What is it about ginger beef and onion stir fry that makes it so good? Is it the tender strips of beef, the sizable strips of onions, or the bite of fresh ginger? It could be any one of those things, but it’s most likely the combo of all three plus a savory sweet and tangy lemon soy sauce that makes this a weeknight winner. Make it in the amount of time it’d take to have delivery come to your door.
Cooking Notes
Like all stir fries, its best if all your ingredients are prepped before you even think about turning on the stove. Prep the ginger and onions first, then slice the beef. This saves you from cutting the beef first, which means you’ll only use one cutting board, which means less washing up, which equals more time for chilling.
This recipe requires minimal marinating time (essentially the beef marinates for as long as it take for the onions and ginger to cook) but if you have the time, you can marinate everything for 20 minutes or so.
Ingredient Notes
Flank steak is ideal in this dish. It has a lot of beefy flavor and when you cut it against the grain (look at how the muscle fibers are aligned, then slice across the grain instead of parallel with it) it helps the meat taste more tender. Plus, it cooks extremely quickly.
On soy sauce: we used a mix of regular and dark soy sauce for the photos, which is what gives the beef it’s extra dark and glossy color. There isn’t a huge flavor difference (dark soy is a bit less salty, has a very tiny bit more sweetness, and is, well, dark), but if you cook a lot of stir fry or Chinese food, it’s worth it to get a bottle if you’re into authenticity. Check this post for more info.
What do you need?
A large nonstick skillet and 1 medium-large bowl.
What to serve it with?
Nothing beats a bowl of fluffy white rice, but you can also go with udon (just add some defrosted udon in during the last step), or some vegetables.
Ginger Beef and Onion Stir Fry Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp soy sauce see note
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice or rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 lb flank steak sliced
- 2 inches ginger peeled and sliced
- 1 small onion peeled and sliced
- 2 tsp cornstarch
Instructions
- In a bowl, make a marinade by whisking together the soy sauce, lemon juice and sugar. Add the beef to the marinade and let stand while you cook the onions.
- In a nonstick frying pan, heat up a bit of oil over high heat until hot and shimmery. Add the ginger and onion and cook, turning down the heat and stirring as needed, until soft.
- Push the onions and ginger to the side. Turn the heat up and add the beef, reserving the marinade, in a single layer if possible. Cook, undisturbed, until seared. Flip and sear the other side.
- Make a sauce by mixing the cornstarch and 1/3 cup water into the remaining marinade.
- Add the sauce and cook until the beef is tender and the sauce bubbles, thickens, and becomes glossy. Season with a generous amount black pepper and enjoy.
Sounds delicious, will try it asamid week dish
Hi, thanks for sharing your recipe. Is there a secret to making the beef soft?
Whenever I cook stir fried beef, it always get hard.
Because of time constraint, I always buy the “stroganoff” cut from my local butcher so I don’t have to slice it myself.
Thanks
Racquel
hi racquel,
if you add a bit of cornstarch (1 teaspoon) to the marinade, it should help! check out this post for more info :)
Hello Stephanie, quite difficult to brown the beef wet with soy sauce.
Aloha from Texas, all of your recipes sound divine! I can not wait to try one in particular. One thing texas does well is beef, cant wait to go to my butcher and get some beef.
I’m always looming for quick, fun and easy meals for the boys. Really love this one!
It was so good and it was very easy and quick to make!
I made this recipe with ground beef (cause that is what I had in the fridge). It was absolutely delicious. Thanks!