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Homemade Beef and Broccoli over Brown Rice is a savory, stir-fry dish that has thin-cut strips of lean, flank steak, crisp, bite-size, broccoli florets, a savory, garlic-infused brown sauce over steaming hot, brown rice. Make this popular Chinese-American cuisine take-out dish at home!
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
Hi Everyone, as you may have seen on my Instagram Stories, I've been recipe testing Beef and Broccoli for a few weeks now and I decided to have 2 versions, this one, which is pretty saucy, and a super saucy version which I will share later.
This first one is a more typical way to make Beef and Broccoli using one pot (preferably, a wok, if you have one) and the brown rice is made separately in a rice cooker.
Make sure to check out my "Tips for Success" down below where I dish on several family secrets I learned after interviewing my mom when developing this recipe.
My maternal grandfather, was part owner in Chinese restaurants when he had his career, so I asked my mom if she knew any stir-fry tips she could remember from him.
My mom's side of the family has Chinese-American heritage, so I grew up with so many different stir-fry dishes.
This way of cooking, stir-frying over high heat, was the norm when we got together for family dinners and my mom would also cook stir fry dishes in addition to American and Chinese-American fusion dishes at home.
I'm happy to share a version that I've come up with based on those taste memories, plus memories of my favorite take-out dishes, that my kids can now have if they ever want to make this dish.
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Once you try this recipe, you can adjust the flavors as you want.
If you feel like it needs more salt, add salt or soy sauce, if it needs more sweet, add more brown sugar.
These stir-fry-type dishes are all about having a balance of flavors.
I would also love to develop a vegan/vegetarian (yes, it's possible!) version of Beef and Broccoli.
I asked a vegetarian friend of ours who comes to our house for dinner and took some notes on possible ingredients that I could use to replace the beef in this dish.
My husband, Eric, and I love Beef and Broccoli and we frequently like to do vegetarian nights at our house.
If you would like to also see a vegan/vegetarian Beef and Broccoli recipe, let me know in the comments below.
As for the brown rice, it's just an effort to be a little healthier.
You can absolutely substitute the brown rice for long-grain white rice, as per your preference.
I suggest using a rice cooker, it's a must if you make rice fairly regularly.
It also frees up your stovetop so you can solely focus on the stir-fry. I link to my preferred rice cooker in the recipe card below.
RELATED: How to Make Rice in a Rice Cooker
This is a question, that I asked myself over and over again when developing this recipe.
For this particular one, I left them in but I make the onions optional.
I think purists would agree that Beef and Broccoli do not include onions.
I have had versions with onions and in our household, we add onions to almost everything we make for dinner so I thought why not?
The onions definitely add to the flavor.
The recipe does include garlic, however, and I think it's just fine without the onions so it's your call!
Chinese 5-Spice Blend - This is an essential spice blend if you are making any Chinese/Chinese-American style recipes, it's going to make it have that extra something that you would expect from a really good take-out. There are many brands, I linked to one I found on Amazon.com in the recipe card ingredients list that I like by Frontier Co-op.
Okay, this is really key when making any stir-fry that involves beef, especially a tough, lean cut like flank steak.
You must cut THIN strips, bite-size, across the grain, which means that the meat fibers will be short.
Having an acidic element in the marinade will help start to break down the meat, resulting in more tender meat.
Making sure not to over-cook the meat.
When I interviewed my mom when developing this recipe, she suggested cooking the meat to medium (turn off that heat when the food is done and remove the pot from the stove to a trivet and serve immediately).
There's also another method to getting the meat tender.
You can "velvet" the meat by adding about ¾ teaspoon baking soda for every 1 pound of beef, sprinkling it to coat, I also add (for this recipe) 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and up to ¼ cup of the sauce to act as a marinade but sometimes if I am pressed for time, I don't bother with the marinade but it will make for a better tasting dish if you marinade it.
Another thing is adding the whiskey or sherry in the marinade, my mom told me she would add a little bit of whiskey to her beef marinades for a stir-fry and that was her way of making the meat more tender because it starts to break down the meat.
I let the meat marinate for a ½ hour which should be enough but you can marinate for longer, if you wish, however, it's not necessary to go beyond 24 hours.
Here is a list of helpful kitchen tools for this homemade beef and broccoli over brown rice recipe (I linked to all the kitchen tools in the recipe card at the end of the post as well):
If you made this Homemade Beef and Broccoli over Brown Rice Recipe and liked it, please give the recipe a rating in the recipe card and let us know in the comments below, thank you for reading and following along!
I added a "Stir Fry Kitchen Tools" list on my Amazon.com storefront, here
Homemade Beef and Broccoli over Brown Rice is a savory, stir-fry dish that has thin-cut strips of lean, flank steak, crisp, bite-size, broccoli florets, a savory, garlic-infused brown sauce over steaming hot, brown rice. Make this popular Chinese-American cuisine take-out dish at home!
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Please note that the Calculated Nutrition is an estimate at best.
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Amanda Bellows says
I'm confused about the "Marinade" ingredient list versus the "Prepare the Marinade/Sauce" directions. Is one for marinating in the fridge with the meat and one is used during "Bring it all together"?
Sara Maniez says
They are referring to the same thing, sorry for the confusion!