Easy Beef and Broccoli
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The BEST beef and broccoli made in 15 min start to finish. Quicker, cheaper, healthier and tastier than take-out!!!
Featured Comment
I made this dish for dinner last night and my husband commented that the flavors are spot on! This makes plenty of sauce and so after we had eaten, he prepared more meat & broccoli and added it to the leftover sauce to take for lunch today. Thanks for a new favorite go-to recipe. It really was quick and easy!
reasons to make easy beef and broccoli
- Takeout favorite. Say goodbye to long delivery wait times and cold takeout. Everyone’s favorited homemade beef and broccoli tastes so much better than takeout, using fresh and better quality ingredients all around.
- Weeknight superhero. This is truly the easiest beef and broccoli recipe of all time. The slow cooker version is great too, perfect for when you work an 8 hr day, but this is on your dinner table in less than 30 minutes start to finish. But don’t be fooled by the easiness of the recipe – it’s packed with so much flavor and melt-in-your-mouth tender beef.
- Freezer-friendly. Who doesn’t love a good freezer meal? Beef and broccoli will keep in the freezer for up to 2 months! Save the leftovers for a rainy day, perfect for those super hectic weeknights (or lazy weekends) between soccer practice and helping with geometry homework.
how to make the easiest beef and broccoli
- Make the sauce, whisking everything together
- Sear and cook the steak, working quickly not to overcook the meat
- Stir in the broccoli + sauce at the very end until the broccoli is cooked through with saucy goodness
- Serve over rice and serve
tips and tricks for success
- Use a cast iron skillet. Cast iron skillets retain heat much better than a nonstick skillet, allowing for even cooking and a better sear of the steak.
- Use reduced sodium soy sauce. Reduced sodium has less sodium and less salt without compromising flavor.
- Use good-quality stock. The better quality your stock, the better your dish. Many brands love to pack in the salt so always opt for unsalted or a lower-sodium variety. Homemade stock is even better.
- Slice against the grain. This will shorten muscle fibers, leaving you with more tender (less chewy) pieces of meat.
- Add the broccoli at the very end. To avoid soft, mushy broccoli, stir in the broccoli during the end of cooking time to maintain its crisp-tender texture. Bigger-sized broccoli florets will take longer to cook through.
- Serve with your favorite grain. White rice, brown rice, quinoa or farro are all great options. Want cauliflower fried rice? We have a recipe for that here.
- Freeze as needed. Beef and broccoli is freezer-friendly! Label, date and freeze up to 2 months.
pro tip
Add more veggies.
This easy beef and broccoli recipe is very flexible and forgiving. Add in carrots, bell peppers, spinach, cabbage, snow peas or baby corn along with the broccoli during the last few minutes of cook time for a more heartier, well-rounded meal.
what to serve with easy beef and broccoli
Tools For This Recipe
Large cast iron skillet
Easy Beef and Broccoli: Frequently Asked Questions
How can I store leftovers?
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Is beef and broccoli freezer-friendly?
Yes! Let cool completely; portion into plastic freezer bags in individual servings, squeezing out any excess air before sealing. To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge, reheating over low heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through.
Can I make beef and broccoli in the slow cooker?
Yes! We have a recipe for that here.
Easy Beef and Broccoli
The BEST beef and broccoli made in 15 min start to finish. Quicker, cheaper, healthier and tastier than take-out!!!
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- ½ cup chicken stock
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha, or more, to taste
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound flank steak, thinly sliced across the grain
- 1 head broccoli, cut into florets
Equipment
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together soy sauce, chicken stock, honey, vinegar, brown sugar, garlic, sesame oil, cornstarch, Sriracha, ginger, red pepper flakes and 1/4 cup water; set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add steak and cook, flipping once, until browned, about 3-4 minutes.
- Stir in broccoli and soy sauce mixture until tender and slightly thickened, about 3-4 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
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Hi, Literally just found this recepe online and ran to the market to grab the ingredients. Hope it comes out good
Followed the recipe exactly. Sliced my flank steak very thin against the grain. The sauce thickened up just perfecty. My husband loved it. I will definitely make this many more times. So eAsy and many of the ingredients I had already had on hand.
The whole concept was pretty good, but my beef created way too much liquid for my cornstarch to help thicken the sauce. I added about one whole other tablespoon for it to finally thicken, maybe you’ll need more too.
Also, we are a SALT house. My partner has a cap that was embroidered with “Needs More Salt”. I’m telling you though, CUT DOWN ON THE SOY SAUCE. We love love love salt, but definitely had a hard time finishing our plates unfortunately.
Other than that, it was easy prep, tasty and quick to put together.
Loved it. Quick, easy and delicious. I had some chanterelle mushrooms around so added those too. I didn’t have any stock so used Better Than Bouillon. Would definitely make this again.
This was pretty good and my kids seemed to like it, but my bf (Asian and grew up on Asian food) said it was too much soy sauce and suggested I use half of what’s directed. So next time I’ll try that and I will post an updated review ☺️
Omg. First off, it takes me a lot of courage to cook new things and let me just tell you I CRUSHED this. Holy crap, it’s so good. Lol
Sauce didn’t thicken at all, beef and broccoli ended up swimming in the soup. Too much liquid even when we forgot to add in the 1/4 cup of water. We let it boil some more, but afraid the beef will become tough, so we scooped out half the liquid and called it a meal. The flavor is very good, not overly salty, paired well with rice. We used korean soy sauce.
Next time we’ll probably try to halve the liquids and figure out what’s wrong with the cornstarch.
My sauce did’t thicken either. I wonder if it’s supposed to be liquidy…
Great recipe! Even my pickiest eater loved it! The first time I made it with flank steak, which I accidentally overcooked to a little tough while waiting for the sauce to thicken. The second time I used thinly sliced filet and left it a little pink. I used double the cornstarch and cooked the sauce separately, stirring until it thickened up nicely. I also precooked the broccoli a little and added it to the sauce before pouring the whole mixture over the beef. Next time I’m going to make one more change to suit my family’s taste – cut the soy sauce in half because one of my kids prefers less.
So Good! Thanks for this delicious recipe. I didn’t have any corn starch so I used Wondra flour — mixed about two tablespoons with water to make a paste and then stirred into the sauce, and it thickened it up just fine.
Delicious, but way too salty and I used everything low sodium. Maybe less soy sauce and stock? Could be a great recipe but needs tweaking because of saltiness. Mine never thickened up either.
As someone who has zero cooking skills, this recipe was super simple and delicious! I’m honestly stunned at how good it came out.
Made this for my husband and picky toddler. Huge hit and fun to make with kids too!
I made this last night for parents and my brother with noodles, and it was an unbelievably huge hit!! My mom is very hesitant trying new foods and is also super sensitive to spices (even pepper), so often she’s left disappointed with bland food. This dish, however, was perfect for her! It had loads and loads of flavour without being spicy or overwhelming. My brother ate half of the recipe just on his own because he enjoyed it so much!
I personally left out the rice wine vinegar (i can never find it anywhere), sriracha, and red pepper flakes, and used 1/3 regular soy sauce and it was still amazing. I also sauteed some onions with the beef which added even more flavour! This recipe is just the best as it’s easy, fast, and not costly at all. I can’t wait to make this again, as well as the other recipes you’ve shared 🙂 Thank you so much!!
Fantastic recipe: My additions, substitutions and changes: I roasted 2 pounds of salted and peppered chuck roast the night before in a crock pot alone. 10 hours, no liquid. In the morning, I had two tender cuts and at least 1/2 cup broth after I strained and separated the grease.
I then pulled the meat apart separating the fat out.
I did not add the chicken stock or water.
I sautéed a small chopped onion, added garlic and turned off burner while I prepped the sauce and set the table.
Had lots of fun making this with my 15 yo son! Thanks!
Very easy and very yummy
very easy put over rice topped with sesame seeds
Super tasty!!! I halved the soy sauce because don’t care for it that much. I also used garlic powder and frozen broccoli because I’m lazy af. Put it on rice noodles. A huge hit and very easy to make.
Thanks so much for your feedback, Rachel!
Awesome that you and me sound so similar compared to some people on here who actually preferred to add more ingredients and steps that i got tired reading one of them lol!! Just a couple questions,1.)wondering what was soy sauce you used and was it it salty or anything like a lot of people said? 2.) The noodle idea sounds way better to me than making rice which I was most likely not even going to make…so if you could help me out with your noodle Recipe unless its literally self explainable or on package thanks for help have a good one!!
Simple and very flexible recipe. As others have stated the sauce ends up pretty strong unless you dilute or use less sugar/salt ingredients.
I used 1/3 cup normal soy sauce (half the recipe amount) and used regular pot honey (solid) which had a bit of trouble mixing in. To help this I added four tablespoons of hot water which slightly diluted the mixture and helped dissolve the honey.
Next I took a handful of cornstarch (in addition to the tablespoon in the mixture) and powdered the outside of the beef slices.
Before turning on the heat, lay out your slices in the pan. You can use oil if needed to stop them sticking. Put it on low heat to start off. Drizzle 3-4 tablespoons of your mixture over the beef, then set to medium and follow the recipe as normal.
This does two things. One is it makes a sauce layer around your meat from the get-go, keeping moisture in and not drying out the beef as much. Second, the additional cornstarch thickens up the rest of the mixture! I see a few people commenting that their sauce is too liquid, this solves this somewhat.
As additions to the recipe I added some leftover boiled spinach and spring onion as well as cashew nuts to aid in the crunch factor. If you taste test and find the sauce too rich, the more meat/vege ingredients you add will spread it out a bit. Using veges with a bit of water content (like spinach) helps too.
I’m a vegetarian so I made this for my husband and son. They liked, but indicated it too salty. I used regular soy sauce, not low sodium as recommended. I agree with another reviewer, there was a lot of sauce. It did thicken, but I think this added to the salty flavor as well. I would definitely make again, just reduce the amount of soy sauce used, maybe by 1/2. Thank you for the simplicity of the recipe. Definitely a quick and easy meal for a week night!
This is pretty fantastic!!! It is good on rice like in the picture, but I’ve also used ramen style noodles, and it goes well too! There’s just enough spicy kick to it, and the “master sauce” is very tasty. It definitely satisfies your “umami” flavor craving!
It is perfect when my wife and I need to whip up something quick after work, or if we have unexpected guests. We just need to be sure to have the ingredients on hand. Luckily a small bottle of sesame oil lasts quite a while! (Sometimes we cheat and use frozen broccoli florets if we are in a pinch!) Thanks for posting!
I made this the other night and we loved it. Want to turn it into one of our ‘go to’ recipes. Do you recommend a noodle and if so what kind? Any additional vegetables that you’ve tried that would work well? Bok Choy perhaps?
This dish would pair beautifully with these asian garlic noodles! 🙂
https://damndelicious.net/2015/12/27/asian-garlic-noodles/