Cheater Sesame Beef

Sesame Beef, cheater style, makes me happy. I get all of the flavour I love from takeout Sesame Beef in the comfort of my own home with one pan to wash (two if you count the rice pot or pan.)

And cheater sesame beef makes my household of carnivores happy, too. It’s impossible to keep the leftovers around. The guys serve it on rice, eat it straight from the container, or treat it like Asian sloppy joe filling.

You can make it even better if you do like me and cook it in your jammies before settling down to watch some Netflix. You’ll be feeling pretty pleased with yourself if you do.

Sesame Beef has long been my standard order at Chinese restaurants. I love the garlicky sauce and beef over fluffy white rice with broccoli.

Me being me, I usually order it extra spicy. It’s hard to mess up (even though I’ve been to some restaurants who manage to mess it up all the same.)

Our sesame beef has an easily adjustable spice level to accommodate just about any spice tolerance. It starts at what I’d call a moderate spice level, but you can reduce that if you’re averse to spicy things or increase it if you’re a flame-breather.

Cheater style sesame beef makes cunning use of ground beef to speed up the time and preparation that usually makes homemade sesame beef such a pain in the tuckus. And because ground beef has the ability to sear in a hot pan and get crispy edges, you retain some of the crispy edges of the restaurant version.

Get I get a hallelujah? How about an Amen?

What kind of beef should I use for sesame beef?

As I said, my version of sesame beef uses ground beef, but let me get more specific. I prefer to start with a 90% to 95% lean beef to eliminate the need to drain the beef before building the sauce around the browned beef.

This is just because I am super lazy and get annoyed when I have to drain fat from ground beef. If you prefer fattier beef (because fat=flavour), you can certainly use 80% lean (ground chuck) and drain the majority of the fat from the beef before building your sauce in the pan.

Just be sure to use this trick: Crumble the beef into a preheated pan and then use a flexible spatula to pat it into one giant patty that reaches all the way to the edges of the pan. Let it fry on HIGH for three minutes, untouched, before starting to break up the beef.

Cooking the beef this way ensures that you’ll get some crispy edges on most of your pieces of beef. The crispy edges help mimic the restaurant style deep-fried or shallow-oil/wok-fried beef and develops deep, beefy flavour in your final Sesame Beef.

What ingredients do I need for the sesame beef sauce?

Sesame Beef doesn’t take any crazy ingredients that are hard to hunt down. It’s average-grocery-store easy.

If I can find it in rural, Allegany County, New York, you can find it. Trust me.

And if all else fails, there’s always Amazon for the marginally out-of-the-ordinary chili garlic sauce, which can honestly be replaced with Sriracha. I can find sriracha at the gas station/mini mart in my town of 1,600, so I think you can find it.

And mercy, if you can’t find brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch, and sesame seeds, in your local stores, I’m thinking you probably can’t get take-out either. The beauty of our Sesame Beef recipe is that if you can locate ground beef, the rest of the ingredients are available either locally or easily order-able via the internet or mail.

How do I make the sauce for sesame beef?

You’re so in luck because this (and my cheater sesame chicken) is just about the easiest kind of sauce to make. You stir everything together in a liquid measuring cup and pour it over the meat in the pan.

Sesame Beef doesn’t take any crazy ingredients that are hard to hunt down. It’s average-grocery-store easy.

If I can find it in rural, Allegany County, New York, you can find it. Trust me.

What pan should I use to make sesame beef?

Any 10- or 12-inch skillet should do the job, but I do prefer a heavy-bottomed skillet for evenness in cooking. My favourite by far is this HexClad 12-inch skillet, but my second favourite is this less expensive stainless steel one.

A heavy-bottomed skillet is a cook’s best friend, because it evenly distributes and retains the heat, eliminating hot spots that happen in thinner pans. And I opt for HexClad or stainless steel because I can use my metal utensils on them without concerns for damaging the pans.

Cast-iron pans will also work for Sesame beef. I do not, however, recommend using a non-stick pan because you’ll be cooking this dish on medium high or high at points, and teflon coated pans are not recommended for use above medium heat.

What can I serve with sesame beef?

The way we serve it most often is over hot white rice. If you’re not keen on rice, though, it’s also good on cauliflower ‘rice’, mashed potatoes, salads, and lettuce leaf wraps.

First and foremost, I highly recommend my favourite Spicy Asian Broccoli. It’s my go-to for saucy, Asian-inspired dishes.

Other great choices are roasted ginger sesame green beans, Pickled green beans, sweet and spicy pickled Asian carrots, and Asian pasta salad.

You’ll be gilding the lily if you pop a cocktail or mocktail alongside it. I love Mixed Berry and Basil Sangria by the glass, Hard Cider Sangria by the glass, and Lady Greyhound Cocktails with it.

And don’t forget dessert! You’ll love Pina Colada Tembleque, Old Fashioned Double Chocolate Mocha Pudding, 10-Minute Creamy Chocolate Icebox Pie, and 3 Ingredient Strawberry Ice Cream with it.

Sesame Beef

Sesame Beef

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Rebecca Lindamood

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 25 minutes mins

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Cheater Sesame Beef is everything you love about takeout Chinese sesame beef -garlicky sauce with crispy beef-but is made in your own kitchen with no deep frying. Bonus: It's better for you and faster than Chinese takeout!

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 tablespoon sunflower or refined coconut oil
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tablespoons grated ginger or ginger paste
• 1-2 tablespoons chili garlic sauce
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
• 1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth or beef broth separated
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
• 8 green onions thinly sliced

Instructions

 

• Drizzle the sunflower or coconut oil into a stainless steel everyday pan or cast iron skillet with high sides over medium heat. Add the ground beef, sprinkle the salt over, and press into a patty all the way to the edges of the pan. Let it cook for 3 minutes without disturbing or stirring it.
  
• After 3 minutes, begin breaking up with a bamboo or wooden spoon until opaque and browned. Stir in the minced garlic and ginger, raise the heat to medium high, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the chili garlic paste and brown sugar and cook for 30 seconds. Whisk together the soy sauce, sesame oil, and 1 1/4 cups broth and pour over the beef. Bring to a simmer.
• Whisk together the remaining 1/4 cup of broth and the cornstarch until smooth. Pour into the simmering beef and sauce, stirring vigorously until combined. Return to a simmer, drop the heat to medium low, and let bubble and thicken for about 3 minutes, adding extra broth, 1 tablespoon at a time if it becomes too thick.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the sesame seeds and green onions. Serve hot on rice, warm on lettuce leaves, or cold on salads.

Nutrition

Calories: 486kcalCarbohydrates: 26gProtein: 21gFat: 32gSaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 80mgSodium: 1025mgPotassium: 442mgSugar: 21gVitamin A: 120IUVitamin C: 2.5mgCalcium: 72mgIron: 3.2mg

Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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