Quick and Easy Beef Skillet with Onions and Peppers

This quick, easy-to-prepare, and flavorful beef skillet recipe has been a staple in our weekly meal rotation for several years. It’s one of our favorite ways to enjoy tender beef without the expense of steak.

This dish bursts with flavor, can be prepared in under 30 minutes, and is packed with nutrients. Its versatility is a huge plus—it pairs beautifully with rice, tortillas, flatbreads, or just a simple green salad for a low-carb option.

Sharing Our Family Favorite

After enjoying this dish consistently for the past three years, I’m excited to finally share this recipe with you. It has become our preferred method to incorporate grass-fed beef into our diet, offering a more budget-friendly alternative to steak, which is almost twice as expensive at our local grocery store.

Plus, it’s adaptable for year-round enjoyment—perfect on the grill during summer or on the stovetop in colder months (in the winter months, we might skip the peppers). The marinade infuses the beef with a tender and rich flavor that is simply irresistible.

Culinary Inspiration

The concept for this dish was inspired by fajita-style meals—a sizzling mix of beef with onions and peppers, which are favorites for both my husband and me.

Adapting to Dietary Needs

Red peppers, while nutritious, belong to the nightshade family and can be inflammatory for some. To mitigate this, you can deseed and peel the peppers, which helps remove some of the anti-nutrients, such as lectins. This is easily accomplished with a vegetable peeler.

If you find that red peppers still don’t agree with your diet, feel free to omit them—as well as the paprika. The combination of onions and beef alone still creates a delicious and flavorful dish.

Read This Before You Start

Preparing this Beef Skillet with Onions and Red Pepper is quick and straightforward, but it does require a bit of advance planning.

To ensure the best flavor, marinate the meat for at least six hours before cooking. The marinade itself is quick to make, requiring just about 10 minutes, clean-up included.

Cooking this dish takes less than 30 minutes, but the process moves quickly. To facilitate a smooth cooking experience, prepare all your ingredients and any side dishes ahead of time. We recommend setting the table and having sides ready to go, so you can serve the dish hot off the stove.

Cookware and Cooking Method

This meal can be cooked in two ways: on a stovetop or on a grill outdoors. Regardless of the method, a heavy steel skillet is essential.

For grilling, we prefer to use a coated cast iron skillet from Le Creuset (similar to this one), originally designed as a pizza pan but excellent for this type of dish. For indoor cooking, an All-Clad stainless steel sauté pan works fine for us. Check out this article for my favorite kitchen tools for healthy cooking.

Choosing the Right Meat

Our local grocer offers thinly sliced, local grass-fed top round, ideal for quick cooking. This cut is excellent for dishes like this where the meat needs to cook rapidly. Consult your butcher for similar cuts suitable for fajita or taco-style dishes; sirloin is another great option.

In our experience, this cut offers a flavorful and tender alternative to more expensive cuts like ribeye steak, often at half the price.

The Spices

After experimenting with various spice blends, I’ve settled on a favorite: Ras al Hanout, with a few personal additions.

This Moroccan-inspired spice mix, whose name translates to “Top of the Shelf,” includes the best spices available in a grocer’s shop. It’s perfect for adding depth to Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, or North African dishes.

Always opt for high-quality Ras al Hanout without fillers, additives, or oils. Just note that this spice mix is not always made of the same spices. The brand I use contains turmeric, nutmeg, cinnamon, black pepper, fennel seeds, cloves, bay leaves, ginger, chili, rose petals, and lavender.

Some Ras Al Hanout mixes are spicy, so the final dish will come out with a bit of a kick.

Ingredients to Make This Beef Skillet Recipe

Main Ingredients

• 1 lb (400g) thin-sliced beef (top round or sirloin)
• 3 large onions, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and peeled

For the Marinade

• 2 tablespoons coconut aminos
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus another for cooking (avocado oil is good too)
• 1 teaspoon Mirin (Japanese rice cooking wine)
• 1 teaspoon Ras al Hanout spice mix
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon tapioca starch

How to Make the Beef Skillet with Onions and Red Pepper

Prepare the Marinade

• In a small bowl, combine Ras al Hanout, garlic powder, black pepper, cumin, paprika, coriander, and tapioca starch.
• Place the beef in a glass container with a lid. Pour coconut aminos, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and mirin over the beef. Sprinkle the mixed dry spices over the meat. Toss well to ensure the beef is evenly coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

Prepare Vegetables

• Half an hour before cooking, remove the beef from the refrigerator.
• Slice onions along the grain and toss them in a bowl with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
• Peel the red bell pepper with a vegetable peeler and slice it into strips. (Optional: Skip peeling if you are not sensitive to lectins or nightshade vegetables.)

Cook the Dish

• Heat a large heavy-duty skillet (cast iron for grilling or stainless steel for stovetop) over medium-high heat.
• Once hot, add the onions and cook, tossing occasionally, until they begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Be careful not to overcook.
• Add the pepper strips, toss, and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
• Add the marinated beef to the skillet. Cook on high heat, tossing frequently, for 1-2 minutes until the beef is just sealed and cooked through. Avoid overcooking to maintain tenderness.

How to Serve this Beef Skillet Dish

Transfer the beef and vegetables to a serving bowl and serve immediately while hot. Since the marinade has no salt (other than what’s in the coconut aminos), I love to sprinkle it with finishing salt (like sea salt flakes) to taste. Serve immediately with a green salad, tabbouleh, rice, or mashed vegetables.

These quantities can serve two generous portions or four smaller ones, depending on the macros needed for each person and the side dishes served.

The nutritional value below the recipe card is calculated based on two servings.

If you have any leftovers, store them in the refrigerator and reheat them for a quick lunch the next day.

We hope you enjoy this beef skillet with onions and red peppers as much as we do!

For another easy and nutritious beef recipe, check out our Ground Beef Taco Meat.

*This post contains affiliated links, which means I get a small commission if you choose to purchase something via one of my links, at no extra cost to you.

Print Recipe

Quick and Easy Beef Skillet with Onions and Peppers

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By Claudia Curici, Health Coach – Serves: 4

Prep Time: 20 minutes – Cooking Time: 10 minutes

This quick, easy-to-prepare, and flavorful beef skillet recipe has been a staple in our weekly meal rotation for several years. It's one of our favorite ways to enjoy tender beef without the expense of steak. This dish bursts with flavor, can be prepared in under 30 minutes, and is packed with nutrients. Its versatility is a huge plus—it pairs beautifully with rice, tortillas, flatbreads, or just a simple green salad for a low-carb option.

Ingredients

• MAIN INGREDIENTS
• 1 lb (400g) thin-sliced beef (top round or sirloin)
• 3 large onions, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and peeled
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil for cooking
• FOR THE MARINADE
• 2 tablespoons coconut aminos
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (or avocado oil)
• 1 teaspoon mirin
• 1 teaspoon Ras al Hanout spice mix
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon tapioca starch

Instructions

1

In a small bowl, combine Ras al Hanout, garlic powder, black pepper, cumin, paprika, coriander, and tapioca starch.

2

Place the beef in a glass container with a lid. Pour coconut aminos, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and mirin over the beef. Sprinkle the mixed dry spices over the meat. Toss well to ensure the beef is evenly coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

3

Half an hour before cooking, remove the beef from the refrigerator.

4

Slice onions along the grain and toss them in a bowl with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

5

Peel the red bell pepper with a vegetable peeler and slice into strips. (Optional: Skip peeling if not sensitive to lectins or nightshade vegetables.)

6

Heat a large heavy-duty skillet (cast iron for grilling or stainless steel for stovetop) over medium-high heat.

7

Once hot, add the onions and cook, tossing occasionally, until they begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Be careful not to overcook.

8

Add the pepper strips, toss, and cook for an additional 2 minutes.

9

Add the marinated beef to the skillet. Cook on high heat, tossing frequently, for 1-2 minutes until the beef is just sealed and cooked through. Avoid overcooking to maintain tenderness.

10

Transfer the beef and vegetables to a serving bowl. Sprinkle with finishing salt to taste (the recipe doesn't have salt as the coconut aminos provide most of it; I like to taste and finish seasoning just before serving).

11

Serve immediately with a green salad, tabbouleh, rice, or mashed vegetables.

Notes

Additional information about ingredients, tools, and cooking methods is provided in the post above the recipe card.