Sweet and Sticky Crispy Beef (2024)

Course: Asian, Main, Takeout

Cuisine: American, Chinese

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

4.86 from 116 votes

Made with ♡ by Joyce Lee

• For deep frying, I like to use oils that have a mild flavor and a high smoking temperature like peanut, canola, vegetable, sunflower or corn oil.
• If you are using potato starch to deep fry the meat, make sure to not overcrowd the pan if you are using a shallow pan. Put the meat in one at a time fry them without touching each other. I find that potato starch likes to stick when you are initially frying it and if the pan is crowded (meat is all touching) you will end up with a giant ball of crispy meat instead of small crispy bite-sized meat.
• You can double up the sauce ingredients to make more sauce if you love things super saucy. This stuff is amazing drizzled on plain white rice! 🙂
• If you're pressed for time, shorten the marinating time to 30-40 minutes by leaving the beef at room temperature for 20-30 minutes - instead of in the fridge for an hour.
• The key to a crispier beef is to make sure the oil is hot oil before you start to deep fry and double frying it! 🙂
• No low sodium soy sauce? No problem! Cut back the amount of soy sauce by a few tablespoons and replace it with water to dilute it for a lighter and less salty soy sauce.
• This is amazing with a bit of heat as well! Add a few chopped-up peppers while you are cooking the sauce or add a few teaspoons of cayenne pepper for a bit of a kick!

• ▢ 1.5 lbs top sirloin steak (any type of beef works - flank steak, skirt steak)
• ▢ 1 cup potato starch (divided in half, can be substituted with corn starch, but it won't be as crispy) *see notes
• ▢ oil (for deep frying) (see notes, for type of oil)

Beef Marinade

• ▢ 1 small onion
• ▢ 2 cloves garlic
• ▢ 4-5 slices ginger (sliced thin, 2-3 mm)
• ▢ 1 tablespoon light soy sauce (reduced sodium)

Sweet and Sticky Sauce

• ▢ ¾ cup honey
• ▢ ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons light soy sauce (reduced sodium)
• ▢ ½ cup water
• ▢ 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
• ▢ ½ tablespoon rice vinegar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• ▢ 1 tablespoon shaoxing cooking wine

Corn Starch Slurry (To thicken sauce)

• ▢ 5 teaspoons corn starch
• ▢ 6 teaspoons water

Garnish & Toppings (Optional)

• ▢ 1-2 stalks green onion chopped
• ▢ toasted sesame seeds

Marinate the Beef

• Slice the steak into 1 cm wide strips and place it in a bowl. (If your steak is more than 1 cm thick, cut the strips in half again length-wise)

• In a food processor, blitz the onion, garlic, and ginger until it is a paste. (If you do not have a food processor, you can grate them or chop it very finely by hand, just make sure the ginger bits are very tiny)

• Add the marinade and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce to the beef and mix well and marinate it in the fridge for 1 hour (or 20-30 minutes at room temperature)

Deep Frying the Beef

• After the beef has marinated, dust ½ cup of potato starch (or corn starch) on the beef and use your fingers to loosely coat the beef with it. Let it sit for 10 minutes

• While you are waiting for the meat to marinate, heat up a heavy bottom pot (or wok) and set the stove to medium heat. Add at least 1 inch of oil to the pot and wait for it to get hot. (It should reach a temperature of 375F). I like to poke a wooden chopstick, or the handle of a wooden spoon into the oil and wait for it to bubble. Once it bubbles, the oil is hot enough.

• Once the beef has marinated for 10 minutes, dust the other ½ cup of potato starch (or corn starch) on the beef again to lightly re-coat the beef and lightly dust off any excess starch. Deep fry it immediately.

• Using your fingers separate the beef if they are clumped together and deep fry it in the oil in small batches (make sure the oil is hot but not smoking - to test if the oil is hot enough, add 1 small piece of beef first and see if it instantly sizzles)

• Deep fry the beef for 1-2 minutes, and remove it from the pot onto a plate with parchment paper or newspaper.

• Once all the beef has been cooked once (first fry), add all of it back in for the second deep fry for 1 more minute.

Sweet & Sticky Sauce Time!

• Remove all the oil from the pot and set it back on the stove on medium low heat

• Add in all the sauce ingredients, except the corn starch slurry ingredients.

• Stir until everything is combined well and wait until it comes to a low rolling boil

• In a small bowl, combine the corn starch and cold water to make a corn starch slurry and add it into the sauce and keep stirring until the sauce has thickened. Turn off the heat.

• Add in the crispy beef and coat it with the sauce

• Serve immediately! Goes amazing with plain rice. 🙂