This classic pepper steak recipe brings a takeout menu favorite to your kitchen! 

Strips of tender steak are marinated in a homemade sauce and stir-fried with sautéed bell peppers and onions. Quick, easy, and so delicious!

Serve this meal over rice with a side of steamed broccoli.

cooked Easy Pepper Steak in a bowl

Perfectly Peppered Steak

  • Cook and serve this hot and hearty main dish from one pan in less than 30 minutes!
  • Budget-friendly cuts of beef come out tender and juicy in a homemade marinade that also becomes a sauce!
  • We love this easy recipe and think it the taste is even better when homemade!
  • Add your own favorite veggies to make a new family favorite.
ingredients to make Easy Pepper Steak with labels

Ingredients and Variations

BEEF: Top round, flank steak, and sirloin steak are favorites in this recipe. Prepare the meat for cooking by slicing it against the grain in order to break down the fibers and help tenderize it.

VEGGIES: Green and red bell peppers give a pop of color, but any peppers will work! Yellow, white, or even red onion slices add some crunch & flavor.

SAUCE: Spring for fresh ginger and garlic for the best flavor! Soy sauce, Worcestershire, Mirin, and honey or sugar for sweetness round out the sauce. Low-sodium soy sauce can be used in this recipe.

VARIATIONS: Try asparagus, baby corn, snap peas, or sliced carrots. Add additional garlic cloves, a splash of rice vinegar, or some chili paste or sriracha if you’d like. Substitute honey for brown sugar.

process of adding ingredients together to make Easy Pepper Steak

How to Make Pepper Steak

Turn some round steak into a peppery and juicy main dish for dinner.

  1. Whisk sauce ingredients together in a bowl.
  2. Stir fry onion & peppers in a large skillet until tender. Transfer to a plate.
  3. Sear the beef strips (as per the recipe below) and cook just until browned.
  4. Add onion & peppers back to the skillet along with the sauce. Cook until thickened.

PRO TIP: Marinating the beef strips in the sauce (without the corn starch added) for up to 24 hours will tenderize the meat and intensify the flavor. Remove beef from the marinade and pour it into a bowl. Whisk in the cornstarch.

close up of cooking Easy Pepper Steak in the pan

What to Serve with Pepper Steak

Over ramen noodles, rice, or even cauliflower rice, or some oven-roasted broccoli.

Side dishes like garlic bok choy, asparagus or Szechuan green beans are always a hit.

For a cool crisp side, try bean sprout salad or easy Asian slaw!

Our Fave Stir Fries

Did your family love this Pepper Steak Stir Fry? Leave us a rating and a comment below!

plated Easy Pepper Steak with sesame seeds
4.95 from 92 votes↑ Click stars to rate now!
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Easy Pepper Steak

This delicious one-pan Pepper Steak recipe is an Asian-inspired dish that can be made at home in no time!
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Marinade Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 40 minutes
Servings 4 servings

Equipment

Ingredients  

  • 1 pound top round beef sliced into strips against the grain
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil or vegetable oil
  • 1 large onion thinly sliced
  • 1 green bell pepper cored and sliced
  • 1 red bell pepper or orange/yellow, cored and sliced

Marinade:

  • ¾ cup water
  • ¼ cup honey or brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tablespoon garlic minced
  • 1 tablespoon ginger minced
  • ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Garnish:

  • green onions sliced
  • sesame seeds

Instructions 

  • Combine all the marinade ingredients (except cornstarch) in a medium bowl and whisk.
  • Add the beef strips to the marinade and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours, stirring occasionally.
  • When ready to cook, remove beef from marinade reserving the marinade.
  • Heat a cast iron skillet or wok over medium-high heat and add oil.
  • Once the oil is hot, add the sliced onion and peppers and stir-fry for about 5 minutes, or until tender. Transfer to a plate.
  • Add beef to the skillet and distribute evenly, cook for about 1 minute unmoved, to get a nice sear on it. Stir the beef and continue cooking until browned (beef doesn't have to be cooked through), about 2-3 minutes.
  • Remove the beef from the skillet and place on a plate with the peppers.
  • Whisk the cornstarch into the reserved marinade. Pour into the skillet and whisk while brining to a boil. Let boil 2 minutes.
  • Reduce heat to medium and add the onion, peppers and steak back to the skillet.
  • Stir to combine all the ingredients and simmer 1-2 minutes or until heated through
  • Remove from heat and garnish with sliced green onion and sesame seeds if desired.

Video

Notes

1 tablespoon Mirin or dry sherry can be added if desired.
Additional vegetables can be added along with (or in place of) the peppers.
 
4.95 from 92 votes

Nutrition Information

Calories: 398 | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 33g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 88mg | Sodium: 878mg | Potassium: 480mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 1080IU | Vitamin C: 65.1mg | Calcium: 27mg | Iron: 3.6mg

Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.

Course Beef, Dinner, Entree, Main Course
Cuisine American, Asian Fusion, Chinese

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About the author

Holly is a wine and cheese lover, recipe creator, shopping enthusiast and self appointed foodie. Her greatest passion is creating in the kitchen and making deliciously comforting recipes for the everyday home cook!
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Comments

  1. You REALLY need to add the 2 – 24 hours into the prep time…because there is NO WAY that this will cook in 20 – 40 minutes right?

    1. Sorry for the confusion Sindy, thank you for letting me know. While the marinating time was listed in the heading it hadn’t calculated into the total time. I have updated it.

  2. Why have cornstarch in the marinade section, when it has nothing to do with the marinade. I of course didn’t see the ‘except cornstarch’

    1. Sorry for the confusion, Ron! We have it listed there since it is mixed into the marinade in step 8.

  3. This was extremely too sweet. It probably should not have had brown sugar. I was very excited to make and eat this but the sweetness was unexpected and a little off putting.

    1. We love this recipe as written (we usually use honey)! But you can definitely omit the brown sugar or reduce it if you find it too sweet for your liking.

  4. I’ve made this probably 5 or 6 times. We don’t add anything like honey or sugar to it, but it sooooo delicious! Every single time!

  5. We got home late, I looked in the frig, there was a London broil and a bowl of 34 peppers of 7 varieties from our overly exuberant garden. I quickly googled a pepper steak recipe and landed on this one. I was in a hurry, I just eyeballed the ingredients instead of actually measuring. I didn’t have fresh ginger, had to use the ginger from the spice jar. I forgot to take the veggies out of the pan before adding the meat. I had to choose between brown rice (40 minutes to cook) or ramen noodles from Ramen soup packages (2 minutes to cook!) so we had it on ramen noodles. Despite all the hitches, this came out tasting like it came from the expensive Chinese restaurant in my home town! Wonderful recipe, thank you!5 stars

  6. My husband and I certainly did like the recipe, but for our taste, we felt like the ginger was very strong… and I think the sauce was a little bit too thick and using the 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. I would probably cut that back a little bit also as I like a thinner sauce. Your recipe still had a really great taste but for us I will tweak it a little bit.4 stars

  7. your prep times are wrong. Total time is 2 hours 40 mins. it has to sit and marinate in refrigerator for 2 hours first. when I first looked at the recipe to plan my dinner and looked and prep time, cook time and total tome and planned my dinner I thought I had plenty of time until I got further into the recipe and read it has to sit and marinate for 2 hours. might want to include that with your prep time!!

  8. I made your easy pepper steak today. It came out amazing!!! The beef was tender and the peppers were crisp with just the right amount of chew. I followed the recipe exactly, and will make this again. Thanks for a great weeknight dinner recipe.5 stars

  9. I commented on this a few years ago. I just opened the recipe up to make it again and I could have sworn that when I made this every other time, Mirin was included in the recipe and not just an optional addition.

    Am I going crazy? I want to make it exactly like I did the other times as my husband LOVED it. Did this recipe use to include mirin and if so, how much? 1 TBSP? Thanks!

    1. Sorry for the confusion. You’re correct Allison; the original marinade contained 1 tablespoon of mirin. There are no other changes to the recipe.