Want dinner on the table fast? I hear ya! I may love cooking, but even I am always on the lookout for a quick weeknight meal filled with flavour – just like this Crispy Asian Chilli Beef Mince.
These Asian beef bowls are a favourite for their simplicity just like this honey pepper pork stir fry and this Chinese prawn fried rice.
Why you’ll love it
If you’re a regular to this blog, you may have noticed I like a lot of Asian flavours. Just like this one, I love that so many Asian dishes are the work of minutes but are absolutely loaded with flavour.
- 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.
These crispy beef bowls are a regular in our house now and it’s perfect served with some simply steamed rice and greens.
Never Miss a Recipe!
Get the latest recipes straight to your inbox!
Ingredients for this these Asian beef bowls
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 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.
- There are 5 simple ingredients in this stir-fried beef marinade – garlic, ginger, chilli flakes, soy and kecap manis (see more below).
- These few ingredients get mixed together with the beef then just sit in the fridge for half an hour.
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.
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..
Other substitutions
- Beef mince: You could replace the beef mince with strips of beef, or even a lighter ground meat like turkey or chicken. 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.
- Wrap it up: Don’t feel like rice? Try wrapping it up in these 3 ingredient flatbreads.
- 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.
Kick those other boring stir fries to the curb and cook up a 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
- Air Fryer Teriyaki Chicken Drumsticks
- Creamy Lemon Thyme Chicken
- Spicy Korean Chicken Tacos
- Beef Shish Kebabs with Mojo Verde
- Quick and Healthy Turkey San Choy Bow
- Sticky Sesame Turkey Rissoles
If you try this Asian beef mince recipe, please take a moment to leave a rating and comment below. I love hearing from you, it helps other readers and keeps google happy too!
Hungry for more? Subscribe to the newsletter for free recipes straight to your inbox. Also, follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.
Crispy Asian Chilli Beef Mince
Ingredients
- 500 g beef mince (ground beef) (1.1lb) (notes 2)
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tablespoon finely grated ginger (notes 1)
- 1 teaspoon dry chilli 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
- 2 1/2 tablespoons kecap manis
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1/2 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.
Video
Notes
- I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equivalent to 4 teaspoons worldwide)
- You can substitute strips of beef, turkey, pork or chicken mince if you prefer.
- You can also use fresh chilli or chilli paste if you prefer
- 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.
- 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.
See the Asian chilli beef mince web story
RELATED POSTS
This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission for my referral, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting Sugar Salt Magic.
50 Comments on “Crispy Asian Chilli Beef Mince [+Video]”
Enjoyed this recipe. Quick and easy to make, good mid week meal.
I fried onion quarters and sliced red chillies and add the extra sauce to them, then drizzled that over the meat and rice. Very tasty but would recommend making the extra sauce as a bit too dry for me without it, and also adds a ton more flavour.
I’m so happy you love it, Cher.
Great taste
Found this while looking for inspiration. I will definitely be keeping this to hand – it was delicious. A quicky, easy and different meal using mince!! I served it over mushroom noodles dressed with hot soy sauce and every morsel was devoured by the family.
Sounds great over those mushroom noodles. So happy you love it, Sharon.
I used molasses instead of the Kecap Manis. Delicious!
Great swap, Nancy. I’m so happy you love them.
All my family loved it. So quick and easy and tasty 😋
So happy to hear it, Debbie. It’s a favourite of ours too.
Love this, so quick, great for a week day dinner. I mixed the mince in the morning before work. I served the itwith noodles, grated carrot and spring onion. I also made the extra sauce. Kids loved it.
So happy you and the kids all love it Sam.
How delicious! Daughter had hers in a lettuce cup. I made the extra sauce and that helped dress the rice. Shall definitely be made on a regular basis.
Love it! This is actually perfect for lettuce cups. Thanks so much for dropping back to leave a review.
Adapted this to fit into my keto/low carb lifestyle. Turned out great.. doubled the sauce. Next time will make sure I’ve fresh red chilli 🌶 & green onion. Shared on my Instagram page @keto_streetnz & tagged you. X
I’m so happy you enjoyed it. Thanks so much for sharing too 🙂
Can’t believe how easy this dish was and how exceedingly good it tasted. Even my once hate-mince-beef-ala-Mongolian-beef-bowl-type-of-dish kids said it was good. All of them could not stop eating it!!!
Love this! I’m so happy to hear it, Anne. I truly appreciate you trying my recipe and dropping back to leave a review.
Hi there, I really love this chili beef. And perfect for having people round to have a meal together.
I’m so happy to hear this. Thanks for trying my recipe.
I made this tonight and it was delicious! Thanks so much , I will definitely make again. I seved with egg fried rice and a side deep fried crispy savoy cabbage with 5 spice
So happy to hear it, Jen. Love the sound of that cabbage too.
Really delicious and super easy to make!
So happy you love it, Alana. This is one of my favourites too. Thanks so much for leaving a comment 🙂
Family loved this. Will definitely make it again. The extra sauce was appreciated
So happy you all loved it 🙂
Lovely and spicy…. a warming Asian.dish …… perfect for having people round to have a meal with and with less fuss……
So happy you love it, Wendy. Thanks so much for trying my recipe.
I made this using a vegan mince and added some fresh basil and vegan fish sauce. So good!! thank you 🙂
Thank you so much, Fen. I love that you’ve used it as a base to make it suit your own tastes and beyond excited that it was so easy to make vegan!
Made this as directed, with the substitute kecap manis, and it was absolutely delicious! So easy and really tasty. I served it with boiled rice and grated carrot dressed with vinegar.
So happy you enjoyed it, Kate. Thanks so much for trying my recipe.
Made it last night for dinner! So quick and easy to make, and super delicious! I served it tossed through a mix of steamed shredded superfood vegetables and it was so good!
I made the extra sauce but didn’t need it. It’s good to have the option of it having it with rice or whole steamed vege.
So happy you loved it Amy. Thanks for trying my recipe!
Fantastic recipe, such beautiful flavours. Made it tonight and my husband and kids loved it with the extra sauce on the side.
Thanks so much
I’m so happy you love this Cherylann 🙂
Have made this multiple time! Super easy and versatile
So happy you love it. This is one of our faves too.
Tasteless and oily.
Sorry you didn’t like it, Michelle. We love this recipe at home and I get a lot of great comments so I’d love to help you troubleshoot. Did you use a regular beef mince, lean beef mince? Did you stick to the ingredient list exactly?
Could you put an egg on top when you dish it up?
Absolutely Kylie, that would work great and add a little sauce at the same time.
Fantastic recipe, amazing flavors! The dish is very dry though when served with rice. Next time I’ll try with noodles instead.
Thanks so much Annette. There are notes in the recipe card for if you’d like more sauce. So happy you enjoyed it.
Love it, delicious and so simple. For me it’s a dry meal wroth just the beef, rice and brocoli (that’s what I had in the fridge so I copied exactly) so I’d love to hear from others who added a sauce
Thanks Kieran, I’ll add some notes but this is actually really good with a little Kewpie mayonnaise. Lovely, in tortillas, taco style too.
Easy meal to prepare and vvery enjoyable. I added shredded cabbage and asparagus. Thank you
I love the addition of cabbage, Lyn. Great idea. I’d love if you could give this recipe a star rating if you get a moment too.
Yum!
This is such an easy weeknight dinner recipe. I love to serve it with baby bok choy to continue with the asian flavor.
Super easy. Love it with bok choy too 🙂