Homemade Cantonese Beef Chow Fun
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Beef Chow Fun, also known as Beef Ho Fun, is a popular Cantonese dish that features wide rice noodles, tender beef, and flavorful vegetables. This dish is a favorite among many Chinese cuisine enthusiasts due to its unique taste and texture.
Beef Chow Fun is characterized by its chewy and soft texture from fresh rice noodles. The beef is sliced thinly and stir-fried with noodles and vegetables to create a savory and flavorful dish.
In this recipe, I’ll be sharing step-by-step instructions on how to get the most tender beef slices, the perfect chewy noodles, and a ridiculously delicious sauce. Stay tuned for tips on how to make the best beef chow fun every time.
Why You’ll Love This Beef Chow Fun Recipe
This dish is easy to make and only takes about 30 minutes to prepare and cook (plus a little waiting time for the beef to marinate). It’s best fresh, but you can also store leftovers for up to 2 days.
The sauce is savory, sweet, and a little bit salty, making it perfect for those who enjoy a well-balanced bouquet of flavors. Cantonese beef chow fun isn’t spicy so anybody can enjoy this dish.
A variety of textures marry each other splendidly. The chewy and soft texture of the noodles along with tender beef and crisp chives make this beef chow fun absolutely scrumptious. It’s also not too oily thanks to our special cooking method.
What Ingredients Do I Need To Make Beef Chow Fun Cantonese Style
You can use a variety of steak cuts such as flank steak, beef skirt, sirloin, or tenderloin to make chow fun. In this recipe, I’m using flank steak for that extra tenderness.
For the beef:
- 8 oz flank steak, sliced thinly against the grain
- 2 Tbsp. water
- 1 Tbsp. oyster sauce
- 2 Tbsp. light soy sauce
- 1 tsp. sugar
- Pinch of white pepper
- 1 ½ Tbsp. cornstarch
- 1 Tbsp. cooking oil + enough to deep-fry the beef
For the noodles and veggies:
- 16 oz. fresh rice noodles (ho fun)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup bean sprouts, divided
- 1/2 cup sliced purple onions
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 green onion, sliced
- 1 bunch chives, sliced
How To Make Beef Chow Fun At Home
Step 1: Rinse the noodles
Rinse the fresh rice noodles and set them aside. This will remove that intense rice flavor and setting them aside will allow the water to drain.
Step 2: Marinate the beef
Add beef to a medium bowl and pour 1 tablespoon of water on it. Mix with chopsticks until the water is absorbed.
Step 3: Mix in sauces, sugar, and pepper until combined.
Now add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and ground pepper, and mix until combined. Then add cornstarch and mix well. Finally, add the oil and let the beef marinate for 20-30 minutes at room temperature.
Step 4: Deep-fry the beef
Heat oil in a deep heavy-bottom non-stick pan or wok until bubbling when you insert a chopstick. Fry the beef, stirring to separate the pieces, until they’re no longer pink.
Don’t overcook the beef or it’ll turn out tough. Remove from the oil and place on a wire rack to drain any excess oil.
Step 5: Make the stir-fry
Leave just a little bit of oil in the pan and add the fresh noodles. Turn the heat to medium if using a non-stick pan or keep it on high if using a wok. Stir-fry the noodles until they start to curl up.
Step 6: Stir-fry garlic, half the bean sprouts, and onions until soft.
Add minced garlic, half of the bean sprouts, and sliced onions, and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes or until they become soft.
In a small bowl, mix soy sauce and oyster sauce, and pour it into the pan. Stir to coat the noodles and veggies.
Step 7: Add beef, remaining sprouts, chives, and green onions; stir-fry briefly.
Add the cooked beef back to the pan along with the other half of the bean sprouts, the chives, and the green onions. Stir-fry for 1-2 minutes to coat in sauce and heat the beef. Be careful not to overcook the beef here either.
Step 8: Enjoy your Homemade Cantonese Beef Chow Fun!
Serve beef chow hot with more green onions to garnish. Enjoy!
Notes & Tips
- Fresh rice noodles are key to making this dish amazing. You can find them at your local Asian market or order them from an Asian online grocery store.
- Don’t add salt to the beef marinade, it’ll dehydrate the beef and make it tough during cooking. If you need to add more salt, do it at the end after serving your plate.
- Add a tablespoon of water to the beef and mix until absorbed to hydrate it and make it extra juicy. Don’t skip this step if you love tender beef and aren’t a fan of chewy meat.
- Cut the beef against the grain. This step is crucial to getting tender beef pieces. Use a sharp knife and cut it thin.
- Make sure the oil is hot enough before frying the beef. You can use a thermometer to measure it or submerge a chopstick to check the bubbles at the bottom of the pan. The oil temperature should be about 375°F.
- Another trick with chopsticks – use them to stir-fry the noodles instead of a spatula to prevent them from breaking apart. This is especially helpful if you haven’t mastered the pan-flip.
- For a more authentic flavor, sub half of the light soy sauce in the stir-fry for dark soy sauce. It’s a bit higher in sodium, but also adds more sweetness and a gorgeous dark color.
- If you can’t find fresh rice noodles, you can use dried rice noodles instead. Soak them in hot water for 20-30 minutes before cooking. I can’t guarantee the same result, but it’s a quick solution.
- You can add other vegetables, such as bell peppers or carrots, to this dish to make it even more flavorful and nutritional. It’s also fun to add more color.
What Is The Difference Between Chow Fun And Ho Fun?
Chow fun and ho fun refer to the same type of rice noodle, but ho fun is a more specific type that is wide and flat. Chow fun can refer to any type of rice noodle, including those that are thin and round. Hence, why this recipe specifies “Beef Ho Fun” in brackets.
How To Say Beef Chow Fun In Cantonese?
In Cantonese, this dish is called gon chow ngau ho (乾炒牛河). Beef chow fun is a dry fry style of beef with ho fun noodles (wide flat noodles) which means that the noodles and vegetables are fried without sauce. This makes the noodles exceptionally chewy and mochi-like.
Other Stir-Fries You Should Try
Loved this Cantonese beef chow fun recipe? We’ve got more delicious stir-fries you’ll want to try next.
Try our recipe for the Best Kung Pao Beef, a Chinese-American classic. Kung pao sauce is salty, savory, sour, spicy, and sweet all at the same time.
Don’t mind upping the spice level? Make this recipe for the Best Drunken Noodles. They don’t have any alcohol in them, but they may just be the perfect hangover cure (or prevention). Drunken noodles are also made with fresh ho fun noodles.
Looking for something Low FODMAP and simply delicious? You’ll love this Low FODMAP Chicken Stir Fry recipe with warming flavors and beautiful colors. But you can get to those later, now it’s time to make the best Cantonese beef chow fun!
Ingredients
- 8 oz flank steak sliced thinly against the grain
- 2 Tbsp. water
- 1 Tbsp. oyster sauce
- 2 Tbsp. light soy sauce
- 1 tsp. sugar
- Pinch of white pepper
- 1 ½ Tbsp. cornstarch
- 1 Tbsp. cooking oil + enough to deep-fry the beef
- 16 oz. fresh rice noodles ho fun, rinsed
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup bean sprouts divided
- 1/2 cup sliced purple onions
- 1/4 cup light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 green onion sliced
- 1 bunch chives sliced
Instructions
- Add beef to a medium bowl and pour 1 tablespoon of water on it. Mix with chopsticks until the water is absorbed. Now add the marinade ingredients and let the beef marinate for 20-30 minutes at room temperature.
- Heat oil in a deep non-stick pan or wok. Fry the beef, separating the pieces, until they’re no longer pink. Remove from the oil and place on a wire rack.
- Leave a bit of oil in the pan and stir-fry the noodles until they start to curl up.
- Add garlic, half of the bean sprouts, and onion, and stir-fry until they become soft. Pour soy sauce and oyster sauce into the pan and mix to coat the noodles.
- Add the cooked beef back to the pan along with the other half of the bean sprouts, the chives, and the green onions. Stir-fry for 1-2 minutes to coat in sauce and heat the beef. Serve hot and enjoy!
