Thinly sliced steaks of Hunan beef are stir-fried with vibrant vegetables in a hot sauce. A takeout favorite that’s incredibly simple to make in the convenience of your own home!
Since my family loves Chinese food so much, they frequently ask me to prepare dishes like beef and broccoli, crab rangoon, and this savory and spicy Hunan style beef dish.
When I visit my neighborhood Chinese restaurant, I consistently order the Hunan beef. This homemade version is actually quite easy to make; serve with a side of steamed rice and listen to the adoring comments about how delicious steak and veggies in a spicy sauce are!
The BEST Hunan Beef – Why you’ll LOVE this Hunan Beef recipe
- A sauce with the perfect amount of tang, spice, and sweetness.
- Many vibrant, fresh, and crisp vegetables that are not soggy
- Tender, juicy bites of beef
- Add as much chili paste as you’d like to regulate the amount of spice.
- Quick and easy without a long list of ingredients
- Made with ingredients easily found in your local supermarket
- Simple, fuss-free cooking method
- Ready in under 30 minutes
- A healthy meal your family will love
What is Hunan Beef?
A tasty, well-liked Chinese-American dish called Chinese Hunan Beef is made with tender beef pieces stir-fried with a lot of vegetables and covered in a tangy, sweet, and spicy sauce. The Hunan province of China is where the original dish is from, and it is typically very hot, very spicy, and packed with chilies. Chinese restaurants reduced the heat so that it was sweeter and milder to suit the American palate. With this recipe, you can adjust the level of spice by using any amount of chili paste.
Easy Chinese Stir Fry Recipe
The ideal quick and simple weeknight dinner or a fun meal to share with friends is beef Hunan style. It can be made as mild or spicy as you like it, and it takes less than 30 minutes to prepare.
What’s in Hunan Beef
Hunan Beef ingredients include:
- Beef – I’ve used flank steak. Cut it in thin strips across the grain. It becomes firmer after 20 minutes in the freezer, allowing for the creation of very thin slices.
- I used broccoli, baby corn, carrots, and red pepper as fresh vegetables. You can choose from the list of additional vegetables below to create your own Hunan Beef.
- Garlic and ginger
- Hunan Sauce – see below
What’s in Chinese Hunan Sauce
Hunan Sauce is a traditional Chinese stir-fry sauce that has a mild spiciness, tanginess, and sweetness to it. It contains:
- soy sauce
- oyster sauce
- rice wine vinegar
- honey (or sugar)
- Sambal Oelek chili paste
- Beef broth
- cornstarch
Hunan Beef’s distinctive savory, spicy, salty flavor is derived from the spicy chili bean sauce known as DoubanJiang. It has a powerful umami flavor because it is made of fermented beans and chili paste.
It’s optional in this recipe because it tastes great without it and because it’s a less common ingredient. If you want to give it a try, stir in a tablespoon of the sauce.
Vegetables for Hunan Beef
In this traditional Chinese stir-fry recipe, use your favorite stir-fry vegetables:
- Broccoli
- Bell pepper
- Baby corn
- Fresh chili peppers for added heat
- Mushrooms
- Bamboo shoots
- Carrots
- Zucchini
- Water chestnuts
- Snow peas
- Sugar snap peas
- Celery
- Slice red onion
- Green onion
- Asparagus
- Bok choy
How to make Hunan Beef
To prepare the Hunan sauce, mix all of the sauce’s components in a bowl.
In a hot skillet or wok, stir-fry the beef slices until they are just done inside and have brown crispy bits on the outside. Don’t overcook for the most tender beef.
Once the beef has been removed from the pan, add some oil, followed by the garlic, and ginger. Stir fry for about 5 seconds then add the veggies. You don’t want the vegetables to be overcooked, and you don’t want the garlic and ginger to turn brown.
Add the Hunan sauce when the vegetables are halfway to being tender crisp (about a minute for baby corn, red bell pepper, and broccoli). It should thicken and bubble up fairly quickly, in a minute or two. Turn off the heat, stir in the beef, and serve.
What does Hunan Beef taste like?
A perfectly balanced blend of mildly spiciness, tanginess, and light sweetness characterizes this Hunan Beef Chinese stir fry. It has a deep umami, Asian flavor that comes from the oyster sauce and soy sauce. Sambal oelek gives the sauce it’s spicy, garlicy flavor. The garlic and ginger round out the flavors. DoubanJiang (hot chili bean sauce) is used to give it a distinct, hot, fermented flavor.
You can easily change the heat to your preferred level of mildness or spice.
Classic Chinese Beef Stir Fry Variations
Hunan Beef is simple to customize to your preferences and ingredients on hand:
- Use more or less chili paste to alter the level of heat.
- Use your favorite stir fry vegetables
- Add some whole dried red chilies
- Doubanjiang, a fiery chili bean paste, can be used in place of or in addition to sambal oelek to add an additional layer of savory, sour, salty, and spicy flavor.
Tips for the BEST Hunan Beef
*Tender crisp vegetables – The dish’s success or failure depends on how the vegetables are prepared. Only cook the vegetables in the stir-fryer until they are roughly halfway done; once the sauce is added, they will continue to cook and soften.
For me, this is about 1 minute of stir frying. They will become mushy and soggy if they have already become too soft from the stir frying.
The beauty of this dish is the colorful, fresh vegetables. Overcooking them also dulls their color. Depending on how long they will take to cook, add the vegetables to the pan. The veggies that take the longest go in first. The broccoli is the easiest to lose color and become mushy, so I always add it last.
*Tender, juicy beef: The meat is thinly sliced and pan-fried until it is cooked through. Cut it across the grain for the most tender beef. Use a very hot pan so that the beef begins to brown before it is fully cooked inside. It is simpler to slice the beef into extremely thin slices after freezing it for about 30 minutes.
Consider marinating and velveting the beef for even more tenderness. (I skip velveting and marinating when using tender flank steak. I like how quick and easy the dish is. ).
Velveting and Marinating the beef
Have you ever noticed how tender the beef is in Chinese restaurants? One simple technique for velveting beef is to combine 1 pound of thinly sliced beef with 14 teaspoon of baking soda. 1 teaspoon cornstarch, and 2 teaspoons oil. After 30 minutes of marinating, continue with the recipe.
How to serve Hunan Beef
Serve Hunan Beef with fried rice, white rice that has been steam-cooked, or noodles.
MORE FAVORITE ASIAN RECIPES:
Quick and Easy Hunan Beef
- Author: Kelly
- Total Time: 25 minutes
With fresh vegetables, tender beef, and a spicy kick, this simple Hunan Beef recipe is a traditional Chinese stir fry dish that’s better than takeout. Ready in under 30 minutes!.
For the Hunan Sauce:
- ½ cup beef broth
- 1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey or sugar
- 1 tablespoon Sambal Oelek, or to taste
- Optional:1 tablespoon DoubanJiang (spicy chili bean sauce)
For the stir fry:
- 1 pound flank steak cut into very thin slices
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon ginger, minced
- 3 cups broccoli florets
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into bite sized pieces
- 15oz can baby corn
- To prepare the Hunan sauce, mix all of the sauce’s components in a bowl.
- In a skillet or wok, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over high heat. Stir-fry the beef until it’s barely done on the inside and beginning to develop crispy, browned bits on the outside.
- After removing the beef from the pan, add the garlic and ginger to the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil. Stir fry for about 5 seconds then add the veggies.
- Add the Hunan sauce when the vegetables are halfway to being tender crisp (about a minute for baby corn, red bell pepper, and broccoli). It should thicken and bubble up fairly quickly, in a minute or two. Turn off the heat, stir in the beef, and serve.
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 10
- Cuisine: Asian, Chinese
Keywords: stir fry, asian, beef, hunan, vegetables, spicy, healthy, chinese
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Other dishes you might enjoy include Honey Sriracha Chicken, Hunan Chicken, Sweet and Sour Chicken, and Crab Rangoon.
what is hunan beef
FAQ
What is the difference between Hunan and Szechuan beef?
Hunan vs. Hunan beef is less sweet and has more heat and spice, whereas Szechuan beef is sweeter and has a tingling sensation. Hunan’s flavor is considered plainer and contains more vegetables.
What is Hunan beef taste like?
This Hunan Beef Chinese stir fry has a mildly spicy, tangy, and lightly sweet flavor that is perfectly balanced, and it tastes like Hunan Beef. It has a deep umami, Asian flavor that comes from the oyster sauce and soy sauce. Sambal oelek gives the sauce it’s spicy, garlicy flavor.
What is Hunan beef made of?
Hunan style beef is a chili-heavy dish that is frequently offered on menus at American-Chinese restaurants. Beef is stir-fried and covered in Hunan sauce, which is a concoction of rice vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, and chilies. It’s one of the spicier recipes on the menu.
What is the difference between Hunan beef and kung pao beef?
Both recipes use spicy beef stir-fries as their primary ingredient, but they also add various sauces and flavors to make them taste better. While Kung Pao Beef uses a mix of spicy, salty, and sweet flavors, Hunan Beef depends on spice to give it a distinctive flavor.