Sichuan Spicy Beef Stew (紅燒牛肉)
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To beef lovers, a juicy and tender steak is probably the way to go. While I like to occasionally enjoy an expensive steak dinner or feed myself with a much cheaper but equally delicious sizzling steak in black pepper sauce at home, my craving for beef has never been fully satisfied with steak.
Perhaps it’s because I have yet been to a world class steakhouse or I just don’t know how to appreciate a piece of fine steak…..or perhaps it’s my stubborn stomach would not accept anything other than the tender, spicy, and flavorful beef stew from Sichuan (Szechuan). I think it’s the latter.
Just like mac n’ cheese in the States, bratwürste in Germany, or Bibimbab in Korean cuisine (you get the drift), the Sichuan spicy beef stew is a true comfort food in Sichuan and across China. It is so popular that spicy beet stew has become a standard artificial flavor for instant noodles and frozen microwave meals.
The Sichuan Spicy Beef Stew (aka Sichuan Spicy Red-Cooked Beef) is the ultimate treat for beef eaters and spicy food lovers like me. Although the name of the dish seems to suggest something explosive and very spicy, this beef dish is rather moderately spicy compared to another famous Sichuan beef dish.
Restaurants in Sichuan, China usually serve the dish in a clay pot or cast iron skillet, with beef drenched in an oily spicy broth. The beef is slowed cooked until it’s tender and extremely flavorful. You’ll also get lots of variations of this dish thanks to the well-guarded secret species each restaurant uses.
This homemade version recipe is what I have been using for years. I know you might have to fetch some of the species from Asian grocery stores or specialty stores but trust me your effort will be well rewarded.
Don’t forget to have a bowl of rice to go with this beef stew!
step-by-step instruction:
These are the main ingredients:
Yield: 4 - 6 Servings
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 120 mins
Total Time: 135 mins
Ingredients:
- 3 lb Beef (brisket, shank, or lean cuts)
- 1.5 lb Radish (turnip / daikon) or Potatoes
- 5 clove Garlic
- 2 inch Ginger (about 4 slices)
- 2 tbsp Sichuan chili bean paste
- 2 tbsp Soy sauce
- 2 small Rock sugar
- 4 tbsp cooking wine.
- 4 cup Water or beef stock
- Chopped scallion and cilantro
Dry Spices
- 4 Star anise
- 6 pc Dried chili
- 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorn
- 1 pc Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Fennel seeds
- 2 pc Clove
- 1 pc Dried orange peel
- 4 pc Bay leaves
- 2 Black cardamom
Directions:
2. Blanche the beef in boiling water. Rinse the beef with cold water and let it drain.
3. In a wok, combine 2 tbsp of cooking oil with spicy bean paste, garlic, ginger, and rock sugar. Cook in low heat until aromatic.
4. Add the beef and mix it with the condiments. Add soy sauce and cooking wine. Cook for another 2 minutes.
5. Transfer the beef and all the condiments to a stock pot or large Dutch oven casserole. Add the dry species and the water or stock. Bring to boil and simmer in low heat for 1 hours or until the beef is fully cooked.
6. Add the radish or potatoes to the beef stew. Add salt to taste. Continue to cook for another 30 minutes or until both beef and radish are tender.
Garnish with some chopped scallion and cilantro and serve it hot.PS. And yes you have guessed it right, this is the very beef stew used in the much more well known spicy Sichuan beef noodle soup.
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You are exceptional. Your manner of instructing us on how to make recipes is very cool.If you could just visit my website and provide feedback on how I may improve it, I would really appreciate it.
I’ve made this recipe several times now and it’s been fantastic every time. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks. Glad that you enjoy this dish as well.
Can you recommend a sichuan chilli paste?
Something along the line of this one should work
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sorry for getting back to you super late on this. I am still working on fixing this. Will let you know once it’s fixed. Sorry for the inconvenience.
If I would use five spice, how many tsp or tbsp should I use?
hi Anne, sorry for not getting back to you sooner. If you just use five spice powder, I’d start with 2 tsp then make adjustment if needed. Hope this helps.
Lovely Recipe :https://www.sooperchef.pk/chicken-karahi-recipe-urdu/
Hello, thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I cooked this for dinner tonight and I must say that this is da bomb! The whole family like it.
HI Buat, thanks for the feedback and glad that you and your family loved the beef stew! Thanks again for checking out my site.
This spicy beef stew is fabulous. I’ve made it several times already and have only had raves!! Thank you for posting this yummy dish. Jan
Thanks again for the feedback and glad that you enjoy this dish as much as I do 🙂
I’m wondering how this much food can be for 2 servings?
Hi Janet, thanks for spotting it. I wouldn’t think 2 people could eat all that food either. Updated!
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Hello Yi,
Thank you very much for this tasty dish. I made it tonight in my wok and the sticky rice in a 10 qt stock pot. The kids nearly devoured all of the stew and only ate half of the pot of rice. And that was without me remembering to include the bean paste or having any “black” cardamom. I have to admit, I am becoming addicted to my neighbors complements of how great it smells or someone remarking how they’re in the mood for Chinese as they walk past our patio. We have our favorite dishes from you, but I keep trying new recipes and I am so happy that it all is so delicious.
Only one of my girls thought it was too spicy, but I poured sweet and sour sauce on her stew and she was blissful for the rest of our meal.
Thank you as always for not only proving homemade is better than delivery, but the effort pays with all the smiles, thank you’s and “I want to be a chef like mom”. I did take a pic, but I’m not very savvy with this Ipad, sorry.
-Jessica H
Hello Jessica, thank you very much for the feedback. I am so glad that the beef stew turned out great. I’ll be honest that I’ve never tried using ketchup in this dish and I’ll have to give it a shot next time! If you are on any social media (fb, twitter, instagram), please share the picture using #yireservation or simply tag me using @yireservation. Thanks again for following my blog.
I always order this whenever we eat in the chinese restaurant, and will definitely give this dish a try…thanks for the recipe!
Hi There, thanks for stopping by my site. I like this beef stew dish a lot too! Please let me know how the stew came out!
Hi. Can I use table sugar instead of rock sugar?
Hi there, yes table sugar works too. Thanks for visiting!
Hi Yi, this looks really good. So about how many tsp/tbsp/oz/grams would 2 small rock sugars equal ( or simply, about how much table sugar would you recommend ) ? Thanks
Hi, this is not too precise but its about 1 tbsp of table sugar. Hope this helps and thanks for checking out the recipe.
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Hi Yi,
Do you prefer yellow or clear rock sugar ? I can not see it in the pic (wont let me view larger).
Thanks,
David
hi David, I normally use clear rock sugar but yellow one should work as well. Thanks.
Hi
Just wondering if a five spice powder can be substituted for the star anise, sichuan pepercorn, cinnamon, fennel seeds and clove…. since that is what a five-spice powder is composed of. Do you think it would change the flavor a lot?
Thanks!
Hi Luyan, sorry for the late reply. I like to use the individual spice because that gives me the option to control the flavor however you can totally use five spice powder instead. If possible, I’d suggest adding extra star anise and sichuan peppercorn on top of the five spice powder. Hope this helps!
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Omg. Thank you for this recipe. A girl from Szechuan at work taught me a very similar recipe to this, using pork rather than beef. The ingredients were almost the same but less complex. I’ve made her recipe sooooo many times, sometimes adding mushroom which soaks up the juices or sweet potato. I just called it ‘birongs Szechuan pork stew’ lol. I will definitely try this version too!
Please let me know how you liked this beef dish!
Yi, What is sichuan chili bean paste in chinese? I can’t find it in local Asian store. Any substitution?
Hello Eva, sichuan chili bean paste in Chinese is Doubanjiang, or 豆瓣酱 in simplified Chinese. Most Chinese grocery stores carry this product under different brands. You can find more information about this condiment on this page. Unfortunately this is one of the ingredients you can’t substitute for this dish. Please let me know if you need any more information. Thanks for checking out the recipe!
in step 2 u say to raise the beef with cold water and drain is it supose to be rince
Hello, thank you for spotting the typo. It has been corrected.
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Hi, Yi! I absolutely love your website and its authentic recipes are much needed! I just wanted to give you a small heads up! The link for the sichuan spicy hot pot article takes the user to this page instead! Thanks again for the amazing website!
Thanks Michael for the heads up. I have updated the link. Thanks again for spotting the typo!
Wow this looks like a very authentic recipe, i’ve came across certain people who are not used to Chinese cuisine saying our food is tasteless but i think they will definitely change their mind after trying out this braised beef noodle. indeed they did, i used to make Chinese braised beef for my friends of different ethnic background and they loved it very much. i put some green tea powder and it turned out pretty nice, it adds extra aroma and taste.
hi presa1200, thanks for dropping by my site. i am so happy to hear that you conquered your friends with braised beef noodles! I like the idea of adding the green tea powder and i believe i’ve got quite a bit in stock so i’ll try out your suggestion. Thanks!
haha no problem, our food will always be our pride. i got the idea of adding green tea powder from a Chinese website, i used 1 sachet of OSK green tea because the leaves are very tiny that resemble powder. for the equivalent amount maybe you can use 1 tbsp of green tea powder. some recipes use tomato as well, i think it will add a bit of sweet and sour taste. i’m gonna try out your version, it calls for orange peel and cardamon which i didn’t have these previously. nice photos and presentation btw!
Thanks. Would love to hear how it came out!
When us the rock sugar supposed to be added in?
hi Sunshine, thanks for catching it. I just updated the recipe method. It is supposed to be added in step 3. Thanks.
Hi Yi
this looks just liken a version I had ina Szechaun Chinese restaurant in London. It was lovely. Theirs had a little 1″ square white cabbage added which gave the palate a light contrast which was nice.
I note a lot of recipes using dried spices tend to gently fry them for a few mins until they become aromatic. Have you tried that and did it produce a more aromatic version?
Hello Declan, you are absolutely right about roasting the dry spices before stewing. This process does bring more flavor out of the spices. The addition of cabbage is also an awesome idea. When I make a beef stew noodle soup I use cabbage or bok choy to create a similar contrast. Thanks for your feedback!
Can’t wait to try this recipe. I have all the ingredients, except for the dried orange peel and my time to cook it. Thanks for sharing.
The Flor, thanks for checking out the recipe. Please let me know how it comes out! If orange peel is the only thing pulling you back I’d say go for it with out the orange peel!
Thank you for this great recipe. I made it yesterday, still need a little tweaking to measure up to my favorite and one and only authentic Chinese restaurant on Istergade in Copenhagen 🙂 And yes I know Copenhagen is as far from China as you can get, but after 20 years in the States I do think I know my Chinese.
Hi KimmyCat, thank you for stopping by my blog. This is one of those recipes that takes some time to experiment. In fact when I cook this dish for myself (as opposed to my guests), I put twice as much Sichuan bean paste as the portion in the recipe. I just like it spicy and strong haha. Please feel free if you haev any questions. Thanks again for your visit.
P.S. after a quick lookup, I found the distance between NY and Beijing is 2000 miles more than the distance between Copenhagen and Beijing. So after all you aren’t that far from China than where I am lol. But fortunately, there are a lot of authentic Chinese restaurants in NY than many other major cities in the US.
Hi Yi,
I’ll be making this dish next week for a bunch of our Danish friends, and I’m sure it’s going to blow them away, in a good fiery way 😉 And I’ll be sure to add a bit more bean past.
And thank you for this great blog:)
Thanks for trying out the beef stew recipe KimmyCat. I’d love to hear how it comes out to be!
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Thanks again for the blog article.Really thank you! Awesome.
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Hi Yi,
Thanks for sharing the recipe. It looks delicious. Can’t wait to try the spicy beef stew, especially when the weather is now getting colder.
yup this will be perfect for the cold weather!
I’ll definitely love to see that beef noodle soup recipe, too!
Hi Calvin, I’ll be sure to inform you once I post the beef noodle soup recipe. Thanks.
Hi Yi! This is my first time on your blog and I’m enjoying browsing around! You have lots of great recipes and how wonderful you are cooking these great dishes! I love the spices you added to this stew. I can’t eat spicy but my husband is crazy about the spice. 🙂
Hi Nami. Thanks for our visit. If you prefer you can actually tune down the heat and make it just a little spicy….but I always prefer to have more chili though 🙂
We have stopped eating beef for a while now, about 6 months and I truly miss it. And I don’t think I can make stew out of chicken, can I? Beautiful recipe as always, Yi …
Hi Jun, thanks for checking out the recipe.. I think chicken will work but it will taste a little different.
Great blog! Found out about it from saveur.com been looking for a Chinese/Taiwanese authentic blog for awhile and this turned up. My parents run a Taiwanese small eats restaurant in Hawaii and I want to expand my knowledge of cooking heritage now that I’ve got a son. Keep up the great work!
Hello Shi kai Wang,
Thank you for the visit. A few years ago I realized how little I knew about Chinese food so I created this blog to expand my Chinese culinary knowledge and share ideas with people with common interests.
I hope you find the dishes interesting to you. As always, please feel free to leave comments, suggestions, and questions!
Yi
Love the aroma of the spices you have used in this beef stew! Best stew for the cooler days and nights ahead.
Hi tigerfish, I totally agree with you that this is a great stew for the winter.
i love the Chinese beef noodle soup with tender sliced beef like this…..is this the same beef stew used in the noodle soup? Thanks!
Hi Fionna, yes this beef stew is great for a spicy beef noodle soup. I’ll probably post the recipe for the noodle soup separately shortly. Please stay tuned.
the chinese in me would appreciate this much more than a fine piece of steak too 😛 im salivating reading this in the morning! hahaha. the meat looks so tenderr as do the radishes…i never seem to have the right spices at home for dishes like this unfortunately. will stock up on orange peel and star anise next time im at the chinese shop.
btw, regarding your comment, NYC seems like a much more exciting/happening cultural place to live than Syd 😛 i have friends moving there for work…lucky!
Thanks Viv. I agree it’s a pain to get all the spices but I think the effort is well rewarded 🙂