Gluten Free Beef and Broccoli
This gluten free beef and broccoli has tender strips of steak and crisp-tender broccoli coated in a rich, savory brown sauce, just like Chinese-American takeout.
The beef marinates right in the sauce ingredients, so there’s no separate sauce to mix later. Once the beef is marinated, the whole stir fry cooks in about 15 minutes.
Why this recipe works
The beef marinates right in the mixture that becomes the finished sauce, so it gets plenty of flavor without making a separate sauce. Once cooked, the marinade thickens into a rich brown sauce that clings to the beef and vegetables.
Slicing the steak thinly against the grain keeps it tender, and cooking it quickly in an uncrowded pan gives it plenty of browning without overcooking. And there are plenty of options for what type of steak to use, and the differences between them below.
The broccoli cooks briefly with the beef, then steams just until crisp-tender. Everything finishes together in the sauce, so the beef stays tender and the vegetables keep some bite.
Recipe ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe, including information on the role of each in a successful beef and broccoli:
- Steak: You can use any of 3 types of steak, and each has its strengths and weaknesses:
- Petite sirloin is the least expensive with the least amount of beefy flavor and can taste a bit dry, but it’s less expensive, easy to slice and doesn’t get tough even if you overcook it a bit.
- Flank steak is a bit more expensive, and it’s very lean so it’s easy to overcook. But it soaks up marinade well, is easy to slice (the grain is obvious, so it’s easy to slice against it, but if you cut it wrong, the texture will seem stringy), and is common in Chinese-American restaurants so it tastes most “authentic”.
- Skirt steak is the most expensive, shrinks quite a bit during cooking, can be harder to slice properly against the grain, and can overcook quickly, making it tough. It has a lot of fat, though (lots of marbling) for rich flavor and less of a tendency to dry out but can overcook and becomes tough easily. We recommend it least for the tendency to overcook it alone.
- Cornstarch: Helps to coat the beef, making it less likely to dry out during cooking, and helps to thicken the marinade when heated.
- Gluten free soy sauce/tamari: Adds umami flavor and salty depth. Unlike traditional soy sauce which is made from wheat, gluten free soy sauce is usually made from soybeans and sometimes with rice, too. Tamari is the byproduct of making miso paste. Just be careful to read labels and don’t assume all tamari is gluten free.
- Brown sugar: Adds some depth, offsets the salty flavor of the soy sauce, and cuts the bite of the vinegar and garlic.
- Vinegar: Brightens the rich flavors of the beef, tamari, and oil. Apple cider vinegar adds some nice flavor, but you can really use any gluten free vinegar.
- Ginger: Adds some warmth to cut the heavy flavors.
- Garlic: Adds lots of savory flavor and aroma.
- Oil: Helps keep the beef from sticking to the cooking surface and transfers heat from the pan into the beef to cook it gently and help it brown for depth of flavor. It also helps speed up the cooking process so the beef is less likely to dry out. Be sure to use something that doesn’t add a competing flavor, like olive oil, and has a high enough smoke point that it won’t burn. Avocado, safflower or canola oils all work well.
- Broccoli: Traps lots of flavor and adds a crisp-tender crunchy texture.
- Carrots: Add some color, natural sweetness, a little crunch, and help soak up flavor.
How to make gluten free beef & broccoli (step by step images)
Here’s an overview of how to make this dish in your own kitchen. For full ingredient quantities and instructions, scroll down to the recipe card below.
Make the marinade
In a large mixing bowl, first whisk together 1/4 cup of water and cornstarch into a smooth slurry. This prevents the cornstarch from clumping into lumps that are difficult to smooth out. Then whisk in the tamari, brown sugar, vinegar, garlic, and ginger until smooth, making sure you break up any lumps in the brown sugar that would burn during cooking. The garlic cloves will stay whole, though.
Slice the beef
Slice the raw steak in a direction opposite to the grain of the meat straight across, at a 45° angle to the short side of the strip of meat, in about 1/4-inch slices. Slicing the meat this way shortens the tough muscle fibers of the meat so there is less muscle in each piece of meat, making it easier to chew.
Marinate the beef
Lift the slices of meat into the mixing bowl. Toss the mixture to coat the beef in the marinade well, and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to give the mixture time to penetrate the meat and flavor it. Don’t marinate the beef for longer than 4 hours, or the meat might turn mushy or mealy if the muscle fibers are broken down too much.
Stir fry the beef
Heat a few tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat in a seasoned work or large, flat skillet until rippling, which means it’s hot enough to cook the meat. Use tongs or a large fork to lift the marinaded beef onto the prepared cooking surface, leaving behind most of the marinade. We’ll cook that later when the beef and vegetables have been mostly cooked. Cook on both sides just until browned, since we’ll finish cooking it later. Don’t crowd the skillet or the meat will steam instead of searing.
Cook the vegetables
Add broccoli crowns and stems and shredded carrots to the skillet with the browned steak, and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally so nothing sticks, for about 2 minutes.
To finish cooking the broccoli stems, which can be tough, add 1/4 cup lukewarm water, cover the wok or skillet tightly and steam for about 3 minutes or until the broccoli is crisp-tender.
Add the rest of the marinade
Add the marinade remaining in the bowl to the wok or skillet with the beef and vegetables, and cook until the sauce is thickened and bubbling. Since the marinade held the raw beef, we need to cook it to make it safe to eat. And the cornstarch will gelatinize to thicken the mixture so it clings to the cooked food.
Garnish and serve
Serve immediately over white rice and sprinkle with sesame seeds and chopped scallions.
Ingredient substitutions
This recipe is already dairy free and egg free, but if you need to avoid any of the other ingredients, here are our best suggestions:
Soy
If you can’t have soy, you can use SanJ brand gluten free no-soy tamari, which is made from peas and pea protein. You can also try Coconut Aminos, but that has less robust flavor than tamari or soy sauce.
Cornstarch
If you can’t have cornstarch, try using tapioca starch/flour, or superfine glutinous rice flour.
Beef
In place of beef, you can try using sliced skinless, boneless chicken breasts. Try our recipe for gluten free orange chicken, too. For a meat-free alternative, try extra firm tofu, which should also hold up to the marinade. You can even use ground beef in place of steak if you’re not comfortable working with steak. Don’t marinate it longer than 30 minutes, and let it sear in the pan before you turn over any of the beef or it will steam and have much less flavor.
Broccoli
In place of broccoli, try baby bok choy, sugar snap peas, and/or asparagus. All provide that crisp-tender experience, but none will hold the sauce quite like the broccoli florets.
Carrots
You can leave out the carrots completely, or try adding seeded and sliced bell peppers instead.
Gluten Free Beef & Broccoli
Equipment
- Covered wok or large skillet
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (4 fluid ounces) lukewarm water, divided
- 1 tablespoon (9 g) cornstarch
- 1/2 cup (4 fluid ounces) San-J gluten-free Tamari soy sauce, or equivalent
- 1/4 cup (55 g) packed light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, or try white vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 pound steak, petite sirloin, flank steak or skirt steak recommended
- 3 tablespoons (42 g) neutral oil with high smoke point, like canola, safflower or avocado, plus more as needed
- 1 large crown broccoli, cut into florets and stems
- 1 cup shredded fresh carrots
For serving (optional)
- Sliced scallions
- Toasted sesame seeds
- Cooked rice
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup of the water and cornstarch until it creates a smooth slurry.
- Add the tamari, brown sugar, vinegar, garlic, and ginger to the bowl. Whisk again until smooth, breaking up any lumps in the sugar.
- Slice the raw steak against the grain on the bias (at a 45° angle to the short side) in about 1/4-inch slices. Add the slices to the mixing bowl, and toss to coat the beef in the marinade well.
- Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator to marinate for at least 30 minutes but no more than 4 hours.
- When you’re ready to cook, heat the oil over medium-high heat in a seasoned wok or large, flat skillet.
- Use tongs to remove from the marinade as many beef slices as will fit on the cooking surface without crowding it, and place them in a single layer in the pan. Reserve the remaining marinade in the bowl for later.
- Cook the beef slices until browned on the first side (1 to 2 minutes), then flip and cook until browned on the second side (about another minute). If necessary, remove the cooked beef from the skillet and repeat with any remaining pieces of raw steak.
- Return any cooked pieces of steak to the skillet, then add the broccoli pieces and shredded carrots.
- Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes.
- Add the remaining 1/4 cup lukewarm water, cover the wok or skillet, and steam for 3-4 minutes or until the broccoli is crisp-tender.
- Add the reserved marinade and cook until the sauce is thickened and bubbling (about another 2 minutes).
- Serve immediately over white rice with sesame seeds and scallions, if desired.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
