This Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry is spicy, sweet, delicious, and the perfect weekday meal prep. It is ready in less than 30 minutes, packed with flavor, and is easy to make! It’s gluten free, dairy free, and free of refined sugar!
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Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry Ingredients
How to make Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry:
- Coat the beef! Add corn starch, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes (not the ones used for the sauce), and half of the oil to a bowl with the beef. Stir gently to evenly coat all the meat in the cornstarch mixture.
- Make the beef. Heat a pan over medium high heat. Add your oil to it and let the oil get hot. Add beef flat to the pan in batches to make sure the pieces are evenly spread out. Fry beef until both sides of meat are slightly golden brown and crispy. Remove from the pan and let rest on paper towels to absorb the excess moisture. Repeat with remaining beef.
- Make Sauce and Prep! While the beef is cooking, mix together coconut sugar, chili oil, remaining red pepper flakes, fish sauce, and coconut aminos in a small bowl or cup. Set aside for later.
- Cook the vegetables. Once all the beef is done, drain the excess oil from the pan but reserve a thin layer of oil to cook the vegetables in. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and sauté until translucent and fragrant. Then, add the green beans and water to the pan. Drop heat to low/medium and cover to let the green beans soften, approximately 3-4 minutes.
- Add the beef. Return the beef to the pan and gently mix with the green beans.
- Add the sauce. Pour the sauce into the pan and mix to coat the beef and green beans. Cover and let sauce simmer for 5-7 minutes until thickened.
- Enjoy! By itself or with rice, this is a great weeknight supper!
Quick Facts
How long does this dish take? 30 minutes
How much does this make? 4 servings
Does this meet my dietary needs? This recipe is dairy free, gluten free, and refined sugar free.
How many bowls should I plan for this meal? 1 pan and 2 bowls
How long does this keep? 1 week in the fridge, 2 months in freezer
Is it freezer friendly? Yes
How do I reheat this? Heat in the microwave for 1-2 minutes until heated through. Beef has a tendency to dry out however when reheated, add 1-2 tablespoons of water to a bowl or plate and then place the dish on or in that plate or bowl and reheat. This creates a type of steam bath environment for the beef to keep it moist while reheating.
Can I pack this for lunch? Yup! Just keep it semi cold since this has meat in it.
Substitution Options
All substitution options are a 1:1 substitution unless noted otherwise.
Steak Strips: Ground beef or ground turkey could be used. If using ground beef with a fat ratio higher than 5%, do not use oil when cooking the beef and drain most of the fat that results from cooking the ground beef prior to cooking your onions and garlic.
Corn Starch: ArrowRoot powder can be used in place.
Red Pepper Flakes: These can be omitted or cayenne (in half the quantity) can be used.
Avocado Oil: Any vegetable oil can be used in place of avocado oil. If using olive oil, it loses its health properties at higher heats so it is not recommended when frying.
White Onion: Red or yellow onion can be used. Both are slightly sweeter onions.
Garlic: ½ tablespoon on garlic powder can be used by adding it into the sauce.
Green Beans: Broccoli or Stir fry vegetables can be used in place of green beans.
Chili Oil: This can be omitted and replaced with additional red pepper flakes or cayenne or ¼ of a diced jalapeños can be added in with the onions and garlic. We use this chili oil and it's more sweet than it is spicy so I highly recommend!
Coconut Sugar: Honey or brown sugar can replace coconut sugar.
Coconut Aminos: Soy sauce can replace coconut aminos but if using full sodium soy sauce, so not add salt to the corn starch beef mixture.
Fish Sauce: This can be omitted but adds great depth of flavor! It will have a fishy smell initially but the smell cooks out by the end. Try this one!
Fun Fact!
Fish Sauce is widely used in Asian cooking and is known and used for it’s highly concentrated umami - one of the 5 flavors that the human tongue can detect. For more on umami, check out this website! It can be dated back to the 4th century BCE in Rome, where it was known as Garum.
Fish sauce used to be made with whole large fish, blood, or guts that were fermented. Today, it is made from anchovies covered in salt and allowed to rest for a couple months to a couple years in barrels. The salt breaks down the fish while the weight of the fish slowly presses the fish into a sauce. (Source)
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Recipe
Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1 lbs flank steak sliced or strips
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 4 tablespoon avocado oil
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- ½ of a white onion diced
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 12 oz green beans
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ¼ cup water
Sauce Ingredients
- ¼ cup coconut aminos
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon coconut sugar or honey
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon chili oil
Instructions
- Add corn starch, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes (not the ones used for the sauce), and half of the oil to a bowl with the beef. Stir gently to evenly coat all the meat in the cornstarch mixture.
- Heat a pan over medium high heat. Add your oil to it and let the oil get hot. Add beef flat to the pan in batches to make sure the pieces are evenly spread out. Fry beef until both sides of meat are slightly golden brown and crispy. Remove from the pan and let rest on paper towels to absorb the excess moisture. Repeat with remaining beef.
- While the beef is cooking, mix together coconut sugar, chili oil, remaining red pepper flakes, fish sauce, and coconut aminos in a small bowl or cup. Set aside for later.
- Once all the beef is done, drain the excess oil from the pan but reserve a thin layer of oil to cook the vegetables in. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and sauté until translucent and fragrant. Then, add the green beans and water to pan. Drop heat to low/medium and cover to let the green beans soften, approximately 3-4 minutes.
- Return the beef to the pan and gently mix with the green beans.
- Pour the sauce into the pan and mix to coat the beef and green beans. Cover and let sauce simmer for 5-7 minutes until thickened.
- Enjoy!
Delicious and so easy for a week night meal! Love to double the portion as well for lunch leftovers the next day.
Awesome!! So glad you enjoyed it!