With my gluten intolerance, I steer clear of most commercially prepared frozen and boxed dinners because they’re loaded with wheat. The wheat contains the gluten protein that gives my system all kinds of problems. One of the few frozen dinners that I can tolerate and actually like is the Marie Callender’s Asian Beef Pepper Steak. It does have a small amount of gluten, but not enough that it bothers me. It also doesn’t have bell peppers, instead it refers to spicy red pepper. Crazy, I know, but I like the spicy peppers, NOT any form or color of bell peppers!
Asian Pepper Steak Copycat Recipe for Marie Callender’s
Looking for more of my Copycat Recipes? I have quite a few, check them out!
With the rising cost of everything these days, I rarely find the Marie Callender’s Asian Beef Pepper Steak for less than $3 each. I stocked up last week when they were on sale and bought 2 for $5. I had long planned to try and recreate the recipe for myself, but the Asian recipes make me a little more nervous than traditional American recipes.
I ate one of my frozen dinners this week in the name of research. 😉 It had been a while since I had eaten one and I needed to remind myself about the flavors that came through in the sauce. The research wasn’t enough though, so I read the ingredients. I do have a master’s degree in science education, but not a biochemistry degree so the ingredients weren’t perfectly clear to me. I stumbled through a few and decided that I was going to use my clear duck sauce and soy sauce. It was a wise combination!
Although I was creating my own recipe based on the original Marie Callender’s Asian Beef Pepper Steak, I was bright enough not to try and recreate the wheel. 😉 I bought fajita meat and matchstick carrots. Both of these are a tremendous time and energy saver for me. MS has robbed me of much of my upper body strength, so these little things are HUGE for me!
Overall, I was quite pleased with the result of my attempt at creating a copycat recipe for Marie Callender’s Asian Beef Pepper Steak. My measurements are estimates. You may need to adjust the measurements based on your personal preferences and needs.
Let me know if you try my copycat recipe of Marie Callender’s Asian Beef Pepper Steak and let me know what you think.
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 5 servings
Serving size: about 2 cups
- 1¾ c. parboiled (Uncle Ben's) rice
- 3½ c. water
- 3 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 - 1½ pounds fajita steak
- 1 med. yellow or white 87onion
- 5 oz. matchstick cut carrots (julienne)
- 2-3 Tbsp flour [(Gluten-Free Flour Blend)|http://dealsfrommsdo.com/gluten-free-substitute-for-all-purpose-flour/}
- ⅓ - ⅔ c. (clear) duck sauce
- ⅓ - ⅔ c. soy sauce
- onion salt or powder
- garlic powder
- red pepper flakes (optional)
- ½ pack green onions
- Pour rice and water into microwave safe (CorningWare dish). Microwave about 17-20 minutes while preparing the rest of the dish. Prepare rice on the stove top if you wish.
- Peel and cut yellow onion into bite-size pieces.
- Wash and clean any "bad" spots on the green onions. Cut into ½" pieces or less.
- Cut fajita strips into smaller, bite-size pieces. Cut the meat last to avoid needing a separate cutting board for raw vegetables.
- Add olive oil to cover the bottom of a heavy, nonstick skillet. Heat oil.
- Heavily season with garlic powder and onion salt or powder.
- Add the seasoned meat to the hot oil and brown.
- When browning is nearly finished, add onion and brown well.
- Add carrots to the skillet and heat. Most of the carrot cooking will be done when reheating later.
- When everything is sufficiently browned, sprinkle flour over the top. Stir to distribute the flour throughout.
- Add duck, soy sauce, and water to create the brown sauce. Add red pepper flakes, if desired.
- Add water to thin sauce or to create additional sauce. Taste the sauce and adjust the amount of ducks sauce and/or soy sauce that tastes right to you.
- BEEP! The microwave rice should be cooked and ready to portion. Divide the cooked rice as evenly as possible into five freezer style containers.
- Top with the meat sauce mixture.
- Garnish with green onions.
- The final result? YUMMY! Even the pictures look the nearly the same!
- Allow to cool. Freeze and reheat as needed. Reheating time may vary depending on microwave and container used.
that looks to good!!! yummy
I love how measurements are estimated. I am TERRIBLE about measuring anything so telling anyone my recipe is always so hard!