Vietnamese-Style Beef – an easy and absolutely delicious weeknight meal you need to feed your family! All the flavors, both sweet and savory, of garlic, pepper and lime come shining through.
Vietnamese-Style Beef Recipe
Make Vietnamese-Style Beef for dinner tonight, it’s beyond delicious, mouth-watering really. So much flavor in this super-simple dish.
While this beef is perfect over a bed of jasmine rice, you could also serve this flavorful recipe with lettuce leaves as a wrap.
Make this meal when you are craving a delicious dinner, but don’t have the time to make something complicated.
We all need quick, weeknight dinner options, whether its easy dan dan noodles, sweet and sour pork or a simple shrimp stir fry – all can be on the table in less than thirty minutes.
Ingredients for Vietnamese-Style Beef
Full recipe can be found at the end of the post.
Pantry Ingredients
- soy sauce – make sure it’s low-sodium otherwise the dish can end up too salty
- brown sugar – the golden or light colored variety
- fish sauce – a lot of people have an aversion to fish sauce, but this recipe does not taste like fish sauce, but it definitely contributes to overall complexity of the dish
- peanut or canola oil – or any other high cooking temperature oil
- kosher salt and black pepper
- salted peanuts – make sure they are halved
Fresh Ingredients
- lime juice – you want this to be fresh, not the bottled stuff
- garlic – can’t beat fresh garlic in this dish
- beef tenderloin – beef tenderloin is not filet mignon, instead, it houses the filet mignon, which comes from the end portion of the tenderloin
- yellow onion
- scallions – use the white and green parts
How To Make Vietnamese-Style Beef
Step one: In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, lime juice, sugar and fish sauce; stir until the sugar dissolves. In another small bowl, stir the garlic, 1-1/2 teaspoons of the oil, and 1-1/2 teaspoons black pepper.
Step two: Season the beef with salt and pepper. In a 12″ nonstick skillet, heat 1-1/2 teaspoons oil over medium-high heat until shimmering hot. Swirl to coat the skillet. Add half of the beef in a single layer and cook, without stirring, until well browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Using tongs, turn the pieces over and brown on the other side, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add 1-1/2 teaspoons oil to the skillet and repeat with the remaining beef, adding to the bowl with the first batch when done.
Step three: Put the remaining 1-1/2 Tablespoons oil in the skillet and heat until shimmering hot. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until it begins to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the garlic, mixture and cook stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Return the beef and any accumulated juices to the pan and stir to combine. Add the soy sauce mixture and cook, stirring constantly, until the beef and onions are coated and the sauce thickens slightly, 2 to 3 minutes.
Step four: Serve sprinkled with peanuts and scallions.
Can I Make Any Substitutions?
- You can leave out the peanuts if you choose.
- Try adding water chestnuts, edamame, baby corn, sugar snap peas or snow peas.
- Instead of serving over rice, try it over a bed of watercress for a lower-carb option.
Is This Recipe Similar To Bo Luc Lac ~ Shaking Beef?
While the ingredients are similar, it’s overall a little different.
This Vietnamese-style beef is a quicker recipe, not requiring a marinade, but flavors are somewhat similar. This version is less sweet though.
Can I Use A Different Cut of Beef?
You can, but beef tenderloin will be the most tender.
You can try substituting flank or round steak, but remember to barely cook the beef the first time around and let it cook through completely when adding it at the end.
Other Beef Recipes You Might Enjoy
- Filipino-Style Grilled Flank Steak
- Guinness Beer Beef Chuck Roast
- Slow Cooker Chile Colorado Style Beef
- Beef Irish Stew
Vietnamese-Style Beef
Ingredients
- 2 tbsps low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tbsps fresh lime juice
- 1-1/2 tbsps golden brown sugar
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tbsps peanut or canola oil
- kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1-3/4 lbs beef tenderloin, cut into 3/4" pieces
- 1 medium yellow onion, sliced into 1/4" thick wedges
- 3 tbsps chopped salted peanuts, toasted
- 2 scallions, both green and white parts, thinly sliced
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, lime juice, sugar and fish sauce; stir until the sugar dissolves. In another small bowl, stir the garlic, 1-1/2 teaspoons of the oil, and 1-1/2 teaspoons black pepper.
- Season the beef with salt and pepper. In a 12" nonstick skillet, heat 1-1/2 teaspoons oil over medium-high heat until shimmering hot. Swirl to coat the skillet. Add half of the beef in a single layer and cook, without stirring, until well browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Using tongs, turn the pieces over and brown on the other side, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add 1-1/2 teaspoons oil to the skillet and repeat with the remaining beef, adding to the bowl with the first batch when done.
- Put the remaining 1-1/2 Tablespoons oil in the skillet and heat until shimmering hot. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until it begins to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the garlic, mixture and cook stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Return the beef and any accumulated juices to the pan and stir to combine. Add the soy sauce mixture and cook, stirring constantly, until the beef and onions are coated and the sauce thickens slightly, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Serve sprinkled with peanuts and scallions.
Video
Nutrition
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Kim in MD says
This looks and sounds delicious! I love all of the flavors- a must try recipe!
I will be able to order wine from you soon, Cathy! Maryland finally passed a bill enabling us to ship wine to our home…yeah!
TheKeenanCookBook says
This looks very familiar to a marinated and grilled beef dish my Philippine aunt makes that is ALWAYS a hit. Bookmarking this for for my future use!
Niki says
Can you sub the fish sauce for something else? I’m not a huge fan of it, but the rest of this looks DELICIOUS!
Pam says
Hey lady, I hope all is well with you, your family, and the vineyard. This dish looks fantastic… I love the flavors and textures.
Enjoy this beautiful weather we are having!
Noble Pig says
Maybe more lime? But this dish does not have a fish sauce taste.
laura says
wow, i am literally drooling. this looks delicious!
Anna says
I got back from a three week holiday in Vietnam two weeks ago. I miss all the beautiful flavours and lovely fresh produce. This turned out absolutely wonderful! Anna (Australia)
TheKeenanCookBook says
This dish looks very familiar to one my Philippine aunt makes, which is ALWAYS a hit. I made and it has so much flavor. Loved it.
Dave says
That was quick and tasty! I might be tempted to try it with pork too. Thanks for sharing, it was so good.
Joanna says
This was fantastic! My family asked that it be added to the regular rotation. Thank you for posting it.
Jill says
Made this for dinner tonight and served over rice (I guess it’s a southern thing) – all to rave reviews. Thanks!
Erika says
This was tonight’s dinner! My family totally loved every bite. Served over jasmine rice.
Julie says
Hi you are a great cook and I love this recipe, have made it 2 times in one week!
Jo says
Absolutely amazing recipe! We used sirloin steak instead as couldn’t find tenderloin but was still really good. Right level of heat too. YUM!
Cathy says
I’m so glad to hear that.
Randi Denton says
Delicious! Tried this tonight without the fish sauce or the peanuts. Also added fresh jalapenos with the onions. I will be doubling the soy and lime next time as we did not have much sauce. Also may try with chicken just cause 🙂
Cathy says
Awesome!
Hank Riddle says
Love this for dinner so much. It’s so good.
Cathy says
Awesome.
Kelsey says
Such a simple dish, but full of so much flavor!!
Cathy says
Yes it is!
BobB says
I thought I gave this recipe a 5 star rating years ago …I have made it almost a dozen times. Always 5 stars with my family. One change …I always use coconut oil (except for one time.) It’s even better with coconut oil!
Highly recommended!!! Thanks for sharing!!!
BobB & Family