This minced beef stir fry with bokchoy is a simple, vegetable packed, and delicious weeknight dinner. It takes just 30 minutes to whip together, tastes and feels well balanced, and can happily feed an entire family.
I use a combination of ground beef, mushrooms, celery, and bokchoy for the base of the stir fry, and then create a delicious sauce with simple pantry staples like chicken broth, soy sauce, and chili sambal.
I prefer to keep my recipes simple with as few ingredients as possible, and without the addition of heavier and more specialty asian ingredients like oyster sauce and chicken powder. This dish, along with many others that you find on my website, highlight the taste of the ingredients themselves, and using the best quality ingredients is critical in creating the most delicious meal.
Making a good stir fry is one of the easiest ways to get dinner on the table quickly.
This is my minced beef stir fry with bokchoy, and it’s balanced, packed with vegetables, and super delicious.
When I think making a good stir fry, I usually start with what types of vegetables I have in my fridge. For a one pot meal, I want to incorporate a hard vegetable, like celery in this recipe, and then a leafy green, like bokchoy.
It’s important to cook the “hard” vegetable first, just for a few minutes before adding in the leafy green, as these vegetables have different cooking times and the end result texture is super important for the overall deliciousness. You can learn more about the different categories of veggies in this post.
To make your stir fry saucy and perfect with rice or grains, use about a cup of stock. I don’t like my sauces too thick, so I use just a little bit of cornstarch.
To add more flavor and depth to the sauce, add some chili sambal and soy sauce, and you’ll have a simple but flavorful stir fry.
Chef Tips:
On ingredients
- Feel free to substitute the ground beef for ground pork or ground chicken. You’ll want to add an extra 2 tablespoons of sesame oil if so though, as the ground beef contains much more fat and flavor than ground pork or chicken.
- I used beech mushrooms but you’re welcome to use brown button mushrooms or your favorite type of mushroom
- Chicken broth or vegetable broth (store bought is fine!) adds a nice depth of flavor to this dish. Add this to the stir fry, and this will become the base of the sauce.
For Prep
- Peel back the layers of the bokchoy to make sure you’re washing away all the dirt. After you peel back the outer layers, you can also soak the bokchoy in water as an extra precaution to wash the vegetable.
- To prep beech mushrooms, trim off the end, then cut them in half. Pull apart the stems from each other. These beech mushrooms can be cooked like any other mushrooms
- Prepare all your ingredients before you start cooking. This dish cooks quickly, and it’s important to have all your ingredients ready to go.
On cooking
- Keep some of the fat from the ground beef to help cook the mushrooms and celery. I remove some of the fat with a paper towel, but keep some of it to add flavor and fat for the rest of the dish.
Ingredients for the Minced Beef Stir Fry:
- 1 lb ground beef
- kosher salt
- 4 heads bokchoy
- 2 stalks celery
- 3 stalks scallion
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced
- 6 ounces mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon chili sambal sauce
- Black pepper
- 1 cup broth
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
High Level Directions
Prep the vegetables.
Mince the ground beef and season. Then add the mushrooms and celery and cook for another couple minutes.Then add the bokchoy and scallions. Stir, then add the chicken broth and cook for another 3 minutes.
Make the cornstarch slurry.
Add the slurry to the stir fry along with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, and the teaspoon of chili sambal sauce. Taste, adjust seasoning with more salt and pepper, and serve over rice.
Other easy weeknight dinner recipes:
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Recipe:
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Minced Beef Stir Fry with Bokchoy
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
This minced beef stir fry with bokchoy is a simple, vegetable packed, and delicious weeknight dinner. It takes just 30 minutes to whip together, tastes and feels well balanced, and can happily feed an entire family.
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- kosher salt
- 4 heads bokchoy
- 2 stalks celery
- 3 stalks scallion
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced
- 6 ounces mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon chili sambal sauce
- Black pepper
- 1 cup broth
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
-
Prep the vegetables – trim the mushrooms, slice the celery on a bias into ½” thick pieces, slice the bokchoy into 1” pieces, mince the garlic, and thinly slice the scallions.
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Heat a pan on medium high heat. Add the ground beef and mince with a wooden spoon. Season with kosher salt and black pepper. Once browned, remove a bit of the fat if you prefer, then add the mushrooms and celery and cook for another couple minutes.
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To the beef and mushrooms, add the bokchoy and scallions. Give this a stir, then add the chicken broth. Cook for 2-3 minutes on medium high heat, covered (or until the bokchoy is tender to your liking).
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While waiting for the bokchoy to cook, make the cornstarch slurry with 2 tablespoons of water and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Mix together, then add this to the pot after it’s cooked.
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Then, season with another pinch of kosher salt, black pepper, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, and the teaspoon of chili sambal sauce. Taste, adjust seasoning with more salt and pepper, and serve over rice.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Category: quick and easy
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: asian
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