In our family, I’m notoriously finicky when it comes to eating out. Maybe I’m a tiger mom when it comes to most restaurants out there, but I find that a lot of them just serve mediocre food! Dry Fried Sichuan Beef (干煸牛肉, gan bian niu rou) is a great example of that.
Too often, it’s filled with soy sauce and too sweet. Or they use the same pre-made sauce in everything. The so-called Sichuan Dry Fried Beef that results doesn’t taste anything like the original dish! Hence, I don’t usually order it because it’s never executed correctly.
What Sets Our Sichuan Beef Apart
Not surprisingly, others have run into these issues, and a reader requested that we make our version of Dry-fried Sichuan Beef. We jumped at the chance to put our spin on it. I made a few modifications to the traditional recipe, and I’m pretty pleased with the result (which is saying something given the aforementioned tiger mom status). Here’s how this recipe is different:
This Sichuan beef dish usually asks for beef tenderloin. While beef tenderloin is tender, it lacks flavor. Instead, I use flank steak, our top choice for stir-fries. It’s tender and flavorful.
- The beef is usually thinly julienned and marinated, then quickly stir-fried to keep the beef tender, but it’s not the original intent for this dish. Instead, the beef should be browned on high heat to lock in its juices and flavor. Hence, the phrase “dry-fried.”
- I cut the beef slightly thicker to avoid drying it out during the browning process. And the un-marinated beef really helps to give this dish a strong beef flavor, similar to a really good steak!
- Lastly, most restaurants don’t even bother to add Sichuan peppercorns, but it’s a signature flavor of the dish! You can adjust the amount of peppercorns to your taste / tongue-numbing preferences.
BTW, if spicy food isn’t your thing, you can omit the spicy bean sauce/paste and instead substitute regular sweet bean sauce/paste and omit the chili flakes.
Recipe Instructions
Heat the wok over high heat until it starts to smoke. Add 1 tablespoon oil, and coat the wok before adding the beef. Immediately spread the beef in a single layer. (This step will prevent the beef from sticking to your wok.) Brown the beef until the liquid cooks off and the meat is well-seared. This step should take about 2-3 minutes. Remove the beef from the wok, and set aside.
Turn the heat down to low, and add 2 tablespoons of oil to the wok. Crisp the ginger…
And add the spicy bean sauce.
Cook for about a minute until the oil turns red, adjusting the heat as needed to avoid burning.
Next, add the celery, carrot, and cooked beef. Turn the heat up to high, and stir to mix well. Immediately add the Shaoxing wine, sugar, light soy sauce, sesame oil, ground Sichuan peppercorn, chili flakes (optional), and the scallions.
Stir quickly for about a minute and mix everything well.
Transfer to a dish and serve with plenty of rice! You’ll need it.
Dry Fried Sichuan Beef
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 12 ounces flank steak (340g, cut into ⅓ inch thick strips)
- 5 slices ginger (julienned)
- 1 tablespoon spicy bean sauce
- 2 stalks celery (julienned)
- 1 small carrot (julienned)
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- ¾ teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon ground Sichuan peppercorn
- 1/8 teaspoon chili flakes (optional)
- 2 scallions (julienned)
Instructions
- Heat the wok over high heat until it starts to smoke. Add 1 tablespoon oil, and coat the wok before adding the beef. Immediately spread the beef in a single layer. (This step will prevent the beef from sticking to your wok.) Brown the beef until the liquid cooks off and the meat is well-seared. This step should take about 2-3 minutes. Remove the beef from the wok, and set aside.
- Turn the heat down to low, and add 2 tablespoons of oil to the wok. Crisp the ginger, and add the spicy bean sauce. Cook for about a minute until the oil turns red, adjusting the heat as needed to avoid burning. Next, add the celery, carrot, and cooked beef. Turn the heat up to high, and stir to mix well. Immediately add the Shaoxing wine, sugar, light soy sauce, sesame oil, ground Sichuan peppercorn, chili flakes (optional), and the scallions.
- Stir quickly for about a minute and mix everything well. Transfer to a dish and serve with plenty of rice! You’ll need it.
nutrition facts
Light and spicy, perfect even on a hot summers day. The Sichuan pepper corns are essential, leaving this slight numbness in your mouth that is delightful.
That’s wonderful, Philipp.
Delicious!
I’ve tried dozens of the recipes on this blog and have never been disappointed! This is one of my favorites though by far.
Thanks for the endorsement Chloe!
A bit disappointed with my result, though I feel it may have had to do with something I might have done wrong, rather than the recipe itself. One issue was that the beef was way too tough, but I chalk that up to me not slicing it thinly enough. The one problem that I can’t figure out is that the dish wasn’t spicy at all, even with the optional addition of chili flakes. I know for sure the chili flakes are plenty spicy, so I’m guessing there was either a problem with the Sichuan peppercorns or with the spicy bean paste. Are there any common issues people face with either of those ingredients that would effect the spiciness in any way?
Hi Caitlin, sounds like your heat tolerance is very high. Try using a few small Thai chilies, and they will for sure heat things up :-)
Whilst I didn’t have spicy bean paste or schiuan peppercorns nor ginger I made this tonight using a laksa paste and cayenne pepper. Omg it was to die for. Hubby hates ginger so I won’t tell him it’s in the laksa paste. Thank you so very much for your amazing recipes as asian food is about all hubby can keep down atm with his illness. You guys have saved this Aussie girl from boring meals
Forgot my rating
Thank you for your story, Katrina. So happy to hear that our recipes are helpful to your hubby’s illness. We wish him a speedy recovery! :-)
I found this recipe to be very good and taste like some of the authentic Chinese restaurants we’ve been to (not the counter service with the big pictures on the wall you point and order). When my son and I travel, we tend to go authentic cuisine vs Americanized….the places that have the “other” menu. The Sichuan peppercorns really add a lot and I’m now a fan. My only adaptations were that I didn’t have celery and I used 1 portion less peppercorns b/c I tossed in some dried hot chilis. Amount of carrots was vague so I started with what I had in stock which was 8 ounces worth. I thought it would make it too sweet but it was perfectly fine. I also went with beef tenderloin. I julienned the ginger and thought it tasted strong per bite since they were match stick size but not enough to dock a star. I will be making this again.
Ho GoNavy, thanks for your thoughtful comment and glad you enjoyed this Sichuan beef!
Delicious!
Thank you for your 5-Star rating, Christina.
Excellent dish! Thanks for sharing! Added 2 more spoonfuls of the Szechuan peppercorns and some fresh red chilli as well chilli flakes 👌
Wow, you like spicy food :-)
Hi Avi, I see you like it spicy ;-)
Hi! What would you recommend as a substitute for celery? Or would simply omitting it be alright? Excited to try this
Hi Jos, try some bamboo shoots, peppers (any kind), snow peas, or anything else that will give you a little crunch.
Forgot to add the 5* rating🤦🏽♂️
Thank you so much for the 5 star rating, Avi.
This was very good! I was worried it might be too spicy for my guest, so I didn’t add the chili flakes, but I wish I had! It needed that extra bit of fire. Thank you for your amazing recipes! I try a new one at least once a week.
Hi Karen, if you like a dish, it’s best to follow the recipe the first time and adjust it accordingly going forward :-)
Absolutely the best recipe I’ve found for this dish. Comes out really well, and you are correct: plenty of Sichuan peppercorn is a must. I’d also recommend using a good quality Pixian doubenjiang. The first time I tried this recipe I used the lighter oil based red kind. It was good but didn’t have the right flavor. I tried again with a good aged Pixian and it was as good as I have ever had outside of China.
Thank you so much, John! I love this dish too.