This deeply savory, easy beef stir-fry recipe is your glossy, saucy excuse to head to the farmers market for high-season peppers. (Yes. Fresh peppers have a season.) We love the piquant heat finger hot peppers or cayenne chiles bring to this weeknight dinner, but if you’re averse, feel free to swap in sweet red bell peppers instead.
Adding cornstarch to the marinade encourages the liquid sauce ingredients to cling to the steak and promotes browning when you’re ready to cook. But you may be asking, “Do I really need two kinds of soy sauce?” Chinese-style dark soy sauce is aged longer than lighter styles, giving it a sweeter, more robust edge and a thicker viscosity that also aids in giving the beef its crispy edges. Meanwhile, regular soy sauce brings the salty punch most people associate with the condiment. You’ll use both bottles a second time for the savory stir-fry sauce, which is cut with rice vinegar and a generous dose of black pepper for balance.
For best results, it’s imperative you sear the sliced beef in a single layer. If your skillet isn’t big enough, cook it in batches before turning to the veggies and finishing the dish. A boneless rib eye makes for an exceptionally tender beef stir-fry, but it’s not a cheap cut of beef; you can swap it for flank, skirt, or sirloin steak if you’d like. Outside of pepper season, trade the veg for green beans, snow peas, bok choy, matchsticks of zucchini, or even canned water chestnuts, plus a dash of crushed red pepper flakes for heat. Serve with steamed jasmine rice for a complete meal that comes together faster than you can say, “Let’s order takeout.”