Black Pepper Beef in Hot Plate

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 Beef (黑椒牛柳)

Some things were fabricated to exist together: Large Bird and Mr. Snuffleupagus, peanut butter and jelly, and the color red on a Ferrari are a few classics that come to mind. Whether you live in Boston, Bordeaux, or Beijing, you've probably sprinkled some pepper on your beef at one time or another, and information technology'due south a philharmonic that works famously well. I dear this Chinese take on brindled steak because it features the bold flavor of black pepper front and center. With large savory chunks of beef, sweet onions, and crisp green peppers coated in a glaze of oyster sauce, Black Pepper Beef has a satisfying balance of tastes, textures, and colors that are sharply accented past the smoldering heat of the crushed peppercorns.

This mashup betwixt a Western steak and a Chinese stir-fry cuts back on the amount of meat you use. Yet, the bite-sized pieces of steak are caramelized and savory on the exterior and tender and juicy on the inside. It's precisely the kind of dish I require when I accept the occasional crawling for steak. All-time of all, there'south no need to fuss over cooking a thick slab of meat to perfection. Since the vegetables are included, they're loaded with season, and y'all merely have one pan to wash at the cease.

Tabular array of contents

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

Why This Recipe Works?

Rather than slice the beef into thin strips, I like to utilise a tender cut of beef and cutting it into cubes; this makes information technology like eating bite-sized pieces of juicy steak.
Murphy starch in the marinade for the beef helps lock in its juices. It besides creates a thick glaze in the pan that seasons each slice of meat to perfection.
The odour of freshly cracked black pepper is citrusy and evergreen. It'due south an important component of this dish that you won't get with pre-ground black pepper.

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

Ingredients for Blackness Pepper Beefiness

Beefiness – Although Black Pepper Beef is usually prepared with sparse strips of beef, I like using cubes of good steak meat such as filet mignon, new york strip, or ribeye. Just brand sure the cut of meat you choose is tender.
Black pepper – Though black pepper (<em>piper nigrum</em>) is native to South Asia, information technology'southward been a favorite seasoning around the Sometime Globe for at least 2500 years. In India, it's use dates back at to the lowest degree 4000 years! These days, black pepper has become such a ubiquitous function of every kitchen that seasoning with salt and pepper is like a genu jerk reflex.
Oyster sauce – I know fresh oysters can be a bit divisive, only the sauce made from them takes their all-time quality (their briny umami) and distills information technology down into an easy to utilize condiment. Oyster sauce has the perfect residue of sugariness and savory tastes, but it's not fishy like fish-sauce, which makes it one of my favorite go-to condiments for stir-fries. When selecting one, you don't have to be too picky. Just make sure the sauce y'all're buying actually contains oysters (or oyster extract).
Shaoxing vino – This is a type of aged Chinese rice vino which adds umami and an earthy caramel flavour to the black pepper sauce.
Soy sauce – While oyster sauce is the main seasoning, it has a lower salt concentration than soy sauce. This is why I like to add a bit of soy sauce, so the big pieces of meat and vegetables become properly seasoned.
Toasted sesame oil – This is an oil that's made past pressing toasted sesame seeds. It has a strong nutty fragrance and tends to fire if overheated, which is why I add information technology to the sauce as a flavoring ingredient, not to the pan.
Spud starch – As the name suggests, potato starch is starch that has been extracted from potatoes. It's added to the marinade to help seal in the meat's juices while thickening the remaining black pepper sauce to class a glaze. Potato starch is better than cornstarch in almost every mode; in this case, it thickens the sauce without getting goopy.
Garlic – Garlic is the chief effluvious in this stir-fry, and together with the black pepper and beefiness, it shapes this dish'south season profile. The cardinal with the garlic is to not chop it too small; otherwise, it will burn before the other ingredients are cooked.
Vegetables – Onions and bell peppers add a nice well-baked texture and sugariness that go well with the beef. I like using a mix of ruby-red and green bell peppers for color and the dissimilar flavors they bring to the dish. Be sure to cut these into squares that are virtually the same size equally the beef to get distributed evenly.

How to Make Beef with Chinese Black Pepper Sauce

The beginning affair you want to do is crush the black peppercorns. Y'all tin do this using either a mortar and pestle or put them in a heavy-duty handbag and pounding them with a heavy object, like a rolling pin or pot.

Adjacent, you lot can brand the black pepper sauce by whisking together the crushed black pepper (save a little chip for garnish), oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, and sesame oil in a bowl. If you're making a big batch of sauce and storing information technology, you tin can stop hither and bottle it upward. However, if yous'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. Let this rest while y'all prep the garlic, onions, and peppers.

Once you have all the ingredients ready, heat a frying pan over medium-high heat until it's hot. Add the oil and garlic and give it a few stirs before adding the beef in a single layer using tongs or chopsticks. You desire to effort and leave as much of the marinade behind in the bowl equally possible, and so don't just 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 to the lowest degree two sides, add together the onions and bell peppers and stir-fry the mixture until the onions start to turn translucent. Add the remaining black pepper sauce and toss everything together until the sauce has thickened effectually the beef and veggies.

Plate the blackness pepper beefiness, and you tin can garnish it with some boosted crushed blackness pepper.

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

Other Quick Beef Recipes

Gyudon (Beef Bowl)
Beefiness 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, but whatsoever whole blackness peppercorns will work. While the recipe will nevertheless technically work with pre-ground pepper, I don't recommend it equally many of the nuanced aromas of black pepper start to vaporize every bit soon as the peppercorns have been crushed. That's why pre-ground pepper is never equally fragrant as freshly cracked pepper.

How long does Chinese Black Pepper Sauce go along?

Yous could make a big batch of this sauce and store it in a sealed container in the fridge for months. If you plan on storing it, I don't recommend calculation the starch (you lot tin add it in when y'all apply it). This too makes the sauce more flexible every bit yous don't e'er desire information technology to contain starch.

What can I apply Chinese Black Pepper Sauce for?

Aside from stir-fries like this, the sauce is also a fantastic marinade for grilled craven and steamed fish. I also similar to use this for making stir-fried noodles, but if you're using it for noodles, be certain to omit the starch.

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

Although the two peppers are not related, they share a common history. Blackness pepper made its fashion to Europe first through the spice merchandise and became a popular seasoning for its ability to bring foods to life with its creeping estrus. Due to its limited supply, blackness pepper became such a sought-subsequently commodity that it was worth more than gold by some accounts. When explorers started bringing chili peppers dorsum from the Americas for their decorative qualities, information technology didn't take long for people to figure out that the colorful fruits too had the ability to spice upward food. What started off equally a culinary knock-off of black pepper has taken on a life of its own in kitchens worldwide.