15-Minute Sheet Pan Chinese Beef and Broccoli — EASY, HEALTHIER than going out for Chinese because it’s baked, and FASTER than calling for takeout!! So much FLAVOR in this family favorite! It’ll go into your regular rotation!!
Healthy Beef and Broccoli Recipe
I remember going out for Chinese food growing up, and beef and broccoli was always a family favorite. There’s something about the juicy beef with the crisp-tender broccoli in a flavorful sauce that’s a timeless winner.
Rather than going out, you can make Chinese beef and broccoli at home in 15 minutes. That’s faster than calling for takeout!
And it gets better — it’s made on a sheet pan so cleanup is as easy as tossing away a sheet of foil.
And because this beef and broccoli recipe is baked rather than being cooked in a ton of grease, it’s so much healthier than what you’ll find at a Chinese restaurant or takeout. DIY is the way to go.
Rather than grease being the dominant flavor, you actually get to taste other flavors in this easy at-home version — including soy, sesame, garlic, ginger, honey, and more.
The broccoli is crisp-tender and the florets are the perfect little sponges to soak up all that lovely sauce. Green onions and sesame seeds add the finishing touches.
What’s in Chinese Beef and Broccoli?
To make this easy beef and broccoli, you’ll need:
- Low-sodium soy sauce
- Garlic
- Honey
- Brown sugar
- Sesame oil
- Rice vinegar
- Ground ginger
- Kosher salt and pepper
- Red pepper flakes
- Flank steak
- Broccoli florets
- Green onions
- Sesame seeds
How to Make Chinese Beef and Broccoli
- Stir together the beef and broccoli sauce, then place the sliced flank steak into it and set aside to marinate for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Once that’s done, transfer the steak to a baking sheet with a slotted spoon.
- Add the broccoli to the marinade and give it a quick dunk, then transfer to the baking sheet as well.
- Bake the Chinese beef and broccoli until the steak is cooked through and the broccoli is fork-tender.
- Once the beef and broccoli is finished cooking, garnish with sesame seeds and green onions and serve.
Can I Marinate the Steak Overnight?
No, I don’t recommend marinating the beef for much longer than an hour, otherwise the texture of the beef could change.
Can I Make Beef and Broccoli on the Stovetop?
If you don’t have access to an oven, I recommend making my Stovetop Beef and Broccoli recipe instead.
That way, there’s no guesswork for you and your Chinese beef and broccoli is guaranteed to turn out amazing.
Tips for Making Chinese Beef and Broccoli
If you have time to marinate the flank steak for up to an hour before baking it, even better, but a quick 10- to 15 minute- marination is sufficient.
The beef and broccoli bakes very quickly, in about 10 minutes, and while it bakes you can optionally use the leftover marinade to make a quick stovetop sauce that’s drizzled over the finished beef and broccoli.
You don’t have to to do this step because there will likely be enough thinner runoff marinade on the sheet pan, but this thicker sauce only takes 1 minute to boil together, and who can resist thick sauce with wonderful umami depth of flavor?
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15-Minute Sheet Pan Beef and Broccoli
Ingredients
- ½ cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 4 to 5 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed
- 2 to 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 to 3 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, optional and to taste (soy sauce already has salt)
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- pinch cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes, optional and to taste
- 1 to 1.25 pounds flank steak, sliced against the grain in bite size pieces
- about 4 to 6 cups broccoli florets
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch, optional (see step 7.)
- 1 tablespoon cold water, optional (see step 7.)
- 2 to 3 green onions sliced in 1-inch segments on the bias, optional for garnishing
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, optional for garnishing
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F and line a sheet pan with aluminum foil for easier cleanup; set aside.
- To a large bowl add the soy sauce, garlic, honey, brown sugar, sesame oil, rice vinegar, ginger, optional salt, pepper, optional cayenne or red pepper flakes, and whisk to combine.
- Add the steak, stir to combine, and let it marinate for 10 to 15 minutes (if you have time and can marinate for up to 1 hour, even better).
- Using a tongs or a slotted spoon, transfer the steak to the sheet pan with space in between the pieces; set aside.
- Add the broccoli (I use 6 cups because we like a lot of broccoli, use less if desired) to the marinade mixture and give it a quick dunk, you just want to moisten it a bit. Using a tongs or a slotted spoon, transfer the broccoli to the sheet pan, and scatter it in between the steak if possible so food isn’t overlapping too much; reserve the marinade.
- Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until the steak is cooked through and the broccoli is fork-tender.
- While the food bakes, optionally add the reserved marinade to a small saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Add the cornstarch and cold water to a small bowl, stir to combine, and all the cornstarch slurry to the boiling saucepan, whisking nearly constantly for 30 seconds or until dissolved. The sauce will get very thick quickly because there’s not much quantity. If desired, add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup water as desired for consistency, whisking until incorporated and smooth.
- After the beef and broccoli are done, evenly drizzle with the sauce, to taste.
- Evenly garnish with optional green onions, optional sesame seeds, and serve immediately.
Notes
- Recipe is best fresh but will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Asian Dinner Recipes:
P.F. Chang’s Mongolian Beef (Copycat Recipe) — Make the restaurant favorite at home in 20 minutes! Easy and it has so much flavor! Tastes even better than the restaurant version!
15-Minute Skillet Sesame Chicken with Broccoli – Healthier sesame chicken that isn’t breaded or fried! You won’t miss the fat or calories in this fast and easy version that’s loaded with Asian-inspired flavors! You can happily skip takeout now!
Skinny Broccoli and Mixed Vegetable Stir Fry – Skip takeout and make your own fast, easy, and healthy stir fry! Think of all the money and calories you’ll save!!
Better-Than-Takeout Cashew Chicken – Juicy chicken, crisp-tender vegetables, and crunchy cashews coated with the best garlicky soy sauce! Skip takeout and make your own restaurant-quality meal that’s easy, ready in 20 minutes, and healthier!
Easy Better-Than-Takeout Chicken Fried Rice – One-skillet, ready in 20 minutes, and you’ll never want takeout again after tasting how good homemade is! Way more flavor, not greasy, and loads of juicy chicken!
Orange Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin – An orange-scented teriyaki sauce keeps the pork so tender, juicy, and flavorful! Easy, one-skillet recipe that’s ready in 20 minutes and healthy! Under 250 calories with 25 grams of protein!
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Originally published February 26, 2018 and republished February 19, 2021 with updated text.
Would the cooking time stay the same if you just do a pan of broccoli? Would love to use it as a side, but I don’t know if it would become tough from being cooked far too long.
Make this if you just want broccoli https://www.averiecooks.com/parmesan-balsamic-roasted-broccoli/
This recipe was the first one I tried and it was amazingly flavor-FULL! Unfortunately, I got stuck having to use fajita/stir fry beef as my grocery store was out of what the recipe called for and the meat came out dry. But it was still amazing!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad that it was full of flavor and I hope they have the proper cut of meat for you next time.
Thanks..my family loved this recipe. It was delish!
Can you marinade this for more than one hour?
Yes but I wouldn’t go too much longer or the texture of the beef could change. Maybe two hours at the max. I haven’t tried it but that’s just my suspicion.
My family loved it! The husband and 2 older kids ate it up. The 4 year old loved the meat but did not care for the broccoli with sauce on it. It was a winner.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this was a hit with your family!
The flavors were tasty! I did use fresh ginger instead of dried. Also out of rice vingegar. Used dry sherry instead. (I know that shifts the flavors but i had everything else!)
I had a lot of juice in the pan when I pulled it out of oven. I think I will next time mix that juice in with the boiling marinade.
Thanks!
Thanks for the 5 star rating and glad it worked well with all the ingredients you had on hand!
Came out great!!! I used coconut aminos instead of soy sauce to lower the sodium content – came out delicious! Love your recipes – this one as well! Big fan :)
Glad the coconut aminos worked like a charm and this came out great!
So what do you suggest in making this a lot less sodium content? I’d be interested in hearing your ideas!
Thank you!
Soy sauce has a lot of sodium in it. There’s really no way around that and there’s really no way to make this recipe without soy sauce. You could try to reduce it somewhat, not sure how that will go for you.
Coconut aminos could be used as a substitute for soy sauce. Coconut aminos has 90 mg of sodium per teaspoon (5 ml), while traditional soy sauce contains about 280 mg of sodium in the same serving size. The flavor is milder than soy sauce though.
Buy the low-sodium soy sauce.
I loved this. I omitted the ginger and used skirt steak instead of flank. I poured the pan juices in with the marinade before cooking it then roses the sauce with vermicelli noodles. It was delicious.
Tossed the sauce, not “roses”
No worries I knew what you meant and glad this came out delish!
FYI……Umami.
I love cooking broccoli with either beef or pork because it absorbs so much great flavor. This looks and sounds incredible!
Totally! The broccoli stalks are like little sponges!
I thought you weren’t supposed to use a marinade that has been in contact with raw meat?
That’s why you BOIL IT. To COOK it so that it’s not raw anymore. Re-read step 7. Enjoy!
This is like my dream dinner! My kids will love this!
I am all about easy dinners lately. This sheet pan beef and broccoli need to happen in my kitchen soon!
I seriously love everything about this meal! Easy and delicious and some of my absolute favorite flavors!
Easy and delish for sure! No time for complicated dinner recipes!
Yum!! Beef and broccoli is one of my favorite Chinese dishes…..and I don’t even have to dirty up a wok for this one:). I do love your sheet pan recipes!
No wok necessary – and just lifting off a sheet of foil from the sheet pan is what makes me smile – no dishes!
This was delicious!! I love the sauce–just perfect with beef and broccoli and so easy to whip up while everything bakes. I had a long afternoon yesterday and was beyond hungry when I came home so I was so glad this didn’t require much time in the oven….and it was just what I needed!
I am so glad that this hit the spot and that it was just what you needed! :)