Happy Monday! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and are ready for this new week ahead. Now that tax season is officially in that most of us have already filed our taxes by the deadline, I can’t help but think of budget meals. A budget friendly meal I made recently is this Beef & Cabbage Stir Fry. This is a dish my mom made growing up and is considered a nostalgic favorite among me and my siblings. Ground beef is stir fried with shredded cabbage and a soy sauce based sauce before serving up over steamed rice. Easy, affordable and delicious…
What makes this a budget meal is that it uses affordable ingredients and stretches it out to feed plenty. Ground beef, half a head of cabbage {roughly 2-3 cups shredded} and some Asian pantry staples like soy sauce {or in my case, gluten free tamari}, oyster sauce and cornstarch are stir fried together. It comes together rather quickly so you can easily have dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes from start to finish.
When I made this for The Baron and Joel, I was immediately taken back to my childhood. I even called my sister while we had dinner and she asked for a picture of our meal so she could live vicariously through it lol. I’m so glad that The Baron liked this dish… and he liked it so much that he had seconds! {Actually we all did lol!}
recipe adapted from my mom
1 tablespoon soy sauce or gf tamari
2 teaspoons {gf} oyster sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1 onion, minced
3 garlic cloves, smashed
1 1/2 pounds ground beef {80/20}
2-3 cups shredded regular cabbage
Add the cabbage over the ground beef and let it steam undisturbed on top of the beef for about 2 minutes.
Stir soy mixture in the bowl and add to skillet. Stir-fry the cabbage, beef and soy mixture together until sauce is simmering and slightly thickened, 1 to 2 minutes.
Serve over rice.
Simple, quick and delicious!!!
How much vinegar do I use? It's not posted in your ingredient list.
This sounds delicious and very easy. I plan to try it in the next day or so, but I have one question. I didn't see where you drain the ground beef at any point after you brown it. With 1.5 pounds of ground beef that is going to make a good bit of grease. Do you just put the cabbage and sauce in with all the grease or do you drain the beef first. I know I can drain it myself if I want to but I was wondering how you cook it since you grew up eating it. Also, I'm not sure if you realized it or not but the ingredient list sort of ran together in some places instead of going to the next line for the next ingredient. No worries. I understood it fine. Just gonna mention it. Thanks!!
@Alice – oh thank you for asking! I omitted rice vinegar from my mom's version so I've updated the directions to omit it there as well. Sorry for any confusion!
@Beyond Sunday Morning – I actually cooked off most of the rendered liquid from the beef so there was no need to drain at all. I updated the directions to reflect this so thank you for asking for clarification!
This looks like comfort food for sure.
For those who are allergic to soy or prefer not to use it, a great alternative are coconut aminos (sold in Whole Foods or online). This comfort food and great in a pinch, for sure!
This food is appetizing dish! It looks great and I think the taste of it is very delicious. I will try this sometime. Thank you for sharing!
Best Stir Fry Recipe