Easy Beef And Broccoli With Ginger And Orange Bowl Of Delicious

No need to go to Panda Express for your next beef and broccoli fix! And no need to go to the store to get thousands of condiments for this recipe. This recipe is great for a more minimal kitchen. I often don’t have the ingredients to make authentic Chinese stir fry sauces at home so I used ingredients I had on hand to make this shortcut beef and broccoli, without skimping on flavor. So I set out to make a beef and broccoli recipe that relied on fresh, simple ingredients for flavor without relying on store-bought condiments. There are SO many beef and broccoli recipes out there that require hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine… the list goes on and on. All you need for this recipe (besides the obvious- beef and broccoli) is soy sauce, fresh ginger, fresh orange, and a few other things you probably already have in your pantry.

What cut of beef should you use for beef and broccoli?

The most common cut of beef used in beef and broccoli is flank steak. It’s what I used to make this. But you can use flat-iron, or another cut of steak, too. I like using flank steak because it’s cheap and one of the healthiest cuts of beef– it’s leaner and has more protein than many other cuts. It’s packed with flavor and super tender- if you cook it right.

How to cook flank steak so it’s tender

The two key things to make sure you cook the flank steak so it’s not tough and chewy are: A lot of people think it’s necessary to marinate flank steak for a long time, so the acid breaks down the connective tissue. While there is some truth to this, it’s also really easy to cook flank steak so it’s melt-in-your-mouth tender by simply not overcooking it. For this beef and broccoli recipe, the beef marinates for just a few minutes while you prep your other ingredients in soy sauce (this is for flavor, not to make it more tender) and is sautéed briefly before the other ingredients are added to the skillet. It finishes cooking in the sauce, resulting in super tender beef and broccoli!

Should I use fresh or frozen broccoli?

I used fresh broccoli. And I used larger florets so I could include the stem (I hate wasting broccoli stems!). Here’s a tutorial on how to cut broccoli into florets! You can also use frozen broccoli. Broccoli is blanched (boiled briefly) before it’s frozen, so it comes already partially cooked. Because of this, you won’t need to cook it as long as fresh, and it also may come out a bit mushier in texture. Still delicious, though :-) If you use fresh broccoli, cook it for a little while before adding the sauce. If you use frozen, I recommend thawing it first and adding it with the sauce, toward the end of cooking.