Crispy Chilli Beef
Here’s our slimming friendly version of Crispy Chilli Beef! A delicious fakeaway even if you are calorie counting or following a diet like Weight Watchers.
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NutritionPer Serving
- Calories279
- Carbs19g
- Protein32g
- Fat7.2g
- Saturates2.6g
- Sugars10g
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For the full list of ingredients and comprehensive instructions, please see the recipe card at the end of this post. Before you scroll, there’s important stuff to know in the blurb!
You may ask yourself why did we come up with this Crispy Chilli Beef recipe when there are so many out there already? So let us explain. Since we started this website, we’ve been very aware of some recipes you find online not turning out as the pictures suggest. It’s a real pet peeve of ours!
We all know what it’s like. You find a recipe that looks amazing, off you pop to the supermarket to spend a small fortune on the ingredients. You gear yourself up thinking this is the recipe that will finally get you on Masterchef, then, disaster.
What you have bubbling away on your stove looks nothing like the mouth watering picture of the meal you’d set your heart on. And even worse, it tastes nothing like you expected.
So it ends up in the bin.
This is exactly the problem that a number of members on our Facebook page faced a few weeks ago with a Crispy Chilli Beef recipe. If you’re a regular Facebook user you’ll know that you see a lot of ‘recipes’ pop up in certain groups and on your timeline.
Some of them are pretty good, but sadly most of them are just spam, which will direct you to a website full of recipes that haven’t been tried or tested, and stock photos that have been passed off as the homemade version of the recipe.
The result is you waste an awful lot of time and money trying to achieve the impossible.
When you look at this recipe you may be put off slightly by the number of ingredients. Yes there are quite a few, but it’s well worth it, and we can guarantee this one tastes just as good as it looks!
What diets is this Crispy Chilli Beef recipe suitable for?
You can enjoy this Crispy Chilli Beef if you’re dairy free.
Please make sure to double or triple check all of your ingredients if you’re cooking for people with allergies.
Do you need any special ingredients to make Crispy Chilli Beef?
You will need some granulated sweetener. This is the type with the same consistency as sugar rather than the powdered type, which can leave a bitter/chemical aftertaste.
If you chose to use a powdered sweetener, then please check how it compares to sugar. In some cases you’ll need to use less, as powdered sweeteners weigh less. The type of sweetener we use has the same weight and sweetness as sugar so you can substitute for the real stuff if you wish.
We use Franks Red Hot Wings sauce in this recipe which is available in many supermarkets. However, you could always substitute for another hot sauce like Tabasco or Sriracha if that’s all you have.
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‘Love this with salt & pepper chips and chip shop curry sauce. So easy, so quick and it’s just the same but so much better for us! We love this!’
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There are lots of high quality granulated sweeteners available from the supermarket, such as Canderel Sugarly, and Natvia.
We LOVE using our wok for dishes like these. It’s great for so many Asian dishes and when you need to cook something quickly and evenly!
How many calories are in this Crispy Chilli Beef?
There are 279 calories in each portion of this Crispy Chilli Beef. This means it falls into our Special Occasion recipe category, you can find all of our other Weekly Indulgence recipes here.
This Crispy Chilli Beef recipe fits in perfectly if you’re following a calorie controlled diet, and works well with any one of the major diet plans such as Weight Watchers.
As a guide, an average man needs around 2,500kcal (10,500kJ) a day to maintain a healthy body weight. For an average woman, that figure is around 2,000kcal (8,400kJ) a day. Obviously, if your goal is to lose weight then you might want to adjust these slightly! You can read more about these recommendations on the NHS website.
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 190-200°C.
Step 2
Season the strips of beef, then dip each one into the beaten egg, then quickly drag it through the flour to give a light coating.
Step 3
Place each piece of coated beef on a baking tray sprayed with a fair bit of low calorie cooking spray, then give the strips a spray too. You could even put it on a piece of baking parchment to ensure it doesn’t stick.
Step 4
Cook for 20-25 minutes, until the beef is crispy. You can turn it over towards the end if needed.
Step 5
While the beef is cooking, spray a wok with some low calorie cooking spray. Then over a medium/hot heat fry the peppers, carrots, onion, spring onion, chilli flakes, garlic and ginger.
Step 6
Cook for 5 minutes, then add the lime juice, granulated sweetener, soy sauce, rice vinegar and honey.
Step 7
Stir, then add a couple of drops of Franks sauce and the 100ml of beef stock.
Step 8
Allow to cook for a minute and then add the cooked beef strips.
Step 9
Stir well and serve with your choice of accompaniment.
What should you serve with Crispy Chilli Beef?
Whatever accompaniment you choose, don’t forget to account for the extra calories and/or other nutritional values.
How do you know when Crispy Chilli Beef is cooked?
The beef is cooked when it is crispy on the outside. This should take approx 25 minutes in an oven preheated to 190-200°C.
Standard advice here in the UK is to cook food until it has reached 70°C and stayed at that temperature for 2 minutes. This is to keep your family safe.
There are 2 things to note with this recipe is this. First, traditionally Crispy Beef is cooked in a wok with a load of oil. That’s what gives the meat that crispy texture. However, this isn’t very slimming friendly, so we bake the beef strips in the oven instead.
Whilst this does make the meat crispy, it will never be ‘quite’ as crispy as the traditional method. But if you leave it until the last minute to add it to the sauce then it will retain it’s crispiness for a bit longer.
So the secret is don’t leave the meat in the sauce for too long.
Secondly, if you prefer a bit more sauce you can add a little extra stock, soy sauce and rice vinegar.
How long can you keep Crispy Chilli Beef in the fridge?
Once you’ve put it out, ideally you should eat it within 4 hours.
If you allow any leftovers to cool, make sure to refrigerate in a container with a lid and chill. You can keep leftovers of Crispy Chilli Beef in the fridge for approximately 3 days or so.
However, if leftovers are stored in the sauce, the beef will lose its crispy coating. We would advise setting any extra beef aside and storing separately to the sauce to prevent this.
Can I freeze Crispy Chilli Beef?
We don’t advise freezing Crispy Chilli Beef as the crispy coating will end up soggy!
How do I reheat Crispy Chilli Beef?
If you’ve stored the beef and sauce separately you can reheat the beef for around 10 minutes in an oven that has been preheated to 190-200°C. Make sure it’s piping hot before serving.
Place the sauce in a microwave proof container with loosely fitting lid and heat for 4-7 minutes until piping hot.
That being said, this dish is by far best when cooked fresh!
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Crispy Chilli Beef
Here’s our slimming friendly version of Crispy Chilli Beef! A delicious fakeaway even if you are calorie counting or following a diet like Weight Watchers.
-
Prep Time
10 MINS
-
Cook Time
25 MINS
- KCals 279
- Carbs 19G
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 190-200°C.
- Season the strips of beef, then dip each one into the beaten egg, then quickly drag it through the flour to give a light coating.
- Place each piece of coated beef on a baking tray sprayed with a fair bit of low calorie cooking spray, then give the strips a spray too. You could even put it on a piece of baking parchment to ensure it doesn't stick.
- Cook for 20-25 minutes, until the beef is crispy. You can turn it over towards the end if needed.
- While the beef is cooking, spray a wok with some low calorie cooking spray. Then over a medium/hot heat, fry the peppers, carrots, onion, spring onion, chilli flakes, garlic and ginger.
- Cook for 5 minutes, then add the lime juice, granulated sweetener, soy sauce, rice vinegar and honey.
- Stir, then add a couple of drops of Franks sauce and the 100ml of beef stock.
- Allow to cook for a minute and then add the cooked beef strips.
- Stir well and serve with your choice of accompaniment.
Looking for Slimming World Syns or Weight Watchers (WW) Points?
With ever-changing plans and point calculations, we have made the decision to remove WW Points from the website - referring to your individual plan or advice from your consultant is always going to give the most accurate results.
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218 comments
See what others have to say
Ellie BTuesday 10th March 2020
Just made this and whilst the sauce was really good, the beef wasn’t quite crispy enough and was slightly chewy. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Sharon FitzpatrickWednesday 20th May 2020
Hi Ellie, traditionally the beef strips would be fried in oil to make them really crispy, but we oven bake them to reduce calories, so they wont be quite as crispy as frying in oil. You need to add them to the sauce just before serving to help them stay as crispy as crispy as possible. Also, steaks can vary alot, some are more tender than others, this may account for the chewiness you mentioned. Hope this helps!
ELAINEThursday 20th February 2020
Can you change the beef to chicken?
Sharon FitzpatrickMonday 11th May 2020
Hi Elaine, thanks for your question. Yes, using chicken strips in this recipe should be fine. Let us know how it goes!
LouiseThursday 20th February 2020
Is this in any of your books?
Steve CowderoyMonday 18th May 2020
Hi Louise, thanks for getting in touch with us. This lovely recipe is one from our website. Hope this helps.
SharonMonday 3rd February 2020
I made this for the four of us in the family, it wasnt quite enough for everyone to eat. Any suggestions what I can add to it to bulk it out a bit, but not lose the flavour, we al enjoyed it. Thank you
Sharon FitzpatrickWednesday 13th May 2020
Hi Sharon, thanks for your question. You could increase the vegetables in this dish if you want to make it go a little further. Maybe you could add another carrot or two and another pepper to bulk it out? Let us know how it goes.
SusanWednesday 29th January 2020
What book is crispy chilli beer in please can’t find it and I have both.
Holly LevellTuesday 12th May 2020
Hi Susan, this is a website recipe so doesn’t appear in any of our books
Julie HoldenSunday 26th January 2020
Sounds gorgeous but I don’t eat beef, would this work using pork fillet instead?
Steve CowderoyTuesday 12th May 2020
Hi Julie, thanks for getting in touch with us. Please let us know how this goes with the pork fillet!
Claire MarshallWednesday 22nd January 2020
Made this for tea and beef wasn’t crispy (totally my fault as left in pan too long) they flavours were delicious and beef lovely and tender.
Sharon FitzpatrickWednesday 13th May 2020
Hi Claire, thanks for your lovely comment, we’re so glad you thought this was delicious despite not being quite as crispy as it could have been. Thanks for letting us know.
Lel GrantSaturday 18th January 2020
Hi I’ve just built this up as a recipe in my WW app and on blue it has come up as 8sp not 5sp. Don’t know if you want to check that out?
Holly LevellTuesday 26th May 2020
Hi Lel, we have double checked the Crispy Chilli Beef recipe and the points are correct, 5 Blue, 5 Green and 5 Purple it could be how you have inputted the ingredients have a look at this guide which shows you how to work out calories and points in a recipe: https://pinchofnom.com/how-to-work-out-calories-and-points-in-a-recipe/
SarahHowardWednesday 15th January 2020
Will Sirlion work?
Sharon FitzpatrickThursday 14th May 2020
Hi Sarah, yes, sirloin would work in this recipe as it is another lean, tender cut of beef. Hope you enjoy making this recipe!
SarahSaturday 11th January 2020
Should I use light or dark soy sauce please? Want to get the flavour right but don’t want to make it too salty if I use the wrong one. Thanks
Sharon FitzpatrickWednesday 13th May 2020
Hi Sarah, thanks for your question about what type of soy sauce to use. For this recipe we used dark soy sauce but you can use light soy if you prefer, it won’t make a huge difference. Thanks for getting in touch.
John ScarisbrickSaturday 11th January 2020
Another great recipe taking my cookery skills to a new level!
Holly LevellTuesday 12th May 2020
Hi John, so glad you enjoyed the Crispy Chilli Beef!
KellyMonday 6th January 2020
Can the beef be swapped for chicken?
Sharon FitzpatrickThursday 14th May 2020
Hi Kelly, yes, strips of chicken breast would be fine in this recipe. Thanks for getting in touch.
Susan AskwithFriday 3rd January 2020
I don’t have any rice vinegar is there a substitute I could use?
Sharon FitzpatrickTuesday 19th May 2020
Hi Susan, you can use white wine vinegar or cider vinegar instead. Thanks for getting in touch and hope you enjoy this recipe!
PMonday 30th December 2019
Which book is this recipe in please? I have both books and can’t find it in either…?
Holly LevellTuesday 12th May 2020
Hey, the Crispy Chill Beef is a website recipe so doesn’t appear in our books.
WendyMonday 30th December 2019
Light or dark soy sauce?
Sharon FitzpatrickThursday 14th May 2020
Hi Wendy, we used dark soy sauce in this recipe but you could use light soy if you prefer, it won’t make huge difference. Thanks for getting in touch.
AnnaTuesday 24th December 2019
I’ve just made and oh my it’s good. I’m full of a cold and it’s Christmas Eve but it was really quick and easy to make and very comforting ?
StellaTuesday 10th September 2019
My husband is allergic to egg. Could i use milk instead?
Emma TFriday 13th September 2019
Hi Stella,
Yes, that should work ok!
Hope that helps!
LynnSaturday 18th January 2020
I made this dish with chicken…it was amazing! ?
Holly LevellTuesday 19th May 2020
Hi Lynn, thanks for your comment it sounds lovely!
Caroline MMonday 19th August 2019
Have no rice vinegar is there any alternative I could use instead please
Emma TMonday 23rd September 2019
Hi Caroline,
You could use white win vinegar instead ????
VickyFriday 12th July 2019
Making this tonight but i don’t have any rump steak in only sirloin and i don.t want to go out and spend more (watching the pennies) would sirloin be fine ?
TIA x
Steve CowderoyTuesday 19th May 2020
Hi Vicky, yes sirloin would taste delicious in this recipe. Hope this helps.
SaraTuesday 18th June 2019
If you make this in advance will the beef stay crispy?
Emma TThursday 20th June 2019
Hi Sara,
You might need to pop the beef back in the oven to crisp it up – don’t put the sauce on until you are ready to serve!
LouiseFriday 24th May 2019
I live in Spain and I’ve never seen the buffalo hot wings sauce. Is there something else I could replace it with? ????
CateSaturday 25th May 2019
Tabasco or sriracha sauce would work in place of the hot wings sauce 🙂
FionaMonday 6th May 2019
Hello
This may be a bit of a daft question but can this recipe be frozen? Or will you lose the crispiness of the beef?
Thank you
CateMonday 3rd June 2019
You are right, freezing this dish makes it lose it’s crispiness 🙂
ChloeThursday 24th January 2019
What sort of taste is the sauce like ? I am making it for my partner and mum and dad so want to make sure we will like it before we try x
ChloeWednesday 16th January 2019
Hi is this sauce similar to the sweet chilli one you can get from the Chinese takeaway? Thanks
LynnSunday 13th January 2019
Does it matter if you use light or dark soya sauce?
Hannah ThompsonTuesday 8th January 2019
Do you think it would be ok to do the beef in an air fryer?
Samantha ROBERTSMonday 31st December 2018
Made this for tea tonight…omg it was lush…thank you for the recipe.. clean plates from the family
Leah DesmierTuesday 4th December 2018
Hi I made this last week with beef but going to try with duck tonight, will it work the same with oven/cooking times?
LouiseSunday 9th September 2018
Should the rump steak be cooked first before you cut it? I’m guessing know but just want to check 🙂
ErikaSunday 26th August 2018
Could you use sweet chilli sauce instead of the franks hot sauce??
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