Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay

Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay

I’ve seen quite a few versions of Stir-Fried Beef & Potatoes and quite a few photos, and this recipe for my version, Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay seems to be different. It’s how the Chef at my favorite Vietnamese restaurant in the Twin Cities makes their Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes and it is utterly crave-worthy!

Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay

Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay


 

It’s easy to get a little confused with the history of some of the Asian dishes. It seems every region has its own spin…and that’s before we get to Asian/English, Asian/Island or Asian/American dishes! But Vietnamese dishes always seem to be unique in that some are heavily influenced by the decades of French rule. I think this might be one. Regardless, c’mon! Potato Chips & Beef and that lovely sauce! Who could resist?

About Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay:

Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay is it is the last thing I would think to order at a Vietnamese restaurant. It was my son who got it and gave me a taste and I was hooked! I was like snitching from his plate and he was like (in that annoying way that turns the word into two syllables) Mo-om! I can hardly tell you how much I love this dish. Crave is probably a better word… and so I knew I was going to have to make a home version. I figured this would be a great recipe to post out because I think it’s the kind of Asian dish that everyone from small children on up would fall in love with, too.

The Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay itself just seems so simple but all the flavors come together in a magical alchemy. Thinly sliced, flavorful beef, crisp/tender onions, and those potatoes – they’re crispy and delish and just glazed with the sauce. At my fave restaurant, those potatoes aren’t potatoes cut like hash browns, which is the version I most often see, or served over French fries like a marvelous Asian version of poutine. Nope, they’re thick potato chips. And when those potato chips mix with the sauce it’s out of this world delish.

Of course, there’s usually rice served alongside, which I usually just ignore unless there’s a lot of sauce. And I don’t want to waste a single drop of that sauce! Usually, I just attack the dish by eating all the crispy potatoes first, then move on to the beef and onions lurking below, along with any potatoes that have slid down into the depths of the dish and absorbed that sauce. (The rice in the pics is my favorite, Perfect Instant Pot Rice. The Instant Pot Rice is great when you’re focusing on the main part of the meal. Set it, and forget it!)

Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay – Stir Fry the beef & onions first, then add the potatoes

Making Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay:

Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay is deceptively simple considering the amount of flavor. There aren’t a lot of fancy ingredients; the sauce just has a handful of things, but one is Oyster sauce. That might not be available everywhere, and if it isn’t, just use a little Hoisin sauce, instead. You’ll want to marinate the beef for about an hour if you can. The potatoes in this dish are thin potato slices that are deep fried, but if you’d rather, use chunks of potatoes and skillet fry. Honestly, both have their drawbacks in terms of effort and time, but I think it’s easier to deep fry the potatoes than tend chunks of potatoes in a pan and I love the results.

The beef is thinly sliced, and that’s easiest to do with a very sharp knife, so sharpen your knife before you attempt that! If you toss your beef in the freezer for about 20 minutes before cutting, it makes it easier. Sometimes expensive cuts like filet or rib roast are used in Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay. I just use round, thinly sliced against the grain and don’t overcook it and it’s perfectly tender.

It seems like most restaurants that serve Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay are quite a bit heavier on the potatoes and onions and lighter on the beef. The restaurant I love gives me about five or six strips of beef in a huge portion. Many home versions call for a pound of beef, so how much you use is up to you. I like a ratio of about 12 ounces of beef to one onion and 2 medium-largish potatoes. You absolutely can tinker with the ratios and make it to suit yourself and your budget.

Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay

Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay – Stir Fry the beef & onions first, then add the potatoes

The Potatoes for Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay:

If you have a mandolin, some kind of cutter or food processor, it’s easy to cut the chips for this dish. Mine were actually just a bit thinner than my fave restaurant version so I’d go just a bit thicker in the future. Honestly, if you don’t have any kitchen equipment to help out and unless you’re determined to have your chips like potato chips, it’s still going to be great if you use chunks of potato about the size of a hash brown.

I usually twice fry my potato chips like this recipe for Best Potato Chips, but this time I borrowed a little trick I learned years ago from Cook’s Illustrated. I twice cook the potatoes. After they’re cut and rinsed off, put them in a microwave safe bowl, add more water, cover tightly with plastic wrap and nuke for a few minutes or until the very edges have turned a bit translucent but the potatoes aren’t cooked through. Watch and check them – they’re thin and should not be cooked through and if you go too far you won’t be able to fry them. Then I drain and pat dry so have about 4 clean kitchen towels and space for them on your counter. It’s an amazing trick that will make any French fry or hash brown or potato chip turn out just like a restaurant version without the hassle of twice-frying.

Note: A very smart friend & blogger (Cooking is Fun…Really!) suggested in the comments below that a good quality bagged potato chip can be used if you’d like to shortcut this recipe. If you aren’t going to be eating the full amount of the Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay at one sitting, you can make all the chips up and set some of them aside and toss them in when you reheat the leftovers.

Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay

Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay

Saving Money on Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay:

So many Asian dishes are light, full of veggies and absolutely healthy (It’s the way we cook “Asian” food in the US that gives it a bad rap. Piles of delicious meat, fried and then cooked in heavy sweet sauces. They’re hard to resist!) but I’m not sure that Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay qualifies as healthy! Even with the fried potatoes, though, I think it’s better for you that some of those sticky sweet concoctions that can use up to a cup of sugar and you might find your family loves it even more. And there’s a bit of a balance, cost wise. Potatoes and onions are always dirt cheap so they stretch that pricier beef.

Because I want to tinker around with making a roast, I just picked up a sales priced one and sliced the beef for my Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay off the edge. It’s actually a great strategy to take one pricier item and stretch it across more than one meal. I usually do that with leftovers but today I did that division up front. Look for beef to be at a low in the fall and around any holiday when beef is often the star, like Christmas, New Years or Valentine’s day. You’ll find the pricier cuts on sale and usually find the cheaper cuts at a low, often the following week. There’s only so many Filets and Rib Eyes and something has to be done with the lesser cuts so they get priced to move. Stock up your freezer!

I buy potatoes and onions in larger bags and store them apart, usually in paper grocery bags with the top folded over. With potatoes, buy the big bags if you’ll use them, and since they’re generally a variety of sizes, use the nice, large ones for bakers or when size matters and the smaller ones in recipes where it doesn’t. When I fry, I generally use a smaller diameter pan with tall sides – that makes it easy to use less oil. Then I strain and save the oil for another dish.

Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay

Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay

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Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay

  • Author: mollie
  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10
  • Total Time: 49 minutes + marinade
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x
  • Category: Beef Main Dish
  • Cuisine: Vietnamese

Ingredients

Scale

Beef & Marinade

  • 12 to 16 ounces (1 pound beef) round preferred, thinly sliced against the grain into strips about 1/4″ by 1/2″ by 4″
  • 1 tablespoon oyster sauce or hoisin
  • 1 teaspoon fish sauce
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • 3/4 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

The Potatoes & Finishing the Dish:

  • 2 medium-largish potatoes (scrubbed and unpeeled is fine)
  • oil, enough for a depth of about 3 to 4 inches in pan
  • salt to taste
  • Oil for stir-frying, about 2 tablespoons
  • 1 onion sliced in about 1/3” widths, pole to pole
  • 2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • fish sauce to taste, a teaspoon and up to a tablespoon
  • 2 green onions, thinly sliced for garnish
  • Rice for serving

Instructions

Beef & Marinade

Mix together beef and marinade ingredients. Set aside for one hour.

The Potatoes & Finishing the Dish:

Thinly slice potatoes into rounds the thickness of thick potato chips. Add potatoes as they’re sliced into a microwave-safe bowl filled with water. Swish potatoes around, then strain and discard water. Put potatoes back into the bowl, add water to cover, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and microwave for about five to six minutes or until potatoes are turning translucent on the edges. Remove, drain, then lay potatoes out on a thick, clean towels, cover with another and press to remove excess moister.

When ready to cook, heat oil to 350 degrees f. Fry potatoes in batches until golden brown, stirring now and then so potatoes will curl a bit, then when done, remove to a paper towel lined sheet tray, salt lightly.

In the meantime add oil to a large skillet. Heat to medium-high and add onions, cooking, stirring now and then until golden brown in spots and still crisp-tender. Add garlic and cook for a few seconds. Push aside and add beef to the center of pan. Spread it out and let the beef sit for a minute or two until it releases, then stir together and cook, stirring as needed, until just barely cooked through. Immediately add the water, soy and fish sauce, stir, briefly heat through and remove from heat. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding salt, pepper, more fish sauce or soy sauce or a pinch or two of sugar if desired.

Place the potatoes on top of the hot beef mixture and gently toss together. Serve immediately. If there is going to be a delay in serving, hold the beef mixture and potatoes separately then combine when ready to serve.

Garnish with green onion and serve with rice, if desired.

Keywords: Asian, Bargain Meal of the Week, Beef, potato chips, Potatoes, Round Steak, Vietnamese

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I’ll be sharing Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay at Fiesta Friday #248. Our co-hosts this week are Judi @ cookingwithauntjuju.com and Alex @ Turks Who Eat.

 

I came across a photo of Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay from my fave restaurant on Yelp.

Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay

Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay, a photo from Yelp

Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay is so delish and your whole family will fall in love. Simple ingredients, Complex taste! #Beef&PotatoStirFry #VietnamesBeefPotato #Vietnamese #BoXaoKhoaiTay

35 thoughts on “Vietnamese Beef & Potatoes Bo Xao Khoai Tay

  1. Jen

    Thank you for the great recipe! Steak and chips (or steak and potatoes) was one of my favorite dishes before having to go gluten free. We would actually eat this as an appetizer. This was really easy to sub out to make it gluten free with tamari and gluten free hoisin sauce. I cut my potatoes a little too thick (2 on my mandolin with 5 sizes). The place I got it from also in the cities had a thicker sauce that clung on to the chips so next time I might add a little cornstarch to see if I can get the consistency like from where I used to get it. The flavors were spot on!!! My husband gave it a 9 and he had it as carry out two weeks ago 🙂

    • FrugalHausfrau

      Hi Jen! I’ve only had the sauce thin like this, almost a glaze! Since I’m in the cities, too, I’m wondering where your restaurant is? Feel free to give them a shout out!! If they’re open, ya gotta know I’m going to try it as take out, lol! And thanks for stopping by – I think a 9 is pretty great praise for the first time making it, especially since it was a little different than you’re used to! I hope you have a wonderful “new normal” weekend and stay safe!

      Mollie

  2. Jason G

    Really glad I found this recipe on your site. I’ve been eating this for lunch for years at a little Vietnamese restaurant in Eden Prairie, but I don’t work nearby anymore and I haven’t found it anywhere else (yet). I am certainly willing to give it a try myself.

    • FrugalHausfrau

      Hi Jason! Thanks for stopping and commenting. You are a kindred spirit then! I hope you’ll give it a try, and if you do, check back and let me know how it compares to your fave restaurant version! Can I ask what restaurant in Eden Prairie has it? The restaurant in my area is in Woodbury, A big shout out to Ducs!! I love that place:: http://www.ducsrestaurants.com/

      • Danielle Olson

        also, what type of beef round do you suggest? top? bottom? eye? where does one find fish sauce? does it make that big of a difference if i skip it? idk if that sounds too appealing

        • FrugalHausfrau

          Hi Danielle,I like round because I think the beef tastes great with the slightly chewy texture but you could use sirloin, which might be more tender. Cut across the grain thinly. It helps to freeze it for about 20 minutes.

          I always say don’t fear the fish sauce! It adds a great umami flavor and it doesn’t smell or taste so good on it’s own but really is a key component of the dish It’s not pricey and you can find it in most Asian aisles of the supermarket. It’s a key ingredient for many Vietnamese dishes. If you can’t get it, you could try tossing in a tablespoon or so of hoisin sauce or a little less of oyster sauce.

          I hope that helps! Enjoy! 🙂

    • Danielle Olson

      oh my gosh!! I stumbled across this recipe because my fiance can’t get me Beef and Potato’s from Edens Restaurant in EP today. 🙁 I too use to work near there about 5 years ago. I’ve craved their beef and potatoes so bad for so long. I’m super bummed my fiance forgot today. Its hard to get there seeing as their only open during the week and for limited hours. I hope n pray this recipe does Eden’s Restaurant’s b&p justice!!! I’m nervous it wont taste the same but I’m definitely willing to try it!

      • FrugalHausfrau

        I so hope it lives up to your expectations! I’m sure every restaurant has their own way with the dish and I know exactly what you mean…when you have something and fall in love with it, no substitution will do and any difference is just wrong!! That’s how I feel about this dish, so I’m hoping you’ll like it, too! 🙂

        Mollie

        • olsond1

          We shall see! I’m making it tonight. the meat is marinating right now!! 🙂 I’m super excited. However, after reading your other comment, I’m pretty sure I cut the meat wrong. It should still taste the same right? haha I hope. I also couldnt find just round beef. I got the thin cut bottom beef round or maybe it was top? I cant remember now. I dont know much about the different cuts so hopefully this is ok. ill report back once its done.

          • FrugalHausfrau

            The way it’s cut can make the meat chewier or easier to chew. You’ll almost always cut against the grain of the meat for just about any recipe I can think of. I’ll look forward to hearing how it turned out for you & how you (hopefully~) liked it!

            Mollie

        • FrugalHausfrau

          Thanks so much for letting me know I’m in Georgia right now but next time I’m in the Twin Cities you know where I’m going. 🙂

  3. Seriously, Asian poutine?! Is that a promise?! 😄 I just LOVE the sound of this dish! I’ve never had it or come across it in the restaurants, or maybe I just don’t pay enough attention and keep ordering the same things. I’m soooo…hungry!

    • FrugalHausfrau

      lol! I tend to always order the same thing, so it’s fun to go out with different people, like my son, who turned me on to this!! And yes, this can be served over French Fries instead of made with chips or fried potatoes. The world is a wonderous place,lol!!

  4. TurksWhoEat

    I definitely don’t know as much about Vietnamese food as I would like to, but this post opened my eyes to a dish I have never heard of before and that makes me so happy! Thanks so much for sharing at FF!

  5. This is a first for me – potato chips in an Asian recipe! I know I would love the crunch but not if the chips got soggy. I think the trend is to make a dish any way you want – there are no rules whether it is authentic or not. I might be tempted to buy a bag of chips as I wouldn’t feel so guilty eating them (I could buy low-fat, salt free, etc.) 🙂 Happy Fiesta Friday and thanks for coming to the party…

    • FrugalHausfrau

      Judi, it is truly wonderful! It’s really an amazing dish. Vietnam has a history that’s pretty unique, remember it was a French territory for a long time. The baguette in Bahn mi, Pho comes from pot au feu, and there’s the Vietnamese coffee, and their deep fried or sauteed potatoes (they call potatoes locally known as “khoai tây”, which translates to “western root” or“French tuber” are just a few of their dishes all heavily influenced by the French. The French also have a history of using “potato chips” to cover certain dishes. Fish comes to mind. So maybe the potato chip flair comes from that, too.

      The owner of the restaurant was born in Vietnam and his mother and grandparents both owned noodle shops there. His spin of using the thinly sliced potatoes like potato chips might or not be “authentic.” That’s a word I try to never use, coz really, what’s authentic? I’ve never asked the chef. But the deep fried or sauteed potatoes is a traditional dish, on their own or with beef or chicken, it’s just usually (I think) cooked with potato chunks rather than thinly sliced. I’ll have to try the dish with something maybe like a commercial thicker kettle chip, maybe they could be heated up first. It sure would be easier. 🙂 I’m just not sure if it would be as good!

      • Thanks for the “history lesson”. Don’t get me wrong because I love, love, love potatoes. I allow myself to eat potatoes, but never chips anymore 🙁 Funny, I don’t like authentic either but just as soon as I change some ingredient or add something different a blogger wants to comment on it. I do love your recipe a lot, lot, lot Mollie 🙂

        • FrugalHausfrau

          I go on too much sometimes, lol! And thanks, that means a lot!! One of the things I love about food is how it morphs from area to area. 🙂

  6. It looks like a tasty dish but I have to confess that I would BUY a bag of thick cut potato chips and use those rather than go to all the work of slicing, microwaving/blanching, drying and frying. 🙂

  7. I think ut is such a satisfactory dish. Lot of carbs. I make a indian parsi dish similar to this, except instead of the beef, put eggs on the top of the fried potatoes and onions. Love the microwave tip. Thanks.

    • FrugalHausfrau

      Oh that sounds fun. too! I used to be a bit queasy about eggs, but not anymore! Now I think of that runny yolk kind of like a sauce!

  8. This looks fabulous! So interesting about using potato chips. I remember, in 1983, when I had my first daughter, someone brought me a tuna casserole topped with potato chips. I almost died. My husband loved it. I had none. Back then I was still learning about what people ate! But I have to say that if I has to pick a fun “cheat” food, it would be potato chips!

    • FrugalHausfrau

      Oh my Mom would make that back in the 60’s! Of course, we were in Iowa and Catholic and back then there was fasting both Advent and Lent. I’ve had horrible renditions of that casserole when I was growing up. Everyone made it I think! It was probably my most hated dish, the other was that casserole with ground beef, canned beans, cream of mushroom soup topped with tater tots. The only part I liked was the top half of the tater tot, lol!!

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