Easy Recipe for Pepper Steak with Chinese Black Bean Sauce

One Recipe, 2 Ways to Make It

Easy recipe for pepper steak, a very traditional Chinese dish, that you are going to learn to make it like any Chinese chef.

Easy Recipe for Pepper Steak with Chinese Black Bean Sauce

Total Time: 15 Minutes
Prep Time: 5 Minutes
Active Cook Time: 10 Minutes
Serving: 2-4

Have you ever tried my uncle’s prime rib recipe yet? I am sure you will never go anywhere to have prime rib again, but make at home. It may sound odd talking about prime rib and Chinese pepper steak with black bean sauce at the same time. What is the relationship between these 2 completely different dishes?

In fact, this recipe was originally made because of that prime rib recipe. After serving so many times, I found that I always cook more than enough. As a result, we always have plenty of leftover. You most likely know me by now that I eat leftover and always turn leftover to be many new dinner ideas. There are plenty of recipes you can find in this website using leftover.

But back to the topic, I want to stick to low-carb. As a result, I created this recipe with the benefits of frozen vegetables that save me from cutting.

Just before publishing the original recipe, I started to step into the shoes of my followers and thought of these questions, "What if you don’t have prime rib leftover, can you use other leftover? What about using fresh meat instead?" The answer is “yes” to both questions.

At the end, I decided to show you how to cook this easy recipe for pepper steak in both ways: 1) starting from scratch by using some very lean cut of meat and 2) using leftover.

Please feel free to click on these links to jump directly over to the recipes:

CHEF NOTES

There will be more tips shared with you as we move along with the recipe. But I do want to point out about Chinese black bean sauce.

There are many Chinese dishes using this sauce for different cooking methods. My mom always loves to see the whole black beans. As much as I love the taste and fragrance of it, I have never been a big fan texture-wise. I did stumble upon the smooth black bean sauce. Unfortunately, it is not something easy to find.

Also, Chinese black bean sauce is typically very salty. So, hold your salt and pepper until you taste it before it is too late.

Easy Recipe for Pepper Steak Using Leftover and Frozen Vegetables

First of all, let’s take a look of the original recipe using leftover and frozen vegetables.

Since we are using leftover, it means the meat is cooked. Therefore, we add the meat almost at last before stirring in the black bean sauce and other seasonings.

Also, the original prime rib recipe used garlic as marinade. Besides, the Chinese black bean paste possibly has garlic flavor. Therefore, we skips garlic in the leftover version. But garlic lovers, by all means, feel free to add more if you see fit.

Other than prime rib leftover, any beef recipe that was cooked or marinated with very basic seasonings without too much spices can be used as leftover for this dish. Here are a few more examples that you could possibly use their leftovers for this easy recipe for pepper steak:

Easy Recipe for Pepper Steak Using Leftover and Frozen Vegetables

Ingredients

2-3 bags (1 lb each) Frozen Stir-Fry Mix (aka Pepper and Onion mix)
4 cups Beef Ribs or Steak Leftover (cut in bite size)
1 (heaping) tbsp Chinese Black Bean Sauce
2 tbsp Chili Crisp (optional)
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/8 tsp Sugar (a little bit goes a long way)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat extra virgin olive oil in a big skillet at high heat; stir in frozen peppers and onion mix.
(Initially, you can cover the skillet so that the vegetables can heat up quicker. Once you see the steam, uncover the skillet and continue to cook and allow extra moisture evaporate. Then, the dish will not be too watery.)
Let heat to thaw the vegetables (about 3-5 minutes); stir often to help the vegetables cook and thaw evenly.
Stir in leftover beef to warm up (about 2 mins).
Stir in black bean sauce and chili crisp (optional); salt and pepper to taste and enjoy immediately with rice or noodles.

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Easy Recipe for Pepper Steak Starting from Scratch with All Fresh Ingredients

So what if you need to cook with everything from scratch...

Since I created a beef stir-fry recipe many years ago using flank steak, I purposefully chose a very lean cut of meat this time. I want to show you a tip that has been using in the Chinese kitchen for years to make beef super tender in a snap.

You can apply this tip for all cuts of meat. But it works extraordinarily well with all lean cut. What I meant is the meat that doesn’t have the marble grain or you can barely see any fat at all.

So, here are the steps:

Add 1/3-1/2 tsp baking soda for about 1.5lbs of meat in the marinade. This will tenderize the meat significantly. I normally eyeball my seasonings. But when it comes to baking soda, be more diligent in measurement because too much baking soda will destroy the taste and the texture of the meat. Seriously!

Ingredients

2 medium size Bell Peppers (any colors; discard membranes and seeds; cut into chunks)
1 medium Onions (cut into chunks/bite size
1.5 lbs Sirloin or Top Round Steak (thinly sliced on a 45 degree angle and cut against its grain)
1tsp Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp White Pepper (black pepper is fine, too)
1/2 tsp Ginger Powder
1/3-1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/8 tsp Sugar (a little goes a long way)
1tsp Chinese Light Soy Sauce
1 splash Chinese Dark Soy Sauce
3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 (heaping) tbsp Chinese Black Bean Sauce
1 tbsp Chili Crisp (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a mixing bowl, combine garlic powder, white pepper, ginger powder, baking soda and soy sauces. Then, add sliced beef in and combine everything together. Mix in extra virgin olive oil the last. (Best is to let marinated meat to sit for 15 minutes before cooking.)
Cut up both bell peppers and onion.
Preheat a big skillet (no more oil is needed) and add marinated beef in and single layer.
Brown both sides of meat 2 minutes each. Then stir in peppers and onions until the vegetables get crisp tender. Stir in black bean sauce and chili crisp (optional); salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy immediately with rice or noodles.

If you go by this method, please be aware that prep and cook time are going to be double of the original recipe using leftover.

One Last Tip

I normally put out all the tips at the beginning. But I saw that there is a need to put it at the end of these 2 easy recipes for pepper steak.

You can interchange the fresh and frozen forms of ingredients, i.e. leftover with fresh peppers and onions or fresh meat with frozen vegetables. The rule of thumb is that if you cook with leftover, make sure the meat goes in last so that it will not overcook. The meat only needs to be warmed up and blend in with the rest of the flavor.

If you choose to cook with fresh meat with frozen vegetables, take the browned meat out before adding the frozen vegetables. Once they get crisp tender, add the meat back into the skillet to finish the dish.