Popular Chinese-American Beef Chop Suey recipe, made with tender beef slices, colourful vegetables and glossy stir fry sauce. This dish is so easy to cook at home and tastes just like you've had at your favourite Chinese restaurant.
If you would like to make a quick version of chop suey, feel free to check out Chicken Chop Suey or Prawns Chop Suey recipes. They are so good too!
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What is Beef Chop Suey?
Beef Chop Suey is a famous American-Chinese stir-fried beef and vegetables loaded with a savoury sauce. It is usually served over a bed of plain rice or noodles. One of the most ordered stir-fried dishes on the menu of Chinese takeaways and restaurants. There is no precise method or ingredients to make this dish. You can add your choice of meat, seafood, and vegetables and make it your own-style chop suey.
In this recipe, I am sharing our family's favourite easy beef chop suey with vegetables. Following is a quick guide with photo instructions and detailed measurements on the recipe card at the bottom of this page.
Why do we love this dish
This dish is loaded with varieties of vegetables which are very healthy and nutritious. It's cheaper and faster than ordering from takeout. You can easily cook it at home with cupboard-friendly Asian basic stir-fry sauces and fridge-friendly vegetables. A very versatile stir fry dish that all the ingredients that can be adjusted to your own preference. Even the vegetable hater will gobble up the whole plate in no time!
Prepare the Ingredients
Before heating the wok, prepare and gather the essential ingredients. First, you need to marinate the beef, then prepare vegetables and chop suey sauce.
1 Marinating Beef - First cut the beef into thin strips or slices against the grain and place it in a bowl. Then add soy sauce, cornstarch, baking soda, sugar, and sesame oil. Mix it everything well and set it aside and marinate for at least 15 minutes or up to 30 minutes.
2 Make Chop Suey Sauce - In a small bowl combine, water, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and sesame oil. Whisk until sugar is dissolved and set it aside.
3 Prepare the vegetables - Wash and cut the vegetables into thin slices or small bite-size pieces.
4 Make cornstarch slurry - Mix one and a half teaspoons of cornstarch with three tablespoons of water and mix it well. Corn starch slurry is essential to make the sauce glossy and thick.
How to cook it
- Heat the large wok/pan over medium-high heat. Drizzle 2 tbsp of oil and sear the beef for 2-3 minutes or until the beef is charred. Then flip the beef slices and stir fry for another 1-2 minutes until no longer pink. Remove the beef from the pan and set it aside.
- Wipe clean any crumbles and burnt bits left in the remaining pan. Drizzle 1 tbsp of oil and stir-fry the garlic and onions for a few seconds until fragrant. Follow by broccoli, baby corn, carrot, and mushroom. Next, add celery and mangetout.
- Pour the sauce into the pan and bring it to a simmer. Place the cooked beef back in the pan and add the bean sprouts and make a quick toss.
- Add cornstarch slurry and stir everything well until the sauce is thick and glossy. Serve immediately with plain rice or noodles.
Ingredients and variations
What type of beef to use? You don't have to use the expensive steak cut. You can use rump, chuck, ribeye, sirloin steak, etc.
Beef substitute - Chop suey can also be made with chicken, prawns, squid, pork, etc.
For vegetarians and vegans - tofu, vegan meat, mushroom, tempeh, and seitan, are great meat-free protein choices.
Vegetables - I used mushrooms, carrots, baby corn, mangetout, bean sprouts, and tenderstem broccoli. You can add your choice of stir-fried veggies. Bell peppers, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, cauliflower, bok choy, pak choy, kai lan ( Chinese broccoli ), and choy sum ( mustard leaves ) are great options.
Top Tips
- Velveting is the Chinese cooking secret to achieving the moist and tender beef result. So make sure you don't skip the meat velveting process ( marinating step ).
- You might want to adjust the sauce consistency by adding more cornstarch slurry if needed.
- Do not dump all the vegetables at one time. Start with the hard vegetables first and follow with the tender vegetables.
- Overcooked beef and vegetables can be tough, soggy, and unappealing. So make sure not to overcook them and fry over medium-high heat with a large wok or pan.
Common Questions
Beef chop suey is typically served with plain rice but stir-fried plain chow mein noodles are also a popular combination at Chinese takeout and restaurants.
This dish is approximately 275kcal per serving without rice or noodles. Loaded with beef and plenty of vegetables. It's a simple, quick, nutritious, and healthy Chinese stir fry dish that both kids and adults can enjoy.
You can easily double or triple the ingredients and cook in batches. Use a large wok/pan that can distribute the heat evenly to all the ingredients.
Chop Suey means ' Odds and Ends ' in Mandarin Chinese and it means a combination of leftovers or miscellaneous pieces. American-Chinese stir-fried dish with a choice of protein and plenty of vegetables smothered in a savoury thick sauce.
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Easy Beef Chop Suey
Equipment
- 1 Large wok or pan
Ingredients
- 250 grams Beef steak Rump, chuck, ribeye, sirloin, or choice of tender steak cut. ( About 8.8oz )
- 2-3 clove Garlic Minced or finely chopped
- ½ Onion Cut thin slices
- 8-10 stalks Tenderstem broccoli/broccolini Cut 2" pieces. Or regular broccoli head
- 8-10 Baby corn Cut half lengthwise
- 1 Carrot Cut matchstick pieces
- 2 stalks Celery Cut thin strips
- 8-10 Mushrooms Shiitake, button, portobello, or white mushroom, Cut small pieces
- 8-10 Snow peas/mangetout Snap and remove both tips and string.
- handful Bean sprouts Rinsed with water
- 2-3 tbsp Cooking oil Vegetable or neutral flavour oil
- Corn starch slurry ( 1 tsp corn starch mixed with 2 tbsp water in a small bowl )
Marinade ingredients
- 1 tsp Cornstarch Or potato starch
- 1 tsp Light soy sauce Or regular all-purpose soy sauce
- 1 tsp Shao Xing wine Chinese cooking rice wine Or Japanese mirin or rice vinegar
- 1 tsp Sugar brown or white
- ¼ tsp Baking soda to tenderize the meat
- 1 tsp cooking oil Vegetable oil, sunflower, canola, or sesame oil
Chop Suey Sauce
- 3 tbsp Water
- 1 tsp Brown sugar Or regular white sugar
- 1 tsp Dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp Oyster sauce
- 1 tsp Sesame oil
- ⅛ tsp White pepper powder
Instructions
Prepare the ingredients
- Cut the beef steak into thin slices or thin strips against the grain. Place the beef slices into a bowl and add marinade ingredients. Mix it well and set them aside for 10-15 minutes. Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set it aside.
Make a stir fry
- Heat the large wok/pan over medium-high heat. Drizzle 2 tbsp of oil and sear the beef for 2-3 minutes or until the beef is charred. Then flip the beef slices and stir fry for another 1-2 minutes until no longer pink. Remove the beef from the pan and set it aside.
- Wipe clean any crumbles and burnt bits left in the remaining pan. Drizzle 1 tbsp of oil and stir-fry the garlic and onions for a few seconds until fragrant. Follow by broccoli, baby corn, carrot, and mushroom. Next, add celery and mangetout.
- Pour the sauce into the pan and bring it to a simmer. Place the cooked beef back in the pan and add the bean sprouts and make a quick toss.
- Add corn starch slurry and stir everything well until the sauce is thick and glossy. Serve immediately with plain rice or noodles. Ingredients and variations
Notes
- Protein choice - instead of beef steak you can also use chicken breast, thigh, pork, prawns/shrimp, squid, etc.
- Vegetables - it is not necessary to add the exact same vegetables used in this recipe. You can add your choice of vegetables. Bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, Chinese broccoli, bok choy, pak choy, or bell peppers, can be also added.
- Vegetarian or vegan options - swap beef with tofu, dried shiitake mushroom, fresh mushroom, tempeh, seitan, etc.
- Substitute for Shao Xing wine - You can add Japanese mirin or dry sherry wine. For non-alcohol cooking, you can omit cooking wine or use rice vinegar.
- To serve - chop suey goes really well with cooked plain rice or noodles.
- Reheating - leftovers can be reheated in the microwave or in the pan for 1-2 minutes or until hot.
- Storage - do not recommend freezing but you can keep it in the fridge in an airtight container for a couple of days.
Grace L. says
Made this tonight and served over rice with a simple side salad with ginger dressing. It was absolutely delicious. I used beef tenderloin, onions, carrots, broccolini, mushrooms, snow peas, celery and water chestnuts (in lieu of bean sprouts). It came together very easily and exactly as the recipe is written. Thanks so much. This is my first time making beef chop suey. No more takeout for us! I will be sure to try your other recipes. Thank you!
Khin says
Love it with celery and water chestnuts. Very glad that you enjoyed this recipe and thank you for sharing your feedback.
Happy Cooking says
Excellent recipie !!! Thank you
Stacy M says
I’ve tried it yesterday. It turns out delicious and tastes better than my local Chinese takeout. All my grandchildren loved it. Now I am going to try more of your recipes.
Khin says
Thanks for trying it out and sharing your feedback. Glad that you and your grandkids enjoyed this recipe.