An authentic Hunan beef recipe featuring a more layered flavor and spicy taste, along with tender juicy beef and crisp chili peppers stir fried with a brown sauce that’s full of umami. {Gluten-Free Adaptable}
Hunan Beef is a popular Chinese dish known for its bold, spicy, and savory flavors. Originating from Hunan province in China, this dish is characterized by its use of fresh chilies, garlic, and various seasonings that give it a distinctively hot and aromatic essence.
American takeout VS. Hunan beef from China
The differences between American takeout Hunan Beef and the traditional Hunan Beef served in China are quite noticeable.
In American Chinese restaurants, Hunan Beef often includes a wider variety of vegetables such as broccoli, bell peppers, carrots, and sometimes mushrooms. The dish is usually sweeter due to added sugar or sauces like hoisin or oyster sauce. While it still has some heat, the spiciness is often toned down.
The traditional Hunan beef focuses more on the core ingredients, like beef, garlic, ginger, and chilies. The emphasis is on the purity of flavors, with a significant reliance on fresh, local ingredients. The dish is significantly spicier in its authentic form, as Hunan cuisine is known for its liberal use of fresh and dried chilies. The heat is a defining characteristic of the dish in China, often leaving a lasting impression of its fiery nature.
In this recipe, I want to introduce you to the authentic-tasting Hunan beef, with ingredients you can find in US grocery stores.
Hunan beef ingredients
What types of chili peppers to use
Hunan beef often uses a combination of a few types of dried and fresh chili peppers to give the dish a spicy and layered taste.
The dried peppers I use here are dried facing heaven chilis (朝天椒, Chao Tian Jiao). They are medium spicy with a velvety red color. You can easily find these chili peppers at the Chinese market or at The Mala Market. You can also experiment with other types of dried chili peppers that are not too spicy and slightly smoky in this dish.
Hunan beef often uses fresh green chili peppers and red peppers for a vibrant color and spicy taste.
In this recipe, I used Chinese long green chili peppers and bird’s eye chilis, which give the dish a fiery spiciness.
Instead of Chinese long green chili peppers, anaheim peppers and cubanelle peppers are both milder and have a similar texture. They would tone down the dish a bit but still give you a satisfying result.
For the red pepper, it’s the best to use fresh Er Jing Tiao (二荆条) peppers. It is a type of long red chili pepper that is less spicy than bird’s eye chili, for a more rounded taste. I ended up using bird’s eye chilis because that’s all I could find. Feel free to skip the red pepper if it’s too spicy for you. Or you can use red jalapeno peppers instead.
How to prep the beef
American takeout hunan beef often uses thick cut beef in the stir fry. In China, Hunan beef always uses a distinctive, very thin sliced beef for a unique texture and better flavor absorption. To prevent over-cooking the beef and to make it tender, a small amount of baking soda is added to the marinade to tenderize the meat.
In order to slice the beef thinly, it’s much easier to use half thawed beef that is still a bit stiff but possible to cut with a knife. You can achieve it by either placing fresh beef in the freezer for 30 to 60 minutes, or by thawing the beef in the fridge overnight or in a bowl of water until half thawed.
Mise en place
You should have all the ingredients prepared before cooking. Your table should have:
- Marinated beef
- Mixed sauce
- Aromatics and spices (dried chili, sliced garlic and ginger, ground Sichuan peppercorn)
- Sliced chili peppers
I group my ingredients in the order that they will be added to minimize clean up and streamline the process.
How to cook Hunan beef
Cooking Hunan beef is quite fast once you have all the ingredients prepped and nearby.
- Sear the beef and transfer it to a plate
- Cook the aromatics and spices until fragrant
- Cook the chili peppers
- Add back the beef
- Pour in the sauce
- Mix everything together
Once cooked, the beef will be richly flavored, juicy and tender, along with the crisp peppers for a nice contrast. This dish uses just enough sauce to coat the ingredients, so it’s flavorful but the taste of the fresh ingredients still comes through.
What type of skillet to use
In China, Hunan beef is always cooked in a wok with extremely high heat for the smoky wok hei. I found it quite challenging in a home kitchen. You can read more about it in my blog post Wok vs. Skillet and figure out your optimal setup. But in short, it’s hard to achieve the same high heat using a home stove with a wok. Plus, the beef requires quite a bit of skill to cook properly in a wok (flash fry), so these thin pieces do not stick to the pan and get overcooked.
I use an OXO 12” nonstick skillet in my cooking. Compared to a wok, it heats up faster and more evenly on a home kitchen stove (especially if you use induction or electric stove). You do not need to use extra oil to prevent the food from sticking. And it’s quite easy to cook with. You do lose the smoky wok hei, but the dish will still taste amazing.
How to serve Hunan beef
Hunan beef tastes best with a bowl of steamed rice as a main dish. Since the dish is quite flavorful and spicy, it pairs perfectly with the rice so the spiciness won’t be overwhelming. Consider serving other non-spicy dishes to clean your palate and make the meal more balanced. For example:
- Tomato Egg Drop Soup
- Bok Choy and Mushroom Stir Fry
- Easy Egg Fried Rice (蛋炒饭)
- Pan Fried Tofu (脆皮豆腐)
- Stir-Fried Pea Shoots with Garlic (蒜蓉炒豆苗)
- Sichuan Dry Fried Green Beans (干煸四季豆)
Other delicious stir fry dishes
- La Zi Ji (Sichuan Mala Chicken, 辣子鸡)
- Salt and Pepper Fish (椒盐鱼片)
- Watercress Stir Fry (炒西洋菜)
- Beef and Flat Bean Stir Fry
- Yu Xiang Eggplant (鱼香茄子, Sichuan Eggplant Stir Fry)
Authentic Hunan Beef (湖南小炒肉)
Ingredients
Marinating
- 1 lb (450 g) flank steak
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
Sauce
- 2 tablespoons chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon chicken bouillon
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
Stir fry
- 2 tablespoons peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
- 6 cloves garlic , sliced
- 1 thumb ginger , julienned
- 4 dried Chinese chili pepper , cut into small pieces
- 1/4 teaspoon ground Sichuan peppercorn
- 2 to 4 hot chili peppers , sliced into circles (*Footnote)
Instructions
- Split the flank steak along the grain into two long pieces, then slice each piece against the grain into 1/8” (3 mm) thin pieces. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add the light soy sauce, baking soda and white pepper. Mix thoroughly with your hands to evenly coat the beef. Add the cornstarch and mix again. If the cornstarch does not distribute evenly, add 1 to 2 teaspoons of water and mix again. Set aside to marinate for 15 minutes while preparing the other ingredients.
- Mix the sauce in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat until hot. Spread the beef into the pan without overlapping. You might want to cook in batches if your pan is not big enough. Sear without moving until the bottom turns golden brown, 1 minute or so. Flip the beef to cook the other side, until lightly seared and the inside is still slightly pink. Transfer the beef to a big plate and set aside.
- Add the remaining oil, garlic, ginger, dried chili pepper and ground Sichuan peppercorn. Cook and stir until the garlic turns slightly golden, 1 minute or so.
- Add the pepper. Stir and cook for 1 minute. Then add back the cooked beef.
- Stir the sauce again to dissolve the cornstarch completely. Pour into the skillet and stir immediately. Cook until the sauce is evenly coated. Turn off the heat and transfer everything to a large plate. Serve over steamed rice as a main dish.
Notes
- I used Chinese long green peppers for the stir fry and a small amount of bird’s eye chili for garnish. It results in a dish that is very spicy. Skip the bird’s eye chili for a slightly toned down dish. To replace Chinese long pepper, it’s quite nice to use anaheim pepper or cubanelle for a milder taste. And it’s nice to use Chinese red long pepper or red jalapeno to replace the bird’s eye chili to add color to the dish (not required).
Hi Maggie, Another winner! Loved it! A quick question – I used to enjoy Hunan Lamb at a local NYC restaurant, and I’d like to re-create this at home. Do you know what would be the best cut of lamb for this dish? Thanks so much! And thanks for a great recipe!
I think lamb leg or lamb shoulder is pretty good for stir frying, with great flavor. This recipe uses baking soda to tenderize the meat, so it doesn’t matter if you happen to use a slightly tougher cut of meat.
I’m glad to hear you like the recipe and thanks for leaving a positive review! 🙂
Thanks so much, Maggie! Love, love your recipes! I have become a Rock Star among my friends – all thanks to you!!!
Total do-again! For peppers I used serranos and some suspiciously small shiny black jalapenos I grew in my garden. Thank you for sharing.