Beef in Garlic Sauce

This Beef in Garlic Sauce is rich and flavourful, with thin strips of beef smothered in a punchy sticky garlic sauce.

This dish is simple to make in under 15 minutes and is perfect for meal prepping and busy week night dinners and its easy to make it low carb with steamed greens, zucchini noodles, cauliflower rice, my favourite – garlic beef and broccoli.

If you like Chinese Garlic Beef or Mongolian Beef, this dish is reminiscent of those flavours with a healthier edge. 

Recipe Highlights

• The sauce is thick, sticky and perfectly coats the meat
• One of the easiest meal prepping dishes you’ll ever make
• Simple ingredients using pantry staples and no added sugar
• Perfect for garlic lovers
• Easy to add more or less garlic flavour to suit your preferences
• Easy to add in different flavourings such as ginger and chilli for an extra kick
• Enjoy leftover beef in a wrap with your favourite salad leaves for an easy grab and go lunch
• If using a non stick wok, no oil is needed!

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes

Beef:  the beef will cook very quickly so buying good quality beef is important.  . Rump, flank, sirloin, t-bone and scotch fillet are all good options.

Tip for slicing beef:  When slicing the beef, cut against the grain, slicing into ¼ inch/1/2 cm thick slices.  This means that when you look at the mean the meat fibres are all going in the one direction.  This isn’t a deal breaker, just a tip to make the beef a little tenderer on cooking.

Shaoxing Wine / Chinese Cooking Wine:  if you can’t find this in the Asian section of your supermarket, you can use cheap dry sherry or even apple cider vinegar instead.

How To Make

1. Prepare Beef: Add beef, vegetable oil, and1 teaspoon each of ginger and garlic to a bowl and mix to combine

2. Make Sauce: Add all the sauce ingredients to a jug and whisk vigorously to combine, making sure there are no white lumps from the cornflour/cornstarch which acts as  a thickener.  Set Aside.

3. Cook Beef: Heat oil in skillet over high heat.  Add beef to pan and cook until just browned and liquid is reduced. 

4. Add Sauce to Beef: Give the sauce another whisk and pour over the beef, stirring through for 1 minute.  Note:  the sauce will thicken very quickly on the heat.  If it becomes too thick, add a tablespoon or water at a time to reach desired consistency.
5. Once sauce is at desired consistency, remove from heat immediately and serve.

Serving Ideas

• Steamed white rice or cooked brown rice:  this is a great option if you’re not fussed with it being low carb or not, and I love using minute rice cooked in the microwave for a super speedy dinner.  Lay the cooked rice in a bowl, and drizzle the meat over and le the rice soak up the flavours.
• Pre cooked Noodles:  is another way to quickly add more to your meal.  Using pre cooked noodles that you can toss through are ideal, along with a bunch of baby spinach leaves is perfect.
• Low Carb Option - Zoodles:  toss through the zoodles and cover with meat and sauce to let them soak up the flavours .
• Low Carb Option - Cauliflower Rice:  add a few chopped herbs like parsley or chives, add the cauliflower rice to a bowl, and pour over the garlic beef.
• Low Carb Option – Vegetables:  try a mixture of small chopped green vegetables such as beans, broccoli, zucchini for a high fibre low carb meal.  Alternatively add mushrooms, red capsicum/bell pepper and spinach for a colourful dinner ensemble.
• Low Carb Option – Cabbage noodles:  I love thinly slicing a cabbage and adding it at the last minute, stirring through as it resembles glass noodles.  Or alternatively, you could chop the cabbage into chunkier pieces and add it for an equally yummy low carb dinner.

Meat Swaps

• Option 1:  You could try making this dis using ground beef which is perfect if you want to skip the meat slicing, or can’t be bother with it
• Option 2:  Instead of thinly sliced beef, try is with thinly sliced chicken breast for an equally delicious result
• Option 3: if you’re feeling a little more adventurous, try it with meatballs, either store bought, or home made (like these turkey meatballs for instance)
• Option 4:  Omit the meat completely, and instead use field mushrooms cut into strips

Recipe Tips

• Slicing the Meat:  Use a sharp knife, and aim for a thickness of around 2mm.  Make sure to slice the beef against the grain for best results
• Adding Spice:  Add fresh diced red chilli sprinkled on top to serve, or a little dried red chilli flakes.  If everyone eating the dish likes a little heat, you could stir some fresh chilli through at the last minute of cooking.  Or add a little chilli paste to the sauce
• Adding Ginger:  A teaspoon of freshly grated ginger will add a little heat, and zest to this dish.  For  milder ginger flavour, you could use the bottled ginger which is a little less intense.

This garlic in beef sauce dish takes barely any effort to make and is super quick.  Probably quicker than you could order it in from your favourite restaurant. It has lots of flavour and is filling and nutritious with lots of options to make it low carb. 

This is easily one of my go to meal prepping dishes, not to mention those garlic beef strips make an excellent filling stuffed in a wrap with a handful of Asian slaw.

More Quick Dinner Ideas

Beef in Garlic Sauce

Kim

This Beef in Garlic Sauce is rich and flavourful, with thin strips of beef smothered in a punchy sticky garlic sauce. Simple to make in under 15 minutes and is perfect for meal prepping and busy weeknight dinners

5 from 3 votes

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 5 mins

Total Time 15 mins

Course Dinner

Cuisine American

Servings 2 people

Calories 413 kcal

Ingredients

 

1x2x3x

Stir Fry

• 500 grams/1 pound Quality steak - sliced thinly (see notes below)
• 1 tablespoon Vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon Crushed garlic
• 1 teaspoon Minced ginger

For the Sauce

• ¼ cup Beef Stock/Beef Broth
• 1 tablespoons Crushed Garlic
• 1 teaspoon Minced Ginger
• 1 teaspoon Chill paste
• 2 tablespoons Dark Soy Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 2 tablespoons Shaoxing Wine / Chinese Cooking Wine
• 1 tablespoon Brown granulated sweetener
• 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
• 1 tablespoons Cornflour/cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water

Instructions

 

• Add beef, vegetable oil, and1 teaspoon each of ginger and garlic to a bowl and mix to combine
• Add all the sauce ingredients to a jug and whisk vigorously to combine, making sure there are no white lumps from the cornflour/cornstarch which acts as a thickener. Set Aside.
• Heat oil in skillet over high heat. Add beef to pan and cook until just browned and liquid is reduced.
• Give the sauce another whisk and pour over the beef, stirring through for 1 minute. Note: the sauce will thicken very quickly on the heat. If it becomes too thick, add a tablespoon or water at a time to reach desired consistency.
• Once sauce is at desired consistency, remove immediately from heat and serve with steamed rice and broccoli (or other greens).

Notes

1. Beef:  the beef will cook very quickly so buying good quality beef is important.  Rump, flank, sirloin, t-bone and scotch fillet are all good options.
2. Tip for slicing beef:  When slicing the beef, cut against the grain, slicing into ¼ inch/1/2 cm thick slices.  This means that when you look at the mean the meat fibres are all going in the one direction.  This isn’t a deal breaker, just a tip to make the beef a little tenderer on cooking.
3. Shaoxing Wine / Chinese Cooking Wine:  if you can’t find this in the Asian section of your supermarket, you can use cheap dry sherry or even apple cider vinegar instead.
4. Adding Spice: Add fresh diced red chilli sprinkled on top to serve, or a little dried red chilli flakes.  If everyone eating the dish likes a little heat, you could stir some fresh chilli through at the last minute of cooking.  Or add a little chilli paste to the sauce
5. Adding Ginger: A teaspoon of freshly grated ginger will add a little heat, and zest to this dish.  For  milder ginger flavour, you could use the bottled ginger which is a little less intense.
6. Meat Swaps:
   1. You could try making this dis using ground beef which is perfect if you want to skip the meat slicing, or can’t be bother with it
   2. Instead of thinly sliced beef, try is with thinly sliced chicken breast for an equally delicious result
   3. If you’re feeling a little more adventurous, try it with meatballs, either store bought, or home made (like these turkey meatballs for instance)
   4. Omit the meat completely, and instead use field mushrooms cut into strips

Nutrition

Calories: 413kcalCarbohydrates: 26gProtein: 51gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 5gFiber: 4gSugar: 5g

Note: Sugars contained in this recipe are from naturally occurring sugars in fruits, vegetables or other natural sweeteners.

Keyword beef in garlic sauce

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