Pepper Steak combines tender strips of beef with colorful bell peppers and onions in a sweet and savory sauce. Marinated for extra flavor and finished in one skillet, it’s an easy weeknight meal that’s delicious served over a bowl of steamed rice.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Holly’s Recipe Highlights: Pepper Steak
- Flavor: This pepper steak is savory and sweet with a honey soy sauce marinade, tender strips of beef, sweet bell peppers, and onions.
- Technique: Marinating the beef helps to tenderize top round while infusing it with flavor. Searing it before simmering helps to create a rich, caramelized crust with a tender, juicy inside.
- Serving Suggestions: Serve over instant pot white rice, brown rice, fried rice, cauliflower rice, or egg noodles for a complete meal.
Total Time: 2 hrs 40 mins (2 hours marinating) Servings: 4 Cooking Method: Skillet
Ingredient Notes
- Beef: Slice top round beef thinly against the grain to help keep it tender. Replace with flank steak, sirloin, or skirt steak.
- Onion: Thinly sliced yellow onion softens quickly and adds natural sweetness to the sauce, or swap it for white onion for a sharper flavor.
- Peppers: Green bell pepper gives this recipe its classic earthy flavor, while red bell pepper adds natural sweetness and vibrant color. The red bell pepper can be swapped for an orange or yellow bell pepper for a similar flavor.
- Honey or Brown Sugar: Honey adds a light, natural sweetness, while brown sugar creates a deeper, richer flavor. Both options balance the savory soy sauce and round out the sauce beautifully.
- Mirin or Dry Sherry: This optional ingredient adds a subtle sweetness and extra flavor to the sauce.
How to Make Pepper Steak
- While the beef is marinating, stir-fry the peppers and onions and set aside.
- Sear the beef in the same skillet and set aside (full recipe below).
- Whisk cornstarch with the reserved marinade and bring to a boil, then add the steak, peppers, and onions back to the skillet.
Serve over rice, garnished with green onions and sesame seeds.
Save It For Later
- Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days and in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating. Reheat gently on the stovetop or in the microwave until just heated through.
Easy Takeout-At-Home Dinners
Did you enjoy this Pepper Steak Recipe? Leave a comment and rating below.
Equipment
- Cast Iron Skillet or wok
Ingredients
- 1 pound top round beef sliced into strips against the grain
- 2 tablespoons canola oil or vegetable oil
- 1 large yellow 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 mirin or dry sherry, optional
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger minced
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
Garnish:
- green onions sliced
- sesame seeds
Instructions
- To make the marinade, in a medium bowl, combine water, honey, soy sauce, mirin (if using), Worcestershire, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes and whisk.
- Add the beef strips to the marinade and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours, stirring occasionally.
- To cook the beef, remove it from the marinade, reserving the marinade.
- Heat a cast-iron skillet or wok over medium-high heat and add canola oil.
- Once the oil is hot, add the sliced onion and green & red peppers and stir-fry for about 5 minutes, or until tender. Transfer to a plate.
- Add beef to the skillet and cook for 1 minute without moving it to get a nice sear on it. Stir the beef and continue cooking until browned (the beef doesn't have to be cooked through), about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Transfer the beef to the plate with the peppers.
- Whisk the cornstarch into the reserved marinade. Pour it into the skillet and, while whisking over medium-high heat, bring it to a boil. Let boil for 2 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to medium and add the onion, peppers, and steak back to the skillet.
- Stir to combine all the ingredients and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes or until heated through.
- Remove from heat and garnish with sliced green onion and sesame seeds if desired. Serve with rice.
Video
Notes
- Additional vegetables can be added along with (or in place of) the peppers.
- Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave until just heated through.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 193 | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Sodium: 851mg | Potassium: 261mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 1083IU | Vitamin C: 66mg | Calcium: 28mg | Iron: 1mg
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© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
This recipe was super easy to make, but waaaaay too sweet for our tastes. I did hesitate to put that much honey in the marinade, but trusted the five star comments. I tried offsetting the sweetness with salt and pepper, but it didn’t help. If I make it again, I’ll probably leave the honey out entirely.
I couldn’t find the Worcestershire sauce and skipped the pepper flakes. I used ginger and garlic powder instead of minced.
It was just about exactly perfect anyway.
Super fast and easy.
Thanks for sharing your substitutions Katherine, they sound delicious!
Something was off with the marinade. 3/4 cup of water was way too much.
This was absolutely delicious. Thank you so much!
I made this tonight; it’s delicious!
– Husband can’t have garlic. I substituted a savory spice blend we both like.
– We didn’t have ginger. I substituted mace.
Served mine over zucchini noodles and broccoli, husband’s over rice. It was a HUGE hit. One of those meals where there’s no conversation, just happy chewing.
The only thing I’ll do differently next time is double the marinade. This makes juuuuuust enough to cover the meat and veggies; we would have liked a little more sauce.
I made this Pepper Steak and served it over rice….it was delicious! My husband said it’s a “keeper”! Will definitely keep this in our dinner rotation!
Can I substitute broccoli for the green peppers?
You can, Kate! The broccoli may take a little longer to cook so you will want to check it and cook for a few more minutes in Step 5.
As always you have the Best Recipes! I find alot of them on FB which is where I found this one. I made it yesterday. I didn’t have Mirin or Ginger but I marinaded a Sirloin Steak, and when finished I put it over Rice-A-Roni Fried Rice. It’s just me here so I have leftovers. Happy Days! Now back to FB and I’m going to find this post again and share it with my friends.
All I can say is DELISH! It’s a keeper!
Thank u!
Loved this! So tasty. Took your advice and marinated the meat for a few hours. Served over short grain brown rice. Thank You!
Dorita
You’re welcome Dorita!
Delicious! Husband and I both liked it. Served with fried rice. Will definitely make this again! As always, thanks for another great recipe.
So glad you both enjoyed it Shannon! Thank you so much for coming back and leaving a review!
this is a tasty recipe.we didnt have mirin on hand but yes had vermouth so we followed the recipe and made it.we marinaded the steak for a few hours.the meat wasnt too tender and the sauce didnt thicken well but very flavorful.thanks.
This is delicious! It tastes like authentic Chinese food, much unlike most other Pepper steak recipes I’ve tried. My husband loved it! Definitely a new staple! :) Thank you for sharing!
I found this recipe after looking at a few different pepper steak recipes online. I happen to have Mirin, having bought it for a different recipe, so wanted to try this out. This turned out great, & tasted like pepper steak in a restaurant!
I didn’t have fresh ginger but looked up online that you can use 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger. I also only had 1/2 tablespoon of minced garlic but the flavor was still really good.
Thanks for the tip to marinate the steak pieces; I did so in the morning, & think it made the steak tender. Definitely a keeper recipe!
So happy you loved it Renee!
This is definitely a keeper. My husband loved this as did I. I did leave out the red pepper flakes as I’m a wimp with spicy hot. I served it over steamed rice. Very quick and easy to make. My husband called out from the living room while I was cooking “ Wow! What ever you’re cooking smells great!” Would recommend this recipe to all!!
Yay! That is definitely a cooking success Debra! So happy you both enjoyed it!
This was outstanding, full of flavor, and the meat was very tender. I served it over “Herbs de Provence” (sp.?) rice. Putting the meat into the freezer for about an hour, helps to make it easier to slice very thinly. This recipe is now in my dinner rotation, since it was a WINNER with my family.
That is awesome Angelina! Glad your family loved it!
Anxious to try.
We are anxious to hear how you much you love it! Happy Cooking Renie!
The inspiration for trying your recipe was flat iron steak I had in the freezer, begging for a grill which is packed up until April. The only other changes I made was using rice vinegar for mirin, adding sliced celery and chili garlic sauce for red pepper flakes. Served with organic brown rice. So very good!!
So glad you loved it! That sounds amazing.
This looks so good! How would I make it in a crockpot?
I haven’t tried making this in the slow cooker so I can’t say for sure.
My family loves how delicious this is. So much so that we turned it into a freezer staple! Love having this prepped and ready in the freezer for a quick and delicious stir fry option! SWP Employee
I’m so glad your family loved this recipe Sam!! Great idea to freeze it, thank you for sharing!