Easy Beef and Broccoli Recipe: Stir-Fry or Slow Cooker

This beef and broccoli recipe takes about 25 minutes: thin slices of flank steak seared hot, broccoli cooked until just crisp-tender, and a glossy garlic-ginger sauce made with low-sodium soy sauce and a spoonful of honey. It serves 4, with about 29 grams of protein and 290 calories per serving before rice.

Takeout versions tend to drown everything in a thick, sweet sauce. Here the sauce is lighter and there is more of it in flavor than in volume, so the beef and broccoli stay the main event. If you would rather leave dinner cooking all afternoon, there is a slow cooker version further down.

Beef and broccoli ingredients

Serves 4. Prep 15 minutes, cook 10 minutes.

For the beef

• 1 lb (454 g) flank steak
• 1 tbsp (8 g) cornstarch
• 1 tbsp (16 g) low-sodium soy sauce

For the sauce

• 3 tbsp (48 g) low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) water
• 1 tbsp (21 g) honey
• 2 tsp (5 g) cornstarch
• 1 tsp (4.5 g) toasted sesame oil
• 1 tbsp (18 g) oyster sauce, optional

For the stir-fry

• 5 cups (340 g) broccoli florets
• 1 tbsp (14 g) avocado oil, divided
• 3 garlic cloves (9 g), minced
• 1 tbsp (6 g) grated fresh ginger
• 2 green onions (30 g), thinly sliced
• 1 tsp (3 g) sesame seeds, for topping

How to make beef and broccoli

1. Slice the flank steak in half lengthwise with the grain, then cut each strip across the grain into 1/4-inch (6 mm) slices. Toss the beef with 1 tbsp cornstarch and 1 tbsp soy sauce and let it sit while you prep everything else.
2. Whisk the sauce ingredients in a measuring cup until no lumps of cornstarch remain.
3. Heat 1 tsp of the avocado oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the broccoli and 2 tbsp water, cover, and cook 2 minutes. Uncover and stir-fry 1 to 2 minutes more, until bright green and crisp-tender. Move it to a plate.
4. Add the remaining oil to the pan and turn the heat to high. Lay half the beef in a single layer and leave it alone for 1 minute to brown, then flip and cook 30 to 60 seconds more. Move it to the plate and repeat with the rest of the beef.
5. Lower the heat to medium. Add the garlic and ginger and stir for 30 seconds, until fragrant.
6. Whisk the sauce again, pour it into the pan and stir until it bubbles and turns glossy, about 1 minute.
7. Return the beef and broccoli with any juices, toss for 30 seconds to coat, and take the pan off the heat. Top with green onions and sesame seeds.

Flank steak sliced this thin cooks through in about 2 minutes. For thicker pieces, FoodSafety.gov lists 145°F (63°C) with a 3-minute rest as the safe minimum for beef steaks.

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Per serving (1/4 of the recipe, without rice): about 290 calories, 29 g protein, 15.5 g carbs, 12.5 g fat, 3 g fiber and 670 mg sodium. Served over 1 cup (158 g) of cooked white rice, it comes to about 495 calories and 33 g protein.

These numbers are calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for each ingredient. The optional oyster sauce and any added salt are not included, so add a little sodium if you use it.

The 4 things that make it taste like takeout

• Slice against the grain. Flank steak has long, visible muscle fibers. Cut across them and every slice is tender; cut along them and you get chewy strips no sauce can fix. Firming the steak in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes makes thin slicing much easier.
• Coat the beef in cornstarch. One tablespoon of cornstarch and soy sauce gives the slices a thin coating that browns fast, keeps the inside juicy and helps the sauce cling. It is a simple version of the velveting step Chinese restaurants use.
• Cook in two batches. A pound of beef dumped in at once drops the pan temperature and the meat steams gray. Two batches take an extra 2 minutes and give you real browning.
• Cook the broccoli separately. Broccoli needs a quick steam to soften, beef needs dry high heat. Doing them one after the other is how both come out right.

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A lighter beef and broccoli sauce

Most restaurant-style sauces lean on regular soy sauce, oyster sauce and brown sugar in large amounts. This one uses low-sodium soy sauce for the salty base, 1 tablespoon of honey for the whole batch (about 1 teaspoon per serving) and water instead of extra sauce for volume. The cornstarch thickens it into a shiny coating as soon as it boils.

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Low-sodium soy sauce still carries most of the sodium in the dish, so taste before you add any salt. You will probably not need it.

• Want it richer? Add the optional oyster sauce. It brings the deep, savory flavor of the takeout version.
• Want it spicy? Stir 1 tsp chili garlic sauce or a pinch of red pepper flakes into the sauce.
• Gluten-free: use tamari instead of soy sauce and check that your oyster sauce is labeled gluten-free, or skip it.

Slow cooker beef and broccoli

The slow cooker version trades the seared edges of the stovetop recipe for very tender beef you do not have to watch. It works best with a cut that likes long cooking, so swap the flank steak for chuck roast.

1. Slice 1 1/2 lb (680 g) boneless chuck roast into thin strips, trimming off thick pieces of fat.
2. Double the sauce ingredients, but leave out the cornstarch, and stir in the garlic and ginger. Pour it into the slow cooker and add the beef.
3. Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours, until the beef is tender.
4. Whisk 2 tbsp (16 g) cornstarch with 1/4 cup (60 ml) cold water and stir it in. Add the broccoli florets on top, cover, and cook on HIGH for 20 to 30 minutes, until the sauce thickens and the broccoli is tender.
5. Stir, then top with green onions and sesame seeds.

Adding the broccoli at the end is the key step. If it goes in at the start, it turns olive green and falls apart by dinner time. Use thawed beef rather than frozen so it heats through evenly. Chuck has more fat than flank steak, so the slow cooker version is richer, and the nutrition numbers above apply to the stovetop recipe only.

For more set-and-forget dinners, see our healthy crockpot meals that aren’t just chicken.

Which cut of beef to use

Cut	Best for	Notes
Flank steak	Stovetop	Lean, beefy, tender when sliced thin across the grain. My first choice.
Sirloin steak	Stovetop	Easy to find, slightly milder flavor, cooks the same way.
Skirt steak	Stovetop	Very flavorful but fattier; cook it even faster.
Chuck roast	Slow cooker	Too chewy for a quick stir-fry, perfect after 4 to 5 hours.

Per 100 grams raw, USDA lists lean flank steak at 149 calories, 21.7 g protein and 6.3 g fat, which is why it gives so much protein for the calories in this dish.

Swaps and add-ins

• More vegetables: sliced red bell pepper, snap peas, carrots or mushrooms can go in with the broccoli. Keep the total around 5 to 6 cups so the pan does not crowd.
• Frozen broccoli: it works, but skip the steaming water and cook it straight from frozen until hot and the water has cooked off, or the sauce will turn thin.
• Chicken: thin-sliced chicken breast follows the same method; cook it until it reaches 165°F (74°C).
• Lower carb: serve it over cauliflower rice or on its own; the dish is already only about 15 g carbs per serving.

Prefer chicken? Our chicken stir fry recipe uses the same quick sauce idea, with a chart of cook times for whatever vegetables you have.

What to serve with beef and broccoli

Steamed white or brown rice is the classic, and it soaks up the sauce. Lo mein noodles or rice noodles also work. For a lighter plate, serve it with cauliflower rice or a cucumber salad dressed with rice vinegar.

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If you like this kind of fast skillet dinner, our egg roll in a bowl is another 20-minute takeout-style meal, and these low calorie high protein meals keep the same balance of protein and calories.

Meal prep and storage

Beef and broccoli reheats better than most stir-fries. For lunches, pull the broccoli a minute early since it keeps softening in the container, and pack the rice in the same box or separately. It pairs well with the bowls in our ground beef meal prep if you want a mix of beef lunches for the week.

According to FoodSafety.gov, cooked leftovers keep 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator and 2 to 6 months in the freezer, and should be reheated to 165°F (74°C). Raw steak keeps 3 to 5 days in the fridge, so you can buy it a few days ahead. The broccoli gets softer after freezing, so I prefer eating this one from the fridge within the week.

Sources

• USDA FoodData Central via getfoodfacts.com: Beef, flank, steak, separable lean only, raw (FDC 168609)
• USDA FoodData Central via getfoodfacts.com: Broccoli, raw (FDC 170379)
• USDA FoodData Central records for the other ingredients via getfoodfacts.com: low-sodium soy sauce (172473), honey (169640), cornstarch (169698), avocado oil (173573), sesame oil (171016), garlic (169230), ginger (169231), green onions (170005), sesame seeds (170150), cooked white rice (168878)
• FoodSafety.gov: Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures
• FoodSafety.gov: Cold Food Storage Charts