Mongolian Beef Recipe (2024)

Home / Latest Posts / Recipes / Mongolian Beef

Jump to Recipe Print Video

By: Leigh Anne Wilkes

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see disclosure policy here.

This recipe for Mongolian Beef has become a family favorite. It’s better than take out and you can make it in 30 minutes at home!

Mongolian Beef Recipe (1)

Why You’ll Love This Recipe!

We love Chinese take out. And one of my favorite take out dishes is Mongolian Beef but it is so easy to make at home. There is no need to head out to your favorite Chinese restaurant or order Chinese takeout anymore!

Mongolian Beef Recipe (2)

Ingredients Needed

  • Meat. I use op round steak or flank steak
  • Cornstarch
  • Oil. You can use vegetable oil or canola oil.
  • Ginger. Use fresh grated ginger or if using dried ginger, use half the amount.
  • Garlic
  • Soy Sauce. I prefer to use low sodium soy sauce but you can use regular soy sauce too.
  • Brown Sugar. I use light brown sugar but dark brown sugar will work too.
  • Rice Wine Vinegar. You will find this in the Aisian aisle of the grocery store. You can substitute white vinegar or white wine vinegar if needed.
  • Green Onions
Mongolian Beef Recipe (3)

How to Make Mongolian Beef

  • Dry off meat with a paper towel and slice into 1/4″ thick slices against the grain.
  • Place meat slices in a bowl with the cornstarch and coat thoroughly
  • In a wok or large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.
  • Add the garlic and ginger, stir until fragrant
  • Add soy sauce, water, rice vinegar and brown sugar
  • Cook for about 2 minutes and remove from pan
  • Add remaining oil to pan over high heat and add meat. Cook until brown and slightly crisp. You may need to do it in twobatches.
  • Pour sauce back into pan over meat
  • Garnish with green onions. For a little bit of heat sprinkle with somered pepper flakes.

Pair this with

  • Instant Pot Rice
  • Chinese Green Beans
  • Restaurant Style Green Beans
  • Fried Rice
Mongolian Beef Recipe (4)

Tips from Leigh Anne

  1. To make slicing your meat easier, slice it while it is still partially frozen because you will be able to slice it thinner. Be sure and slice meat going across the grain.
  2. If you are want to cut calories, you can skip the frying part. It won’t be just like the restaurant version but it will still be yummy.
  3. Make Ahead Tip: To make sauce ahead, cool sauce and pour into an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.To make steak ahead, slice steak and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 day.
Mongolian Beef Recipe (5)

Mongolian Beef Variations

  • Add Veggies. Add your vegetables in with the garlic and ginger and stir-fry until they are fork tender. Use broccoli, green beans, carrots or your favorite veggie.
  • Add some heat. Sprinkle with some red pepper flakes or add some chili sauce in with the sauce.
  • Use chicken. Just sub in chicken for the beef.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make this in the Instant Pot?

I love to make it in the Instant Pot and here is a recipe for Instant Pot Mongolian Beef.

Can I make this in the slow cooker?

It’s very easy to make in the slow cooker, the meat won’t have the same texture but it will still be delicious. Try this recipe.

Check out more of my easy family dinner recipes:

  • Instant Pot Mongolian Beef
  • Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef
  • Instant Pot Chinese Lemon Chicken
  • Chinese Green Beans
  • Chinese Lemon Chicken

Be sure and follow me over onYou Tubefor weekly cooking demos.

4.60 from 10 votes

Mongolian Beef Recipe (6)

Mongolian Beef

Recipe From: Leigh Anne Wilkes

This easy Mongolian beef recipe is quick to make at home and just as tasty as your favorite take out Mongolian beef!

serves: 4 servings

Prep:10 minutes minutes

Cook:20 minutes minutes

Total:30 minutes minutes

Rate Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 lb top round steak or flank steak cut thinly on the cross grain
  • 1/4 C cornstarch
  • 3 tsp vegetable oil
  • 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger or minced ginger
  • 1 Tbsp minced garlic
  • 1/2 C water
  • 1/2 C soy sauce I used low sodium
  • 1/2 C brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 3 green onions sliced into 2-3″ pieces
  • oil for frying

Instructions

  • Dry off meat with a paper towel and slice into 1/4″ thick slices against the grain

  • Place meat in a bowl with the cornstarch and coat thoroughly

  • In a wok or large frying pan, heat 1 1/2 tsp over medium heat

  • Add the garlic and ginger, stir until fragrant

  • Add soy sauce, water, rice vinegar and brown sugar

  • Cook for about 2 minutes and remove from pan

  • Add remaining 1 1/2 tsp oil to pan over high heat

  • Next, Add the meat and cook until brown on all sides and slightly crispy

  • Pour sauce back into pan over meat

  • Add green onions, stir and remove from heat

  • Serve with rice

Nutrition Facts:

Calories: 340kcal (17%) Carbohydrates: 38g (13%) Protein: 26g (52%) Fat: 8g (12%) Saturated Fat: 4g (25%) Cholesterol: 68mg (23%) Sodium: 1134mg (49%) Potassium: 505mg (14%) Sugar: 27g (30%) Vitamin A: 90IU (2%) Vitamin C: 2.3mg (3%) Calcium: 62mg (6%) Iron: 2.7mg (15%)

* Disclaimer: All nutrition information are estimates only. Read full disclosure here.

Course:Main Dish

Cuisine:Chinese

Mongolian Beef Recipe (7)

Did you make this?I love seeing what you made. Be sure to share a picture and tag @yourhomebasedmom on social media!

Tag on Insta! Leave a Rating

Previous PostBaked Brie with Fruit
Next Post Steak Tacos

Reader Interactions

Leave a Review

  1. Pattie says

    Love this easy recipe. It is delicious! I transform leftover Chinese take out white rice into a fried rice, adda veggie …. DONE! The family loves this recipe. Thanks for posting!

    Reply

  2. Margaret Weber says

    Mongolian Beef at every place I had it had some kick to it, this was not spicy at all.

    Reply

  3. Roxie says

    This was absolutely delicious! Love ????????

    Reply

  4. Lily Erlic says

    I love this mongolian beef recipe! I will make it tonight. Thank you! I am an avid food reviewer and writer. I love your blog!

    Reply

  5. Dalal says

    What can I use if I don’t have rice wine vinegar? Is there any alternative that can be used? Thank you

    Reply

    • Leigh Anne says

      Just use regular white vinegar

      Reply

Older Comments

Mongolian Beef Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is Mongolian beef sauce made of? ›

Our recipe for Mongolian beef sauce includes oyster sauce, soy sauce, tamari soy sauce (as a replacement for dark soy sauce), chili sauce, sugar, and cooking wine. Check the ingredient list to see precise amounts. Don't forget that you can scale the recipe up and down!

Why is Mongolian beef so tender? ›

BAKING SODA

This is the KEY ingredient to super tender beef. Baking soda is commonly used in Chinese cooking to tenderize beef. If you're curious about the science behind it – baking soda neutralizes acid and raises the pH level, which causes the meat to become more alkaline.

What is the difference between Szechuan beef and Mongolian beef? ›

Szechuan Beef vs Mongolian Beef

Szechuan Beef has a sweet and spicy flavor with added chili peppers and Szechuan peppercorns. The Szechuan peppercorns has a distinctive tingly numbing sensation when eaten. Mongolian beef has a mild and much simpler taste, making it a kids' favorite, outside of broccoli beef.

What is PF Chang's Mongolian sauce? ›

Deep and flavorful, our Mongolian Style BBQ Sauce can attribute its flavor profile to smoked black pepper, sweet molasses, soy sauce and garlic making this sauce versatile for marinades and as a finishing sauce.

What is the secret ingredient in stir fry beef? ›

Velvet the beef: The velveting technique involves tenderizing, marinating, and a quick searing of the meat. To tenderize: Sprinkle with baking soda (the secret Chinese meat tenderizer). To marinate (a quick marinade): Add basic beef marinade and mix to coat evenly. Let marinate for 15 minutes or up to overnight.

How to make beef tender like Chinese restaurants? ›

📺 Watch how to make it
  1. Place the steak strips in a bowl.
  2. Sprinkle over 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and rub it into the meat with your hands.
  3. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  4. Rinse the beef in cold water to remove the bicarb.
  5. Pat dry with paper towels and use as per your recipe.
Jul 11, 2023

Do you need to rinse baking soda off meat? ›

Just as you would with dry brining, rinse your meat until it's (mostly) free of all the baking soda.

How do the Chinese marinate their beef? ›

In Chinese cooking, velveting meats includes 2 steps: tenderizing and marinating. Tenderize beef in a mixture of baking soda, soy sauce, salt, and oil. Let the mixture marinate for at least 15 minutes or overnight for optimal flavor and tenderness.

What ethnicity is Mongolian beef? ›

Despite its name, the dish has nothing to do with Mongolian cuisine. Mongolian beef is among the meat dishes developed in Taiwan where Mongolian barbecue restaurants first appeared. Thus, none of the ingredients or the preparation methods are drawn from traditional Mongolian cuisine but rather from Chinese cuisine.

Is Hunan beef the same as Mongolian beef? ›

Hunan beef also packs in some heat in the form of chili peppers, but it's not a numbing heat whatsoever and I like to think of it as the milder cousin to Szeuchuan beef. What's the difference between Hunan beef vs Mongolian beef? Another favorite beef recipe of mine, Mongolian beef is much sweeter than Hunan beef.

Is Mongolian beef authentic Chinese? ›

Despite its name, it doesn't have a lot to do with traditional Mongolian food. It's generally a Westernised version of Chinese food and is easily found in Australian and American Chinese restaurants.

What is another name for Mongolian beef? ›

Stir-Fried Spicy Beef (Previously: Mongolian Beef)

Sliced beef marinated in soy and then stir-fried with peppers and onions.

What do the P and F stand for in PF Chang's? ›

P.F. Chang's was conceived and developed by Paul Fleming (P.F.) and Philip Chiang (Chang) so both names were incorporated into the name of the concept.

What do you eat with Mongolian beef? ›

We also love serving this dish with garlic noodles, chow mein and a side of lightly roasted green beans. In the U.S. Mongolian beef is also commonly served over a bed of fried cellophane noodles, which adds a light, crisp texture to the overall dish.

What is PF Chang's version of General Tso's chicken? ›

Have you ever eaten at P.F. Chang's? They have “Chang's Spicy Chicken” on the menu, which is basically their version of general tso's. It has the perfect balance of sweet and spicy, and the sauce is light in color, which indicates it's not overloaded with soy sauce.

What does Mongolian sauce contain? ›

This Mongolian sauce is a delicious combo of soy sauce, brown sugar and corn flour (cornstarch) mixture. The key elements of this sauce are soy sauce and brown sugar. These two ingredients create the contrasting flavors of sour and sweet. And obviously, they are the 'must' ingredients of this sauce.

What is Mongolian sauce? ›

Mongolian sauce is a sweet and savory sauce that is often used in Chinese-American cuisine, particularly in dishes like Mongolian Beef or Mongolian Chicken.

Is Mongolian beef the same as teriyaki? ›

True Teriyaki has Mirin and Sake in it and those two ingredients aren't in my Mongolian Beef recipe.

What is Mongolian beef supposed to taste like? ›

When done just right, it's perfectly sweet and savory, slightly spicy, and loaded with lots of delicious aromatics such as ginger, garlic, green onions and even a few dried red chilis, all combined to bring a nice pop of deep, fragrant flavor.

References

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Eusebia Nader

Last Updated:

Views: 6221

Rating: 5 / 5 (80 voted)

Reviews: 95% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Eusebia Nader

Birthday: 1994-11-11

Address: Apt. 721 977 Ebert Meadows, Jereville, GA 73618-6603

Phone: +2316203969400

Job: International Farming Consultant

Hobby: Reading, Photography, Shooting, Singing, Magic, Kayaking, Mushroom hunting

Introduction: My name is Eusebia Nader, I am a encouraging, brainy, lively, nice, famous, healthy, clever person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.