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Photo by Marcus Nilsson, Food Styling by Frances Boswell, Prop Styling by Amy Wilson

Want to become 1,000 percent more efficient in the kitchen? Take a cue from restaurant chefs and set up all of your mise en place—that would be your ingredients, sliced and measured out—before you start cooking. You’ll go from raw ingredients to a glossy stir-fry in the time it takes to make a pot of rice. How convenient.

Ingredients

4 servings

1

lb. skirt steak, trimmed, sliced against the grain into ¼"-thick strips, patted dry

1

tsp. sugar

1

tsp. toasted sesame oil

1

tsp. plus 1 Tbsp. soy sauce

1

tsp. kosher salt, plus more

1

Tbsp. vegetable oil

1

medium sweet onion, sliced into ½"-thick rounds

1

3" piece ginger, peeled, very thinly sliced

Freshly ground black pepper

3

Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1

Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Cooked rice (for serving)

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Toss steak in a medium bowl with sugar, sesame oil, 1 tsp. soy sauce, and 1 tsp. salt to coat and let sit 20 minutes.

    Step 2

    Place a large skillet over high heat. Pour in vegetable oil and swirl to coat bottom of pan. The oil should be shimmering and you should see some wisps of smoke—if it’s not hot enough, the meat will steam instead of getting deeply browned.

    Step 3

    Add steak to skillet in an even layer (it’s okay to crowd it a bit) and cook, undisturbed, until brown around the edges, about 2 minutes. Turn steak over and add onion, ginger, lots of pepper, and ⅓ cup water. Cook, tossing often, until onion is just tender and ginger is softened, about 2 minutes.

    Step 4

    Remove skillet from heat and add butter, lemon juice, and remaining 1 Tbsp. soy sauce. Toss until butter is melted and coats steak. Taste and season with more salt if needed.

    Step 5

    Divide rice among bowls and top with beef stir-fry.

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How would you rate Beef and Ginger Stir-Fry?

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  • This was bland. Spiced it up a bit with fish sauce and chili crisp but overall, meh

    • Doby

    • Seattle

    • 6/9/2023

  • Absolutely delicious! Made it as per other comments - removed steak from pan when cooking onions. Reduced salt to 1/2 tsp. and butter to only1 Tbsp. Will definitely make this again, soon.

    • IslandShells

    • BC, Canada

    • 2/20/2023

  • Really tasty! I took the advice from the other reviews and seared the steak, removed it from the pan, cooked the onions and ginger then put it back in. I definitely recommend that instead of cooking the veggies totally separately-- they need to cook with the bits of steak and marinade.

    • RB

    • Los Angeles, CA

    • 2/16/2022

  • Let me start by saying that is always helpful to read the reviews as well as the entire process through before starting to cook with that said the reviews in this specific recipe we're quite helpful in the fact that I seared the meat quickly for a minute or two and then removed it keeping it warm and began cooking the onions and ginger once they had cooked a bit I added the meat back and water and followed the rest of the process through to good results the meat was tender but the meal in general lacked flavor this recipe is a good starting point however to build your sauce in any direction you would like to take it spicy or more of a mushroom beef sauce whichever direction you want to go this basic recipe is a good starting point and being this was the first time I worked with skirt steak I took the advice that was included in the directions a step farther I spread the steak out and using a fork I raked the fat out of the meat leaving small amounts behind for the cooking process raking through the grain of the meat and then cutting the pieces against the grain as directed in the recipe this I felt really added to the tenderness of what I had read could have been a tough piece of meat if not properly handled before the cooking was done with that said I will use this recipe again it is as I said previously a great starting point

    • Anonymous

    • Pa.

    • 11/15/2020

  • Added a bit of garlic (because— garlic!) and some chilies. Fantastic! Make this regularly now. Everyone loves it.

    • sandycee

    • Canada

    • 4/27/2020

  • Wish that I had cooked the onions first - only because maybe if I had cooked the steak last I would not have overcooked it and the onions would jammy. flavor is good, just not sure about the process.

    • jesssssssse

    • Indiana

    • 4/8/2020

  • This was so good! Everyone raved. To add some heat, I chopped up a few dried Thai Chile’s and added them to a bowl with the soy sauce that I added at the end.

    • Anonymous

    • Lafayette, Ca

    • 4/6/2020

  • This was so simple and good. Used a little filet I had in the freezer. Would add a little heat at the end with sambal or something. I pulled the meat after the sear so I could cook the onions as others did. Leaving the steak in would have overcooked it, especially the cut I used.

    • Seattle

    • 3/15/2020

  • great! just what i would get from a asain restaurant

    • ryeguy123

    • nova scotia

    • 12/29/2019

  • This recipe was just fantastic - so gingery and delicious. It’s probably my favourite SE Asian-inspired recipe that I’ve made Yet. I just added some garlic to mine, because I have to have garlic in everything I make. Next time, I’ll make it with brown rice and some broccoli to make it even more “healthy”.

    • Anonymous

    • Calgary, AB

    • 12/21/2019

  • I was excited to see this dish recognized as Filipino Bistek in the year end round up but am very disappointed that it's not referenced at all in the recipe. How sad.

    • MQAvatar

    • Washington, DC

    • 12/20/2019

  • The fact that this is just Filipino bistek should be acknowledged on the actual recipe page. Not just on the year-end round up.

    • Anonymous

    • 12/20/2019

  • Great recipe. Very tasty and not overly complicated at all. Served with boo choy and white rice. Next time I’ll sub brown sugar and use a tad more to thicken the pan sauce a bit. This is a definite make again.

    • kmiller0193

    • Clearwater, Florida

    • 12/4/2019

  • Really good! I made it with venison.

    • Anonymous

    • 11/25/2019

  • This is a keeper! So easy and I still can’t believe the flavour! I cooked my onion and ginger first as others suggested. Will make again and again.

    • Anonymous

    • Rothesay, NB, Canada

    • 11/21/2019