Super crispy beef tossed with a sweet and sticky sauce - better than take out!
When it comes to take-out, I am all about dishes like sweet and sour pork, Chinese Lemon Chicken and Hong Kong style Sweet and Sour Chicken which is tossed with sweet sauces. There's something seriously addictive about something sweet and sticky tossed with super crispy meat - sadly most of the time I end up with sweet and sticky soggy meat but that's about to change because now we can make this at home totally tweaked with crispiness galore - better than take out! 🙂
One of the most delicious ways to enjoy take-out is to have it as leftovers - sometimes even cold! This recipe will not maintain the crispiness the next day BUT it won't be soggy either! It actually has a bit of a nice chew! Make once, enjoy twice - my kinda meal.
If you're looking for something spicier then you definitely need to check out my hakka takeout favorites, chilli chicken and chicken Manchurian which have a bit more spices in the batter and are slightly spicier as well.
INGREDIENTS FOR CRISPY BEEF
Most ingredients can be found at a local grocery store, except for hoisin sauce and shaoxing cooking wine which can be easily found at an Asian grocery store or online.
For this recipe, I usually use a top sirloin steak but this can easily be substituted with flank steak or skirt steaks as well.
This recipe uses quite a bit of soy sauce in it so it is very easy to over-do the saltiness which is why I used light soy sauce (reduced-sodium soy sauce). If you don't have reduced-sodium soy sauce, cut back on the amount of soy sauce by a few tablespoons and replace it with water to dilute it a bit. As always do taste tests until you get it just the way you like it 🙂
SLICING AND MARINATING THE BEEF
For the marinade, I like to use a food processor to blitz everything together. It makes it more like paste which coats the beef quite nicely so each piece of beef has crazy flavour! However, I know not everyone has a food processor kicking around so you can do this by hand as well, just make sure to finely chop it or grate it. Eating chunks of ginger is not fun 🙂
How you cut the beef is totally your preference in this recipe! 🙂 However, I do like to cut them into 1 cm thin strips - gives me more surface area for more crispies! Woohoo!
If your steak is more than 1 cm thick, cut the strips in half length-wise again.
HOW TO MAKE THE BEEF EXTRA CRISPY
There are a few things I like to do to make sure the beef is as crispy as it can be:
- Use a Lot of Potato Starch - There is quite a bit of potato starch in the recipe - it's intentional! To get the beef extra crispy, you will need to coat the beef twice (after it has marinated). The first time you coat the beef with ½ cup of corn starch you will notice that the moisture in the beef will just sop up that starch. After 10 minutes, starch it again with the other ½ cup of corn starch and it should be nicely coated! Just keep in mind that the recipe is using 1.5 lbs of beef so cut back on the starch if you are using less beef.
Note: After you toss the beef with starch, you might notice that the beef will clump together - not a big deal, use your fingers to separate it before frying it up. - Make Sure the Oil is Hot - When you are ready to deep fry the beef, make sure the oil is hot before adding the beef in. To test if the oil is hot enough, add a small piece of beef in. It should sizzle instantly. If the oil is not hot enough the beef will end up soggy and absorb all the oil. 🙁 To maintain a consistent hot oil, cook the beef in batches so you don't have too many things in the pan at once dropping the temperature.
- Double Fry All the Thingz! - Double frying does wonders to making things extra crispy. Since the beef is cut very thinly, you only need to fry it for 1 minute the first time, and another 1 minute the second time! Quick!
LOOKING FOR MORE TAKEOUT RECIPES? TRY THESE!
- Sweet and Sticky Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)
- Miso Corn Egg Drop Soup
- Singapore Noodles
- Crispy Sweet and Sour Pork
- Beef Chow Fun (Beef Ho Fun)
- Chilli Chicken
- Chicken Manchurian
DID YOU MAKE THIS CRISPY BEEF RECIPE?
If you made this, I want to see! Follow Pups with Chopsticks on Instagram, snap a photo, and tag and hashtag it with @pupswithchopsticks and #pupswithchopsticks. I love to know what you are making!
Stay connected and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for all of my latest recipes!
Recipe Card
Sweet and Sticky Crispy Beef
Joyce's Recipe Notes
- For deep frying, I like to use oils that have a mild flavor and a high smoking temperature like peanut, canola, vegetable, sunflower or corn oil.
- If you are using potato starch to deep fry the meat, make sure to not overcrowd the pan if you are using a shallow pan. Put the meat in one at a time fry them without touching each other. I find that potato starch likes to stick when you are initially frying it and if the pan is crowded (meat is all touching) you will end up with a giant ball of crispy meat instead of small crispy bite-sized meat.
- You can double up the sauce ingredients to make more sauce if you love things super saucy. This stuff is amazing drizzled on plain white rice! 🙂
- If you're pressed for time, shorten the marinating time to 30-40 minutes by leaving the beef at room temperature for 20-30 minutes - instead of in the fridge for an hour.
- The key to a crispier beef is to make sure the oil is hot oil before you start to deep fry and double frying it! 🙂
- No low sodium soy sauce? No problem! Cut back the amount of soy sauce by a few tablespoons and replace it with water to dilute it for a lighter and less salty soy sauce.
- This is amazing with a bit of heat as well! Add a few chopped-up peppers while you are cooking the sauce or add a few teaspoons of cayenne pepper for a bit of a kick!
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs top sirloin steak (any type of beef works - flank steak, skirt steak)
- 1 cup potato starch (divided in half, can be substituted with corn starch, but it won't be as crispy) *see notes
- oil (for deep frying) (see notes, for type of oil)
Beef Marinade
- 1 small onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 4-5 slices ginger (sliced thin, 2-3 mm)
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce (reduced sodium)
Sweet and Sticky Sauce
- ¾ cup honey
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons light soy sauce (reduced sodium)
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- ½ tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon shaoxing cooking wine
Corn Starch Slurry (To thicken sauce)
- 5 teaspoons corn starch
- 6 teaspoons water
Garnish & Toppings (Optional)
- 1-2 stalks green onion chopped
- toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
Marinate the Beef
- Slice the steak into 1 cm wide strips and place it in a bowl. (If your steak is more than 1 cm thick, cut the strips in half again length-wise)
- In a food processor, blitz the onion, garlic, and ginger until it is a paste. (If you do not have a food processor, you can grate them or chop it very finely by hand, just make sure the ginger bits are very tiny)
- Add the marinade and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce to the beef and mix well and marinate it in the fridge for 1 hour (or 20-30 minutes at room temperature)
Deep Frying the Beef
- After the beef has marinated, dust ½ cup of potato starch (or corn starch) on the beef and use your fingers to loosely coat the beef with it. Let it sit for 10 minutes
- While you are waiting for the meat to marinate, heat up a heavy bottom pot (or wok) and set the stove to medium heat. Add at least 1 inch of oil to the pot and wait for it to get hot. (It should reach a temperature of 375F). I like to poke a wooden chopstick, or the handle of a wooden spoon into the oil and wait for it to bubble. Once it bubbles, the oil is hot enough.
- Once the beef has marinated for 10 minutes, dust the other ½ cup of potato starch (or corn starch) on the beef again to lightly re-coat the beef and lightly dust off any excess starch. Deep fry it immediately.
- Using your fingers separate the beef if they are clumped together and deep fry it in the oil in small batches (make sure the oil is hot but not smoking - to test if the oil is hot enough, add 1 small piece of beef first and see if it instantly sizzles)
- Deep fry the beef for 1-2 minutes, and remove it from the pot onto a plate with parchment paper or newspaper.
- Once all the beef has been cooked once (first fry), add all of it back in for the second deep fry for 1 more minute.
Sweet & Sticky Sauce Time!
- Remove all the oil from the pot and set it back on the stove on medium low heat
- Add in all the sauce ingredients, except the corn starch slurry ingredients.
- Stir until everything is combined well and wait until it comes to a low rolling boil
- In a small bowl, combine the corn starch and cold water to make a corn starch slurry and add it into the sauce and keep stirring until the sauce has thickened. Turn off the heat.
- Add in the crispy beef and coat it with the sauce
- Serve immediately! Goes amazing with plain rice. 🙂
Nutrition
*Nutritional information is calculated using online tools and is an estimate*
Disclaimer: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no costs to you. These earnings help maintain and keep our little blog running. While I appreciate the support – please always try to buy your items locally to support your local shops (chances are they are cheaper locally as well!) 🙂
Madley says
Eh...not bad. Wasn't crispy nearly enough for me. I like it when its got a crunch and almost sticks to your teeth. But it didn't. Not sure if I used the wrong cut of beef, but it was a bit rubbery instead of crispy. Probably because I over cooked it so it would BECOME crispy. The flavor was okay, nice and gingery and sweet, but it had a slight after taste, but nothing horrific. It needed some hot peppers in my opinion. Needed some spice. It's A LOT more work to make this dish, easier to just buy it at the Chinese place down the street, but if they don't make it, it's nice to know you can do it right at home.
Joyce says
Sorry to hear that this didn't turn out for you. 🙁 I like to cut the beef on the thinner side so there's more crispy batter surface area for the crisp and it cooks a bit quicker since it is thinner. I couldn't agree with you more, hot peppers would definitely be an awesome addition to this and it would taste fantastic with it! I left this as an optional ingredient for the future for anyone who wants to add a bit of heat to this (I definitely do!)
James says
"1/2 cup + 4 tablespoons honey"
Hey, sorry, European here and just want to double check I understand this one. Google tells me there are 6.6 tablespoons in 1/2 cup. So is this in effect saying 10.6 tablespoons (aka 188mm).
I think I rushed through and just used 4 tablespoons of honey and missed the cup bit last time I did this. Still worked out very well though! I'd never fried beef before... I found that no matter how many times I coated the beef with cornflour it still soaked it through. I think next time I'll coat it the second time and immediately put it into the hot oil. Thanks for the recipe!
Joyce says
Hi James!
I am so glad you tried this out! Yup, it's approximately 10 tablespoons of honey if you convert it all to tablespoons!
As for the beef coating, once you do the second coating, you should deep it right away. The waiting only happens on the first coating, I did this so the corn starch can soak some of the juices to glue onto the meat better since that is the coating that would be directly having contact with the beef. Hope that makes sense? 🙂 I'll try to fix the recipe so this is easier to understand 🙂 Thanks for clarifying your confusion! 🙂 and hope you had some good eats!
Kristy says
I have everything but the wine. Will it make a big difference if I leave it out? Is there anything I can sub for it?
Joyce says
Hi Kristy,
If you have dry sherry, a dry white wine or sake they would make good substitutes for the shaoxing cooking wine. If you don't have any of those you can omit it and replace the missing liquid with water so the consistency of the sauce stays the same 🙂 Hope you enjoy this! 🙂
Dawn in Spain says
Wow! I don't normally comment on recipes I've tried but this was absolutely delicious! I followed the recipe to the letter and got lovely crispy beef in a beautiful sticky sauce and everyone loved it. The only thing I found a little overpowering (nobody else mentioned it) was the amount of sesame oil. Next time I will use less. This will now be a firm favourite. Thanks
Shannon @loveatfirstbento says
This looks amazingly good - your photos are so captivating! Love all of your little tips for getting it nice and crispy. I too love when I can make a meal and it lasts (and ideally tastes just as good!) the next day, so this sounds like a dish that's right up my alley!
Joyce says
Thanks so much for your kind words Shannon! 🙂 I'm definitely obsessed with crispy haha so if I can share this to help others have their crispies too, it makes me super happy girl because everyone can have good eats! 🙂 I know what you mean - make once, eat twice! or sometimes in my came 3 times haha 😀
romain | glebekitchen says
Double coated. Double fried. Double delicious. And a stick sauce to put it right over the top. This one is a sure fire winner!
Joyce says
You know me and my deep fried crispy everything! I can't stop snacking haha 🙂
Aron Pinto says
Looks amazinggggggggggg!!
Joyce says
Awww thanks Aron! 🙂
Agness of Run Agness Run says
Yummy! This recipe is making my mouth watering, Joyce! What kind of onion do you use? Can I use red onion?
Joyce says
Aw thanks! 🙂 You can definitely use red onion for this. Hope you enjoy this! 🙂