Learn how to make black pepper beef stir fry with tender, juicy beef and a bold, flavorful sauce. A reader favorite that’s quick enough for weeknight dinners.
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This was one of the first recipes I published on Red House Spice nearly ten years ago. Over the years, it has become one of the most popular beef recipes on the blog and has been cooked successfully by countless readers. I’ve noticed three themes come up again and again in reader feedback:
- The beef turns out exceptionally tender and juicy.
- The black pepper sauce is rich, savory, and full of flavor.
- The dish comes together surprisingly quickly.
Many readers have told me it rivals, or even surpasses, the version from their favorite Chinese restaurant.
“Amazing! Beats any takeout and so quick.”
“I loooved how the meat turned out even when I had a cheaper cut, awesome trick!”
About the dish
Black pepper beef (黑椒牛柳, hēi jiāo niú liǔ) is a stir fry particularly associated with Cantonese cooking in Hong Kong, where Western ingredients and flavors were adapted into Chinese dishes. Growing up in China, I was always intrigued by how dishes like this blended Chinese cooking techniques with ingredients such as black pepper that weren’t traditionally Chinese.
Rather than sitting quietly in the background, black pepper dominates the flavor. It brings a warm, fragrant, lingering heat that tastes quite different from chilli peppers and gives the dish its distinctive character.
I remember a non-Chinese friend joking that this stir-fry was easier to enjoy than a steak with pepper sauce because the cook had already done all the cutting. It’s a small detail, but one that reflects a common feature of Chinese cooking: the knife work is usually done in the kitchen, not at the table.
Ingredients
Here are a list of ingredients you need for this stir-fry:
- Beef: For tips on choosing and preparing the beef, see the section below. If you enjoy other proteins, check out my recipe for Black Pepper Chicken.
- Vegetables: Onion and bell peppers are the classic choice. They add sweetness, color, and crunch. You can also use celery, carrot, bok choy, or other crispy vegetables.
- Black pepper: The star ingredient of this dish. Freshly ground, coarse black pepper provides the best flavor and aroma.
- Other ingredients: You’ll also need garlic, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing rice wine, cornstarch, and sesame oil. Together, they create the aromatic, umami-rich, and glossy sauce.
Secrets to tender beef
One of the most common compliments I receive about this recipe is how tender the beef turns out. If you’ve ever wondered why beef in Chinese restaurants often seems softer and juicier than homemade versions, these four tips make all the difference.
- Choose a suitable cut: When shopping for beef for this dish, I usually look for flank, skirt, sirloin, rump, flat iron, Denver, or ribeye steak. Any of these cuts can produce tender, flavorful results. If you’re using a tougher or less expensive cut, see the extra tip below.
- Slice against the grain. Look closely at the direction of the muscle fibers and slice across them rather than alongside them. This shortens the fibers and makes the beef much less chewy.
- Marinate with cornstarch. Cornstarch creates a light coating around the beef, helping it retain moisture during cooking. It’s a simple technique widely used in Chinese stir fries and one of the keys to achieving that silky texture.
- Cook over very high heat. The beef should hit a very hot wok and cook quickly. High heat sears the surface while keeping the inside juicy. If the wok isn’t hot enough, the beef tends to release liquid and can become tough.
Wei’s Pro Tip
Using a tougher cut?
Tougher cuts can still work very well for this dish, but benefit from an extra tenderizing step before marination.
- Mix the sliced beef with a small amount of baking soda and leave to rest.
- Rinse in water mixed with a little vinegar, then rinse again under running water.
Baking soda raises the pH of the meat, helping the muscle fibers stay more tender during cooking. The vinegar rinse removes any residual baking soda and its alkaline taste, leaving the beef tender without affecting its flavor.
Cooking Procedure
Marinate the beef, prepare the vegetables and aromatics, then mix the sauce.
Sear the beef in a hot wok until nearly cooked through, then transfer it to a plate.
Stir fry the vegetables until slightly softened but still crisp.
Return the beef to the wok, pour in the seasoning mixture, and toss briefly until the sauce starts to thicken.
Wei’s Pro Tip
Tips for the best result
- Have all the ingredients prepared before you start cooking. Like most Chinese stir fries, this dish comes together very quickly.
- If your stove isn’t very powerful, sear the beef in batches. This prevents the wok from cooling down and helps the beef sear rather than steam.
- For an extra kick, grind a little more black pepper over the finished dish just before serving.
FAQs
Yes. As with many Chinese stir fries, you can easily make this dish in a skillet (frying pan). Choose one with taller sides if possible, as it makes tossing and stirring easier.
First, massage the marinade into the beef until it is fully absorbed. Second, make sure the wok is properly heated before adding the beef. If your stove isn’t very powerful, sear the beef in batches so the temperature doesn’t drop too much.
Yes. Replace it with water. The difference in flavor is negligible.
Stir fries are best served immediately. However, you can slice and marinate the beef up to 24 hours ahead.
Other beef recipes
Looking for more beef-centric classics? Check out these popular recipes:
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Black Pepper Beef Stir-Fry (黑椒牛柳)
Video
Ingredients
For the beef
- 11 oz beef, see notes below for cut choices
- 1 teaspoon Shaoxing rice wine
- 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon water
- 1 teaspoon neutral cooking oil
For the sauce
- 3 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 4 tablespoon water
You also need
- 2 tablespoon neutral cooking oil, divided
- 4 cloves garlic, sliced
- 1 onion, sliced
- ½ red bell pepper, sliced
Instructions
- Slice the beef against its grain into strips. Mix with Shaoxing rice wine, light soy sauce, cornstarch, and water until the liquid is well absorbed. Then coat with cooking oil and leave to rest for 10 minutes.
- In a small bowl, prepare the sauce by mixing oyster sauce, light soy sauce, cornstarch, black pepper, sesame oil, sugar, and water. Set aside.
- Heat a wok over high heat until lightly smoking, then pour in 1½ tablespoon cooking oil. Add the marinated beef and sear until the surface browns (should still be pink inside). Transfer out to a plate.
- Add the remaining ½ tablespoon oil, then stir in garlic, onion and pepper. Toss for about a minute.
- Return the beef and stir fry for another 1 minute or so until fully cooked.
- Pour in the sauce. Toss well and dish out as soon as the sauce becomes just thick enough to coat the spatula.
- For a more intense flavor, sprinkle extra ground black pepper. Serve warm.
Notes
- Mix ½ teaspoon of baking soda with sliced beef then leave for at least 30 mins
- Rinse the beef in 2 cups (500ml) of water with 4 teaspoons of vinegar. Then rinse again under running water
- Drain well before adding to the marinade mixture
Your Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Note: This blog post was originally published in 2017. It has been revised with more cooking tips, new images and minor recipe alteration.
Loved it! I’m vegetarian so I used mushroom sauce instead of oyster and veggie “beef”
Turned out great. Thanks!
Thank you Shane for sharing your vegetarian twist!
This recipe was sooo good! I used a cheap cut of meat and only put it in the baking soda for 15 min. I also added some honey as I like it sweeter. It’s a winner!
Very happy to hear that!
Dear Wei, thank you so much for sharing this recipe. Delicious, wonderful, amazing recipe!! I loooved how the meat turned out even when I had a cheaper cut, awesome trick! Again, thanks a lot for this one!
Greetings from Venezuela
You’re welcome Patty!
Soooooooo good
Succulent
Delicious and tender! My whole family loved this.
My new favorite stir fry. So easy and so delicious.
Lovely to hear your feedback Denice!
Excellent dish! First one I have tried from this site. I will be making it again. I use a carbon steel wok outside on a propane turkey fryer burner. I find that American stoves just don’t get hot enough for wok cooking. Hopefully that tip helps out some people with heating issues. I made this with sirloin steak and served it over Jasmin rice, so I doubled the sauce recipe as others advised. My wife ate all of her plate, and then started eating off my plate. That’s a for sure sign of a winning recipe!
Glad you’ve enjoyed the dish Mike! Thank you for your input on wok frying. Yes, you’d need sufficient heat power to achieve the optimal result.
Tried this out for the first time, and it was tasty, but I made some mistakes. I used beef shank, as that’s what I had. The meat turned out tender, but I think I messed up the velveting part a bit. Should it remain in the fridge during those 2 hours? Should I pat dry it afterwards? When I added the marinade, the meat released a lot of liquid, and then some more when frying. It ended up more braised than fried. I took the liquid out and added it at the last stage, but I have no idea what I did wrong. Any ideas?
My boyfriend and I love Chinese food, so we’re determined to learn how to make at least some basic meals 🙂 Looking forward to repeating this one! Thank you for the recipe!
Glad you’ve enjoyed the dish! To reduce the liquid: 1. Stir the meat with the marinade very well so that the liquid is “beaten” into the meat. You don’t need to marinate it for 2 hours (10 mins would be enough). 2. Make sure the wok is super hot and the heat is turned to the maximum. Prolonged cooking over gentle heat will cause the moisture to escape from the meat. Hope this helps.
I just finished gobbling this dish down. Sooooo delish. Beef in black pepper sauce has always been one of my favourite dishes. And once I learned about velveting, it was a total game changer for cooking stir fry at home.
I typically like my sauce a little runnier so it soaks into the rice bed a little more. I’ll just cut back on the corn starch next time since it’s in both the marinade and sauce.
Thanks for the recipe. It’s super yummy! 👍
Glad that you enjoyed the dish! Yes, just reduce the cornstarch if you prefer more sauce on the rice. Happy cooking Reid!
Hi, I have a question about the starch component of the marinade. In fact, as it is so common in Chinese style marinades, it’s a problem I encounter quite often.
After applying this kind of marinade, when I stir fry the meat in some vagatable oil, combined with the remnants of the marinade on the meat, the whole becomes a kind of sludgy sauce which overall is not that appetizing.
It might be the kind of starch I’m using but it’s a regular “maizena” product, a very fine white powder.
Do you recognize this? It’s one of my biggest problems while cooking Chinese food.
Thanks, Paul.
Hi Paul! I suggest you mix/rub the marinated meat more as all the marinade liquid should be fully absorbed by the meat and there isn’t any remnants. Also, make sure you keep the heat high while stir-frying so the moisture in the meat can be locked in.