A simple and easy beef marinade that can be used for all types of beef, vegetable, or noodle stir-fry.
When it comes to Chinese stir fry, it doesn't take a lot to make it fantastic, but marinating beef in a marinade is definitely a must to keep the beef juicy and moist. Most beef marinades for stir-fries are simple and easy anyway, so you definitely don't want to skip the marinating step.
Whenever I make any type of beef stir fry recipes like my Beef Chow Fun, Cantonese Beef Chow Mein, Stir Fried Bitter Melon, or Beef Noodle Stir Fry, I always marinate the beef. It's a quick and easy step that adds a lot to your dishes and is definitely worth the effort.
To take your beef to another level you can also slice beef against the grain when you're cutting the beef and you can take it to another level by velveting the beef as well.
I won't go into too much detail here because this is meant to be a simple post for you to make an easy beef stir fry marinade fry but if you want to jump into the details of how to slice beef against the grain and velvet it, check out my post How to Make Beef Tender for Stir Fry.
Best Cuts of Beef for Stir Fry
Before you marinate beef, make sure you have a nice cut of beef that will stay tender for any type of quick-cooking Chinese stir fry.
When it comes to the type of beef I use for stir-fries, I'm not particularly too picky about it and usually use what is available at the time.
The most common and popular beef cuts I use for stir-fries are:
- Flank Steak
- Chuck (my personal favorite) - I buy big chunks of chuck at Costco and cut them into chunks and freeze them so I always have beef on hand for stir-fries. They stay tender and have a great beef flavor as well.
- Outside Skirt Steak
- Top Sirloin Steak - Or any type of steak such as ribeye or t-bone
Tips
- This beef marinade also works very well with chicken and pork.
Beef Marinade Ingredients
- Soy Sauce - For this Asian beef marinade recipe, you can use both light (regular) soy sauce or low sodium soy sauce.
- Dark Soy Sauce (Optional) - Dark soy sauce is only used to give beef a browner color once it has been cooked. It is completely optional.
- Shaoxing Cooking Wine - Any type of cooking wine will work for this beef marinade. I like to use Shaoxing wine, but rice wine and dry sherry will also work.
- Water - Water is a must, and is used to re-hydrate the beef, which will keep it moist and juicy once it has been stir-fried.
- Toasted Sesame Oil - Adding toasted sesame oil will give this beef marinade another dimension of flavor.
- Corn Starch - Adding starch to the marinade, seals in the beef juices, and keeps it tender and juicy. Any type of starch will work but I usually stick to corn starch and I will occasionally use tapioca or potato starch as well because it is what I always have on hand.
- Oyster Sauce - I don't usually add oyster sauce, but if you have it on hand, you definitely can add about 1 teaspoon to give the marinade a bit more flavor.
- Oil - For the neutral oil, I like to use avocado oil but any type of oil will work. The oil helps seal the cornstarch onto the beef to keep it moist.
FAQs
For any type of Chinese stir fry, you only need to marinate your beef for 30 minutes because we are marinating thin slices of beef which don't require a lot of time for the marinade to penetrate the meat.
To tenderize beef, cutting the beef against the grain is usually enough to keep it tender. You can also add ¾ teaspoon of baking soda mixed with 2 tablespoons of water with your beef slices for 30 minutes but you must rinse out the baking soda before you start to marinate it.
Yes, you always should marinate beef before you stir fry because it gives the beef more flavor and it also keeps the beef tender and juicy.
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Chinese Recipes That Use Beef Marinade
Recipe Card
Marinade for Beef Stir Fry
Joyce's Recipe Notes
- This beef marinade also works very well with chicken and pork.
- Adding water to any type of chicken, pork, or beef marinade not only rehydrates the meat so that it becomes juicier and moister but when combined with soy sauce it also makes it a mini brine which gives it another level of hydration so your beef always stays tender and juicy.
- Alternatively, if you don't want to use corn starch for velveting beef, you can also use tapioca starch or potato starch but any type of starch will actually do the trick.
- For the neutral oil, I like to use avocado oil but any type of oil will work as well.
Ingredients
- 300 g beef
Beef Marinade
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon dark soy sauce (optional, for color)
- ½ tablespoon Shaoxing cooking wine (or dry sherry)
- 2 tablespoons water
- ½ tablespoon neutral oil
- ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
Instructions
- Thinly slice the beef against the grain and put it in a small bowl.
- Add in all the ingredients from 'Beef Marinade' and mix it into the beef by hand.
Nutrition
*Nutritional information is calculated using online tools and is an estimate*
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David Barlow says
Quick and easy to prepare, having all of the ingredients made it easier.
Thanks for recipe.
Joyce Lee says
Hi David!
I'm very happy to share!
Joyce Lee says
Tracy says
This may be a silly question but I was just curious if I could slice the beef into the thin slices for my stir fry and then keep it in the marinade overnight since I’m not making this until tomorrow or will it change the texture of the meat? Any advice is appreciated:)
Joyce Lee says
Hi Tracy!
It's not a silly question at all! 🙂
Yup you can marinate this overnight, and it won't change the texture of the meat!
Make sure you don't use any baking soda in it (which I don't use in my recipe, but it is optional for those who want that super soft beef texture like at Chinese restaurants).
On a side note, I personally don't recommend using baking soda in any of my marinades because it makes the meat incredibly soft (especially if you keep it on for too long), you need to go through the extra step of rinsing it off before you start marinating to remove the weird taste and it makes the meat flavorless as well.
Hope this helps, and that you enjoy it and let me know if you have anymore questions! 🙂
Anonymous says
Ricky Vasquez says
Do you need to drain marinate before stir frying...
Joyce Lee says
Hi Ricky,
There shouldn't be too much leftover marinade with this recipe. Most of it should be absorbed by the beef, but if there is a lot extra marinade (like over 2 tablespoons), then yes I would just use the beef, and not add the extra marinade into the pan.
The extra marinade may cause your beef stir fries to 'boil' in the pan, which will prevent that nice brown sear that you want.
Hope this helps! 🙂 and hope you enjoy it!
Laura Kronenberger says
How long can you let the beef marinate? Min Max?
Joyce Lee says
Hi Laura,
On average, I let it marinate for about an hour. If I am not pressed for time, and want more flavor, I will do it overnight.
If I am very pressed for time, then 30 minutes will also work but you want to make sure to give enough time for the beef to absorb some of the water in the marinade to make it more moist so definitely no less than 30 minutes.
Hope this helps!
Joyce
Amber says
Not bad! I did add more sauce later so it wasn’t plain but I think this was a great base marinade for Asian dishes
Joyce Lee says
Hi Amber!
I'm so happy this worked for you!