Beef with Garlic Sauce (Chinese Takeout)

This beef with garlic sauce stir-fry is an easy and balanced weeknight meal! The thinly sliced steak is tenderized through a simple process using baking soda, which gives it that classic takeout-beef texture. The steak is stir-fried with broccoli (or your choice of veggie) then coated in a flavorful garlic sauce. Best when served over jasmine rice.

American Chinese takeout was a staple of my diet growing up, and beef with broccoli was always one of my favorites. This version, which uses a fresh garlic sauce, is my favorite way to make it at home. This recipe stretches 12 to16 oz of steak to make a large batch, which is a lot more filling than a typical grilled steak.

The tenderizing process is key to matching the texture commonly found at Chinese takeout restaurants, so don't skip that step if you want super tender beef! I prepare this dish with flank steak, but other good options include skirt steak, flat iron steak, top sirloin steak, and new york strip steaks. Make sure you cut across the grain of the muscle fibers to ensure you'll get tender meat.

How to Make Beef with Garlic Sauce

See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for the full recipe!

• Slice the steak against the grain into ~⅛” thick slices. Arrange the sliced steak on a cutting board or plate so it’s laying flat. Dust with 1 teaspoon of baking soda, then flip all the pieces and dust with the other 1 teaspoon of baking soda. Let sit for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, rinse the baking soda off of the steak with water then thoroughly pat dry. Season the steak on one side with salt and pepper. This step tenderizes the beef to give it that iconic Chinese-takeout texture.
• While waiting on the steak, mix together the chicken stock and corn starch in a small bowl, then add in the other sauce ingredients (black vinegar or rice vinegar, light brown sugar, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, toasted sesame oil. red pepper flakes) and mix well. The oyster sauce may not fully incorporate, that's okay, it will in the pan.
• Once the steak is prepared, heat the oil (I use avocado oil or olive oil) in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the steak and try to arrange it such that the pieces lay flat in the pan. Cook until crispy on one side (2-3 minutes), then mix the steak around in the pan and cook until cooked through (another ~90 seconds). (The beef may have a reddish-pink hue, this is due to the tenderizing process and is normal!)
• Reduce to medium heat, push the steak to the sides of the pan, and add the broccoli to the center, adding a little more oil if needed. Cook, stirring frequently, for about two minutes.
• Reduce heat to low, push the broccoli to the sides then add the minced garlic in the middle with a little more oil, sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.
• Next, with the heat on medium-low, and add the sauce. Cook everything together for until the sauce has reduced and evenly coated everything.
• Remove from heat and add in the chopped green onion and sesame seeds, serve immediately over a bed of white rice (I use jasmine).

Key Tips - Beef with Garlic Sauce

Don’t skip the tenderizing process.

• There are a few ways to tenderize beef for stir-fry, but this one is quite simple. All you do is lightly dust the sliced steak in baking soda, let it sit, then rinse it off. This step can be omitted, but it helps keep the beef tender and will make sure the meat isn’t overcooked, so I highly recommend it.
• If you want the signature tender texture of American Chinese takeout beef, this is how you'll get it!
• The pinkish-red hue seen in the progress shot below is common for beef that has gone through this process, and is completely normal and safe to eat.

Buy pre-cut broccoli florets for easy prep.

• Picking up a bag of pre-washed, trimmed broccoli florets will help save some time as opposed to buying a whole head of broccoli. I don’t, however, recommend using frozen broccoli florets.

The sauce can be mixed ahead of time.

• If you’re looking to prep portions of the meal in advance, mixing the sauce ahead of time is an easy way to speed up the process when you go to make the meal. The beef can also go through its baking soda process and then be returned to the fridge and cooked later in the day.

Dietary Restrictions - Beef with Garlic Sauce

This dish is naturally Dairy-Free.

Make it Gluten-Free:

• Most oyster sauce contains gluten. Use gluten-free oyster sauce to make this dish gluten-free. (Both Kikkoman and Lee Kum Kee brands offer a GF oyster sauce)
• Make sure you're using gluten-free soy sauce, such as tamari, if you're preparing this for someone who is highly sensitive to gluten.

A Note On Serving Sizes

Serving sizes are a very personal thing, making it very difficult for me to select a serving size that suits everyone. While this is listed as 4 servings, many people would prefer to have more than one serving. I typically serve this dish as 2-3 large dinner servings or 4 small lunch servings.

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