Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Lomo Saltado
Beef flash-fried in a smoking wok with soy, vinegar, tomatoes, and fries, Lima's Chinese-Peruvian icon.
Peruvian (Chifa) · easy · serves 3
prep 20 min · cook 15 min
~634 cal · 48g protein · 69g carbs · 16g fat · 3g fiber · 5g sugars · 6g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Lomo saltado is the flagship of Peru's chifa tradition, the delicious fusion of Cantonese technique and Peruvian ingredients that grew from Chinese immigration in the 19th century. It is one of Lima's most popular dishes, found everywhere from street stalls to white-tablecloth restaurants.
Strips of beef are seared hard in a ripping-hot wok with red onion, tomato, and aji, then splashed with soy sauce and vinegar so they hit the smoking metal and flare into fragrant steam. The Peruvian twist is the fries, tossed through at the end to soak up the savoury juices.
Served with white rice on the side (a happily redundant double starch that Peruvians embrace), it is smoky, tangy, and deeply satisfying.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 3
1 lb beef sirloin, cut in thick strips
1 red onion, thick wedges
3 roma tomatoes, wedges
1 (or 1 tbsp) ají amarillo, sliced (or yellow chili paste)
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 cloves garlic, minced
to taste salt
1 tsp black pepper
3 cups thick-cut fries, hot
1 handful cilantro, chopped
3 cups cooked white rice
Instructions
1
Have the fries hot and ready first (oven fries are fine), since the stir-fry itself goes fast.
2
Heat a wok until smoking hot.
✎ Chef’s note
Lomo saltado lives on high heat. A ripping-hot wok chars the beef and keeps the vegetables crisp instead of stewing them.
3
Season the beef (or portobellos) well with salt and pepper, then sear in batches for 1 to 2 minutes so it chars rather than steams, and remove.
4
Stir-fry the onion for 1 minute, then add the garlic and aji.
5
Return the beef to the wok with the tomatoes.
6
Splash the soy sauce and vinegar down the hot sides of the wok so they sizzle, then toss 30 seconds, keeping the tomatoes intact.
7
Fold in the fries and cilantro and serve immediately with rice.
Lima chifa tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Lima. Lima is the culinary capital of South America, where Pacific ceviche meets Japanese and Chinese immigration in nikkei and chifa cooking. Native potatoes, ají peppers, and pisco define a world-celebrated food city.
🗺️
Peru. The Andes are a working farm at altitude. The International Potato Center in Lima counts more than four thousand native potato varieties across the highlands of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, each selected over generations for a particular soil and frost line, and the same cold that limits what will grow is put to work preserving it as freeze-dried chuno.
🌍
South America. South America's cooking follows its dramatic geography, potatoes and quinoa in the high Andes, cassava and river fish in the Amazon basin, and grass-fed beef on the pampas. Indigenous ingredients like maize, ají peppers, and cacao meet Spanish, Portuguese, African, Italian, and Japanese influences brought by five centuries of migration. Ceviche, feijoada, arepas, and the smoke of the asado are its most beloved icons.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Peru
Rocoto RellenoArequipa’s fiery rocoto peppers stuffed with spiced beef, olives, and raisins, capped with melting cheese.
CevicheFresh white fish cured in lime "leche de tigre" with red onion, chili, and cilantro, Peru's national dish.
Pan con ChicharrónCrisp fried pork and sweet camote layered in a soft roll with tangy salsa criolla, the definitive Lima weekend breakfast sandwich.
Browse all Peru recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Wok, Oven.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Peru meal
Pisco SourDrink
Suspiro a la LimeñaDessert
Ají de GallinaLunch
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Lomo Saltado?
Beef flash-fried in a smoking wok with soy, vinegar, tomatoes, and fries, Lima's Chinese-Peruvian icon.
Where does Lomo Saltado come from?
Lomo Saltado is a Peruvian (Chifa) dish from Lima, Peru.
Can Lomo Saltado be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Lomo Saltado recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Lomo Saltado safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Lomo Saltado take to make?
About 35 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 3.
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