Chinese Garlic Butter Beef (蒜子牛柳)

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Chinese Garlic Butter Beef is easy and delicious. Steak slices are pan seared, then smothered in a butter gravy and served over garlic bread!

Prep Time20

Cook Time20

Total Time40

Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine: Asian, Cantonese, Chinese

Servings:

Calories: 763kcal

Slice the meat roughly 80mm (0.3") thick. Do so by holding the blade parallel to the steak. Press one hand on the meat to hold it in place while you use your other hand to slice the beef from the other side.
Pro Tip: Cut against the grain. Find the direction the flesh is going, then turn the knife perpendicular to that to make a cut. This technique helps to keep each bite tender.
Use the knife to cut a line approximately 1cm (0.4") long in the middle of each meat slice.
Wedge a garlic slice in the center. You can put one or as many as you prefer.
Heat up a pan and pour the oil in on high heat. When hot, cook the steak pieces on one side for 2 minutes or until just cooked.
Pro Tip: Make sure the beef is searing when it goes in so it doesn't boil instead of fry.
Flip the pieces over to cook for another 1 minute or until cooked to preference. Take them out and set aside on a serving dish.
Reduce the heat to medium and add the butter into the oil. Swirl it around until melted, then throw in the remaining garlic. Season with the chicken bouillon powder, salt and dark soy sauce.
Turn the heat up to high and mix in the chicken stock. Let it simmer for 1 minute, then reduce the heat to low.
Stir the starch slurry until combined and slowly pour it into the sauce while mixing so it doesn't clump up.
Pour the cooked sauce over the beef slices.
Serve immediately as is over toasted garlic bread!

Eat it fresh. This dish is ideally enjoyed right after being cooked so the ingredients don't cool.
Avoid overcooking the meat. You'll run the risk of having a tough bite if the steak slices are cooked for too long, especially since they're cut thinly. I would suggest cooking it to medium rare.
Let the steak rest. Sit it on the plate so the meat can reabsorb the juices. The general rule of thumb is to let it rest for as long as it's cooked for.
Use good quality steak. This will reduce the chance of having tough and chewy pieces.
Dad uses tenderloin in this recipe, but other boneless tender cuts like sirloin, flank, skirt, scotch will work too.
When shopping for good quality meat, ask the butcher to choose a nice piece for you and tell them you're pan frying it. That way, they'll try to find pieces that are more suitable for this dish.
We always serve it over garlic bread, but you can choose to have it on its own.