Sweet & Sour Beef Stir Fry
Submitted by bschwar
Quick beef stir fry with carrots, snow peas, and bell pepper in a tangy French onion soup sauce. Thin-sliced round steak, wok-seared with ginger and garlic, ready in 30 minutes.
YIELD
2 servingsPREP
15 minCOOK
15 minREADY
30 minHere’s a weeknight stir fry with a clever shortcut that makes sauce-building a breeze.
Instead of mixing five different bottles together, this recipe uses canned French onion soup as the base, thickened with cornstarch and brightened with cider vinegar and sugar.
The result is a glossy, savory-sweet sauce that clings to thin-sliced beef and crisp-tender vegetables.
Partially freezing the steak first makes it dead simple to cut those paper-thin strips that cook in seconds.
Kitchen Tips
- Freeze the steak for about 30 minutes before slicing. Firm but not rock-solid is what you want for those clean, thin cuts against the grain.
- Cook the vegetables first, then remove them. This keeps them crisp and bright while you sear the beef in the same pan.
- Crank the heat. A wok or skillet needs to be smoking hot for a proper stir fry. Low heat means steamed, soggy beef.
- Have everything prepped before you start cooking. Stir fry moves fast and there’s no time to chop once the oil hits the pan.
Ingredients
Directions
Place steak in freezer until partially frozen for easier slicing.
On a cutting board, slice beef, crosswise of grain, into ¼ inch wide strips.
In a 10 inch skillet or wok over high heat with 3 teaspoon hot oil, cook carrots and green bell pepper for 2 minutes, stirring quickly and frequently.
Add snow peas;stir fry 2 additional minutes.
With a slotted spoon, remove vegetables to a plate.
Add remaining oil, ginger, garlic and beef to skillet; stir fry until meat loses pink color, about 2 minutes.
In a small bowl, blend cornstarch with soup; stir in vinegar and sugar.
Gradually, stir into skillet; cook, stirring constantly until thickened.
Return cooked vegetables to skillet; heat thoroughly.
Serve over rice, if desired.
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