stir fry is a sneaky thing. in my book, it’s sneaky in the sense of being absolutely PACKED with vegetables & minimally fluffed with excess/unnecessary extras. this sesame basil beef stir fry is hands down my favorite thing i’ve come up with [as of this moment] because it is JUST SO TASTY & is so simple!! each + every time i have made this, i am surprised by the deep flavors of the sauce, vegetables, & steak — all separately & more together!
i’d say the longest task of this stir fry process is prepping your vegetables, herbs for garnish, & slicing the steak. i’ve been using skirt steak more frequently, but flank steak is just as good in the recipe, too. i like to chop the stir fry vegetables to be of fairly even sizes, along with the size of the steak strips, so that they are paralleled in the dish. it looks legit, & you get an even bite every time. the veggies i use in this are large carrots, celery sticks, & red bell pepper [+ sliced white onion]. to start, i peel the outside of the celery sticks & the carrots. then, i slice them – long ways – into thin strips, about 3-4 slices each carrot/stick of celery. from there, i chop them into smaller sticks, about 3-4 times, so that each new little stick is about 3 inches [give or take, lol]. i slice the bell pepper to be about the same size as those other vegetables; the same goes with the onion! at this point, i’d continue chopping & go ahead with the cilantro, basil, & green onion, all of which you’ll be using right at the end !!
now, i’d grate my peeled ginger & mince the garlic, so that everything is ready to go into the pan when you are ready for each. once all those raw vegetables + things are prepped, and you know the cutting board will be done soon, go ahead and use it for the steak [i do the steak absolutely last so that the raw doesn’t get spread to anything else]. when you’re slicing steak, you’re supposed to slice against the grain, so it may be a bit of a difficult/wiggly step. it’s ok! this dinner is SO worth it.
once you’ve cut the steak into strips of similar size to the vegetables, you’ll toss it in the arrowroot or tapioca starch after seasoning with S&P. the arrowroot/tapioca is the perfect coating to texturize the steak & help it to be a bit chewy in the final product. in my opinion, the starch + texturizing makes the recipe reflect take-out or restaurant food even more! it makes it.
now that everything is truly ready to jump in the pan, start the heat! i use a large skillet here – or a wok would work; drizzle some olive oil with a touch of sesame oil into the pan & let it heat up to sizzling. add the steak to the pan, allowing each piece some room to fully cook. if you need to do it in 2 batches, do it in 2 batches! you’ll remove the steak from the pan anyways, once all the meat has been cooked through.
leave the pan on, & drizzle some more olive oil + sesame oil, if you choose. next, toss in the onion, red pepper, carrots, & celery. saute for a few minutes until you see the vegetables JUST start to soften. the onions will begin to become translucent, but i like to keep some of the bite in the carrots/celery/bell pepper, so i continuously toss & shake it to avoid from getting too cooked/soft! after softening, add in the minced garlic + grated ginger; tosssssss. at this point, you can add red pepper flakes at the amount of your choice [to your tolerance! i like a lot of kick].
once your veggies are softened + sauteed, add the steak back in. at this point, you’re almost DONE! so close to the final product!
the sauce happens quickly; you’ll pour the coconut aminos, rice vinegar, & fish sauce directly into the pan. stir/toss/coat/etc. leave the heat on high so that the sauce thickens & darkens a bit. let it sizzle + bubble and all of that. it’s getting tastyyyyy. once your sauce has thickened, you are pretty much done! if you want extra boost of flavor, add some green onionm, cilantro, basil to the pan & toss while over the heat. otherwise, add those 3 as garnish on top & SERVE YOURSELF UP THIS SESAME BASIL BEEF STIR FRY. just do it already!
i eat it with cauliflower rice [here’s what i simply do: take cauliflower head/crown — pulse in food processor or vegetable chopper. heat a bit of olive oil in a small pan, & put the riced cauliflower in there. shake it up and allow it to brown and soften. that’s it, done].
i’m so excited to share this tastytastytasty stir fry. if you make it, be sure to post + tag me so i can be reminded of how beautiful it is & then proceed to crave it!
these amounts of ingredients makes about 4 servings; feel free to cut them in half, or you can make it fully and then reserve in the fridge for following days — lunch at work on the go or dinner reheated! xx
ingredients » 
› 1.5 lb skirt steak / flank steak
› 1 tbsp arrowroot starch
› S&P
› olive oil
› sesame oil
› 1/2 white onion, sliced
› 1 red bell pepper
› 4 long sticks celery, peeled + julienned
› 4 large carrots, peeled + julienned
› 1/2 white onion, sliced
› 1 chunk ginger, peeled + grated
› 3 cloves garlic
› red pepper flakes
sauce –
› 1/3 cup coconut aminos
› 1 tsp fish sauce
› 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
garnish –
› cilantro
› basil
› green onion
HOW TO MAKE »
- prepare vegetables + garnish [peeling, chopping]; i prefer to chop the vegetables into equally-sized pieces for cooking purposes, & also for eating purposes — see photos below for chopping.
- slice steak against the grain.
- season steak with S&P, then toss steak in arrowroot starch.
- drizzle olive oil + sesame oil in large skillet or wok. once sizzling/heated, add steak to pan. allow each piece of meat to have it’s own space in the pan to fully cook through; you may need to cook it in batches.
- once all steak has been cooked, remove from pan + set aside.
- leaving heat on, add more olive oil + optional sesame oil to pan. add white onion, celery, carrots, & red bell pepper.
- cook vegetables until onion begins to become translucent + other vegetables have softened.
- add minced garlic + grated ginger + red pepper flakes here.
- add the steak back to the pan; once all together, it’s sauce time!
- add in the coconut aminos, rice vinegar, & fish sauce. combine + coat all components of stir fry. the sauce will thicken a bit + will darken in color, this is how you know it’s about ready!
- at this point, your stir fry is DONE + READY. if you want to boost some flavor, add a pinch of each – green onion, cilantro, basil – in pan & toss while still on the heat.
- serve it up with cauliflower rice [simply sauteed in olive oil until browned].
- garnish with green onion, cilantro, + basil.
- ENJOY
non-takeout has NEVER TASTED SO GOOD.
rachel tiedmann 