This classic pepper steak recipe brings a takeout favorite straight to your kitchen! Strips of tender steak are marinated in a savory homemade sauce, then stir-fried with sautéed bell peppers and onions.
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights
- Flavor: Tender beef in a savory garlic-soy sauce with a little kick of peppery flavor.
- Skill Level: This beginner-friendly dish cooks in one pan with minimal prep. So easy!
- Budget Tip: Use affordable cuts of beef (see ingredient tips below); they come out tender and juicy.
- Swaps: Instead of rice, serve over ramen noodles, egg noodles, or cauliflower rice.
- Serving Suggestions: Side dishes like garlic bok choy, asparagus, or Szechuan green beans are always a hit.
Ingredient Tips
- Beef: Top round is my go-to cut for this recipe, but budget-friendly flank and top sirloin steak are great too. Prepare the meat by slicing it against the grain to break down the fibers and help tenderize it.
- Veggies: Green and red bell peppers add color, but any variety works. Yellow, white, or red onions add some crunch and flavor. For extra texture, add in baby corn, snap peas, or sliced carrots.
- Sauce: Fresh ginger and garlic add bold flavor, while soy sauce, Worcestershire, and honey bring a balanced sweet and savory flavor. Mirin is optional but adds a rich umami.
Switch up the Sauce
- Add chili paste or Sriracha for more heat.
- Use low-sodium soy sauce or substitute beef broth for half the soy sauce.
- Substitute honey for white or brown sugar.
How to Make Pepper Steak
- Whisk sauce ingredients together in a bowl (full recipe below).
- Stir fry onion & peppers in a large skillet until tender. Transfer to a plate.
- Sear the beef strips and cook just until browned.
- Add onion & peppers back to the skillet along with the sauce. Cook until thickened.
Storing Leftovers
Store leftover pepper steak in the fridge for up to 4 days. Freeze in zippered bags or an airtight container. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator and reheat on the stovetop or in 30-second intervals in the microwave until just hot.
More Must-Try Stir-Fries
Did your family love this Pepper Steak recipe? Leave a rating and comment 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 2-3 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 1-2 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.
love the recipe Thx’s
I’d start with just a tsp or two of cornstarch and work your way up from there if needed. 2 Tbsp cornstarch made the sauce way too thick like a gravy… oops :(
I’d also do less brown sugar and replace some of the water in the marinade with extra soy sauce (and maybe a little rice vinegar?)
Overall this was less flavorful than I was hoping and too thick, but was still okay and I liked how easy it was.
Thanks for sharing your tips, Olivia!
Easy Pepper steak
way too much water in the marinade. also too much corn starch. The slurry was smooth but as soon as I poured it in the pan it seized up and got goopy and lumpy. ‘There’s definitely something off in the measurements.
just delicious and easy fast just love it tastes so good.We also took out the tortilla and ate just like that kids loved that.
First time trying this recipe. It sounded delicious but how can you have 2 tbsp of cornstarch with such a small amount of marinate and not add additional water. That cornstarch would thickened up like paste and I had to add water to thin it out and additional seasoning to maintain the taste. Should that have been 2 tsp instead of 2 tbsp? It was still good. Thanks
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?
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.
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’
Sorry for the confusion, Ron! We have it listed there since it is mixed into the marinade in step 8.
agreed frustrating after all the prep, not happy. The directions need work.
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.
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.
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!
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!
very delicious and easy to make. we’ll be making this more often for the family
It was easy. Great taste.
Best ever. Also can add snap/snow peas & bamboo sprouts for extra flavor.
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.
Trying this tonight. Wondering if it can be done in a slow cooker?? Love your recipes!
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure Nette. Enjoy this recipe!
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!!
Sorry for the confusion Lindsay, this recipe has been updated. I hope you loved it!
This was a easy and very delicious meal.
Don’t over do the red pepper flakes— my fault. Great recipe!
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.
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!
Sorry for the confusion. You’re correct Allison; the original marinade contained 1 tablespoon of mirin. There are no other changes to the recipe.
This is delicious! Will be making this again soon!