CopycatSpices
Panda Express Beijing Beef
Crispy, battered beef strips tossed in a sweet and tangy chili sauce with bell peppers and onions. This homemade Panda Express Beijing Beef is sticky, spicy, and impossibly addictive.
fast-food · panda-express · chinese · main
🕑Prep20 min
🍳Cook15 min
⏱Total35 min
🍽Serves4
⭐DifficultyMedium
Ingredients
- 1 pound flank steak, sliced thin against the grain
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- Vegetable oil for frying
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 3 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon sriracha or sambal oelek
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
Instructions
- 1.Prep the sauce. Whisk together the ketchup, soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, sriracha, and sesame oil in a small bowl. Set aside.
- 2.Coat the beef. Toss the sliced flank steak in cornstarch until every piece is thoroughly coated. Shake off excess — a thin, even coating gives the best crunch.
- 3.Fry the beef. Heat 1 inch of vegetable oil in a large skillet or wok to 375°F. Fry the beef in batches for 2-3 minutes until golden and crispy. Don't crowd the pan. Remove to a wire rack.
- 4.Cook the vegetables. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of oil from the pan. Stir-fry the bell pepper, onion, and garlic over high heat for 2 minutes until slightly charred but still crisp.
- 5.Combine everything. Pour the sauce into the pan with the vegetables. Bring to a simmer, then add the crispy beef. Toss everything together for 30 seconds — just enough to coat the beef without making it soggy. Serve immediately over steamed rice.
Panda Express Beijing Beef
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Servings: 4
Panda Express Beijing Beef is the dish that always looks incredible in the serving tray — glistening strips of crispy battered beef coated in a red, slightly spicy sweet-and-sour sauce with peppers and onions. It’s like a Chinese-American take on sweet chili beef, and it’s one of the most popular items on the Panda menu for good reason.
The key to this dish is getting the beef shatteringly crispy before tossing it in the sauce. You add the sauce at the very last second — if the beef sits in sauce, it goes from crispy to chewy fast.
Why Make It at Home?
A plate with Beijing Beef at Panda Express runs about $11-13. This recipe serves four generously for about $10 total. You also get to use real flank steak instead of the thinner, more processed cuts that fast-food Chinese restaurants typically use.
Tips & Variations
- Slice against the grain. This is critical for tender beef. Look at the lines running through the flank steak and cut perpendicular to them, about 1/4-inch thick.
- Toss with sauce at the last second. Literally 30 seconds of contact. Any longer and the coating absorbs the sauce and loses its crunch.
- Freeze the steak for easier slicing. Pop it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes and it firms up enough to slice paper-thin.
- Make it less sweet. Reduce the brown sugar to 1 tablespoon and increase the sriracha for a more savory, spicy version.
