using a mixture of flour and water, which worked out well too. The sauce was spot on.. and I’m sure it would’ve been even better had I made it with beef!
The recipes are truly top notch and am thankful for your family. I first came across this site a couple of years back when I wanted to start re-creating dishes that my grandmother cooked for Chinese New Year when I was little. She’s passed on over 10 years ago and cooking these dishes bring such wonderful memories for me. Many thanks!
Hi Cindy, Glad you enjoyed this dish and hope you cook more with us!
Bill, I am so glad I ran across this recipe. Back in 1967 I was a delivery boy for a Chinese restaurant in Great Falls, Montana. The restaurant was owned and run by the Wong family and I was hired as their delivery boy. I used to watch in amazement as the old Chinese cooks would chop and dice everything under the sun on a huge stainless steel prep table and then throw everything in huge woks over flaming stoves. Cleavers would be flying along with Chinese expletives as the owner, Ms. Pearl Wong, would hover over the table and let fly with directions – all the while a cigarette dangling from her mouth. All the food was fantastic, but my favorite was Beef Tomato. When I saw your recipe and your pictures, the memories flooded my brain with the old times. If Pearl could see this she would smile in approval. Or not.
Hi Kerry, What a great story! What would really freak out Ms Wong is if she saw you cooking and then eating the dish!
Another absolutely delicious, easy and comforting recipe from your delightful website.
I’ve made each of these recipes several times: beef chow fun, chicken mushroom ramen soup, sweet and sour chicken, cashew shrimp (shrimp wash makes this recipe, genius), beef and rice bowls (topped with a sunny egg) and beef and tofu stir-fry.
And now, this delicious Cantonese beef and tomato stir fry. I used some ripe Roma tomatoes looking for a purpose. Even my tomato-adverse child gobbled it up, asked for seconds and requested to take it for school lunch today.
Woks of Life is my go-to site when I need inspiration or have an ingredient and want a delicious and easy new way to prepare it.
Thank you for erasing the intimidation of making Chinese food- I never knew how simple – and fast- it could be.
Love Woks Of Life!
Hi Jennifer, thanks for such a glowing comment! I can’t wait until summer for the ripe tomatoes to make this dish again!
It was so good!! Thank you, it reminded me of when we’d go get food in the mall after church. One of my favourites!
You’re welcome Rachel and glad you enjoyed it!
Made this the other night and took me back to my childhood. Thanks!
:)
Many years ago our family replaced beef with bacon. No requirement for marinating. So much more yummier and is preferred, rather than beef. (Aotearoa, New Zealand)
Hi Peter, Bacon does sound interesting!