I love these crispy chilli beef noodles for a quick and spicy dinner! Strips of crispy-yet-juicy steak with stir fried noodles and crunchy vegetables in a tasty sticky, sweet and citrus-sy sauce.
I’ve definitely got a thing for beef stir fry recipes.
We’ve got the good old original Chinese Takeaway-Style Crispy Chilli Beef and our Crispy Beef and Broccoli which are the closest cousins to this recipe.
Then we’ve got Orange Beef, Beef Chow Fun, Black Pepper Beef, Mongolian Beef and Beef in Black Bean Sauce to name but a few more. I’m certain there are more than that too, but I’m not going to stop making them because fortunately you guys seem to love them too!
📋 Ingredients
- I like to use fresh medium egg noodles as it speeds up the cooking process. You can replace them with dried egg noodles – just boil them as per the pack instructions, then drain and run under cold water and toss in a little sesame oil to stop them sticking together. Then use it in the same way as the fresh noodles.
📺 Watch how to make it
Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- First we coat and season the steak strips and fry until crispy.
- Next we fry up our vegetables with garlic and ginger.
- Then we make the sauce with lots of lime juice, soy sauce, sugar and chilli. This is bubbled up in the wok before we add the noodles.
- The noodles are heated through in the sauce so they take on all of that lovely flavour.
- We add the steak and vegetables back in, along with some spring onions. Toss it all together until hot, and then we serve!
Pro Tip
Use mild chillies such as Fresno or Serrano for a mild-heat stir-fry. If you want it hotter, use Birds Eye chillies and/or add in a teaspoon of dried chilli flakes.
That crazy-looking yellow chilli in the photo below (I think it’s a habanero)? I definitely didn’t use that – so I don’t know why I have it next to the other chillies. I’m not brave enough for habaneros 😁
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Pin It🍽️ What to serve it with
- Top with this lovely Homemade Sweet Chilli Sauce!
- This is brilliant on its own as a main dish, or you can serve it as a part of a mini fakeaway banquet with these recipes:
- Sesame Prawn Toast
- Vegetable Spring Rolls
- Salt and Pepper Ribs
🍲 More fantastic fakeaway recipes
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Crispy Chilli Beef Noodles
Ingredients
Steak
- 400 g (14 oz) fresh (cooked) medium-size egg noodles *see notes for using dried
- 300 g (10.6 oz) sirloin steak cut into thin strips (tip – freeze for 10 minutes so it’s easier to slice thinly)
- 2 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch in USA)
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp oil (any neutral high-smoke-point oil – such as avocado, rapeseed or vegetable oil)
Vegetables and Sauce
- 1 tbsp oil (any neutral high-smoke-point oil – such as avocado, rapeseed or vegetable oil)
- 1 red bell pepper deseeded and sliced
- 200 g (7 oz) broccoli (approx. 1 large head) cut into small florets
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- 2 tsp minced ginger
- 90 ml (6 tbsp) fresh lime juice (approx. the juice from 3 limes)
- 90 ml (6 tbsp) dark soy sauce
- 6 tbsp caster sugar or superfine sugar
- 1 red chilli finely chopped (use your favourite – I like to use a Fresno chilli for mild heat or 2 birds eye chillies for more heat)
- 4 spring onions (scallions) chopped into 2cm pieces
To Serve:
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- 1 tsp finely chopped fresh chillies
- 2 spring onions (scallions) finely chopped
Instructions
- Place the steak strips in a bowl and add the cornflour, salt and pepper. Toss together until the beef strips are completely coated.300 g (10.6 oz) sirloin steak, 2 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch in USA), 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper
- Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan over a high heat. When the oil is hot, tip the beef in and fry until dark brown and crispy (about 5 minutes). Just move the beef around the wok a couple of times. Moving it too much will reduce the crispiness.2 tbsp oil
- Using a slotted spoon, remove the beef from the pan and place in a bowl lined with kitchen roll to soak up excess fat.
- Turn the heat down to medium and add another tablespoon of oil to the wok. Add the broccoli and red pepper and stir fry for 2-3 minutes until lightly cooked, but still crisp.1 tbsp oil, 1 red bell pepper, 200 g (7 oz) broccoli
- Now add in the garlic and ginger and fry for a further30 seconds, keeping everything moving in the wok constantly. Then turn off the heat and transfer the vegetables to the boil with the beef.2 tsp minced ginger, 3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- To a bowl add the lime juice, the soy sauce, sugar and chopped chilli. Stir together.90 ml (6 tbsp) fresh lime juice, 90 ml (6 tbsp) dark soy sauce, 6 tbsp caster sugar or superfine sugar, 1 red chilli
- Pour the sauce into the wok. Turn the heat up to high and let the sauce bubble for 2-3 minutes until reduced by about one-third.
- Add the noodles to the wok and cook, tossing regularly with a set of tongs, until the noodles are heated through (about 2-3 minutes).400 g (14 oz) fresh (cooked) medium-size egg noodles
- Add in the cooked beef, broccoli and peppers from earlier, plus the spring onions. Heat through for 2-3 minutes, moving the noodles around the pan to prevent them sticking.4 spring onions (scallions)
- Once everything is hot throughout, dish out into bowls and top with chilli flakes, chopped chillies and spring onions.1 tsp chilli flakes, 1 tsp finely chopped fresh chillies, 2 spring onions (scallions)
Video
Notes
Using dried noodles?
You can replace the 400g (140z) fresh egg noodles with 200g (7oz) dried medium Chinese egg noodles (Lo Mein noodles). Cook the dried noodles in a large pan of boiling water, as per the pack instructions (usually 3-4 minutes), then drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking process. Then place in a bowl and toss with a teaspoon of sesame oil to prevent the noodles from sticking together. Put to one side until you need to add them to the stir-fry.Why isn’t my beef crispier?
Coating the beef in the cornflour and frying in the oil should giving you a light crispy coating. You won’t get that REALLY craggly crunchy coating like you would in crispy chilli beef from the Chinese restaurant with the small amount of oil and coating we’re using here. To get that you need a thicker coating on the beef – by coating the beef with egg first, then with plenty of seasoned cornflour (cornstarch in USA). Then you need to fry in plenty of oil.Deep frying will give the crispiest coating, but shallow frying in 1cm of oil will still give an extra crispy result. Nutritional information is based on one serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This post was first published in January 2018, and updated June 2024 with video, a couple of recipe tweaks and housekeeping.
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Definitely make this recipe. I followed the instructions and ingredients to the T and I was taken to another planet with flavor!
Made it for dinner for my parents, Clean plates all around!
The sauce is good, but be sure to cook everything for much longer than written. Also, add more oil to the beef or they’ll be chewy instead of crispy.
Crispy chilli beef and broccoli is good, but the addition of noodles takes it to a new level.
Scrumptious
Great recipe. Went a little lighter on the sugar though.
Amazing recipe
looks tasty and yummy mhmmmm
very tasty
This recipe sounded great
Beef was lovely in it but there was a strong tang from it would it have been the limes ? Too many maybe ??
Took way longer to prepare and cook
Hi Nicky – I’m curious if you’ve tried this recipe using Stevia instead of sugar? Thanks!
Hi Cherly,
I had a chat with Nicky and no sorry we’ve not tried it with Stevia before. We don’t cook too often with it so can’t really advise on how the substitution would work sorry.
Thanks
Chris