Aunt Betty’s Comfort Kitchen · Beef

Geneva's Pepper Steak

Name: Geneva's Pepper Steak
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 30 ml oil; 450 g top round steak; 20 g onion; 1 garlic clove; 120 ml beef broth; 2 tsp cornstarch; 1 tsp soy sauce; 2 tsp water; pinch salt and pepper

Tender beef simmered in a glossy soy-and-broth gravy, thickened at the end and spooned over rice. Quick and savory — and easily made the full peppers-and-onions version.

~30 min total 10 min prep 25 min cook

Spoon cost

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Units

Ingredients

Brown the beef hard, then thicken at the very end. A good sear on the cubes is the flavor; the cornstarch slurry goes in only in the last few minutes to turn the broth glossy — add it too early and it can thin out or go gluey. Stir until the gravy just coats the beef, then serve over rice.

Method

Cook's notes

Despite the name, Betty's version has no bell peppers — it's tender beef in a glossy soy-and-broth gravy. To make it the classic pepper steak, add a sliced green bell pepper (and a little more broth) with the onion.

Top round is lean — cut it into thin strips against the grain and don't overcook, or it toughens. Chuck or sirloin tips work too.

Mix the cornstarch slurry just before you need it and add it at the end; cook only until the gravy turns glossy and thick.

Serve over rice to catch the gravy.

Add a bag of frozen pepper-and-onion strips at the end to bulk it into a fuller pepper steak.

Easier, if you like

Pre-cut stir-fry beef or sirloin tips from the meat case skip the trimming.
Costco's Cuisine Solutions Sliced Grass-Fed Beef Sirloin (fully cooked, in the refrigerated deli section) makes this nearly hands-off. Skip the browning: soften the onion and garlic in the oil, add the broth and seasoning, thicken with the cornstarch slurry, then fold the pre-sliced sirloin in at the very end and warm it through, about a minute. Don't simmer it — the beef is already tender, and boiling lean grass-fed sirloin turns it gray and chewy. Any pre-cooked sliced roast beef works too.

Make it gluten-free

Gluten-free: use tamari for the soy sauce and a gluten-free beef broth — the cornstarch is already gluten-free.