Chinese Pepper Steak

Chinese pepper steak and onions in a pressure cooker is packed with flavor and perfect for dinner tonight. Throw it into your Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi for a healthy meal this week. 

Do you love pepper steak at restaurants? Well this pressure cooker Chinese pepper steak is really easy to make and done in NO time at all. There’s nothing like making a healthy Instant Pot recipe in under 30 minutes that your whole family will enjoy.

What do you Need to Make Chinese Pepper Steak?

This dish makes your strips of pressure cooker steak tender and packed with flavor. There are lots of bell peppers that are red but you could use any colors you want. If I find these on sale I will buy a bunch to make this and a batch of green pepper jelly too.

You can really load up the veggies with this one. They get nice and tender in no time at all. Make it as spicy as you like or leave it on the milder side with seasonings like dry Sriracha, red pepper flakes or diced roasted jalapenos. Served over white rice it is a family favorite dish with a quick cooking time.

Ingredient Notes

Vegetable oil we used here in order to saute the meat just so the outsides are golden brown and no longer pink. This will help lock the juices in when it is pressure cooked.

Then you need to choose your cut of meat. Skirt steak, flank steak, or sliced thin boneless beef round beef strips work well for this.

Minced garlic and salt and Black pepper, or Szechuan pepper diced very small is used as far as the seasonings go.

Hoisin sauce gives it the salty brown sugar flavor for the sauce. If you have never had this it is like a thick paste of sorts. It is sweeter than soy sauce but has that sort of taste to it, popular in Asian cuisine.

And then let’s talk about the vegetables we used in this one. Diced Roma tomato are a great add in. And then you should use lots of bed bell peppers, cut in strips, onions and green peppers work too.

Cornstarch is used to thicken the sauce to your liking. Realize that as it sits and cools it will continue to get thicker so use cautiously. You will thin this out and add some cold water or beef broth (has more flavor to it). Serve with pressure cooker quinoa or Ninja Foodi rice when done.

What meat should you use for pepper steak?

Flank steak or skirt steak are the best options as they are marbled and get more tender the longer they are cooked. We use the same to make this or our Slow Cooker Pepper Steak with onions.

Substitutions

You can make this as Ninja Foodi recipes too. Any brand will work as long as it has the high pressure function. A bit of sesame oil will add more Asian flavors. Canned diced tomatoes work instead of fresh. Any color peppers work, slicing thick will maintain the texture so they don’t fall apart.

Cooking Tips

You could put the pepper steak recipe meats and marinade in a freezer bag and put into the fridge overnight too if you wanted. I will do this with our beef and broccoli to create really bold flavors.

You can use a bottled sauce like our Instant Pot teriyaki chicken but a homemade blend is quite simple and you can adjust how spicy you want it that way too. Remember to cook on high with a natural release just for a few minutes with a quick release after that to achieve the perfect tenderness for the beef and peppers.

If you love this one, try our hoisin chicken which has some of the same flavors. Instant Pot sausage and peppers with onions is so easy, cheap and healthy.

What is Chinese pepper?

Sichuan pepper is a spice in Chinese cuisine that is commonly used in the Sichuan cuisine The pericarp is most often used. The leaves of various species are also used in some regions of China.  You can use regular pepper if you prefer.