The perfect rice companion, Easy Mexican Beef Tips feature tender chunks of garlicky beef swimming in an earthy tomato sauce. The perfect hearty meal that comes together quickly and easily.
Who doesn’t love a hearty - yet flavorful! - one-pot recipe that you can just spoon over rice? Easy Mexican Beef Tips is very much that recipe. We’re talking tender chunks of beef simmered in an earthy and acidic tomato sauce, laid to rest atop a lovely bed of rice that’s perfect for soaking up every juicy drop.
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If you are unfamiliar with beef tips, check out “What are beef tips?” below before you venture out to the grocery store. Otherwise, you’ll waste a lot of time in the meat section looking for a package of meat that doesn’t exist under the label of “beef tips.”
What are beef tips?
Beef tips or steak tips are “cubes” of beef most often cut from sirloin. Technically beef tips can be made from any part of the cow, BUT you definitely want to use a tender cut for this recipe. I usually opt for sirloin and then cut them into cubes myself, but you can also use ribeye, flank steak, and tenderloin. How much you’re willing to pay might also be a factor as prices for various cuts vary.
My advice? Splurge a few extra bucks on a nicer cut of beef so you get tender results.
Ingredients for Easy Mexican Beef Tips
I recommend giving the beef tips at least 1-2 hours to marinade before cooking. Okay to prepare the night before if you’re really on top of your dinner game (up to 24 hours in advance). For this Mexican Beef Tips recipe you will need the following ingredients.
Ingredients for the Marinade
- 1 pound beef tips (cut into cubes from sirloin or similar tender cut)
- 2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
- 2 large garlic cloves, finely minced
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Ingredients for the Beef Tips & Sauce
- 1 15-ounce can of chili-ready tomatoes
- 2 large garlic cloves
- ½ cup diced yellow onion
- ½ cup diced green bell pepper (or jalapeno if you want it spicier)
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ⅓ teaspoon paprika
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 3-4 cups of cooked rice
Instructions
For the Marinade
Add olive or vegetable oil, minced garlic cloves, and salt and pepper to a quart-sized Ziploc bag. Add in the beef tips next and seal the bag, removing as much air as possible. Massage the beef tips through the bag to ensure the marinade evenly coats each chunk of beef. Refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours, up to 24 hours.
For Cooking
Heat a deep sided pan, like a brasier, over medium heat. Once hot, add the marinaded beef tips.
Cook over medium heat for around 8 minutes, turning the beef tips every few minutes to cook all of the sides. You don’t necessarily need to cook them through at this point as they will finish cooking in the sauce.
Once all the sides of the beef tips have been browned, remove from pan. Leave the beef juice in the pan. Add the diced yellow onion and green bell pepper, cooking over medium heat for 3-4 minutes stirring occasionally.
Add the minced garlic and cook for an additional 45 seconds.
Add the chili ready tomatoes, cumin, and paprika and stir to combine. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, then add the beef tips back in.
Stir to coat the beef tips in the tomato sauce, then put a lid on it. Simmer for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Note: While the beef tips are searing, I like to start the rice. Use whatever rice you’d like. I really like basmati rice. If you do too, check out this Instant Pot Basmati Rice recipe.
Serve over a bed of rice!
Substitutions
- Chili ready tomatoes - chili ready tomatoes are a thick tomato sauce with a little crushed tomato texture. You can use a canned smooth tomato sauce or diced tomatoes if you prefer. When subbing in crushed tomatoes, I prefer to hit them with a stick blender before adding to get a smoother consistency.
- Yellow onion - white onion is perfectly fine to use as well.
- Green bell pepper - you can use other colors if you’d prefer, red, yellow, orange, all are welcome! Or if you want it spicy, skip the bell pepper and use a jalapeno or other spicy pepper.
Spicy Easy Mexican Beef Tips Variation
Give this Easy Mexcian Beef Tips recipe some heat with the following suggested additions:
- Add in a diced jalapeno, serrano, or other hot pepper
- Add in a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce, like Tabasco
- Add in a few dashes of cayenne pepper
- Replace the paprika with hot Hungarian paprika
- Stir in a spoonful of jarred Calabrian chili or Harissa
Frequently Asked Questions
Nope, sorry! It’s tempting to buy stew meat because it comes packaged already cut up into neat little cubes, but it’s just too tough for this recipe. If you really want to use stew meat for this Easy Mexican Beef Tips recipe because dang they are reasonably priced, I feel you. If you want to use them, I would recommend hitting the stew meat with the marinade, then slow cooking until tender. Once tender, simply add the stew meat to the tomato sauce goodness and serve.
If your cut of meat wasn’t as tender as you expected (don’t worry, it happens), I recommend cooking it longer over a gentle simmer (medium-low heat). This could mean simply cooking for an additional 5-10 minutes, or you may wind up cooking an additional 30. If you need to cook it for much longer, you can add a little chicken stock or water to keep the sauce from thickening too much.
I love basmati rice, but use what you like! Jasmine, arborio, and any short grain or brown rice would work well here.
Nope! You could also use pasta - orzo would be great here since it looks similar to rice. You could also just pair it with a carb of choice, using bread to sop up the tomato sauce. Or experiment with different grains like quinoa or farro or try it atop lentils.
Equipment
Deep sided pan, like a brasier
Storage
Store leftover Mexican Beef Tips in a lidded container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
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Easy Mexican Beef Tips
Equipment
- 1 brasier
Ingredients
Beef Tip Marinade
Beef Tips and Sauce
- 1 15 ounce can chili ready tomatoes
- 2 large garlic cloves (finely minced)
- ½ cup diced yellow onion
- ½ cup diced green bell pepper (or jalapeno if you want it spicier)
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ⅓ teaspoon paprika
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 3-4 cups cooked rice (for serving)
Instructions
For the Marinade
- Add olive or vegetable oil, minced garlic cloves, and salt and pepper to a quart-sized Ziploc bag. Add in the beef tips next and seal the bag, removing as much air as possible. Massage the beef tips through the bag to ensure the marinade evenly coats each chunk of beef. Refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours, up to 24 hours.
For Cooking
- Remove beef tips from refrigerator 15 minutes before cooking.
- Heat a deep sided pan, like a brasier, over medium heat. Once hot, add the marinaded beef tips.
- Cook over medium heat for around 8-10 minutes, turning the beef tips every few minutes to cook all of the sides. You don’t necessarily need to cook them through at this point as they will finish cooking in the sauce.
- Once all the sides of the beef tips have been browned, remove from pan. Leave the beef juice in the pan.
- Add the diced yellow onion and green bell pepper, cooking over medium heat for 3-4 minutes stirring occasionally.
- Add the minced garlic and cook for an additional 45 seconds.
- Add the chili ready tomatoes, cumin, and paprika and stir to combine.
- Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, then add the beef tips back in. Stir to coat the beef tips in the tomato sauce, then put a lid on it.
- Simmer for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove from heat and serve hot over a bed of rice.
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