my mom’s comfort dish: cantonese minced beef and eggs

Cantonese minced beef and eggs over rice is a comfort dish my mom used to order on her weekly visit to San Francisco Chinatown. After a day of grocery shopping and running errands, there’s nothing more comforting than these tender bites of ground beef drowned in a savory sauce and mixed with the soft egg yolk over a warm bed of rice.

At home, it comes together in less than 30 minutes and has become a new go-to when I’m not sure what to cook!

What type of beef should I use for Cantonese minced beef and eggs?

If you asked my mom, she’d probably want to chop the beef by hand. To save time and energy, we use pre-ground beef for this dish, and it still comes out delicious. I typically go with an 80/20 or 85/15 lean to fat ratio.

The key is in the marinade (notes on this below), which keeps the meat tender, juicy, and prevents it from drying out during the cooking process.

Can I use other ground meat for this dish?

The flavor from ground beef definitely adds to the savoriness of this dish’s gravy, but you can try swapping it out for a different ground meat like pork, chicken, or turkey.

I haven’t tested this specific recipe with those swaps, so I would just make sure to taste the sauce when it’s cooking in the pan and adjust seasoning where necessary. Sometimes I find that beef can take on more flavor than chicken or turkey, so it might taste a bit saltier if you are using those other options. If you try it out, let me know!

How do I make the ground beef flavorful and tender?

Ground beef, especially one on the leaner side, can sometimes taste dry when cooked. To keep these bites tender, flavorful, and juicy, I like to marinate it with light seasoning (for taste) and water, cornstarch, and oil (for texture).

Shaoxing wine (we use this to marinade almost every meat), soy sauce, and white pepper will lightly season the beef. Cornstarch and water together forms a slurry that keeps the meat tender, and adding some neutral oil at the end creates a “seal” on the meat. This is the method my dad taught me for marinating meats, and it hasn’t failed me!

You may also like these other recipes:

• Panda Express Mushroom Chicken
• Tender Chicken and Broccoli
• Chinese Beef and Broccoli

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Cantonese Minced Beef and Eggs

A classic Cantonese comfort dish that features marinated, tender ground beef in a savory sauce with a rich egg yolk — a warming and perfect topping for a bed of rice.

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Prep Time 15 minutesmins

Cook Time 15 minutesmins

Total Time 30 minutesmins

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine Asian, Chinese

Servings 3

Ingredients

1x2x3x

Ground beef marinade:

• 8ozground beef
• 2tspShaoxing wine
• 1tsplight soy sauce
• 1/8tspwhite pepper
• 2tspcornstarch
• 3tbspwater
• 1tspneutral oil

Sauce:

• 1cupwateror low sodium chicken broth
• 1tbsplight soy sauce
• 1tspdark soy sauce
• 2tspoyster sauce
• 1/2tspsugar
• 1/2tspchicken bouillon powderskip if using chicken broth

Cornstarch slurry:

• 2tspcornstarch
• 2tbspwaterroom temp or cold

Other ingredients:

• 1/2shallot or 1/4 onion
• 2-3clovesgarlic
• 1/2cupfrozen peas
• 1/2tspsesame oil
• Eggs1 per person
• 1tbspneutral oil for cooking

Instructions

Marinade the beef

• In a bowl, add the ground beef, shaoxing wine, soy sauce, white pepper, and cornstarch. Mix until incorporated.
  8 oz ground beef, 2 tsp Shaoxing wine, 1 tsp light soy sauce, 1/8 tsp white pepper, 2 tsp cornstarch
• Mix in the the water 1 tbsp at a time, only adding the next tbsp once the previous one has been absorbed. Lastly, add the neutral oil, and mix one last time. Set aside to let marinade.
  3 tbsp water, 1 tsp neutral oil

Prepare the aromatics and sauce

• Mince the garlic. Chop the shallot or onion into a small dice.
  2-3 cloves garlic, 1/2 shallot or 1/4 onion
• In a small bowl, mix all the sauce ingredients together. If using chicken broth instead of water, skip the chicken bouillon powder.
  1 cup water, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp dark soy sauce, 2 tsp oyster sauce, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp chicken bouillon powder
• In a separate small bowl, prepare the cornstarch slurry (used to thicken the sauce later) by mixing cornstarch and room temperature or cold water until dissolved.
  2 tsp cornstarch, 2 tbsp water

Cook the minced beef sauce & eggs

• Preheat a pan on medium to medium high heat, and add neutral oil.
  1 tbsp neutral oil for cooking
• Add the marinated beef into the pan, spreading it out with your spatula. As it turns brown, flip it over and start breaking the beef up into small chunks.
• Once there’s no more pink left in the beef, add the minced garlic and shallots (or onions). Stir fry for 1-2 minutes.
• Pour the prepared sauce into the pan, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Let this simmer for about 3-4 minutes to let the beef absorb all the flavor.
• Give the cornstarch slurry a mix to dissolve any settled cornstarch, then add it into the pan. Stir the pan, and the sauce should start to thicken.
• Once it’s thickened to your liking, taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Add the frozen peas and sesame oil.
  1/2 cup frozen peas, 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• Optionally, create little pockets in the ground beef to crack in eggs, and cover the pan to steam just until the whites are cooked. Alternatively, you can just crack an egg yolk on top of the plated minced beef mixture.
  Eggs
• Enjoy over rice!

Video

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Keyword cantonese minced beef, cantonese minced beef gravy

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