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Onion Scallion Beef - Tender, juicy beef stir-fried with onions and scallions in a Chinese brown sauce. Delicious and easy recipe that takes only 20 mins.
My son has a completely different palate than us. While I cook mostly chicken as the main protein for dinners, little G dislikes chicken and will try to avoid eating chicken every time I try to sneak in some in his rice.
He loves beef, and his favorite beef dish is Korean Kalbi. So naturally he prefers beef stir-fries such as ginger and scallion beef instead of chicken stir-fries.
Other than everyone’s favorite Mongolian beef, sometimes I changed my recipe a little bit to incorporate onion into the beef stir-fry to make this super yummy onion scallion beef.
I just think that it makes the overall dish so much tastier. As we all know, onion imparts a sweet flavor once it’s cooked and caramelized, plus it adds extra texture to this onion scallion beef recipe.
For Chinese recipes, it’s very important to velvet the protein so every bite is silky smooth and the beef is tender, just like sesame beef and beef with broccoli.
There is no exception with this recipe as a simple cornstarch would seal in the “juice” of the meat so every bite is pleasing and so inviting.
Onion scallion beef is a super easy recipe to make at home and it practically takes 20 minutes from prep to dinner table.
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe is only 376 calories per serving.
What To Serve With Onion Scallion Beef
This meal is best served with steamed rice. For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Onion Scallion Beef
Ingredients
- 10 oz (280g) beef tenderloin, thinly sliced
- 2 1/2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1/2 onion, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 3 stalks scallion, cut into 2-inch (5cm) strips
Marinade:
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon Chinese Shaoxing wine , or dry sherry
Sauce:
- 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 3 dashes white pepper powder
- 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Marinate the beef slices with all the Marinade ingredients for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, mix all the Sauce ingredients and stir to combine well. Set aside.
- Heat a wok with 1 tablespoon of oil and stir-fry the marinated beef until it is half-cooked. Remove from the wok and set aside. Drain any excess liquid from the beef.
- Heat the remaining oil and stir-fry the garlic and onion until fragrant. Add the beef back into the wok and stir quickly before adding the sauce.
- Continue stir-frying until the beef slices are fully cooked, then add the scallions. Give it a few quick stirs, then dish out and serve hot with steamed rice.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi,
Can I use Chinese Rice Wine/Cooking Wine instead?
Thank you
Yes you can.
I stumbled onto this recipe while searching for mung bean recipe (had to use it up).
And since the bean and tofu dish was purely vegetarian I wanted to add a meat dish. This dish was selected purely for the fact I had all the ingredients on hand (well, maybe the filet mignon, only had New York strip steak that I had tendorized).
It tasted better than I thought it would, which means two things 1) the dish is simply good, 2) I correctly made the recipe as it was meant to be made. You made the recipe easy to follow do I could make a mistake. Either way, my family was very pleased with the results. I did add bamboo shoots and mushrooms since I also had those on hand.
I’m curious, however, how you know how to prepare all these other ethnic dishes???
I’m Korean and, of course, hands down, I agree with your son G, that Korean garbi (this is how it’s really pronounced), is the best beef dish around!
Surprisingly, my (10 year old) son happened to like the mung bean and tofu dish better than the onion scallion beef, go figure!
I’m definitely making your other dishes!
Thank you for sharing. I’m marking your website into my favorites!!
This is the first recipe I’ve ever made that came out (almost) pretty as the the picture (no epic lighting or camera skills on my dinner table, haha). I’m so used to the disconnect between the art and reality that it really took me by surprise! And it tastes even better than it looks. Thanks for sharing this and giving me a go to show off dish.
Hi SinisterThimble, I am so happy that you had great success with my onion scallion beef. Do try out more recipes on my site! :)
Absolutely fantastically delicious! Sometimes when I cook this I can’t believe I’m making my own take-away meal. I’ve made this a few times now and your instruction is fantastic – I just can’t get over how simple this dish is to make. All I can say is a big, big Thank You! :)
Hi Caroline, that’s great. Thanks for trying my recipe.
Is it possible to cook this dish with chicken instead of beef?
Yes.
What about pork? Which part shall I use? Pork loin?
You can use pork loin for this recipe.
hey hru . well i wasnt a fan of thai cuisine much but after going through ur recipes and after trying them as well , now am kind of liking the thai cuisine and its all jus coz of you. thankyou so much . i love ur recipes and ur style of cooking suits my palate so so so much . thanks again .
Thanks for trying the recipe.
Hi rasa. Do you have a recipe for salmon that floats in sauce. It’s an Asian dish I can’t remember what it’s called. It’s more a broth Rather than sauce
Hi Diane, hmmm hard to say what is the dish without looking at a picture or know its name.
I love your recipe. I used to cook recipe with chicken breast meat and the meat always turns out dry. Please provide recipe for young kids. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Fiona, thanks for trying my recipes. Please subscribe to my email here as I have recipes that are both kids and grown up friendly.
I made the beef with onion and scallion my employer they like it ..thank you for sharing..
I have this recipe saved! It’s a family favorite! Thank you for sharing. ;)
What part of the chicken would you recommend to use as a substitute to the sirloin?
Chicken breast.