Southeast Asia

Lok Lak: Cambodian Stir-Fried Beef with a Lime and Black Pepper Dip

Name: Lok Lak: Cambodian Stir-Fried Beef with a Lime and Black Pepper Dip
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Cambodian
Ingredients: 500 g Beef chuck roast or round steak cuts; 2 cloves Garlic; 1/2 (about 100 g) Onion; 4 leaves Lettuce; 1 (about 180 g) Tomato; 1 Cucumber; 4 bowls Warm cooked rice; 1 1/2 tbsp Vegetable oil; 1 1/2 tbsp Oyster sauce; 1 tbsp Fish sauce; 2 tsp Soy sauce; 2 tsp Sugar; 1/2 tsp Coarsely ground black pepper; 2 tsp Potato starch; 2 tbsp Lime juice; 1 tsp Coarsely ground black pepper; 1/2 tsp Salt; 1/2 tsp Sugar; 1 tsp Fish sauce; 1 tsp Water

Cambodian stir-fried beef lok lak, laid out from seasoning the beef and searing over high heat to the lime and black pepper dip and ingredients that substitute well. How it is eaten locally with vegetables and rice, what goes wrong, storage and what to buy, all in concrete terms.

Published: October 25, 2026Total: 40 minLevel: Easy

Cooking flow

Cooking steps

STEP 11 / 6

Cut the beef and season it

8 min, resting 10 min

Coating the cubed beef with seasoning, the seasoning step of lok lak — Coat the 2.5 cm cubes of beef thinly with seasoning and starch, leaving no pooled liquid

Remove tough sinew from the beef and cut into 2.5 cm cubes. Put the beef, oyster sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar, coarsely ground black pepper and potato starch in a bowl and mix with your fingertips for about 1 minute. The guide is that the seasoning clings thinly to the surface of the meat and almost no liquid is left pooled at the bottom of the bowl. Resting 10 minutes at room temperature, not in the refrigerator, makes it less likely that only the center stays cold when seared.

STEP 22 / 6

Prepare the pepper dip and vegetables

7 min

Preparing the lime and black pepper dip with tomato, cucumber, lettuce and onion — With the vegetables and dip ready first, the seared beef can be plated while hot

Mix the lime juice, coarsely ground black pepper, salt, sugar and fish sauce in a small bowl, and add 1 tsp water only if the acidity is too strong. The dip is thin, but it is enough if the pepper sinks to the bottom and the aroma rises each time you scoop. Cut the tomato 1 cm thick, the cucumber into 5 mm slices on the bias and the onion into 1.5 cm squares. Wipe the water from the lettuce and spread it around the outside of the plate.

STEP 33 / 6

Heat the pan hard

2 min

The step just before the beef goes into a deep skillet with rippling oil — Heating over medium-high until the oil ripples before adding the beef prevents a watery result

Heat a deep skillet or wok over medium-high heat for about 1 1/2 minutes, then add the vegetable oil and spread it over the pan. The guide that preheating is done is that the oil ripples finely, a clear film forms on the sides of the pan, and a bit of garlic dropped in immediately makes small bubbles. If the heat is weak here, water comes out of the beef. If it is so hot that it smokes heavily, take it off the heat once and wait 10 seconds to avoid the burnt smell of the oil.

STEP 44 / 6

Sear the beef in one go

3–4 min

Cubed beef spread in one layer in a high-heat pan and given a deep sear — Spread the beef in one layer to sear and bring out a deep brown color and gloss on the surface

Spread the seasoned beef and garlic in one layer in the pan and sear over high heat for 1 minute without touching. When a deep brown color forms on the bottom, flip and stir-fry about 2 minutes more. The corners of the meat turn fragrant and brown, and the sauce on the surface clings with a gloss; if you want it cooked through to the center, aim for around 63°C. If the pan is small, do it in two batches and take the seared meat out onto a plate in between.

STEP 55 / 6

Toss with onion and sauce

2 min

Tossing the seared beef and onion with the sauce to bring out a gloss — Stir-fry the onion briefly over medium heat and stop when the sauce bubbles finely

Lower to medium heat, add the onion and stir-fry 30 seconds. When the edges of the onion turn slightly translucent and a light bite remains at the center, add about 1 tbsp of the seasoning left in the bowl. Stop when everything bubbles finely, the sauce thickens slightly, and it has a viscosity that leaves a thin coat on the surface when you lift the meat. Long cooking toughens the meat, so even if you want more sauce, adjust with the lime dip after turning off the heat rather than with water.

STEP 66 / 6

Plate on vegetables and rice

3 min

Plating lok lak on rice and vegetables with the lime and black pepper dip alongside — Rice in the center, vegetables outside and beef on top makes it easy to control the flow of juices and dip

Put the warm rice in the center of the plate and arrange the lettuce, tomato and cucumber around it in half-moons. Place the beef on the rice, gathering it toward the center so the meat juices do not flow too far into the vegetables. Put the lime and black pepper dip in a separate small bowl and eat the meat dipping it a little at a time. Pouring all the dip on from the start makes the vegetables release water, so adjusting at the table is easier to eat.

0 / 0

Ingredients

1 / 3

Beef and vegetables

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes & notes
Beef chuck roast or round steak cuts	500 g	Cut into 2.5 cm cubes. Rump also works
Garlic	2 cloves	Minced
Onion	1/2 (about 100 g)	1.5 cm squares. Red onion is lighter in aroma
Lettuce	4 leaves	Wipe off the water well
Tomato	1 (about 180 g)	Sliced into 1 cm rounds
Cucumber	1	Thinly sliced on the bias, 5 mm thick
Warm cooked rice	4 bowls	For jasmine rice, cook 2 rice-cooker cups
Vegetable oil	1 1/2 tbsp	Rice bran or canola oil also works

2 / 3

Seasoning for the beef

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes & notes
Oyster sauce	1 1/2 tbsp	For savor and glaze. Do not use with a shellfish allergy
Fish sauce	1 tbsp	The saltiness of fish sauce. If none, add 2 tsp soy sauce
Soy sauce	2 tsp	Regular soy sauce is fine
Sugar	2 tsp	Palm sugar or raw cane sugar also works
Coarsely ground black pepper	1/2 tsp	Kampot pepper gives more aroma
Potato starch	2 tsp	Holds the meat juices together. Cornstarch also works

3 / 3

Lime and black pepper dip

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes & notes
Lime juice	2 tbsp	Lemon juice also works. Sudachi leans toward Japanese
Coarsely ground black pepper	1 tsp	Grind just before eating
Salt	1/2 tsp	Sea salt suits
Sugar	1/2 tsp	Rounds off the sharp edge of the acidity
Fish sauce	1 tsp	May be omitted. Adding it goes well with rice
Water	1 tsp	Add only if the acidity is too strong

0 / 0

The story of lok lak: beef and rice whose outline is set by a pepper dip

The moment the beef hits the hot pan, the sweet smell of garlic and oyster sauce rises and the air in the kitchen moves toward a street stall. But the fun of lok lak does not end with the savor of the meat. At the end, you touch the beef lightly to a small dish of lime and black pepper, and the rich beef flavor tightens up in one stroke.

A Cambodian-style lunch table around lok lak, rice, vegetables and lime and black pepper dip — Taking the sweet-savory beef with the lime and black pepper dip and raw vegetables is the lok lak way to eat it

Lok lak (Lok Lak / Loc Lac / ឡុកឡាក់) is a stir-fried beef widely loved in Cambodia. Cubed or sliced beef is seasoned with sweet-savory flavorings, seared over high heat in one go, and eaten with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion and rice. The local cook Chef Nak introduces lok lak as "a classic Cambodian dish with French influence" and pairs it with a dip of lime, sea salt and Kampot pepper.

It is sometimes spoken of in the same breath as bò lúc lắc in neighboring Vietnam. The cooking method of tossing the beef like shaking it, the soy-based seasoning and the combination with salad vegetables show Western elements that spread to the tables of French-colonial Indochina. But lok lak as eaten in Cambodia has a strong presence of black pepper aroma and a sour little dish. It is not about eating the meat alone and strong; it is a dish where rice, vegetables and acidity turn the plate around.

If amok is the soft Cambodian dish of coconut and herbs, lok lak is a little closer to a town eatery. If you want to complete a light side for a hot day with Cambodian food too, aluek trei ngeat (in Japanese), which takes dried fish with watermelon and mango, is also a good match. It is a stir-fry and so easy to make, but if you fuss with the meat for long over low heat, water comes out and the dip you worked on goes blurry. This article uses beef chuck roast or round, which are easy to buy, and separates the heat to protect from the ingredients that can be substituted.

A note on spelling

This article uses "lok lak" throughout. In English-speaking countries it is also written Loc Lac and Beef Lok Lak, and in the Khmer food context Lok Lak Sach Ko and Chha Lok Lak. The Cambodian and Vietnamese versions are close dishes, but here we lean toward the combination common in Cambodia: lime and black pepper dip, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and rice.

Its place on the Cambodian table

Lok lak is both a home dish and an easy plate to order at an eatery. Because it uses beef, it sits closer to a lunch when you want a little meat, or a standard when you eat out, than to an everyday budget dish. Chef Nak's recipe also introduces a version topped with a fried egg. Even at restaurants outside Cambodia, lok lak tends to be on the menu as "the first Khmer dish that is easy to order."

The structure of the plate is simple, but the roles are clear.

Part	Role	What to keep in a home kitchen
Beef	The center of the sweet-savory savor	Do not cook it cold; spread it in one layer over high heat
Rice	The base that takes the meat juices and the dip	Jasmine rice is light in aroma; cook short-grain rice somewhat firm
Lettuce, tomato, cucumber	Cut the oil and salt	Wipe off the water well and set them on the plate first
Onion	Links the sweetness of the meat	Stir-fry briefly at the end, leaving a little bite
Lime and black pepper dip	The Cambodian finishing touch	Combine the acidity, salt and pepper first and do not pour too much directly on the meat

Using Kampot pepper moves the aroma firmly toward the local one. But you can make it without gathering expensive pepper the first time. What matters is not mixing a lot of ground pepper in from the start but making coarsely ground black pepper stand up with lime and salt. Ordinary black pepper smells plenty good if freshly ground.

Kampot pepper is pepper grown in the coastal region of southern Cambodia, in Kampot Province and neighboring Kep Province. It received geographical indication status within Cambodia in 2010, and in February 2016 became the first Cambodian product registered as an EU Protected Geographical Indication (PGI). That locally grown pepper can be used in lok lak's pepper dip is also a circumstance specific to Cambodia, with a pepper-growing region in the south.

Ingredients (serves 4)

Ingredients for lok lak: beef, fish sauce, oyster sauce, vegetables, lime and black pepper laid out — Set out the meat, seasonings, vegetables and the pepper dip ingredients first, and you are less likely to be flustered at the searing step

For the beef, steak cuts of chuck roast, round or rump are easier to handle than fatty sirloin. You can make it with thin sliced beef for grilling, but the "cubed feel where juices come out when you bite" typical of lok lak becomes weaker.

Allergens and hygiene

This uses seasonings that contain wheat, soy, fish and shellfish. Check the ingredient labels of the oyster sauce, fish sauce and soy sauce. Wash the cutting board and knife you used for beef before cutting vegetables, or it is safe to cut the vegetables first and then move on to the beef.

Where to look when shopping: pepper, fish sauce and rice more than beef

A shopping comparison of Kampot-style black pepper, lime, fish sauce, jasmine rice and short-grain rice — In shopping for lok lak, more than the meat itself, the choice of pepper, fish sauce and rice changes the local feel

What is worth hunting for online for lok lak is not the beef. Beef is fine from a neighborhood butcher counter. If you are looking, look for jasmine rice, fish sauce and a deep skillet that is easy to toss over high heat. Kampot pepper is ideal for the pepper, but it is realistic to first make it with freshly ground black pepper and look for it next time if you like it.

Jasmine rice lightly takes up the strong sauce of the beef and the acidity of the lime. When making it with short-grain rice, reducing the water a little and cooking it without too much stickiness suits the plate of lok lak.

Fish sauce moves the saltiness of lok lak toward Southeast Asian cooking even in a small amount. If you dislike fish sauce you can make it with soy sauce alone, but the lingering finish with the lime and black pepper dip comes out a little flatter.

A deep skillet is a tool that is handy for spreading the meat to sear it and for tossing the onion in at the end. If you have a wok, that is enough. If you only have a shallow skillet, searing the meat in two batches keeps it from turning watery.

Method

Lok lak is a dish that cooks fast once seasoned. Prepare the vegetables, dip and rice first, and once you begin searing the meat, go straight through to the plate.

If you add a fried egg

Local recipes and restaurants also serve it with a fried egg. If making it, before searing the beef, warm another skillet over gentle medium heat, add 1 tsp oil and fry 4 eggs for 3–4 minutes. Cook until the whites are completely set and the yolk is as firm as you like. If you are uneasy about a runny yolk, cover and cook 2 minutes more.

A table of substitutes for getting closer to the local one in a home kitchen

Because lok lak has few ingredients, how you substitute changes the impression greatly. Rather than gathering everything exactly as locally, looking at what role each ingredient plays in the dish is less likely to fail.

Ingredient closer to the local one	Substitute elsewhere	The role to keep
Kampot pepper	Freshly ground coarse black pepper	The aroma of the lime dip. Do not use powder that has sat old
Lime	Lemon, sudachi	Acidity. Sudachi leans Japanese, so reduce the salt a little
Fish sauce	Add soy sauce, 1 tsp vinegar	The lingering finish of fish sauce. It will not be completely the same
Oyster sauce	1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp potato starch	Glaze and savor. For avoiding shellfish when allergic
Beef tenderloin	Beef chuck roast, round, rump	Ease of biting through. Remove sinew and do not overcook
Jasmine rice	Somewhat firm short-grain rice	Rice that takes the meat juices. Too sticky makes it heavy

The hardest to substitute is actually not the beef but the pepper dip. The seasoning of the meat comes together with soy sauce and oyster sauce, but the small dish at the end brings the sweet-savory stir-fry back to Cambodian cooking. Even on a day you have no lime, at least prepare lemon and freshly ground black pepper.

Points where it easily goes wrong

A failure comparison of lok lak: watery beef next to correctly seared beef — Failures in lok lak show up in weak heat and moisture. Searing briefly over high heat keeps the gloss

Failure	Main cause	Fix
Meat is gray and watery	Cold pan, too much meat added	Heat over medium-high until the oil ripples and divide the meat in two
Meat is tough	Stir-fried long, thin slices mixed too hard	Move to the onion as soon as it has color and keep the final simmer short
Too salty	The saltiness of fish sauce and oyster sauce is strong	Halve the salt in the lime dip and have more vegetables and rice
The acidity stabs	Lime juice is strong, too little sugar	Add 1/2 tsp sugar and thin with 1 tsp water
Vegetables are watery	Dip poured on first, water left on the vegetables	Serve the dip on the side and wipe the lettuce and cucumber

With stir-fries, if you do not know why the water came out, you make the same failure next time. Lok lak is a dish about searing meat well, so thinking separately about heat, quantity, moisture and the final dip makes it easier to recover.

Storage and making ahead

Beef, vegetables, lime and black pepper dip and rice from lok lak packed in separate containers for make-ahead — When making ahead, keeping the beef, vegetables, dip and rice apart keeps them from turning watery

If you make ahead, always keep the beef, vegetables, dip and rice separate. As a guide, beef keeps up to 2 days in the refrigerator, the lime and black pepper dip the same day, and cut vegetables until the next day. Stored with the dip on the beef, the acidity tightens the surface of the meat and it turns tough when reheated.

To reheat, warm only the beef in a skillet for 1 minute over medium heat, or 40–50 seconds in a 600 W microwave. It gets tough if overheated, so stop as soon as it is warm. Warming the rice separately and serving the vegetables cold keeps the temperature contrast that makes lok lak what it is.

If you prepare only the seasoning the day before, leave out the potato starch and refrigerate only the beef and seasonings. Potato starch added the day before tends to make the surface gummy, so mixing it in 10 minutes before searing is easier to handle.

Lok lak is better when, rather than eating the meat alone, you put a little rice, vegetables and dip on the same spoon. The first bite is only beef, then the lime and black pepper dip, and last the tomato and cucumber. Then the sweet-savory, the acidity and the moisture of the vegetables arrive in turn.

To pair it with other Cambodian dishes, a light stir-fried greens or a sour soup goes better than the soft amok. To widen it to a Southeast Asian table, Hainanese chicken rice (in Japanese) for the link of fragrant rice, bun cha for the match of beef and acidity, and pad kra pao as practice in high-heat stir-frying let you reuse the fish sauce and jasmine rice you bought.

When you want to add heat, rather than mixing chili into the beef, put a small amount of chopped red chili into the lime and black pepper dip. Not making the whole plate hot makes it easier to serve at the same table as children or anyone who dislikes spice.

Frequently asked questions

Can I not make it without Kampot pepper?

You can make it. Kampot pepper has a rich aroma and gives a local feel, but the first time freshly ground coarse black pepper is enough. What matters is not putting too much pepper in the seasoning of the meat and raising the aroma on the lime dip side.

Is thin sliced beef okay?

It can be done. Thin slices cook quickly and release water, however, so shorten the seasoning time to 5 minutes and stir-fry briefly for about 1 1/2 minutes over high heat. To get the cubed texture typical of lok lak, steak cuts of chuck roast, round or rump are easier to work with.

What if I do not like fish sauce?

For the beef seasoning, replace 1 tbsp fish sauce with 2 tsp soy sauce and 1 tsp water. You may omit the 1 tsp fish sauce in the lime and black pepper dip. The lingering finish of fish sauce is reduced, but with oyster sauce and garlic it holds together as a stir-fry.

Is there a version without oyster sauce?

If you want to avoid shellfish, mix 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp potato starch and 1 tsp oil as a substitute. The savor is lighter, so increasing the black pepper a little at the end of searing and making the lime dip tell well keeps it from feeling lacking.

Is the fried egg essential?

Not essential. Serving a fried egg as in Chef Nak's recipe adds satisfaction, but for a weeknight dinner it is plenty without egg. If you add eggs, make them before searing the beef and put them on the warm beef at the end, and the plate comes together.

What do I change for children?

Serve the lime and black pepper dip on the side and reduce the black pepper in the beef to 1/4 tsp. If the smell of fish sauce is a problem, base the seasoning mainly on soy sauce and let only the people who want it adjust with the dip in the small bowl. More cucumber and tomato than lettuce makes the vegetables easier to eat.

Sources

Chef Nak, "Beef Lok Lak Recipe (Cambodian Shaking Beef)", https://www.chefnak.com/beef-lok-lak
Cambodianess, "How to Make Beef Lok Lak", https://www.cambodianess.com/article/how-to-make-beef-lok-lak
Sunset Magazine, "Cambodian Black Pepper Beef (Lok Lak)", https://sunset.com/recipe/cambodian-black-pepper-beef-lok-lak
196 Flavors, "Lok Lak - Traditional Recipe from Cambodia", https://www.196flavors.com/cambodia-lok-lak/
Khaosod English (AP), "Cambodia's Kampot Pepper Wins EU Protection", 2016-03-02, https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/international/2016/03/02/1456907267/ (accessed 2026-10-22)