Mongolian Beef Recipe

by Jenny Park · Published: Apr 17, 2024

The BEST Mongolian Beef Recipe you will ever taste! A quick, easy and ridiculously delicious stir fry dish of tender beef coated in a slightly sweet and savory sauce, Inspired by P.F. Changs Mongolian beef recipe. Serve it over steamed rice and a side of sautéed or steamed veggies for a complete meal everyone will love!

Mongolian Beef recipe in a platter ready to be served.

We’re so excited to share our Mongolian Beef Recipe with you all! The first time I had the dish was P.F. Changs Mongolian Beef and I immediately fell in love. The tender beef coated in a sweet and savory sauce was absolutely delicious! Our version is very similar in flavor and texture to their version in the best way! This Chinese takeout inspired dish also couldn’t be easier (and a bit healthier) to make at home and is one of our top, family loved recipes on our entire site!

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, delicious and flavor packed 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, made in a wok, served in Chinese restaurants. It was created in Taiwan, during the 1950’s, when Chinese BBQ was becoming a trendy cuisine. 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

Ingredients

Process

Slice steak into 1/4″ thick piece, against the grain and season with salt and pepper.
Toss steak pieces in cornstarch until fully and evenly coated. Set aside.

Slicing strip steak on a cutting board for Mongolian Beef.

Tossing seasoned strip steak in cornstarch to make Mongolian Beef.

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add some oil. Sauté the ginger and garlic until fragrant.
Add soy sauce, water and sugar and bring to a boil until sugar dissolves. Pour sauce into a measuring cup and set aside.

Saute garlic and ginger in a skiller to start making the Mongolian Beef sauce.

Cooking Mongolian beef sauce in a skillet.

Place skillet back over heat and add more oil. Add steak and sear until evenly browned on both sides.
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. Serve Mongolian beef over steamed rice. So easy!

Cooking strip steak in a skillet to make Mongolian Beef.

Mongolian beef in a skillet with green onions.

Best Cut of Beef to Use for Mongolian Beef

Flank steak is the most traditional cut used for Mongolian beef and a cut we often used to use. It has great flavor, cooks quickly and can get incredibly tender. It’s still a great option to use today!

The reason we use NY strip steaks for our recipe is because NY strip steaks have similar qualities in flavor and cooking speed, but it’s a naturally tender cut and with flank steak getting increasingly popular and pricey, the price per pound are comparable these days.

Prep, Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions

Prep Ahead

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 cook, 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.

Variations for Our Mongolian Beef Stir Fry

Incorporate some veggies into the dish! We love adding some bite sized broccoli florets into the mix. Mongolian beef and broccoli is SO good! We also love throwing in a handful of spinach to the dish for added fiber or sliced red peppers for crunch!
Add some heat with some dried thai chiles, crushed red pepper flakes or a spoonful of chile sauce ( like sriracha or sambal).
Use chicken instead of beef! Yes, this recipe is called Mongolian beef, but subbing in chicken is such an easy and equally delicious substitute!
Make it vegetarian friendly by swapping the beef out for cubes of firm tofu or strips of seitan. Gently press excess liquid from the tofu before cutting it into pieces and continue on with the recipe as written!

Close up shot of Mongolian Beef over rice.

Tips and Tricks for Mongolian Beef Success

Coating 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. New York strip steaks are our cut of beef of choice, as flank steak isn’t always found at all grocery stores and New York strip steak generally is readily available Flank steak has also gotten quite expensive in the last 5 years or so and prices are now similar between cuts. 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.

Can This be Made in an Instant Pot or Slow Cooker?

Yes, you can definitely make Instant Pot Mongolian Beef, but we really don’t think there’s a need to do so unless you don’t have access to a stovetop. Our recipe is so quick and easy that it will actually take longer setting up your instant pot, cooking it and waiting for the steam function to complete, then it will be just making on the stove in a pan!

We do not recommend making this dish in a slow cooker. As we mentioned above, this recipe is too quick and easy to need extra equipment (that’s meant to make things easier). The texture of the beef can easily go from perfectly tender to mush or very dried out using an instant pot and we don’t think it’s worth the effort of using a slow cooker.

What to Serve with Our Easy Mongolian Beef Recipe

This dish is commonly served with a side steamed rice. We usually like to serve ours over a bed of steamed rice so some of the sauce absorbs into the rice. It’s so good! 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. We opted out of the fried noodle version since frying the noodles would add an extra step and more clean-up in the end, but it is a delicious alternative!