clean eating beef and broccoli stir-fry

Name: clean eating beef and broccoli stir-fry
Prep time: 30 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 1 pound grass-fed beef NY strip steak or sirloin, patted dry with paper towels; 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt; ½ teaspoon ground white pepper; 1 ¼ cup reduced sodium chicken broth, chicken bone broth or home-made chicken stock, divided; 1 tablespoon tapioca starch or tapioca flour; 2 teaspoons Balsamic vinegar; 2 tablespoons avocado oil, divided; 2 bell peppers, any color, cut into 1-inch squares; 1 pound broccoli crowns, cut into small florets (about 6 cups); 1 large clove garlic, minced; 2 teaspoons minced ginger; 1 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice; ½ to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flake, or to taste

by Katie | Feb 16, 2018 | Main Course | 18 comments

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We have been loving this Clean Eating Beef and Broccoli Stir-fry recipe this winter and I am so excited to finally share it with you today! It is made with lean grass-fed steak, broccoli and peppers and it has a sugar-free and gluten-free five spice sauce that will tickle your taste buds. It’s paleo and whole 30 approved!

I’m just going to come out and say it. I was wrong.

I was wrong in thinking that you need to add maple syrup or another sweetener to stir-fry sauces to balance them. And I was fully prepared to not like this recipe.

But I tried it with zero added sugar, and I was delighted to find it was in fact delicious (and sugar-free) which made me squarely wrong.

How To Make Sugar-Free Clean Eating Beef and Broccoli Stir-fry

The Beef: I tested this with two different kinds of steak: Sirloin, and NY Strip. I actually preferred the NY strip a little better, because it was easier to cut into the correct sized pieces. But Sirloin is a little less expensive- so feel free to use that if you prefer.
The Veggies: I used broccoli and peppers to make this super veggie heavy. I wanted this stir-fry over a serving of low carb cauliflower rice to be a hearty belly-filling meal, so I wanted to make sure the serving size was generous. A pound of broccoli crowns, plus 2 bell peppers was really generous!
The Flavor: I used ginger, red pepper flake and garlic to really season the veggies. I also used Chinese Five spice which gave the stir-fry a lot of flavor and adds a sweet taste without any added sugar. I didn’t believe it was going to be enough, but it really balanced the other tastes beautifully!
The Sugar-free sauce: I used Balsamic vinegar- which is both sour and sweet (from the naturally occurring concentrated grape sugars in the vinegar) plus a bit of broth and tapioca starch.
The Thickener: I happened to have tapioca on hand for these gluten-free chocolate cookies and it works just like cornstarch, but it’s paleo and whole-30 approved!

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Healthy Maple Tahini Chicken and Broccoli Stirfry

Skillet Pepper Steaks {paleo and low carb}