This crispy orange beef is tangy, sweet and utterly delicious. An easy Friday-night fakeaway – ready in 25 minutes!
I love to serve this up with a big bowl of fluffy rice or some stir-fried noodles.
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Yes, we’re using steak for this recipe, which is a little bit extravagant, but it means we’re getting tender meat, cooked in extra-quick time, with a lovely steaky flavour – rather than chewy meat (which is what you can get with cheaper cuts of beef).
I love the tanginess of this recipe. The sauce soaks into the rice beautifully – meaning lots of flavour in every bite!
📋 What do we need?
📺 Watch how to make it
Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.
👩🍳PRO TIP Place the steak in the freezer for 10-20 minutes before slicing. This will make it firmer so it’s easier to slice thinly.
Make this and I guarantee every plate will be clean within 10 minutes!!
🍽️ What to serve it with
Want to make it spicy? 🌶
Add a tablespoon of sriracha to the sauce and sprinkle with a few chilli flakes before serving.
🍲 More fantastic Chinese-takeaway inspired recipes
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Crispy Orange Beef
Sticky-crispy-sweet Crispy Beef in orange sauce – so delicious and satisfying and ready in 25 minutes!
Ingredients
Optional – to thicken the sauce:
INSTRUCTIONS
Heat the oil in a wok or large frying over a high heat.
3 tbsp oil
Pat the beef dry with some kitchen roll, then mix the cornflour (cornstarch) with the salt and pepper and toss the beef in the cornflour until completely coated.
500 g (1.1 lb) beef steak, 2 tbsp cornflour, 1 pinch of salt and pepper
When the oil is hot, tip the beef in and fry until crispy. Try not to move the meat around too much as this reduces the amount of crispiness you get. It should take about 5-6 minutes to crisp up the beef, with about 3 or 4 stirs during that time.
Once the beef is crispy and cooked through, remove the beef using a slotted spoon, and place in a bowl lined with kitchen roll to soak up excess fat.
After the beef has been removed from the pan there should still be a little oil left. Turn the heat down to medium and add the sliced red pepper and onion.
1 red pepper, 1 large onion
Fry for a 2-3 minutes (so they’re hot but still crunchy).
While the peppers and onions are cooking, mix the orange zest, juice, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, rice vinegar and ginger and put to one side.
Juice of 2 large oranges, Zest of half an orange, 3 tbsp caster sugar, 5 tbsp soy sauce, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tsp ginger paste, 1 tsp rice vinegar
Pour over the orange sauce. Turn up the heat and bring to the boil. Simmer for 1 minute.
Then add the beef back in. Give it a stir and heat through for 1 minute. If your sauce is looking too thin, you can stir in a little cornflour slurry to thicken.
1 tbsp cornflour mixed with 3 tbsp cold water to form a slurry
Once bubbling and thick, serve up with boiled rice. Garnish with the spring onions (scallions).
Boiled rice, 4 spring onions (scallions) chopped on the diagonal
✎ Notes
CAN I MAKE IT GLUTEN FREE?
Yes! Replace the soy sauce with tamari. I’ve done this lots of times and it works really well. You must ensure you use the correct amount of orange juice and sugar though, otherwise the tamari can overpower the flavours.
CAN I FREEZE IT OR MAKE IT AHEAD?
This recipe works best when made and served right away. Freezing/chilling then reheating means the beef won’t be crispy.
However, it does still taste really good. So if you did want to freeze it, then cool, cover and freeze. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator and reheat thoroughly in the wok or a microwave until piping hot throughout. You can add a splash of water if it’s a little dry.
Nutritional Information is per serving and does not include the serving suggestion of boiled rice.
Nutrition
Calories: 349kcalCarbohydrates: 22gProtein: 31gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 73mgSodium: 1332mgPotassium: 686mgFiber: 1gSugar: 14gVitamin A: 1110IUVitamin C: 57.6mgCalcium: 53mgIron: 3mg
Originally published September 2015. Updated May 2018 and then again in March 2023 with new photos and a video, plus extra tips.
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Equipment:
