Want dinner on the table fast? This Crispy Asian Chilli Beef Mince (aka crispy ground beef) is fast, flavour-packed and perfect for weeknight dinners.

These Asian beef bowls, just like my honey pepper pork stir fry, this chicken in oyster sauce and many Asian dishes are quick dinner winners – they’re super quick to make, loaded with flavour and relatively healthy too. Serve this crispy beef over rice, in lettuce cups or spooned into wraps for an easy, light Asian dinner.

❤️ Why you’ll love it

  • Even though this is a beef mince stir fry, it’s surprisingly healthy.
  • Minimal ingredients – only 9.
  • Seriously quick and easy to make.
  • Rich in umami flavour.
A white plate topped with broccolini and cooked crispy beef mince (ground beef).

Ingredients for this these Asian beef bowls

Ingredients for Asian chilli beef mince (ground beef) on a white marble worktop.

Jump to the recipe card for full quantities and instructions.

  • Asian flavours are all about umami which is the 5th flavour profile after salty, sweet, sour and bitter. It essentially is anything with a very savoury fullness of flavour and things like garlic, ginger, sesame and soy are brimming with it.
  • There’s also some chilli for heat but you can increase or decrease that to suit your tastes.
  • Beef mince (aka ground beef) comes in many different fat contents – I like to use something around the 90% lean for this recipe. More fat adds more flavour and crisps up even more though so feel free to use a regular beef mince too.

What is kecap manis?

Kecap manis is an Indonesian sweet soy sauce. It’s thicker and more syrupy than soy sauce and has a bit of a molasses flavour to it. It’s a staple ingredient in Indonesian cooking.

Kecap manis is commonly sold in supermarkets and grocery stores, however, if you can’t find it there, an Asian grocer will always have this on the shelves.

Substitute for kecap manis

If you’re unable to find kecap manis or maybe you want to make this recipe but don’t have it on hand, you can make a substitute at home. 

Just mix equal parts of light soy and palm sugar (or brown sugar) in a saucepan and simmer until thick and syrupy. While this isn’t a perfect substitute, it’s close enough to make this recipe work perfectly.

How to make this Asian beef mince stir fry

Like many stir fry recipes, this one is very easy to cook. It also has only a handful of ingredients making it a great weeknight dinner idea.

Jump to the recipe card for full quantities and instructions.

A collage of 6 images showing teh steps to making Asian chilli beef mince (ground beef)
  1. There are 5 simple ingredients in this stir-fried beef marinade – garlic, ginger, chilli flakes, soy and kecap manis (see more below).
  2. These few ingredients get mixed together with the beef then just sit in the fridge for half an hour.
  3. Heat a little oil in a wok or pan and stir fry the beef until it starts to get crispy. Add in a little sesame oil, stir it through and it’s done. Less than 15 minutes. That crispyness is the sugars in the kecap manis caremlising. So so good!!

While the beef is marinating, you can organise the sides you want to have with it. I like to serve it over some steamed rice and greens of some sort – most often broccolini. This is seriously easy stuff. 

Minimal ingredients in this meal make this Crispy Asian Chilli Beef Mince a great meal when you’re staring into your pantry with no idea what to make for dinner.

It uses pantry staples that you likely already have on hand, so technically you could make this right now – as long as you have some mince on hand. Or really any meat you like.

Top down view of a grey bowl filled with rice and crispy stir fried beef mince (ground beef).

Need more sauce?

This beef is purposely a ‘dry’ stir fry, meaning there is no sauce with the meat. The aim of this recipe is that nice crispy texture to the beef, however, some readers have noted they’d like extra sauce.

I’ve now added an extra sauce recipe within the recipe card that’s very quick and simple but you could also try drizzling over kewpie mayonnaise which is fantastic with this beef, just like I serve with my Karaage Chicken.

This beef mince is also great served taco style, with tortillas and mayo..

Variations

  • Beef mince/ground beef: You could replace the beef mince with strips of beef, or even a lighter ground meat like ground turkey or chicken mince. Pork would also work beautifully. If you like the idea of turkey, you may also like this Turkey San Choy Bow recipe. 
  • Sides: I like to serve this with rice and broccolini as pictured. You could use broccoli or asian greens like bok choy. Shredded carrot would also work great and so would noodles in place of the rice. 
  • Can it be made vegan? Yes, with thanks to reader Fen for her comment. Fen swapped the mince for vegan mince and even added some basil and vegan fish sauce.

What to serve with it

You can serve this Asian spicy beef mince in so many ways.

FAQs

Can I make this with ground beef?

Yes! Beef mince as it’s known in some parts of the world like Australia is the same thing as ground beef as it’s known in the US.

What kind of ground beef works best for this recipe?

Using beef mince / ground beef with a 90% meat to fat is great here – so 90/10 – however more fat equals more flavour so if the fat content isn’t a concern it works great with 80/20 as well, aka 80% meat to fat.

Can I make this ahead of time?

Yes, you can and it reheats very well. This Asian spicy ground beef is great for meal-prep dishes. Keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. If reheating it in the microwave add a dash of water or reheat it gently in a pan on the stovetop to keep those crispy bits crispy.

How do I keep ground beef crispy?

Use a large pan. By doing this, you aren’t overcrowding the pan (overcrowding a pan will lead to steaming or simmering rather than sauteing). Also, let it brown before stirring. You dont need to keep it moving the pan.

Is this recipe spicy?

This has a mild-medium heat level (to my taste) but you can easily increase or decrease the chili to suit your taste.

Can I make this in a skillet or wok?

Both a skillet or wok will work here. Use a heavy based good quality pan for the best crispy texture.

Is this gluten-free?

This Asian chili beef mince can be made gluten free by swapping out the soy sauce and kecap manis for gluten-free versions.

A white plate topped with broccolini and cooked crispy beef mince (ground beef).

Kick those other boring stir fries to the curb and cook up this crispy beef mince dinner that’s super easy, super fast and incredibly delicious for your family tonight. This will be a winner for sure.

Other great weeknight dinners

You’ll love these Asian-inspired weeknight dinners too!

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Lettuce leaves filled with san choy bow meat filling.

Turkey San Choy Bow (Chinese Lettuce Wraps)

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
If you try this crispy, spicy Asian beef mince recipe make sure to leave a comment and rating below. It’s so helpful.

Hungry for more?

Closeup of a grey bowl filled with rice and crispy stir fried beef mince.

Crispy Asian Chilli Beef Mince

Yield: 4 serves
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Marinade time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
4.9 from 94 ratings
An easy weeknight dinner, this Crispy Asian Chilli Beef Mince is absolutely bursting with flavour. These simple beef mince stir fry bowls are a healthy dinner, that takes around 15 minutes to cook so you can have a tasty dinner on the table fast.
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Ingredients

  • 500 g beef mince (ground beef) (17 ½oz) (notes 2)
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 tablespoon finely grated ginger (notes 1)
  • 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes (red pepper flakes) or to taste
  • 2 tablespoons light soy sauce (notes 1)
  • 2 ½ tablespoons kecap manis (notes 1 & 4)
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (notes 1)
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil

FOR EXTRA SAUCE

  • 2 tablespoons light soy sauce (notes 1)
  • 2 ½ tablespoons kecap manis (notes 1)
  • 1 teaspoon grated ginger
  • ½ teaspoon sesame oil

For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided

Instructions
 

  • Mix together the beef, garlic, ginger, chilli flakes, soy sauce and kecap manis in a bowl. Cover and place in the fridge for ½ hour an hour.
  • Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat.
  • Add the beef mixture and fry, stirring regularly until it gets very brown and crispy. Once you hear it start crackling add the sesame oil and mix through.
  • Serve with greens and over steamed rice.
  • FOR THE EXTRA SAUCE:
    While this is meant to be a 'dry' stir fry with no excess sauce, you may like a little more so using the same pan, over medium heat, combine the sauce ingredients and bring to a bubble. Pour over the cooked beef at serving time.
  • Please take a minute to rate this recipe below. We truly appreciate it and it helps us create more recipes.

Notes

  1. I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equivalent to 4 teaspoons worldwide)
  2. You can substitute strips of beef, turkey, pork or chicken mince if you prefer.
  3. You can also use fresh chilli or chilli paste if you prefer
  4. If you don’t have or can’t find kecap manis, you can substitute by simmering equal ratios of soy sauce and palm sugar (or brown sugar) until thick.
  5. More sauce? Reader feedback from Kieran, suggested more sauce required. This is purposely a ‘dry’ stir fry to get the crisp texture but if you love a bit of sauce to drizzle over, try
    • I’ve now added an optional extra sauce to the recipe and it takes minutes – increase or decrease as much as you like, but remember that soy and kecap manis are naturally quite salty. 
    • Kewpie mayonnaise – a Japanese mayo – works beautifully with the recipe, since the creaminess works well with the umami flavours. Serve up the mince, then drizzle kewpie all over the top.
MORE DINNER IDEAS!
Calories: 467kcal
Author: Marie Roffey
Course: Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine: Asian, Chinese
Love this recipe?Add Sugar Salt Magic as a preferred Google source.
Nutrition information is approximate only and derived from an online calculator. The brands you use and any changes you make may cause variations.

Nutrition Facts
Crispy Asian Chilli Beef Mince
Amount Per Serving (151 g)
Calories 467 Calories from Fat 270
% Daily Value*
Fat 30g46%
Saturated Fat 10g63%
Trans Fat 2g
Polyunsaturated Fat 3g
Monounsaturated Fat 12g
Cholesterol 89mg30%
Sodium 1503mg65%
Potassium 401mg11%
Carbohydrates 23g8%
Fiber 0.4g2%
Sugar 17g19%
Protein 24g48%
Vitamin A 148IU3%
Vitamin C 1mg1%
Calcium 31mg3%
Iron 3mg17%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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