Hunan beef

Make restaurant quality Hunan beef Home at half price! This Hunan Chinese Beef recipe is the perfect balance of flavorful, crispy and hearty. Serve over rice, stir-fried vegetables, or alongside a portion of Hunan shrimp.

More Chinese takeaway recipes: Chow Mei Fun, Honey Walnut Shrimp, Empress Chicken and Fried Rice.

What is Hunan beef?

Hunan-style beef is a chili-laden dish commonly found on American-Chinese restaurant menus. It is roast beef coated in Hunan sauce, prepared with chilies, garlic, rice vinegar and soy sauce. It’s one of the spicier recipes on the menu.

Velvety beef and a medley of vegetables are pan seared and tossed in a rich soy-chili sauce. Don’t be put off by the quantity of ingredients as you probably already have most of them on hand.

Chinese Hunan beef

Authentic Hunan beef is traditionally made from dried beef. Since it’s hard to find here in the States, feel free to use your favorite cut of beef. We usually go with flank steak or skirt steak (read the difference between skirt steak and flank steak).

Here are the top “non-staple” ingredients for preparing Hunan-style beef. See the recipe card below for the full ingredient list.

Chili Oil Substitute

There are a number of different chilli pastes that you can use for this dish. We usually stick to Huy Fong Sambal Oelek when it comes to Chinese recipes, but that’s not the only option. Here are some other options:

pepper

So many. Pepper. We love a bit of spiciness, so be sure to use hot peppers like Fresno chilies, Serrano chiles, or even a Thai chilli. For those looking for just a bit of spiciness, use mild peppers like poblano or cubanelle.

Fried vegetables

The best thing about this dish is the ability to customize the veggies. I’m sure many of you have some veggies in the fridge that are about to go bad (No? Just us?). Here is a list of ideas:

• zucchini
• Bok choy
• Snappeas
• snow peas
• broccoli
• celery
• Mushrooms
• bamboo shoots
• carrots
• water chestnuts

How to do

Hunan-style beef doesn’t take much time to prepare, but it’s all hands-on time. Here are the general steps to follow when creating. For the full recipe, see the detailed recipe card below.

beef – Velvet the beef

Sauce – Whisk the sauce ingredients together.

Stir-frying – Get the beef in the pan and fry away!

Vegetables – Fry the vegetables

sauce it up – Mix the beef, vegetables and the remaining ingredients with the Hunan sauce and serve!

Serving recommendations

This Hunan beef recipe can be enjoyed on its own or alongside some other classics. As mentioned above, rice or fried rice are always welcome additions. Add some extra veggies to fill up each serving. Any Asian noodle recipe would make a great side dish…think garlic noodles, sesame noodles, etc.

The Hunanese love fermented food, so a serving of our pickles or other pickles would go well with it.

expert tips

• This roast beef recipe tastes best when enjoyed right away.
• Make sure the beef is 100% dry before adding it to the cornstarch. You will find that the end result suffers as the coating does not adhere.
• The oil should be hot (popping slightly) before you add the food.
• Don’t overfill the pan. Fry in batches to avoid steaming the beef instead of browning it.
• Cut all your vegetables into equal pieces so they cook in the same amount of time.

Variations of Hunan food

Hunan-style chicken – Substitute chicken for the beef for a classic Hunan chicken meal.

Hunan Spicy Beef – For an extra spicy dish, add whole dried red chilies or double the chili oil and red pepper flakes.

Hunan beef versus Szechuan beef

What is the difference between Hunan beef and Szechuan beef is a very common question. Both are traditionally made with fermented red chilli paste, garlic, rice vinegar, and soy sauce, but that’s where most of the similarities end.

Hunan dishes use minimal sweeteners and are spicier than Szechuan dishes because they use fresh chilies and/or chilli paste. You won’t get the same numbing feeling as Szechuan peppercorns are not used. Hunan recipes also tend to be “drier” than Sichuan dishes due to the lack of sauce found.

Szechuan beef dishes contain dried chilies and some honey or sugar to simmer down the spices. These dishes also contain a large dose of Sichuan peppercorns to provide a numbing effect when eaten and have more sauce.

Chinese food from Hunan

There are 8 regional cuisines of Chinese cuisine, with Hunan (湘菜; Xiāngcài) being represented in this dish. To find out more about each region visit here>> Wikipedia for a fascinating history lesson.

egg drop soup
Korean Beef Bulgogi
Instant Pot Chicken Adobo

drink pairings

Stick to a semi-sweet Riesling or Pinot Grigio when serving Hunan beef.