Black Pepper Beef in Sizzling Platter Little Szechuan

This Beef with Chinese Black Pepper Sauce recipe is an easy stir-fry with big juicy chunks of steak, onions, and peppers glazed in fragrant pepper sauce.

Black Pepper Beefiness (黑椒牛柳)

Some things were made to be together: Large Bird and Mr. Snuffleupagus, peanut butter and jelly, and the color crimson on a Ferrari are a few classics that come to mind. Whether y'all live in Boston, Bordeaux, or Beijing, you've probably sprinkled some pepper on your beef at in one case or another, and it's a philharmonic that works famously well. I love this Chinese take on peppered steak considering it features the bold flavour of black pepper front and heart. With big savory chunks of beef, sweet onions, and crisp dark-green peppers coated in a glaze of oyster sauce, Black Pepper Beefiness has a satisfying balance of tastes, textures, and colors that are sharply accented by the smoldering oestrus of the crushed peppercorns.

This mashup between a Western steak and a Chinese stir-fry cuts back on the amount of meat y'all apply. Still, the bite-sized pieces of steak are caramelized and savory on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside. It'due south precisely the kind of dish I crave when I have the occasional crawling for steak. Best of all, there's no need to fuss over cooking a thick slab of meat to perfection. Since the vegetables are included, they're loaded with flavor, and you merely take one pan to wash at the end.

Tabular array of contents

Black Pepper Beef (黑椒牛柳)
Why This Recipe Works?
Ingredients for Black Pepper Beef
How to Brand Beefiness with Chinese Black Pepper Sauce
Other Quick Beef Recipes
FAQ

Why This Recipe Works?

Rather than slice the beef into thin strips, I like to employ a tender cutting of beef and cutting it into cubes; this makes it like eating seize with teeth-sized pieces of juicy steak.
Tater starch in the marinade for the beef helps lock in its juices. It also creates a thick glaze in the pan that seasons each piece of meat to perfection.
The odor of freshly croaky black pepper is citrusy and evergreen. It's an important component of this dish that you won't get with pre-footing black pepper.

Tender, juicy cubes of steak stir-fried with onions, peppers, and Chinese black pepper sauce.

Ingredients for Black Pepper Beef

Beef – Although Black Pepper Beef is normally prepared with thin strips of beef, I like using cubes of good steak meat such as filet mignon, new york strip, or ribeye. Only make sure the cutting of meat you lot cull is tender.
Blackness pepper – Though black pepper (<em>piper nigrum</em>) is native to Southern asia, it's been a favorite seasoning around the Quondam World for at to the lowest degree 2500 years. In India, it'south use dates back at to the lowest degree 4000 years! These days, black pepper has get such a ubiquitous function of every kitchen that seasoning with salt and pepper is similar a human knee wiggle reflex.
Oyster sauce – I know fresh oysters can be a bit divisive, just the sauce made from them takes their best quality (their briny umami) and distills it downwards into an easy to utilize condiment. Oyster sauce has the perfect balance of sweet and savory tastes, just it'southward not fishy similar fish-sauce, which makes it 1 of my favorite become-to condiments for stir-fries. When selecting one, y'all don't have to be too picky. Just make sure the sauce you're buying really contains oysters (or oyster extract).
Shaoxing wine – This is a type of anile Chinese rice wine which adds umami and an earthy caramel flavor to the black pepper sauce.
Soy sauce – While oyster sauce is the chief seasoning, information technology has a lower salt concentration than soy sauce. This is why I like to add a flake of soy sauce, so the large pieces of meat and vegetables get properly seasoned.
Toasted sesame oil – This is an oil that'southward made by pressing toasted sesame seeds. It has a strong nutty fragrance and tends to burn if overheated, which is why I add it to the sauce as a flavoring ingredient, non to the pan.
Potato starch – Every bit the name suggests, spud starch is starch that has been extracted from potatoes. It'southward added to the marinade to assistance seal in the meat's juices while thickening the remaining black pepper sauce to form a coat. Potato starch is better than cornstarch in almost every way; in this instance, it thickens the sauce without getting goopy.
Garlic – Garlic is the main aromatic in this stir-fry, and together with the black pepper and beefiness, information technology shapes this dish'due south flavor profile. The key with the garlic is to non chop it too small; otherwise, it volition burn before the other ingredients are cooked.
Vegetables – Onions and bell peppers add a nice crisp texture and sweetness that go well with the beef. I similar using a mix of red and greenish bell peppers for color and the dissimilar flavors they bring to the dish. Be sure to cut these into squares that are about the same size as the beef to get distributed evenly.

How to Make Beef with Chinese Black Pepper Sauce

The first affair you want to do is vanquish the black peppercorns. You tin can exercise this using either a mortar and pestle or put them in a heavy-duty bag and pounding them with a heavy object, like a rolling pin or pot.

Next, y'all tin can brand the blackness pepper sauce past whisking together the crushed blackness pepper (save a piddling bit for garnish), oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, and sesame oil in a bowl. If yous're making a large batch of sauce and storing information technology, yous can finish here and bottle it up. However, if y'all're continuing on with the stir-fry, mix in the potato starch until there are no lumps.

Add the cubed beef to the marinade and mix information technology all together. Allow this rest while you lot prep the garlic, onions, and peppers.

One time yous have all the ingredients set, rut a frying pan over medium-high oestrus until it's hot. Add the oil and garlic and give it a few stirs before adding the beef in a unmarried layer using tongs or chopsticks. You desire to attempt and leave equally much of the marinade behind in the basin every bit possible, then don't only dump everything into the pan.

Once the beef has browned on one side, flip the cubes over and brown the other side.

When the beef has browned on at least two sides, add together the onions and bell peppers and stir-fry the mixture until the onions commencement to plow translucent. Add the remaining black pepper sauce and toss everything together until the sauce has thickened around the beef and veggies.

Plate the black pepper beef, and you tin can garnish it with some additional crushed black pepper.

Black Pepper Beef is a classic Chinese stir-fry made with beef, onions, and peppers.

Other Quick Beef Recipes

Gyudon (Beef Bowl)
Beef Teriyaki
Mongolian Beef
Broccoli Beef

FAQ

What kind of black pepper should I employ?

I used black pepper from the Malabar Coast in Southern Republic of india, merely any whole black peppercorns will work. While the recipe will yet technically work with pre-ground pepper, I don't recommend it equally many of the nuanced aromas of black pepper start to vaporize equally shortly as the peppercorns take been crushed. That'south why pre-basis pepper is never as fragrant equally freshly croaky pepper.

How long does Chinese Black Pepper Sauce continue?

You could brand a big batch of this sauce and store it in a sealed container in the fridge for months. If y'all plan on storing it, I don't recommend adding the starch (you can add it in when you employ it). This likewise makes the sauce more flexible equally you lot don't always want it to contain starch.

What tin can I apply Chinese Black Pepper Sauce for?

Aside from stir-fries like this, the sauce is as well a fantastic marinade for grilled chicken and steamed fish. I as well like to use this for making stir-fried noodles, just if y'all're using it for noodles, be sure to omit the starch.

Why do chili peppers and black pepper both have "pepper" in their name?

Although the two peppers are non related, they share a common history. Blackness pepper made its way to Europe kickoff through the spice trade and became a popular seasoning for its power to bring foods to life with its creeping heat. Due to its limited supply, black pepper became such a sought-later on article that it was worth more gold by some accounts. When explorers started bringing chili peppers back from the Americas for their decorative qualities, it didn't take long for people to figure out that the colorful fruits also had the ability to spice upwardly food. What started off every bit a culinary knock-off of black pepper has taken on a life of its own in kitchens worldwide.