Healthy Beijing Beef made gluten-free and refined sugar-free. Tender yet crispy beef in a sweet and sour sauce with a slight kick, this flavorful meal takes less than 40 minutes to prepare!
If you’ve tried Panda Express Beijing Beef, or from a local Chinese restaurant, you’re familiar with that explosion of flavor you get with each and every bite.
Sweet and sour, umami and savory, Beijing Beef has just the right amount of spice to make the whole dish a full palate experience!
For those of you who haven’t tried it yet, here’s everything you need to know about Beijing Beef!
What is Beijing Beef?
Beijing Beef is thinly sliced beef that has been breaded, deep fried, then stir fried with a sweet, spicy sticky sauce along with onions and bell peppers.
The result is a crispy yet tender bite that is engulfed in the most marvelous sweet and spicy sauce, similar to what you get with my Paleo General Chicken or Paleo Orange Chicken.
Beijing beef is sometimes referred to as Peking Beef on Chinese restaurant menus, and has been made popular by the fast food restaurant, Panda Express.
I make the recipe lighter than classic Beijing Beef, as I pan-fry the breaded beef in less oil (as opposed to deep frying it). Using honey instead of refined sugar, we’re able to get the sweet counterbalance to the heat without a lot of excess sugar.
Tips for Preparing Beijing Beef:
Use store-bought fajita meat, which comes already sliced. If you’d like, you can slice flank steak to create thin strips, but I like going with the pre-sliced fajita meat option to cut down the prep time.
There are many ways you can change up the list of ingredients without sacrificing the authentic flavor, so be sure to look in the recipe card or in the Recipe Adaptations section for the possibilities.
Beijing Beef Ingredients:
For the Beef Stir Fry: Avocado oil, beef, egg, gluten-free flour (or tapioca flour), yellow onion, and red bell pepper.
The beef gets coated in whisked egg and gluten-free flour in order to create a breading for pan frying. This creates a crispy outside and a tender inside, which we all find irresistible in Chinese food!
For the Beijing Beef Sauce: Sesame oil, garlic, hoisin sauce (or gochujang sauce if you don’t like the ingredients in hoisin), honey, liquid aminos (or soy sauce), sambal oelek (sweet chili sauce or sriracha), red pepper flakes, and rice vinegar (or cider vinegar).
This combination of ingredients is what generates the sweet, sour, umami, sticky amazing tangy sauce for the crispy tender beef. You can find all of them in almost all grocery stores!
While the sauce includes a fairly long list of ingredients, you may already have all of the ingredients on hand, especially if you cook Chinese food at home often.
Recipe Adaptations:
You can substitute the gochujang sauce with hoisin sauce for a sweeter version of this recipe, and you can use coconut aminos instead of liquid aminos to make the recipe soy-free.
Incorporate 1 to 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce in the recipe if you have it on hand.
If you don’t like the ingredients in gochujang sauce or hoisin sauce, you can use ⅓ cup of unsweetened ketchup and increase the amount of sambal oelek to 3 tablespoons.
To keep the recipe refined sugar-free and honey for sweetening the sauce instead of sugar. If you prefer using sugar or pure maple syrup, you can make the substitution.
Use corn starch instead of gluten-free flour if you’d like, or use regular gluten-free all-purpose flour.
Add 2 to 3 tbsp ketchup to the sauce recipe if desired.
You can change up the type of vinegar and use white vinegar or cider vinegar instead of rice vinegar.
Let’s make it!
How to Make Beijing Beef:
Make the Sauce:
Add all of the ingredients for the sauce to a bowl or measuring cup and whisk them together until combined (note: you can also blend everything in a small blender like a Magic Bullet if you have one).
Stir Fry the Beef:
Whisk the egg in a mixing bowl then toss the beef slices in the egg until all of the pieces are well-coated.
Add the flour and stir until the beef is coated in flour. Note that the beef will stick together at first, but it will come apart during the cooking process so no need to pull the pieces apart from each other.
Heat a large skillet over high heat and add the avocado oil. Once the skillet is very hot, add the breaded beef and spread it into a single layer.
Allow the beef to brown for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it has a golden crisp on it.
Add the Veggies:
Transfer the onion and bell pepper to the skillet and continue stir frying for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened.
Add the Sauce:
Pour the sauce into the skillet and stir well until everything is well-coated.
Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the Beijing sauce is thick and sticky, about 5 to 8 minutes.
Serve this easy Beijing Beef recipe with your choice of steamed rice, fried rice, or cauliflower rice with fresh chopped green onion and sesame seeds (optional).
More Chinese-Inspired Recipes:
If you love copycat Panda Express recipes, check these out!
- Paleo Mongolian Beef
- Sweet and Sour Pork
- 30-Minute Sesame Ginger Garlic Broccoli Beef Stir Fry
- Healthy Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Sesame Ginger Cashew Chicken
- Orange Ginger Shrimp Stir Fry
- Gluten-Free Chicken Chow Mein
If you’re wanting to step up the whole experience, I recommend serving this Healthy Crispy Beijing Beef with Vegetable Fried Rice or Kimchi Fried Rice.
Enjoy this on your dinner menu tonight!
Healthy Beijing Beef
Ingredients
For the Beef Stir Fry:
- 1 pound flank steak thinly sliced*
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup gluten-free all-purpose flour**
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 2 Tbsp avocado oil
- 1 large yellow onion chopped
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
For the Beijing Beef Sauce:
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- ⅓ cup hoisin sauce or gochujang
- 2 Tbsp sambal oelek or sriracha
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes optional***
- 2 Tbsp liquid aminos****
- 3 Tbsp honey or pure maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients for the sauce to a bowl or measuring cup and whisk them together until combined (note: you can also blend everything in a small blender like a Magic Bullet if you have one). Set aside until ready to use.
- Whisk the egg in a mixing bowl then toss the beef in the egg until all of the pieces are well-coated.
- Add the flour and stir until the beef is coated in flour. Note that the beef will stick together at first, but it will come apart during the cooking process so no need to pull the pieces apart from each other.
- Heat a large skillet over high heat and add the avocado oil. Once the skillet is very hot, add the breaded beef and spread it into a single layer. Allow the beef to brown for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it has a golden crisp on it.
- Transfer the onion and bell pepper to the skillet and continue stir frying for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened.
- Pour the sauce into the skillet and stir well until everything is well-coated.
- Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thick and sticky, about 5 to 8 minutes. Serve Beijing Beef with your choice of steamed rice, fried rice, or cauliflower rice.
Notes
Nutrition
Thank you for another great recipe. I tried it with ground beef also, made them into tiny little meatballs and turned out just as good!
Oooh, I love the idea of making it with ground beef! I’m going to have to try that, myself!! xo