Minced Beef Stir Fry is a quick and easy dinner recipe that is especially good for busy weeknights when time is lacking. Made by browning beef mince with garlic and ginger we then add a simple stir fry sauce and fresh veggies. Pair it with fluffy cooked rice for a complete meal and you will find yourself being asked to make it again and again.
Beef is easy, it is popular, more versatile than simply spag bol and in many cases leads to freezer friendly meals. Below are some more beef recipes that offer variety through taste and texture.
- More beef mince recipes: Meatballs Alfredo, Savoury Mince Pasta, Savoury Mince Pies, Slow Cooker Savoury Mince.
- More easy beef recipes: Beef Ribs, Beef Pesto Pasta, Beef And Bean Enchiladas, Slow Cooker Beef Massaman Curry
🤍 Minced Beef Stir Fry Highlights
I have summarised everything that you will come to know and love (LOVE ❤) about the recipe in the points below:
- Simple ingredients: beef mince is budget friendly.
- Quick and easy: dinner on the table in 30 mins.
- Family friendly: easy family meal, no too intense or spicy flavors.
- Freezer friendly: so it is great to meal prep!
🥗 Ingredients
The photo below is to show you everything you need to make the ground beef stir fry recipe. Please refer to the printable recipe card for specific ingredient measurements as well as detailed instructions.
As you can see the recipe calls for:
- Salt and pepper.
- Ginger: I use minced ginger from a jar simply because it is easy. No peeling, no chopping, just measure the amount and add it in. Plus it keeps fresh for longer in the fridge.
- Garlic: as above. I am obsessed with a store bought version that is 'chunky chopped garlic'. It is so convenient.
- Peanut oil.
- Dark soy sauce.
- Chinese cooking wine: also known as Shaoxing wine. This will be in the Asian foods aisle.
- Oyster sauce.
- Green onions.
- Carrot: again I like to keep this easy. Especially for this quick weeknight dinner. As such whenever I am making this I used a store bought bag of grated carrots from the produce section. No peeling, no chopping. Open the bag and throw them into the frying pan.
😉 Variations
Here are my sub ins and outs that you might be thinking about as you read the post and I will tell you if I think they will work or why they won't:
- Other proteins: you can use pork mince, ground turkey, chicken mince or a combination of beef and pork mince.
- Sugar: I don't use sugar in the sauce as I find that the Chinese cooking wine brings a sweetness to the flavor profile. If you want to though you can add 1-2 teaspoons of brown sugar.
- Oyster sauce: hoisin sauce (equivalent amount) can be substituted.
- Soy sauce: if you only have light soy sauce or regular soy sauce and want to use that you can. The main difference will be that your finished dish won't be as dark in color. The dark soy sauce is what makes the stir fry turn the color you see food looking like in Asian restaurants.
- Vegetables: plenty of options here! Some other vegetables that will work are red bell pepper, bean sprouts, asparagus, green beans, snow peas or shredded cabbage.
- Make it spicy: add a tablespoon of siracha sauce or a teaspoon of red pepper flakes to give the recipe a little bit of heat.
- Garnish: sprinkle toasted sesame seeds or thinly sliced fresh chilli over the top for a finishing touch!
👩🍳 How to Make Minced Beef Stir Fry
Here are the step by step instructions to make the recipe. We start by making the sauce. A small jug or bowl will come in handy as well as something like a small spatula or whisk to combine the ingredients.
🍳 Instructions
- Gather the sauce ingredients (Photo 1)
- Stir to combine the sauce (Photo 2)
- Slice the green onions (Photo 3)
- Brown the beef mince (Photo 4)
Combine the oyster sauce, Chinese cooking wine and dark soy sauce in a small bowl and whisk together then set aside.
Next place a large sauté pan on the stove top, turn the heat to high and add the peanut oil and garlic. Cook for 1 minute then add the beef mince, salt, black pepper and ginger.
Brown the mince using a rubber spatula to break up any clumps as it cooks. This will take 6-8 minutes.
- Pour over the sauce (Photo 5)
Once the beef mince has cooked pour the sauce over the top like you see me about to do in the photo above.
Next we start to add the vegetables in.
- Add the carrot (Photo 6)
Add the carrots to the pan like you see in the photo above and then the green onions like the photo below.
- Add green onions (Photo 7)
Once you have added both of the vegetables keep cooking the dish and stir frying, combining all of the ingredients until the vegetables are cooked. This will only take 2-3 minutes.
🍽 Minced Beef Stir Fry Serving Ideas
When it comes to serving your beef stir fry there are plenty of options that will work.
I like to pair it with white rice. My usual go to is basmati. It is an easy combination that tastes great.
Some other options are using brown rice, cauliflower rice or noodles on the side. In which case you can use cooked udon noodles, hokkien, egg noodles or instant noodles. Simply read and follow the packet instructions to cook these and add to the stir fry, toss to heat through and you will be good to go.
👍 How to Guide
How to Store
Once the dish has cooked and cooled you can portion it. If you are having it for dinner simply pile into bowls and pair with rice or your chosen serving idea. If you are wanting to meal prep this, transfer the cooled stir fry into a sealed airtight container with rice and then stack in the refrigerator. I do this often as I find meal prep essential to get through busy weeks, you can see how I meal prep this dish in this photo here.
How to Freeze
If you want to make the stir fry to freeze it simply follow the steps above and portion it into containers. At this point I also add the rice (as long as I have enough containers) and then stack these in the freezer. You can also see from the photo above in the store section that sometimes I freeze it with rice and sometimes I don't. If freezing without the rice, you can simply add it the night you are home and going to heat it up.
How to Reheat
To reheat refrigerated portions of the dish transfer them to a bowl and cover with cling wrap. Use the microwave and high heat. They will take 2-3 minutes to warm through. I find it also helps to give them a stir after 2 minutes to ensure that the whole bowl is consistently heated through. For frozen portions of the dish, allow these to thaw. Once they have thawed use the microwave step as above to reheat. These will be colder to start with so will need an extra minute or 2 to heat up.
💡 Tasty Tips
Here are my top tips and tricks that I want to share with you so that you master the recipe from the get go:
- Pan: plenty of options here. You can use a large skillet, wok, large frying pan or sauté pan.
- Prepped and ready: the thing about stir frying is that it is quick. For this reason you won't have a lot of time mid cook to prep anything. So get everything ready from the start so that you don't have to stop.
- Heat: we want to keep the heat high throughout the duration of the cook time. This ensures that the dish cooks very quickly. Once the veggies are cooked at the end, you can turn the heat off straight away. No need to keep it simmering.
🤓 FAQ's Minced Beef Stir Fry
Beef mince is an excellent choice when it comes to stir frying. This is because it cooks quickly and pairs well with a wide variety of vegetables.
Some vegetables that work very well when stir frying are carrot, green onions, cabbage, snow peas, sugar snap peas, green beans, onion and capsicum.
Yes you can. A homemade stir fry sauce with an Asian flavor profile is as easy as combining oyster sauce, Chinese cooking wine and dark soy sauce.
Peanut oil is a great choice if you are making a stir fry with an Asian flavor base. Sesame oil is more commonly used in a sauce than as the cooking oil.
😍 More Easy Dinner Recipes
Here I like to give you plenty of options so that your dinners are easy and inspired. The recipes below have a variety of proteins, cook times and methods. So hopefully there is something here that will appeal to everyone.
- More stir fry recipes: Pork Mince Stir Fry, Chicken Yaki Udon, Shrimp Yakisoba, Soy Sauce Noodles.
- Other proteins: Chicken Pesto Linguine, Grilled Chicken Alfredo, Fettuccine Alfredo With Tuna, Mini Enchiladas.
- Rice dishes: Pork Mince Fried Rice, Tuna And Rice Casserole, Chicken And Rice Tray Bake, Baked Chicken Drumsticks And Rice.
- Pasta or noodles: Mince Pasta Bake, Garlic Spaghetti, Chorizo Pasta Bake, Scallop Linguine.
It is time to whip up this quick weeknight meal my friend! You can also find all of my Asian recipes or dinner recipes in the one spot.
Adrianne
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📖 Recipe
Minced Beef Stir Fry
Ingredients
Stir Fry Sauce
- ¼ cup/60 ml oyster sauce Note 1
- 3 teaspoons Chinese cooking wine Note 2
- 1 ½ teaspoons dark soy sauce Note 3
Minced Beef Stir Fry
- 2 tablespoons peanut oil
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic Note 4
- 1 kg/ 2.2 lb beef mince Note 5
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger Note 6
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 ½ cups carrot Note 7
- 1 bunch green onions Note 8 and 9
Instructions
- Sauce: add the oyster sauce, Chinese cooking wine and dark soy sauce to a small jug and whisk to combine then set aside.
- Beef mince: place a large sauté pan on the stove top, turn the heat to high then add the peanut oil and garlic. Cook the garlic for 1 minute then add the beef mince, salt, pepper and ginger. Brown the mince using a rubber spatula to break up and clumps as you go. The meat will take 6-8 minutes to cook.
- Stir fry sauce: pour the sauce over the browned mince.
- Vegetables: once the meat is cooked add the carrots and green onions to the pan and then cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly as you go.
- To serve: pair the minced beef stir fry with fluffy cooked rice and serve immediately,
Video
Notes
- Note 1 - Oyster sauce: this is best kept in the fridge if opened. As such it is thick and takes a little bit of time to slide out of the bottle. So grab it out as a starting point as it will slide right out of it has sat on the bench for 5 minutes.
- Note 2 - Chinese cooking wine: also known as Shaoxing wine. This will be in the Asian foods aisle. It has a sweet flavor so this is why I don't use sugar in the recipe.
- Note 3 - Dark soy sauce: this is different to light soy sauce. It is the key ingredient to making the stir fry take on the dark golden brown color. If you only have regular soy and want to use that you can (equivalent amount) but the color of the browned mince will be much lighter.
- Note 4 - Garlic: store bought minced garlic is totally fine to use and easy! I like to use a version that is 'chunky chopped garlic'. This is always in my fridge and handy to grab out as needed.
- Note 5 - Beef mince: for this recipe I use a kilogram of beef mince. I do this as then you get 4 adult sized servings at the end. When I have tried it with 500 grams of beef along the way I feel that the serving size is too small for '4 portions'.
- Note 6 - Ginger: as above re the garlic. I use a jar of store bought minced ginger. There is no chopping, no chance that it has gone off or funny and keeps things on hand and easy.
- Note 7 - Carrot: I like to keep this easy. Especially for this quick weeknight dinner. As such whenever I am making this I used a store bought bag of grated carrots from the produce section. No peeling, no chopping. Open the bag and throw them into the frying pan.
- Note 8 - Green onions: spring onions, we use a whole bunch. As the recipe cooks so quickly we don't need to worry about separating the white bits from the green bits. Simply trim the roots and and bits that look like they still have dirt on them and then chop.
- Note 9 - Vegetables: plenty of options here! Some other vegetables that will work are bell peppers, asparagus, green beans, snow peas or shredded cabbage.
Kerry says
This looks great to me. So easy!
Adrianne Jamieson says
Thanks Kerry! 😊
Leanne Gordan says
Tried this recipe last Friday. it was delicious. So easy and we took the leftovers to work the next day.
Adrianne Jamieson says
Thanks Leanne, I appreciate you taking the time to leave feedback 😊.