Thai Basil Beef
This flavour packed Whole30 Thai Basil Beef is perfect for an easy weeknight dinner you can quickly throw together. The beef is tender and caramelized and tossed in a delicious salty sauce with peppers, onions and fragrant basil. This 30-minute one pan Whole30 will last for up to 3 days in the fridge. It’s Paleo, Whole30, Dairy Free, Grain Free, Gluten Free and Specific Carbohydrate Diet Legal.
This saucy Whole30 Thai Basil Beef dish is a quick and easy meal that really hits the spot when you are craving a flavourful stir fry. The meat is quickly marinated in a 3 ingredient sauce that tenderizes the meat in a matter of minutes and then cooked until caramelized. It’s then tossed with a simple combination of bell peppers, onions, garlic, ginger and chilies and coated in a delicious 3 ingredient sauce (3 is clearly the magic number for this recipe). Right before serving Thai basil leaves are stirred in until just wilted.
During these crazy times I completely understand that some ingredients like Thai basil might be next to impossible to find. Don’t stress, while they are the ideal ingredient to use for this dish, Italian basil can be used instead, it won’t be quite the same but will still do the trick.
I love serving this on a bed of cauliflower rice to soak up all of the delicious sauce but if you are looking for a more refreshing option, you could spoon some into lettuce cups. Be sure to make enough for leftovers, because this dish is delicious on day 2!
Here are a few other Asian inspired dishes that you might enjoy:
- Chow Mein
- Sweet & Sour Pork
- Black Pepper Chicken
- Moo Shu Pork
- Pork Fried Rice
- Spicy Orange Chicken
- Kung Pao Cauliflower
If you make this recipe let me know in the comment section below, I would love to hear what you think or take a photo and tag me (@everylastbite_) on Instagram, I love seeing your photos!
Thai Basil Beef
Ingredients
Beef & Marinade
- 1 lbs sirloin or skirt steak
- 1 1/2 tbsp coconut aminos (or tamari/soy sauce)
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp baking soda
Stir Fry
- 1 medium onion thinly sliced
- 1 red bell pepper thinly sliced
- 2 inch piece fresh ginger roughly chopped
- 5 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped scallions
- 1 Fresno chili pepper thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos (or tamari/soy sauce)
- 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1/2 tbsp lime juice
- 1 cup thai basil*
Instructions
- Slice the beef very thinly against the grain. Place the sliced beef in a bowl, add the coconut aminos, fish sauce and baking soda overtop and stir to ensure all of the slices are coated in the sauce. Leave to rest while you prep the rest of the ingredients.
- Heat the sesame oil in a large skillet or wok on high heat. Working in 2 batches to ensure that you don't overcrowd the pan, cook the beef for 4 minutes until seared and caramelized. Remove the cooked beef and set aside on a plate and then continue cooking the second batch of beef.
- Add the onion, garlic, ginger, chili pepper and cook for 4 minutes until the onion begins to soften.
- Add in the sliced red bell peppers and scallions as well as the coconut aminos, lime juice and fish sauce and leave to cook for approximately 5 minutes until the peppers are soft.
- Return the cooked beef to the pan along with the Thai basil leaves. Give everything a stir to ensure its all well mixed and then remove from the heat and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Omg…. This recipe is fire! Sooo goood…better than take out! Over cauliflower rice and cucumber salad on the side to cool things off. I used crushed red peppers in place of the chili pepper. The beef was so tender and everything just worked. Looking forward to trying your other 30 min meals! Thank you, Keysha, a new SCD cook ☺️🌷
In order to make this recipe scd legal, I used tamari in place of the coconut aminos. It was good but very salty, as tamari is very salty. Can you recommend a way to deal with this?
This was AMAZING! My family loved it…we put it over cauliflower rice. Definitely will make again!
This recipe is great! My husband doesn’t like fresh basil so we’ve never put it in, but the rest of the recipe is easy and perfect. We’ve made it about 5 times. Thanks!
This was great!! I’m not following any specific diet, so added a few things to the sauce… About 1 tbsp Splenda brown sugar, 1/2 tbsp Only Crack Sauce (we like spicy!!), and 1/2 tbsp cornstarch to thicken it all up. We’ll be making this again for sure. Thanks for such a quick and delicious recipe!!
Coconut Aminos are not Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) Legal
I made this dish. It tasted great, very authentic but…the salt!!! Could not continue eating it. Threw it all out. That amount of sault in ant dish will surely kill you!
I’m curious why there is baking soda? I’m not familiar with it used in a dish like this.
Hi Annie, baking soda is used to tenderise and soften the meat. Its a great little secret, especially when the budget dictates the cut of meat you have to use!
do you think this can be made in the crockpot?
What are the servings and the nutritional info?
So good and easy!! I used Italian basil and still tasted great. I also couldn’t find red chilis and the store so I used some left over Harissa sauce I had in the fridge. Highly recommend!
Excellent! I didn’t have fresh basil so I added some spinach and dried basil. Delicious!