This Chinese Beef Stew with Potatoes is so tasty – marinated tender chunks of beef browned and then simmered with potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes in a delicious broth! You can also make beef noodle soup with this beef stew.

There’s a lot of ways to cook Chinese Beef Stew. This version is considered ‘red cooked’ aka ‘hong shao’ 紅燒.

This is because 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.

Cuts of beef

You can technically use different types of beef for this dish (and other braised dishes), but we usually use beef shank. Some other cuts of beef good for beef stews include Chuck, Bottom Round, Sirloin, and Brisket.

The trick really is to have a cut of beef that has lots of connective tissue. Connective tissue, such as collagen, when cooked slowly in a low heat for a long time, breaks down and turns the meat more tender (melt in your mouth tender!), flavors the dish, and also acts as a thickener.

Here are the cuts I was talking about:

Beef Shank – 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.

Chuck – Chunk roast comes from the shoulder of the cow. It has a good amount of connective tissue, also. This one is probably the most used in stews.

Brisket – This is a cut of beef from the breast or lower chest of the cow. Brisket is a good source of collagen.

Bottom Round – The bottom round comes from the rear leg of the cow. Unlike the previous meats I mentioned, it actually doesn’t have a lot of collagen. However, it’s used in stews a lot because it’s more affordable. It’s lean, so the best way to cook it is to cook it low and slow.

Sirloin – The sirloin is comes from the upper back of the cow, closer to the hindquarters. It’s a super tender cut of beef, making it a great melt in your mouth meat piece. However, opposite of Bottom Round, it’s more expensive, and since it’s already tender you don’t really have to cook it low and slow to benefit from it.

If you can’t find any of these cuts 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!

Chili bean paste

I use Chili bean paste for this recipe. 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 to cook Chinese Beef Stew with Potatoes

First, gather your ingredients:

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

Blanch the beef by 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, 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 1.5 hours, or until desired tenderness.

Add potatoes and carrots, and simmer for another 30 minutes.

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

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