Ground Beef Noodle Stir Fry
Easy and Tasty Ground Beef Noodle Stir Fry
Do you want a yummy dinner but no energy or time to make it after a long, busy day? Why don’t you try this straightforward, quick, yet delicious ground beef noodle stir fry recipe? You’ll get a satisfying meal combo of carbs, protein, and vegetables in one dish. The best thing about this dinner recipe is that you can achieve this in less than 30 minutes. What’s not to love?
Like most, if not all, noodle stir fry recipes, this recipe also roots in Asian cuisine, particularly Chinese cooking. As an Indonesian native, I grew up eating lots of Chinese food in Indonesia. Chinese food has influenced a lot and taken a special place among Indonesian cuisine. Therefore, there are so many adapted Chinese foods that Indonesian people make. This ground beef and noodles stir-fry is one of them. The other popular stir fry with egg noodles is mie goreng (as we say in Indonesian).
This easy recipe is for you if you love Asian foods, noodles, and meat, and you don’t like spending ages in the kitchen trying to tinker with technical cooking methods. This recipe ticks all these options.
Why You’ll Love These Ground Beef Noodles
- Simple ingredients: You don’t need fancy ingredients that cost an arm and a leg to create this delicious meal. Most items are available in many major supermarkets and grocery stores.
- Complete meal in one dish: It has everything you need in a good diet: carbs, protein, and vegetables. You don’t need to cook 2-3 different dishes. It’s like a one-pot dish for a satisfying dinner.
- Uncomplicated cooking: Stir fry is an ancient way of cooking that is super easy, that everybody can do. So you don’t need to spend ages working out how to cook the dish. It’s simply easy peasy.
- Ideal choice for meal planner: Try this recipe of stir fry noodles with ground beef in bulk and keep it in the refrigerator for you to enjoy later in the week.
- Good for packed lunches or picnic: You can make this noodle dish ahead and take it with you for your packed lunches or picnic.
Ingredients You Need For Beef and Noodle Stir-Fry
Here is the list of ingredients you need to make this stir-fried noodles with ground beef. Take a look at my recipe card below for the detailed measurements.
- Ground beef: You can use the ready ground meat from the supermarket or mince the meat yourself. If you do the latter, I’d say you choose the type of meat that has a bit of fat to give more flavor to the dish. Although leg meat is the best choice in my opinion, you can always use chuck, brisket, or shoulder for the mince. If you prefer white meat, you can also swap the beef with ground chicken or ground turkey.
- Dried egg noodles: Make sure you choose the type of noodles you like, as we know that every brand of egg noodles offers different qualities in texture and taste. So stick to the one you like. My favorite is this one. And if you prefer, you can also use rice noodles instead.
- Brown onion: Please don’t fret if you happen to run out of the brown onion and have the red one instead. Your noodle stir fry will still be tasty even if you use red onion.
- Ginger paste: You can use the ready-made paste from the store, or you can make ginger paste yourself by using this easy-to-use chopper.
- Garlic paste: You can opt for the store version of ready-made garlic paste. But it’s actually easy to make it yourself. Here is how to make garlic paste at home in bulk so you can have a better quality while you save money.
- Chinese five-spice: I usually get it from the Chinatown. Though there were times that I bought it online when I didn’t have time to go out.
- Red chilli flakes: If you run out of these red chili flakes but have some dried whole red chilies, just pop some of the dried whole chilies in a spice grinder and blitz until you get the desired flakes.
- Ground black pepper.
- Light soy sauce: I often use this Chinese brand for light soy sauce, though I also like this Japanese light soy sauce.
- Cooking oil: I mostly use either sunflower oil or groundnut oil for my stir-fry. You can choose whichever you prefer. Other good options are light olive oil or coconut oil.
- Salt: These days, I either use Celtic salt or Himalayan salt. Please use whatever salt you like and add it to the recipe in caution according to your liking, as different salts can give different saltiness.
- Vegetable: I use tenderstem broccoli for this recipe as I like how this hybrid veggie of Chinese kale and broccoli tastes. By all means, you can choose your favorite veggies. Cabbage, carrots, bell pepper, zucchini (courgette), snap peas, and bok choy can be good choices.
- Green onion/ Scallion/ Spring Onion: Adding this herb gives extra flavor to the dish.
- Sweet soy sauce: This one is optional. I use it often as I like the slightly sweet taste of my stir-fry noodles. But I understand that this may not be the case for some people, so feel free to omit if you prefer. If you choose to use it, I suggest you choose Indonesian sweet soy sauce to get the best flavor.
- Sesame seeds: Another optional item, but good to have as these sesame seeds give an extra pleasing look to the dish.
How to Make Ground Beef Stir Fry Noodles
- Cook the noodles in boiling water according to their packaging instructions, drain them, and set them aside to cool slightly.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan, a large skillet, or a large wok, and fry the chopped ½ onion until it becomes soft and translucent. Add 1 teaspoon ginger paste, 2 teaspoons garlic paste, ½ teaspoon Chinese five-spice, ½ teaspoon chili flakes, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper. Continue frying until the spices are fragrant.
- Add 9 ounces (250 grams) of ground beef and cook until the meat is brown.
- Then add 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce. Stir and fry for a few minutes.
- Add the prepared 1 cup (70 grams) of tenderstem broccoli and sliced ½ scallion (spring onion) to the meat. Stir and fry for a few minutes.
- Put the lid on the pan to quicken the process, leave it to cook for another few minutes until the broccoli is tender to your liking.
- Lastly, add the cooked noodles and carefully mix them with the spiced beef and broccoli.
- You can add 2 tablespoons of sweet soy sauce if you like, and carefully stir the noodles until they are all coated with spices and sauce.
- Sprinkle some sesame seeds when you serve the noodles.
Tips for Delicious Stir-fried Ground Beef Noodles
- Choose the best beef you can get
- Make sure you use the best-tasting egg noodles and know that every brand offers different quality in texture and taste.
- Take care not to overcook the noodles. You don’t want soft, wet, soggy noodle stir fry.
- Cook the veggies until they are al dente. Because overcooked soft vegetables can spoil the overall taste of the dish.
- Carefully and thoroughly stir the ground beef, noodles, and sauces so every strand of noodle will be covered with tasty flavor.
- If you plan to enjoy this dish for your packed lunches or a picnic where you can not reheat the noodles, use the minced beef without fat or has less fat.
Storing and Reheating Matter
Let the noodles get to room temperature and keep them in an airtight container in the fridge. It keeps well for up to a week, so you’ll have an easy weeknight meal in the week.
If you like, you can freeze this delicious Asian ground beef and broccoli noodle stir fry for up to six weeks.
Ground Beef Noodle Stir Fry Recipe
Quick and easy recipe to make tasty ground beef noodle stir fry in no time. It’s an ideal choice for busy weeknights when you don’t have much energy left yet crave a delicious dinner.
Servings: 2 portions
Ingredients
- 9 ounces ground beef.
- 4-5 ounces dried egg noodles.
- ½ brown onion finely chopped.
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste.
- 2 teaspoons garlic paste.
- ½ teaspoon Chinese five-spice.
- ½ teaspoon chili flakes.
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper.
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce.
- 2 tablespoons cooking.
- ½ teaspoon salt according to taste.
- 1 cup broccolini (tenderstem broccoli), cut into 2-inch lengths.
- ½ scallion spring onion, sliced.
- 2 tablespoons sweet soy sauce optional.
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds optional.
Instructions
- Cook the noodles according to their packaging instructions, drain them, and set them aside to cool slightly.
- Heat the oil in the wok or large frying pan and fry the chopped ½ onion until it becomes soft and translucent. Add 1 teaspoon ginger paste, 2 teaspoons garlic paste, ½ teaspoon Chinese five-spice, ½ teaspoon chili flakes, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper. Continue frying until the spices are fragrant.
- Add 9 ounces (250 grams) of ground beef, stir, and fry until the meat is brown.
- Then add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce. Stir and fry for a few minutes.
- Add the prepared 1 cup (70 grams) of broccolini (tenderstem broccoli) and sliced ½ scallion (spring onion) to the meat. Stir and fry for a few minutes.
- Put the lid on the pan to quicken the process, leave it to cook for another few minutes until the broccoli is tender to your liking.
- Lastly, add the cooked noodles and carefully mix them with the spiced beef and broccoli.
- You can add 2 tablespoons of sweet soy sauce if you like, and carefully stir the noodles until they are all coated with spices and sauce.
- Sprinkle some sesame seeds when you serve the noodles.
Notes
- Choose the beef that has a bit of fat so that it gives a more savory taste to the dish.
- The noodles are one of the key ingredients that can make or break this recipe. So, make sure you choose the type of egg noodles that you like. I find that different brands of egg noodles taste differently, so I always stick to the one I like, as it has a nice soft yet chewy texture and flavorful taste.
- In this recipe, I used broccolini (tenderstem broccoli), which is a hybrid of broccoli and Chinese kale. However, you can use ordinary broccoli or other vegetables you like. Cabbage, carrots, bell pepper, and zucchini (courgette) are some of the good options you can use.
Nutrition
Serving: 2g | Calories: 824kcal | Carbohydrates: 72g | Protein: 36g | Fat: 43g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 21g | Trans Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 138mg | Sodium: 1552mg | Potassium: 603mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 2306IU | Vitamin C: 113mg | Calcium: 165mg | Iron: 6mg
Disclaimer
Nutritional info in this recipe is only estimate using online calculator. You should refer to it as a guide only. Please verify with your own data if you seek an accurate info.
