Crispy Chilli Beef is a fried shredded beef steak tossed in sweet, spicy and savoury homemade sweet sauce. This recipe is a popular Chinese takeaway style shredded beef strips with a delicious sweet chilli kick. You will be amazed by how quick and easy to make at home with simple ingredients!
I love making restaurant style recipes at home and share it with friends. Here is more of our family's favourite stir fry beef and steak recipes you might want to try :
- Salt and Pepper Beef ( Chinese takeaway style salt and pepper seasonings )
- Shredded Beef ( Classic Chinese recipe )
- Pepper Steak Stir Fry ( Stir fry steak slices with black pepper sauce )
Sometimes it can be very disappointing when the takeout dishes are heavily battered and too sugary. I tried and tested this recipe at home and and succeeded this recipe and taste better than my favourite restaurant! My friends and family really enjoyed this recipe and I highly recommend to try at your home. I can guaranteed that your guest will definitely impressed by your Chinese cooking skills. If you know the right amount of ingredients and follow the simple instructions, you can achieve the restaurant quality cuisine, way better than your local takeout.
3 Simple Tips
- Coating (The Batter) : To make the Chinese crispy beef batter you will need only 2 ingredients corn starch/flour and one egg. That's it! Here is my answers for frequently asked questions.
Why corn starch/flour? Corn starch/flour is the key ingredients to keep the coated skin airy crisp texture. So I highly recommend to use corn or potato starch/flour as a coating.
Can I use plain flour? Plain flour or regular all purpose flour is not recommended, as the gluten from the flour can soften the coating. You will not achieve the crisp texture. - The Marinade : Use nice tender steak cut for this recipe, like sirloin, tenderloin, rib-eye, rump steak, etc. Season the steak slices with soy sauce, ginger garlic paste, sesame oil, sugar and white pepper.
If you wish to use cheaper cut, tenderise it by adding half teaspoon of baking soda and half teaspoon of corn starch in the marinade. It's a Chinese method of tenderising meat and also known as meat velveting.
The most important part is how to cut the steak ? Check the direction of the meat grain direction first, then slice it against the grain into thin slices. - Crispy Chilli Beef Sauce : To achieve the well balance sweet chilli sauce, you will need soy sauce, sugar, vinegar and ketchup as a base sauce. Add sweet chilli sauce for a kick of chilli flavour and extra vibrant taste. As many of you have asked, which brand to use, I usually use Blue Dragon or Mae Ploy sweet chilli sauce for this recipe. As these sauces are available in all most all supermarkets and online.
This Dish is Very Versatile
You can toss the fried beef strips with sweet chilli sauce and serve it on its own. Or you can pair it vegetables like broccoli/carrot and make it into crispy chilli beef with broccoli/carrot. Or make ultimate crispy beef salad by tossing with any of your favourite crunchy vegetables.
How to make Crispy Chilli Beef Recipe
First of all, cut the steak into thin strips against the grain.
Mix all the ingredients from the marinate list and rest it for at least 15mins. You can leave it longer if you have more time.
Combine all the sauce ingredients in a mixing bowl and set aside.
Add one egg into marinated beef slices and mix it well.
Coat the beef strips with corn flour in a tray. If the flour is not enough, add more flour if needed.
All strips should separated and coated well.
Fry with pre heated oil about 350° F for 1-2 mins until crispy golden brown. Remove from oil and transfer to paper towel or cooling rack.
Toss the vegetables with medium high heat for a few seconds.
Place the fried beef strips and sauce mixture in. Follow with fresh chilli and spring onions, toss all ingredients with high heat for one to two minutes.
Transfer to serving plate. Serve immediately!
How to Serve This Dish
Serve it as a starter/savoury snack with Chinese tea or your favourite cold drink. I love to have it with simple steamed rice, fried rice or stir fry noodles and make it a main meal.
More of My Delicious Chinese Stir Fry Recipes
- Beef and Broccoli ( With delicious homemade stir fry sauce )
- Beef and Noodles Stir Fry ( The best steak noodles recipe! )
- Orange Chicken ( Better than take out orange chicken )
- Salt and Chilli Chicken ( Fried chicken with salt and chilli seasonings )
Watch How to Make It
Crispy Chilli Beef with Sweet Chilli Sauce
Ingredients
INGREDIENTS
- 200 g Rump/Sirloin steak ( or any tender steak cut )
- 1 Egg
- 1 cup Corn/Potato Starch (Flour)
- ½ Sweet Onion
- ½ Bell Pepper
- 2-3 Spring Onions
- 2-3 Birdeye/hot chillies
Marinate for Beef Steak
- 1 tbsp Light soy sauce
- 1 tsp Ginger garlic paste
- 1 tsp Sesame oil
- ½ tsp Sugar
- ¼ tsp White Pepper
Stir Fry Sauce
- 3 tbsp Sweet Chilli Sauce
- 2 tbsp Ketchup
- 2 tbsp Light soy sauce
- 1 tsp Vinegar ( white or rice )
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- ½ tsp Salt
Instructions
- Cut beef into thin strips. Marinate the beef strips with the all ingredients in the marinate list. Mix well and marinate for 15 mins.
- In a small bowl mix all the ingredients from the stir fry sauce list and set aside.
- Break one egg into the the marinated beef strips. Mix well.
- Coat the beef strips with corn/potato flour. Make sure all the beef strips are seperated. Toss the excess flour out before frying.
- Heat the oil into hight heat about 350 F. Add the coated beef and deep fry for 1-2 mins till crispy.
- Remove from oil and transfer to paper towel or cooling rack.
- Heat the wok/pan to medium high heat. Drizzle a tablespoon of oil, add the cut onions and stir for few seconds. Then add the pepper slices, stir well.
- Add the fried beef strips. Pour the sauce mix, add the spring onions and fresh chillies. Stir well to combine all ingredients with high heat for 1- 2 mins.
- Transfer to serving plate. Serve immediately!
- Match with hot steamed/cooked rice or stir fry noodle. Perfect as a savory snack too!
Notes
Nutrition
If you've tried this recipe, please leave a comment and give rating! I would love to see your creations, tag me on social medias and follow me on social medias Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest for latest updates.
You can try out my another shredded beef recipe (the winner recipe!) in below link.
Lucy Hull says
Absolutely delicious and quick to put together! I love recipes like this. Thanks for sharing and the great instructions!
Khin says
So glad that you enjoyed this recipe, Lucy! Thank you so much for trying out and sharing feedback.
Phil Lukins says
Hello, thank you for this recipe. What oil are you using for deep frying? I am not used to deep frying is it possible to shallow fry each piece?
Khin says
Hi, Phil, neutral flavour oil is best for deep frying. We usually use sunflower, canola, vegetable oil, etc. Deep frying tastes best but you can also shallow fry it.
Gavin says
Wow !!!!!
This was absolutely delicious it’s now one of my favourite meals it’s even better than a takeaway !
I served it with chips, curry sauce and egg fried rice.
I doubled up the recipe for a family of 4
Khin says
So glad that you enjoyed this recipe, Gavin. Sounds absolutely delicious with egg fried rice, chips, and curry sauce! Thank you for taking time and sharing feedback.
Lana says
I would love to try this it looks amazing.
Is there any way it could be made without using the egg (egg allergy)
Khin says
Hi Lana, egg keeps the meat moist and tender when you deep fry the meat. Instead of egg, you can add half teaspoon of baking soda to the beef marinade. Or you can omit the egg and coat the beef strips with corn starch or potato starch alone.
Kit says
I didn't have any eggs so I left it out and it was still amazing. No onions either, so I just used the spring onions (sliced into 2cm pieces) and capsicum. I was so proud of how it looked too - just like a restaurant dish. Will definitely make it again.
Khin says
So glad that you enjoyed it, Kit! Thank you so much for sharing feedback!
Deborah says
The recipe was spot on and it came out so delicious. I’m definitely going to try some of your other recipes. Thanks for sharing such an amazing recipe.
Khin says
So glad that you enjoyed it, Deborah! Thank you so much for sharing feeback.
Jessica says
Hi, this looks amazing I can’t wait to try it. Can I use tomato sauce or does it have to be ketchup? Also is it posible to use brown onion or does it have to be the sweet one? Thank you
Khin says
Hi Jessica, Thank you so much. Depend on the tomato sauce the taste will be slightly different. As ketchup has a sweet and tangy flavour you can substitute with a similar flavour tomato sauce or chilli sauce. It's totally fine to use brown onions. Hope you enjoy trying out this chilli beef recipe!
Judy Ainsworth says
Is it possible to freeze the sauce -(( NOT the beef)) ?
Khin says
Sorry for late reply Judy. You can put in the fridge if you reuse the sauce in a couple of days. I do not recommend to freeze the sauce for long period of time in the freezer.
James says
Hi, this is one of my favourite recipes! absolutely amazing. I've done it with beef a few times and I'm now thinking of doing it with chicken. Would you recommend double frying the chicken similar to other chicken recipes you do, or would it be better in this case to 'single' fry?
Khin says
Hi James, if you cut the chicken into thin strips it's totally fine to single fry. If you prefer extra crispiness, double fry it just right before tossing with sauce. Thank you so much for trying out our recipe and sharing comment with us.
Daniel says
Amazing, the best crispy chilli beef recipe I have made, second recipe I have made after finding your site, looking forward to trying more.
Khin says
So glad that you enjoyed it Daniel! Thank you so much for taking time and writing comment.
Johanna says
Hello! Sounds amazing, but can you take another meat instead? E.g:chicken?
Khin says
You can use Chicken as well Johanna. Feel free to check out Crispy shredded chicken recipe if you would like to go with chicken.