If you're in the market for a serious takeout fake out, look no further than this super easy, super delicious Broccoli Beef recipe. You can have a steaming pan full of your favorite delivery meal in less time than it would take to place an order.
I realize that I'm one of the weird ones when I say that I haven't ordered ANY delivery meals since the pandemic started. But when money is tight, I can stretch my food budget so much farther if I make things myself. This awesome recipe for Broccoli Beef is honestly as good as the stuff I used to get, and at a fraction of the price.
If you're someone who can still enjoy the occasional luxury of ordering takeout, I wholeheartedly encourage you to do so. Please, support your local restaurants!!
But if you, like me, took a serious pay cut with the advent of COVID-19, I'm here to tell you that not all hope is lost. Just because you don't have as much spending money as you used to doesn't mean you can't eat like you do.
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Why This Broccoli Beef Recipe is Boss
This delicious (and fast!) recipe for Broccoli Beef can be on the table in just 25 minutes and will feed the whole family for what one takeout portion would cost. And I have to say, there is a certain satisfaction in knowing every single ingredient that goes in the pan before putting it in your body.
Since you already know I'm a grocery addict, I'm here to share a few of my favorite time and money saving tricks:
First up, there's exactly zero shame in buying bags of broccoli already cut into florets. Convenience is king! It doesn't hurt that you can buy a GIANT 4lb bag at Costco for just $4.99. If you're not a Costco shopper, I encourage you to price compare in your local store - I'd bet the frozen broccoli is cheaper than the fresh stuff, and I promise it'll roast up just as beautifully.
For all the folks who are mad about single use plastic, I hear you! Just remember that your friendly local Kroger will recycle your clean plastic bags. We keep a big bag in our mudroom to collect all the wayward plastic and take it to drop off on our monthly grocery shop. Easy peasy!
Secondly, in keeping with the convenience theme, I also love to shop for pre-sliced beef. One less thing for me to do - whether that thing is butchering it myself or taking it to the meat counter - means a happier me.
Where I live in Tennessee, you can't get a better price on grass fed, humane certified meat than at Aldi. For this recipe, I used their thin sliced sirloin tip roast and only had to make a few cuts when I got home.
And while this recipe for Broccoli Beef does have a pretty dang long list of ingredients, most of them are what I consider to be pantry staples. The only thing I had to shop for was the beef itself.
Oh, and just because the ingredient list is long doesn't mean the instructions are. 12 of the 14 items get stirred together and dumped in the pan. It's seriously SO SIMPLE.
How to Roast Broccoli
While I took a lot of inspiration for this dish from Chungah over at Damn Delicious - and she's a dang culinary genius, by the way - one thing I knew I wanted out of my Broccoli Beef was some yummy char flavor.
There's no better way to introduce that to Broccoli Beef than to roast the veggies. Don't worry! If you line the pan with parchment or a Silpat sheet, clean up is a breeze, so the extra pan doesn't matter. And by the time you've pulled out and measured the rest of the ingredients, it's ready!
Simply dump your florets onto your lined sheet pan. Break any florets that are too big with your hands. Drizzle with a few glugs of olive oil, sprinkle liberally with salt (and cayenne, red pepper flakes or ghost pepper if you dig spicy stuff).
Toss everything together with your hands or a spatula, then put the pan in a 450F oven. After 10 minutes, shake the pan or flip the pieces with a spatula. Return to the oven for 10 more minutes.
At the end, you'll have perfectly fork tender broccoli with perfect little charred bits to take you to flavortown. That wasn't so hard, right?
How to Make Broccoli Beef
If I am being 100% honest, the most difficult part of this recipe is setting up the mise en place. There are a lot of ingredients (14 to be exact), so opening each container, measuring, and then putting away takes some time.
If you start getting everything else together when the broccoli hits the oven, your timing should be perfect. Your dinner will be ready in 25 minutes flat.
Get our your biggest sauté pan or wok and heat some oil in the bottom of it.
Once the oil is shimmering, add the sliced beef. Sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper, do a quick stir and start measuring your sauce ingredients. Stir every 2-3 minutes until the beef is just cooked through.
Aside from mincing the garlic, the only thing you have to do for the sauce is measure and stir. All of the ingredients can be added to a bowl and stirred with a fork.
TIP: Start with cornstarch in the bowl, then add the liquid ingredients while stirring after each addition. This will prevent it from clumping.
Pour all the sauce ingredients into the pan and stir to coat. Bring to a low simmer and let that cornstarch do its thickening magic. Your broccoli should be just about ready to pull out of the oven right now.
Once the sauce has thickened a bit - after about 3-4 minutes, tip in your roasted broccoli. Give everything a good stir, then taste and season as needed.
While we generally serve Broccoli Beef with some kind of rice, you will hear exactly zero judge-y comments from me if you eat it straight from the pan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Heck yeah you can! Simply swap in tamari or coconut aminos for the soy sauce. Note that coconut aminos are slightly sweeter than either soy option.
While Chungah's recipe calls for flank steak, I've found that many cuts will work as long as they are sliced thinly enough. The natural swap for flank would be skirt, but this time I made it with sirloin tip steak and it worked just fine. I've also subbed in ribeye and had delicious results.
TIP: If you are slicing your own steak, it is easiest to get thin slices if your meat is slightly frozen when you cut it. Also, remember to go against the grain! Check out this informative post if you need more of a guide.
Yup! For either paleo or Whole30, sub coconut aminos instead of the soy sauce. You can also swap out the cornstarch for an equal amount of arrowroot starch.
If you're going paleo, swap* the brown sugar for a natural sweetener like agave, maple or honey. If you are going Whole30, omit it altogether. Don't worry, it's still delicious.
If you want to serve it with a side, double up on the cruciferous and go for cauliflower rice.
*For my tastebuds, coconut aminos are a bit sweeter than soy sauce or tamari, so you may not want to add any sweetener even if you're not strictly Whole30.
There are several things you can do on your meal prep day to make this easy broccoli beef come together in a snap. Feel free to roast the broccoli and combine the sauce ingredients ahead of time. If you bought pre-sliced meat, all you have to do is brown the meat and dump in the rest!
Want more easy dinner inspiration? Check out these other delicious recipes:
- Fried Rice with Chinese Sausage
- Easy Sheet Pan Cauliflower Tikka Masala
- Instant Pot Navy Bean Soup with Ham, Tomatoes and Kale
- Easy Chicken Divan Casserole
- Instant Pot Loaded Baked Potato Soup
If you tried this delicious and easy Broccoli Beef recipe, let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
If you want more recipes delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for my email newsletter. You can also follow me on Instagram, Pinterest or Facebook for other ideas on what to do with your groceries. Until next time, friends! I hope your life is as spicy and exciting as this broccoli beef! 😉
Easy Broccoli Beef
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lb Broccoli
- 2-3 tablespoon Olive Oil divided
- Kosher Salt and Pepper to taste
- 2 lb Thinly Sliced Sirloin Tip Steak cut into bite sized pieces
Sauce Ingredients
- ⅔ C Soy Sauce or sub tamari or coconut aminos
- ½ C Stock or Broth
- ¼ C Agave or sub honey or maple
- 2 tablespoon Brown Sugar
- 6 cloves Garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon Sesame Oil
- 1 tablespoon Sriracha
- 1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
- 1 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
- ¼ C Water
- 1 tablespoon Corn Starch
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450F. Drizzle broccoli with a few glugs of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 15-20 minutes, until broccoli is golden brown and fork tender.
- As the broccoli roasts, mix together all sauce ingredients except the cornstarch. Place cornstarch in a separate bowl, then stir in a few tablespoons of the sauce mixture. Set aside.
- Add a few glugs of olive oil to wok and heat till shimmering. Add sliced meat and sprinkled with salt and pepper to taste. Cook until no longer pink.
- Add sauce mixture and bring to simmer. Let thicken for a few minutes, then tip in cornstarch slurry. Simmer another 2 minutes, then stir in roasted broccoli.
- Serve with a generous amount of sauce over rice. Enjoy!
Notes
- You can get ahead on your meal prep day by:
- assembling sauce ingredients ahead of time to simply pour in
- breaking up broccoli florets
- pre-roasting broccoli florets
- If you don't want to make an extra dish, I love serving this meal over Seeds of Change's Brown Rice and Quinoa with Garlic
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