Panda Express' Beijing Beef Copycat

Submitted by ThatSouthernBelle

"My fiance is a Panda Express FANATIC. When they came out with Beijing Beef, my fiance would only order that item. Panda Express featured the recipe on their site, unfortunately, they have taken it down now. The recipe is on my other computer so I searched online and found the same recipe on blogchef.net I'm going to be tweaking this recipe because the sauce doesn't taste 100% like the real thing."

 

• Ready In: 45mins
• Ingredients: 17
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 453.59 g flank steak, sliced into thin strips
• 88.74 ml cornstarch, for dusting
• oil, for frying

• Marinade

• 1 egg
• 1.23 ml salt
• 29.58 ml water
• 14.79 ml cornstarch

• Sauce

• 59.16 ml water
• 59.16 ml sugar
• 44.37 ml ketchup
• 29.58 ml vinegar
• 1.23 ml crush chili pepper
• 9.85 ml cornstarch

• Vegetables

• 4.92 ml garlic, minced
• 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
• 1 medium green bell pepper, diced
• 1 medium white onion, sliced

directions

1. Cut beef into thin strips . In a bowl of sealable bag combine all marinade ingredients and mix well. Add beef slices and marinate for 15 minutes.
2. While beef in marinating mix all of the sauce ingredients together in a bowl and refrigerate.
3. When the beef is done marinating coat the beef slices with 6 tablespoons of cornstarch. Remove any access cornstarch and deep fry (either in a deep fryer or wok) beef slices in batches until floating or golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
4. Add a couple tablespoons of oil to the wok and add minced garlic and stir fry for 10 seconds. Add red and green bell peppers and onions and stir fry for 2 minutes. Remove vegetables and set aside.
5. Pour sauce into the wok and heat until boiling. In a serving dish add beef and vegetables and coat with the sauce.

Reviews

[marilyn_ritz]

those of you who are complaining about the ketchup or sweet and sour taste instead of the authentic Panda Express type taste, you need only change the ketchup to hoisin sauce, or even do half of each. I add a bit of fresh grated ginger to mine too. This is a great base recipe - thanks for sharing!

 

[hotdishmama]

Used hoisin for half the ketchup and added more hot peppers. The sauce tasted very good and I would use it again. However, I found that the meat got really crispy when fried, but the second I added it to the sauce (just before serving) the meat went limp and had an unpleasantly mealy cornstarch texture. Next time I would just stir fry the meat quickly in a little oil and not bother with the egg/cornstarch thing.

 

[PickyEaters]

I have made this twice. The first time I followed the instructions as is and the second time I used soy sauce as suggested. My family overwhelmingly prefered the soy sauce. Since I always order Beijing Beef at PE I have to say this is not exact but very good anyway. All my Picky Eaters loved it (w/soy sauce). I will make this again. Thanks for posting.

 

[Ivansocal]

Tastes just like my favorite from Panda Express! The best part is you'll always get a fresh serving since you're making it at home. It made enough for dinner and leftovers during the week.

 

[legcard]

Followed the recipe exactly. It was delicious. I wanted to try it because my son's family loves it from Panda Express. I wanted to taste it for myself but have been gluten free for over 30 years - nothing at Panda is GF. We will cook this again. Thanks for the recipe.