Mongolian Beef Recipe

We’re so excited to share our Mongolian Beef Recipes with you all! It’s one of our favorite Chinese takeout dishes. Tender beef coated in a sweet and savory sauce is just flat out addicting! This dish also couldn’t be easier (and healthier) to make at home.

Our Mongolian beef is incredibly quick and easy to make. In fact, it can be made in under 30 minutes making it a perfect weeknight dinner! Serve it with a little steamed rice and broccoli and you have a quick and delicious complete meal! We love making a double batch so we have plenty of leftovers to enjoy the next day.

What is Mongolian Beef?

Mongolian beef is a popular stir-fry beef dish served in Chinese restaurants. Its most notable trait is the tenderized slices of beef simmered together in a sweet and savory sauce.

The name of the dish refers to Mongolian barbecue style of cooking, which is quick and over high heat. The dish itself isn’t actually associated with Mongolian cuisine.

How to Make Our Mongolian Beef Recipe

Process

1. Season sliced steak with salt and pepper.
2. Toss the steak in cornstarch until fully and evenly coated.
3. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add some oil. Sauté the ginger and garlic until fragrant.
4. Add soy sauce, water and sugar and bring to a boil until sugar dissolves.
5. Pour sauce into a measuring cup and set aside.
6. Place skillet back over heat and add more oil. Add steak and sear until evenly browned on both sides.
7. Pour sauce back into skillet and stir together with meat. Allow sauce to thicken. Add green onion and continue to simmer until sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.
8. Pour Mongolian beef over steamed rice and serve. So easy!

Tools You Will Need

• cutting board
• knife
• mixing bowl
• liquid measuring cup
• dry measuring cups
• measuring spoons
• wooden spoons
• skillet

Make Ahead and Freezing Mongolian Beef

Make Ahead in Components

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.

When ready to put together, toss beef in salt, pepper and cornstarch.  Sear coated steak in skillet as written in recipe. Warm the sauce in a saucepan for a few minutes before adding it to the seared meat. This will help to avoid the temperature dropping in the skillet, not allowing for quick and even cooking.

Fully Make Ahead

Make recipe as written and cool completely. Transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. When ready to serve, pour entire mixture into a large skillet and simmer over medium-low heat until warmed through, about 5 to 6 minutes.

Freezing

To freeze, cool Mongolian beef completely before transferring into a freezer friendly container. Store in freezer for up to 3 months. To reheat, transfer freezer bag to refrigerator and thaw overnight. Pour thawed mixture into a skillet and simmer over medium-low heat until sauce has thickened up and beef has just heated through.

Tips and Tricks for Mongolian Beef Success

• Coating the sliced beef in cornstarch is important because it helps to tenderize the beef. It also helps to thicken the sauce, allowing it to fully coat the beef.
• Flank steak (sliced against the grain) is most commonly used to make Mongolian beef, although any quick cooking beef works great. We use New York strip steaks in our version, as flank steak isn’t always found at all grocery stores and New York strip steaks generally are. Both flank steak and NY strip steaks work really well for this recipe and we recommending whichever you’re able to find and prefer.
• Sear the sliced beef in batches to avoid overcrowding in the pan. This will allow the beef to sear properly and prevent the slices from steaming.

What to Serve with Our Mongolian Beef Recipe

This dish is commonly served with a side steamed rice. We like to serve ours over a bed of steamed rice so the sauce runs into the rice. It’s so good!

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. We opted out of the noodle version since frying the noodles would add an extra step and more clean-up in the end, but it is a delicious alternative!

This recipe is so simple and requires such few ingredients, it’s one of our favorite weeknight dinners! We love serving it with some lightly roasted green beans to make it a complete meal.

Other Delicious Asian Inspired Recipes You Will Love

• Sesame Chicken
• Szechuan Beef
• Chicken Lettuce Wraps
• Garlic Noodles
• Chow Mein
• Korean Beef Bulgogi
• Shrimp Shumai
• Kimchi Fried Rice

Check out our Mongolian Beef Google Web Story.