Lemongrass beef stir-fry (Bò Xào Sả Ớt) is a delicious and easy Vietnamese dish that combines tender beef with the refreshing flavors of lemongrass and the heat of red chilies. It is an excellent choice for a quick and satisfying weeknight dinner.
The dish is quite common in the North of Vietnam, and can be found in both home cooked meals and restaurant offerings. The easy and quick preparation of this stir-fried beef with lemongrass makes it perfect for busy weeknights. We call it “bò xào sả ớt” in Vietnamese. We grew up eating it as well as a version made with veal, called “bê xào sả ớt“.
Lemongrass has a refreshing and citrusy aroma that pairs perfectly with spicy red chilies. You may have seen this Vietnamese combination in my lemongrass chili tofu recipe. The combination of these two key ingredients and a savory sauce makes this lemongrass beef stir-fry very flavorful.
Ingredients
Here are the key ingredients of this Vietnamese beef stir-fry recipe:
- Beef: choose a tender cut for stir-fry, such as flank steak or sirloin. Make sure you slice the beef thinly against the grain.
- Lemongrass: it’s best to use just the tender white part of fresh lemongrass, then slice thinly.
- Chili peppers: I recommend using two types of chilies. One is spicy bird’s-eye chili and another one is non-spicy or very mild red chili pepper. Here I use red banana peppers (ớt sừng), but I think you can use other chili varieties as long as they are red and not spicy, or just mildly spicy.
Why two types of chilies? Just like in my sate sauce recipe, if you use 100% bird’s-eye chili, the dish will be way too spicy. Besides, you may not be able to use much of it, and as a result, not much color will be added to the dish. If you cannot find any non-spicy or mildly spicy chili pepper, I suggest adding some red bell pepper and you will find more information in the Subsitutions and Customizations section.
How to Serve
I highly recommend sprinkling a generous amount of toasted sesame seeds over the dish when you serve it. It is optional, but it is a must in our family :).
The most traditional way to serve bo xao sa ot is with steamed rice. In addition, here are some creative ways you can try:
- With rice vermicelli noodles: create your noodle bowl with the stir-fried beef, lettuce and fresh herbs. You can have a look at my Vietnamese beef noodle salad for a list of accompaniments for the noodle bowl.
- With lettuce: make healthy lettuce wraps and savor the dish in a low-carb way.
Substitutions and Customizations
- As mentioned above, people also make this dish with veal instead of beef in Vietnam. It will also turn out great with chicken. Check out my lemongrass chicken stir-fry recipe here.
- You can add some julienned red bell pepper and onion if desired. If so, sauté them separately and set them aside before cooking the beef, and then combine everything in the last step.
I hope you will give this easy chili lemongrass beef stir-fry a try and let me know how you serve it.
⭐️ I’d love to hear what you think about the dish, so please feel free to leave a comment and a rating if you have tried it. New recipes are added every week so let’s connect on Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest and Instagram for the latest updates. You can find my collection of Vietnamese recipes here.
