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Red Braised Beef (or aka Red Cooked Beef) is made by simmering beef with soy sauce, star anise, chili bean paste, red chilies and more. We make it on a weekly basis as not only is already a delicious entrée, you can also use this beef to make the classic Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup!

What does braised beef mean?

Braising beef is not unique to Asian cooking – there’s a lot of dishes across the world that uses braising, for example in France there is Beef bourguignon (also delicious).

To braise beef is basically to brown the beef first at a high temperature, and then simmer it in a covered pot with liquid. It is similar to stewing, however, braising usually involves cooking large pieces of meat in partially covered liquid, while stewing uses smaller pieces of meat and is totally immersed in liquid.

By the way – if you like red braised beef, you will most likely also enjoy my red braised pork belly, red braised chicken, and red braised fish!

Why is it called Red Braised Beef?

This dish is called Red Braised Beef because in Chinese it is called Hong Shao Niu Rou 紅燒牛肉. Hong Shao 紅燒 = Red Cooked. Niu Rou 牛肉 = Beef!

The mix of tomatoes, chili sauce, soy sauce, star anise, and other ingredients in the braising broth causes the beef and the sauce/broth/soup to turn in to a reddish color.

About Beef Shank

You can technically use different types of beef for this dish (and other braised dishes), but we usually use beef shank.

Where does beef shank come from? Beef shank is located under the brisket and is cut from the leg above the knee to the hip or shoulder. This area has a lot of connective tissue, and is perfect for stews or braising.

If you can’t find any locally, you can try online meat ordering places! For example, Steaks and Game – they ship to anywhere in the US other than Alaska and Hawaii!

If you like like this dish…

If you like red braised beef, have I got some recommendations for you!

Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup – This dish is the noodle soup version of this dish. In fact, the noodle soup uses this red braised beef. So if you’ve made it, you should totally try making it in to a noodle soup. Usually the first day we serve is with rice, and the second day we turn it in to beef noodle soup

Clear Broth Braised Beef – This dish is a very similar dish except it is braised with different ingredients, instead of the darker and heavier flavors of soy sauce and chili bean paste, Clear Broth braised beef uses flavors of ginger to bring out an aromatic flavor.

Red Braised Pork Belly – Similar to Red Braised beef, red braised pork belly is also red due to the similar ingredients used to braised the pork belly. This is such a delicious dish, a must try!

Chili bean paste

Chilli Bean Paste aka Doubanjiang 豆瓣酱, is a chunky sauce you can buy at the store that is spicy and savory. It’s traditionally made from fermented broad beans, chili peppers, soybeans, salt and flour. There are also different ones you can find, for example some will add spicy chili oil in it already.

Chili Bean Paste is often used in Sichuan food (ex: mapo tofu), which might explain why I love it because I love Sichuan food (and my grandma was from there!). I use it in my Szechuan Chicken, Twice Cooked Pork and Jalapeno Chicken.

You can buy it at your local Asian super market or even on Amazon such as this one: Lee Kum Kee LKK Chili Bean Sauce (Toban Djan).

How do you make Red Braised Beef?

First gather your ingredients:

• 1 lb beef shank, cut into 2-inch chunks
• 4 cloves of garlic, smashed
• 1/2 inch of ginger, thinly sliced
• 3 scallions, cut in to 2 inch length
• 2 tbsp chili bean paste (aka doubanjiang)
• 3/4 cup soy sauce (separated 1/4 and 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
• Salt, as desired
• 1 large tomato, cut in to wedges, or a cup of cherry tomatoes
• 3 tbsp rice wine
• 5 star anise

We’re going to do is blanch the beef chunks. Heat up a pot of water, and once the water is boiling, add the beef to the water. As soon as it is pretty much mostly looking brown on the outside, remove from the water. Remove from heat.

Now heat a wok or cooking pan to medium high heat, ginger, and add scallions and garlic to the pan for about a minute.

Then add the chili bean paste. Heat for another minute.

Add the chunks of blanched beef in to the wok/pan. Stir fry for about 5 minutes, and then add tomatoes. Add 1/4 cup of soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice wine. Cook another 2 minutes.

Transfer to a medium sized pot.

Add enough water to cover the beef in the pot. Bring to a boil, and then add star anise and salt as desired. Add remaining soy sauce.

Lower the heat and cover and let simmer for about 2 hours to 2.5 hours, or until desired tenderness.

Remove from heat and you can serve as an entree or serve with noodles, veggies and a boiled egg to make Taiwanese noodle soup!

Slow Cooker Red Braised Beef

You can also make this in the slow cooker! Here are the directions below:

We’re going to do is blanch the beef chunks. Heat up a pot of water, and once the water is boiling, add the beef to the water. As soon as it is pretty much mostly looking brown on the outside, remove from the water. Remove from heat.

Now heat a wok or cooking pan to medium high heat, ginger, and add scallions and garlic to the pan for about a minute.

Then add the chili bean paste. Heat for another minute.

Add the chunks of blanched beef in to the wok/pan. Stir fry for about 5 minutes, and then add tomatoes. Add 1 tbsp of soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice wine. Cook another 2 minutes.

Transfer to slow cooker.

Add enough water to cover the beef in the pot. Add star anise, remaining 4 tbsp of soy sauce, salt to taste.

Cover slow cooker. Cook for 4-5 hours on high heat, or 6-8 hours on low heat.

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