Instant Pot Panda Express Beijing Beef

Instant Pot Panda Express Beijing Beef–sweet, sour and a little spicy! Strips of beef, onions and red bell peppers are served in a sweet and sour sauce. It tastes great served over rice!

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Instant Pot Panda Express Beijing Beef

If you’re looking for the flavors of Panda Express’s Beijing beef but not all the calories this might be the right recipe for you! Yes the crispy fried pieces of beef are delicious but they do have a lot of calories. My version of this dish is strips of lean beef cooked in the Beijing sauce. Instead of a wok you’ll be using a pressure cooker. It’s quite an easy recipe with hardly any hands on time.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds London broil–this cut of beef is also labeled as top round steak. You can also use flank steak.
• 1/2 tsp salt–I like using kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce—I used low sodium soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar–for tangy flavor
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper–for a little bit of heat
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar–for a little bit of sweet
• 2 Tbsp ketchup–for a little savory, sour and sweet flavor
• 2 Tbsp hoisin sauce–you can find this in the Asian foods aisle at the grocery store
• 1 Tbsp oyster–or fish sauce
• 1 Tbsp chili garlic sauce–you can find this in the Asian foods aisle at the grocery store
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic–fresh of jarred
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 small onion, cut into thin, half-moon slices–white or yellow onion
• 1 red pepper pepper, sliced into 1 inch pieces–you can also use another color of green pepper
• 1–2 Tbsp cornstarch + 2 Tbsp water–for thickening the sauce

Instructions

1. Prepare the beef: Thinly slice the london broil against the grain into strips or chunks. Sprinkle the salt evenly over the meat. 
2. Make the sauce: In a bowl whisk together the soy sauce, vinegar, cayenne, sugar, ketchup, hoisin, oyster sauce, chili garlic sauce and garlic. Stir the meat into the sauce to coat well. Let it sit for 30 minutes.
3. Prepare vegetables: While the meat is marinating slice up the onions and peppers. 
4. Layer ingredients: Pour the water into the bottom of the Instant Pot. Spread the onions evenly into bottom of the pot. Dump the meat mixture on top of the onion (don’t stir). Place the red pepper on top. 
5. Pressure cook: Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 1 minute on LOW pressure. When time is up let the pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting and remove the lid. 
6. Thicken the Beijing beef sauce: Stir together cornstarch and water until smooth. Turn Instant Pot to sauté and stir the slurry into the pot to thicken the sauce. Once it’s thickened turn off Instant Pot.
7. Serve beef and sauce over rice and enjoy! Top with green onions, if desired.

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Notes about panda express’ beijing beef recipe 

• The key to keeping the beef tender is slicing it across the grain. To identify which direction the grain of the meat is running, look for the parallel lines of muscle fiber running down the meat, and slice perpendicular to them.
• I love using these knives* for slicing meats, cutting vegetables and everything else! You will love them too, I promise!
• The marinade is really important to achieving the best flavor. Marinate the sliced meat in the sauce for at least 30 minutes…you can marinate it for up to 3 hours if you want to make this ahead of time.
• Chili garlic sauce is found in the Asian section of the grocery store in a clear jar with a green lid.
• Hoisin sauce reminds me of an Asian barbecue sauce and it can be found in the Asian section of the grocery store.
• The water in the bottom of the pot and the onions serve as a barrier from the thicker Beijing sauce that would definitely burn if poured into the bottom of the pot. Layer the recipe as stated, do not stir to prevent the burn error message.
• The peppers do get a little mushy. If you’d prefer crisper peppers then I would suggest sautéing them or steaming them separately and stirring them in at the same time as the cornstarch slurry. 
• This recipe works best in a 6 or 3 quart pot.
• This meat and sauce tastes really good served over rice. I have not tried pot-in-pot rice with this recipe. I do not think the rice would cook completely since it’s only a 1 minute pressure cook time. I cooked my rice in a separate Instant Pot. I do love my 3 quart Instant Pot for this purpose! I made white rice but I also love making brown rice in my Instant Pot.
• This recipe can be gluten-free. Gluten-free versions of hoisin and soy sauces are available so just make sure to read the labels before purchasing. 
• This recipe is dairy-free.
• Pair this dinner with a green vegetable like steamed or roasted broccoli. 
• Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. 

More Instant Pot Recipes You’ll Love…

Instant Pot Panda Express Chow Mein

Instant Pot Cheesecake Factory Cashew Chicken

Instant Pot Korean BBQ Burrito

Instant Pot Mongolian Beef Noodles

Better Than Takeout Instant Pot Recipes

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*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.