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!

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
- Prepare the beef: Thinly slice the london broil against the grain into strips or chunks. Sprinkle the salt evenly over the meat.
- 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.
- Prepare vegetables: While the meat is marinating slice up the onions and peppers.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Serve beef and sauce over rice and enjoy! Top with green onions, if desired.

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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Instant Pot Panda Express Beijing Beef
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 minute (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 31 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
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!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds london broil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce (I used low sodium soy sauce)
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp ketchup
- 2 Tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 Tbsp oyster or fish sauce
- 1 Tbsp chili garlic sauce
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 small onion, cut into thin, half-moon slices
- 1 red pepper pepper, sliced into 1 inch pieces
- 1–2 Tbsp cornstarch + 2 Tbsp water
Instructions
- Thinly slice the london broil against the grain into strips or chunks. Sprinkle the salt evenly over the meat.
- 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.
- While the meat is marinating slice up the onions and peppers.
- 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.
- 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.
- Stir together cornstarch and water until smooth. Turn Instant Pot to saute and stir the slurry into the pot to thicken the sauce. Once it’s thickened turn off Instant Pot.
- Serve beef and sauce over rice and enjoy!
Notes
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.
- Category: Beef
- Method: Instant Pot

*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.
I cooked some brown rice 1st in the IP. Marinated the beef 3 hours. Added some sliced mushrooms on top of the beef. To avoid having the peppers get overcooked, I used about 4 sliced mini peppers wrapped in foil and placed on top of the mushrooms. Remembered to use low pressure, but just curious what would have happened if high pressure had been used.
★★★★★
I used a eye of round roast and cut all the hard fat off the outside and then sliced it into thin strips and I also use Great value brand (Walmart) bag of frozen peppers and onion blend. Then the only other thing I did was I updated to 2 minutes with a 10 minute natural release because I used a little bit more than a pound and a half of meat and I doubled the sauce ratio because it was more meat. I can tell you this is the best thing that’s come out of my instant pot since I bought it it was amazing. I highly recommend anybody that likes Asian food to try this recipe it rivals anything that I’ve had in any Asian restaurant ever.
★★★★★
Wow what a compliment! I’m so glad you enjoyed this dinner!
OMG! This is GREAT! Used $5/lb top sirloin and no cayenne. Did re-pressurize for 3 more minutes to make it very tender.
Thanks for sharing your experience and I am so glad you enjoyed it!
I have a chuck roast that needs to be used right away and was wondering if I cut it into thin slices and marinate it would that work in this recipe?
I think that would be okay!
Made this this past weekend – VERY good. Wondering if adding mushrooms and or water chestnuts would work.
★★★★
Sure! Both sound awesome to me 🙂
This recipe seems like it would work just as well in a wok or cast iron skillet, since so little time is required to cook the meat when cut thin like that. In that case I guess you’d start with cooking up the vegetables until almost done, then throwing in the meat, then thickening the sauce.
Love recipes like this because they are very good on their own, but also great starting points for getting more creative. Thanks again.
Yep totally! Either way it is tasty!
1 minute to cook this beef? That doesn’t seem long. Anyway I am going to try this tonight but will use more cooking time. I am immunocompromised and must cook meat well done..
Because it’s cut into strips it cooks in 1 minute. Plus you have all the build up time that it’s cooking.
Hello Karen
I made this recipe on Saturday night and we all loved it!
Here in Qc the beef is expensive, so I bought a small roast beef very tender that was on special and I made small slices as the recipe said!
The result was perfect!
Pork is much less expensive, I will make it with pork next time! I’m sure it will be just as delicious!
Thank you for this beautiful recipe!
Oh ! I added the red peppers when thickening.
★★★★★
I love the idea of pork! That will be so tasty!
London Broil is Top Round. It just depends on the region you live in as to what it is called
Thank you for the clarification!
Karen,
This looks good. I have a question. When you say “London Broil” what type of cut are you referring to? Top Round steak? I’ve always thought or seemed to remembering reading years ago that London Broil meant a method of cooking, not a cut of beef. Because I’ve seen flank steak, top round steak, and one other, but I can’t think of it right now, all called London Broil in different supermarkets.. In the past when I’ve bought top round, marinated and grilled, it’s always been really dry. so wondering if that’s a good cut for this dish.
I’m going to try this, but I may put a teaspoon of sesame oil in it!
Thanks,
Dave
Have you considered getting London broil from the deli department of your grocery store? It’s already sliced and that way you don’t have to do that step. That’s what I plan on doing.
Yes you are right! My meat was labeled london broil but from what I’ve read that’s not the actual name of the meat cut. It would be flank or top round.