This quick dinner using beef mince channels Thai chilli basil stir fry vibes (except, no basil!) with poke bowl versatility (except, no pricey raw fish!). The sweet chilli drizzle sauce ties it all together, and gives you the flex to use any raw or cooked veg side. Jumble it all up and dig in!
About these Thai Sweet Chilli Beef Bowls
I wish I could tell you today’s recipe is an authentic Thai homecooked meal, lovingly prepared every day by thousands of families across Thailand…..
But it’s not (at least, not to my knowledge). It’s just something I made up, quick to make, versatile and a great all-rounder that will please picky young eaters as well as those who consider themselves connoisseurs of South East Asian food. Because although it is not authentic, it’s made with staple Thai stir fry ingredients (oyster sauce, fish sauce, garlic, sugar) so the flavour is pretty* legit.
It’s really tasty. I hope you love it!
* I say “pretty” legit because I’ve dialled up the speed factor by using sweet chilli sauce instead of fresh chilli + garlic + sugar + thickener. It totally works!
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make this. NOTE: There’s a fair few repeat ingredients!
The sauces
We’re making two sauces today – one for cooking and one for drizzling. Common ingredients, but they taste different because cooking the sauce changes the flavour – it intensifies and caramelises. On the other hand, the drizzle sauce is fresher.
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Sweet chilli sauce – Just your regular everyday sweet chilli sauce from regular grocery stores. I use Trident which is a common brand here in Australia. There is no need to hunt down a legit Asian brand (unless you want to!). Despite the word “chilli” in the name, it’s not spicy, it’s just sweet, though there is subtle chilli flavour in it.
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Fish sauce – Stinky in the bottle but wonderful when cooked, can’t taste fishiness at all! You just end up with tasty savoury saltiness – more interesting than salt, soy etc. We also use it in the drizzle sauce but not very much. If raw fish sauce scares you, a) I assume you don’t like Vietnamese food (because it’s abundantly used in raw form in Vietnamese sauces!) b) just use soy instead.
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Dark soy sauce – This stains the beef a lovely rich colour and adds tasty soy flavour in a way you don’t get with regular or light soy sauce. But, if you don’t have dark soy sauce, you can use either of these (though the beef won’t be as dark). There will be a touch less flavour too but don’t be concerned, the drizzle sauce will make up for it.
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Rice vinegar – To balance out the sweet and savoury in the stir fry sauce. Substitute with cider vinegar.
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Lime juice – I chose to use this for the drizzle sauce rather than vinegar because it’s fresher. But if you don’t have lime or it’s extortionate (which it can be at times here in Australia) and you want to save it for your G&T (I get it), substitute with rice vinegar. It’s not a big deal, I promise. 🙂
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Garlic – For the drizzle sauce. (We sauté garlic for the beef).
PS With a fair few common ingredients, I thought I could make one double-duty sauce. I did try, and it was ok, but it was better making two separate ones with different ratios of each ingredient. So sorry, you need two separate bowls!
For the beef stir fry
All you need for the stir fry part is beef, garlic and onion. The cashews and coriander/cilantro are for sprinkling – and there’s plenty of alternatives.
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Beef mince – Use any fat % you want. The fattier it is, the stronger the beef flavour and the juicier the stir fry.
Other proteins – I haven’t tried but I’m confident this would be very tasty with chicken, turkey and pork. Not convinced lamb works – but I could easily be swayed.
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Garlic and onion – I challenge you to find a stir fry on my website that doesn’t include these!
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Cashews – A good sprinkle of chopped toasted cashews is such a tasty finishing touch! Elevates this from “yum” to “I need seconds!”. Peanuts would work as well, or almonds. For a no nut option, I’d probably opt for crispy fried shallots (buy them).
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Coriander/cilantro – Lovely fresh touch. I use a fair amount because I love the flavour of coriander, it is a Thai food essential! Substitute with green onion.
Rice and vegetable/salad sides
There’s no raw fish in sight, but aside from this it’s a similar concept to a poke bowl. It’s served over rice, it’s got a sauce, and it works with raw or cooked vegetables. The sweet chilli drizzle sauce essentially acts as a salad dressing which means you can literally use any vegetable you want.
It’s pictured throughout this post with cucumbers and red onion tossed with coriander (keeping with the Thai vibes!), but think – blanched broccoli florets, shredded carrot or cabbage, sliced radish, blanched asparagus, finely sliced kale, cherry tomatoes, edamame or peas.
As for the rice – I’ve used jasmine (on-theme for the Thai flavours) though any plain rice or noodles will work. Faux rice, likecauliflower rice, quinoa (cook directions here) or those new fangled low-cal-faux rice options sold at grocery stores these days, can also be used.
How to make it
Don’t skip toasting the cashews. It really goes a long way to enhance the nut flavour!
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Drizzle sauce – Mix the ingredients in a small bowl.
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Stir fry sauce – And mix these ingredients in a separate bowl.
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Toast cashews – Toss the cashews in a dry pan for a few minutes until you can smell them and there’s little golden spots on the cashews.
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Chop – Let them cool then roughly chop them so you have some larger pieces and some “dust”.
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Sauté the onion and garlic for a minute until the onion is almost translucent. (We’re on high heat now, speed is our friend). The onion will cook through more with the beef.
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Beef – Add the beef and cook it, breaking it up as you go, until you can no longer see red. Then add the sauce and keep cooking until the sauce mostly reduces, the beef is sizzling and it gets nice colour on it. Don’t skimp on this step as the caramelisation of the sauce on the beef is where the flavour is! It will take about 2 – 3 minutes on a strong stove, or 3 – 4 minutes on a weaker stove.
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Juicy and tasty! Here’s what it looks like. The beef is a lovely rich brown colour but it’s still “juicy” thanks to the sweet chilli sauce.
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Assemble bowls – Spoon the beef over steaming rice. Pile vegetables of choice on the side (raw or cooked, more on this above), douse with the Drizzle sauce, sprinkle with coriander and cashews. Then it’s dinner time!
Eating etiquette
And finally, a very important matter – the eating etiquette. When it’s first placed in front of you, take a moment to admire it. So pretty and colourful!
Then dive in and mix it all up. Mix with vigour! If you are not flicking cashew bits and rice on the table, are you really living? Embrace the chaos, because the better it’s jumbled, the more enjoyable every single bite will be.
Bring on the delicious mess!! – Nagi x
Thai sweet chilli beef bowls FAQ
Not too much actually! Made it once, found it a bit bland and not enough flavour once jumbled through the rice. So I added the drizzle sauce and that worked a treat. It’s a pretty straightforward recipe compared to some!
This was one of the fastest recipes I’ve created in 2024! As noted above, I made it once, thought it was tasty and I was happy with it. I really liked the versatility ie how you can add any vegetables, raw or fresh, to complete the meal.
So then I made it again to photograph it, and again to film it. So a grand total of 3 times. That’s the minimum for any recipe I share on my website. It’s also a very low risk recipe so I didn’t feel the need to keep making it to improve or solve “problem areas”.
Yes you can! There is enough sauce add a carrot and zucchini, grated and cooked up with the beef.
I haven’t tried but confident it’s great with chicken, turkey and pork. Not sure about lamb, it’s not a very common protein used in Thai cuisine. I could be wrong – drop a note if you try this with lamb!
The recipe will definitely work but I’m not exactly sure about the quantity. The thing is, sliced meats have a lot less surface area than a gazillion little bits of crumbled mince meat so usually, you need less sauce. But sometimes, you need more, to get a nice glaze on the surface!
I fully intend to do a sliced chicken version of this recipe early in 2025, so be patient! 🙂
You sure can! But I’m not exactly sure how much tofu is the right amount for the sauce. You could wing it – just add the sauce bit by bit, and be prepared to mix up more if needed. Remember the drizzle sauce adds extra flavour too.
PS Use firm tofu as it will crumble up like mince. When done right, it’s very tasty! Proof here.
I would not hesitate to serve this over noodles, wrapped in rice paper (rice paper rolls), stuffed into lettuce wraps, roti (think – Asian burritos!) and even in soft white rolls or steamed Asian buns (bao buns!).
I’d even make banh-mi type rolls – stuff the beef into crusty white rolls with shredded or finely sliced vegetables, Asian pickles, and use the drizzle sauce as the Banh Mi sauce. YES! (Suggest using the Chicken Banh Mi for inspiration).
Watch how to make it
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Thai Sweet Chilli Beef Bowls
Prep: 13 minutes
Cook: 7 minutes
Total: 20 minutes
Main
Western
Servings4
Tap or hover to scale
Ingredients
Sweet chilli stir fry sauce:
Sweet chilli drizzle sauce:
Prevent screen from sleeping
Instructions
Abbreviated recipe
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Mix each sauce. Toast cashews, sauté onion + garlic 1 min, then cook beef. Add sauce, cook until reduced/caramelised, serve over rice with veg on side. Spoon over drizzle sauce, top with cashews and coriander.
Full recipe:
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Drizzle sauce – Mix the ingredients in a bowl, set aside.
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Stir fry sauce – Mix the ingredients in a separate bowl, set aside.
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Toast cashews – Heat a large non-stick pan over medium high heat. Add the cashews and toast for 2 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board then roughly chop once cool.
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Cook beef – Heat the oil in the same pan over high heat. Add the garlic and onion, cook for 1 minute. Add the beef and cook, breaking it up as you go, until you no longer see raw meat.
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Sauce it! Add the cooking sauce and cook well, stirring, until it mostly reduces down so the sauce caramelises on the beef, about 3 – 4 minutes. (Don’t shortcut this step, it’s where the flavour is!)
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Serve the beef over rice with a side of veg. Douse everything with the sauce, top with cashews and coriander (fresh chilli wouldn’t go astray either). To eat, jumble everything up then dig in!
Recipe Notes:
2. Fish sauce – It’s stinky in the bottle, but it cooks out so don’t be scared! It’s the secret ingredient that adds more flavour than other salty things like salt, soy etc. If you really have to sub, use all-purpose soy or light soy (NOT dark soy, too intense).
3. Oyster sauce – Similarly stinky (but also sweet), but is a flavour shortcut. Don’t skip it. Sub vegetarian oyster sauce (yes, such a thing exists!).
4. Dark soy sauce gives the beef an enticing deep brown colour as well as adding tasty soy flavour. Substitute with all purpose or light soy sauce, though the beef won’t be as dark. While the flavour will also be a little less, it’s ok here because the drizzle sauce will save it!
5. Veg – The drizzle sauce will make any veg tasty, whether raw (like cucumber pictured, shredded cabbage, carrot, leafy greens, radish) or cooked (just plain steamed or blanched, like broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, peas). Think: poke bowl situation!
6. Leftover beef will keep for 3 to 4 days in the fridge, 3 months in the freezer. Great meal prep if you use steamed veg because everything in the can be reheated (though I wouldn’t keep cooked rice longer than 3 days in fridge). Best to keep the drizzle sauce separate, if you can.
Nutrition per serving, assuming lean beef is used, 1 cup cooked rice, all the drizzle sauce and pictured cucumber side. 206 calories is from the rice, so switch it out with lower cal / lower carb alternatives if you want to reduce the calories (eg cauliflower rice).
Nutrition Information:
Calories: 585cal (29%)Carbohydrates: 62g (21%)Protein: 33g (66%)Fat: 22g (34%)Saturated Fat: 7g (44%)Polyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 81mg (27%)Sodium: 1617mg (70%)Potassium: 657mg (19%)Fiber: 2g (8%)Sugar: 13g (14%)Vitamin A: 24IUVitamin C: 6mg (7%)Calcium: 58mg (6%)Iron: 4mg (22%)
More Asian food made using beef mince
It doesn’t have to be Spag Bol every single night!
Life of Dozer
I should retitle this section “greed of Dozer” because I had to take him into the emergency vet hospital last night after I caught him chowing down fertiliser (which can be toxic to dogs). 🙄 Thankfully, it wasn’t chemical fertiliser (which can be really toxic), “just” chicken poop.
As punishment for his greed, he is reverting to a bland boiled-veg-chicken diet for the next little while, as a precaution. And I’ve publicly shamed him in this home video:
And further shaming in the family WhatsApp thread:
Will report back in a few days but no alarming signs at this stage. Thank you again SASH (Dr Erin!), for treating him!
