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This 30-Minute Mongolian Beef is savory and sweet and so delicious!! With thinly cut steak, soy sauce, brown sugar, fresh garlic, and ginger – this Mongolian Beef recipe is all prepped and ready to eat in just 30 minutes!
Lately, I’ve really been craving Chinese food. I think it’s because I’ve been feasting on so much traditional American comfort food - you know, with the Holidays and all.
How about you - could you go for some Chinese food right about now? What’s your favorite dish?
A few of my favorite Asian meals would have to include Mango Chicken, Broccoli and Beef, a big ole bowl of Ramen,Sweet and Sour Shrimp, Mongolian Chicken, or the classic General Tso Chicken.
... PLUS my latest obsession and today’s recipe – this super easy, 30-Minute Mongolian Beef!
30-Minute Mongolian Beef
You may have tried this tasty dish at PF Chang’s – I think it’s one of their most popular menu items.
And just in case you haven’t and you’re wondering “What is Mongolian Beef?” I’m here to break it down for you.
What is Mongolian Beef?
It’s typically flank steak thinly sliced and quickly seared, then added to a sweet and savory sauce. And paired with scallions or mixed veggies.
It’s usually served over steamed rice or in lettuce wraps with those crispy cellophane noodles.
And personally, I can’t get enough of this savory sweet combination of fresh garlic and onions – yum! I also like to add some chili oil or red pepper flakes for a bit of spicy heat. It’s so good my friend!!
Allow me to share all my best tips for making this Mongolian beef…
How to make Mongolian Beef?
As I mentioned flank steak is usually the cut of meat used for this dish. But it’s a tougher cut of meat, and has never been my favorite, so I used sirloin steaks for my version. You could also use strip steak for this dish.
- The steaks were about 1½ inches thick. I cut them into ¼ inch slices.
- Then I laid the slices flat, covered them with plastic wrap and used a meat pounder to flatten them.
- Next, I put the meat in a resealable plastic bag and added cornstarch (this helps the meat crisp up nicely and will thicken the sauce).
- I massaged the steak and cornstarch together to make sure each piece was fully coated. Then I let them sit for 15 minutes while I prepped my other ingredients.
- Next, I added canola oil to a large frying pan and allowed the pan to heat up over medium-high heat.
- Then I added the steak to the pan in a single layer and cooked for30 seconds on each side (1 minute total).
- Cook the steak in batches rather than over-crowding the pan, because crowding the pan results in a steamed steak instead of a seared steak! I removed the steak from the pan as soon as it finished cooking, set it aside on a plate, and sprinkled it with salt.
- I added the fresh ginger and garlic to the pan and sautéed it for10-15 seconds. I added chili oil but you can use chili pepper flakes or skip this step if you don’t care for any spice.
- I stirred in the tamari/soy sauce, water and brown sugar, and brought the mixture to a boil.
- Next, I folded the steak back into the pan and let the sauce thicken for20-30 seconds.
- Finally, I turned off the heat, added the green onions, and stirred them to combine.
Better than Chinese restaurant food, in the comfort of your own home, in just 30 minutes!
Amazing – right!??
What to serve with Mongolian Beef?
So, I served my Mongolian beef over steamed jasmine rice. But you could also serve it with steamed brown rice, rice noodles, or in lettuce wraps with crispy cellophane noodles.
This quick and easy sweet and salty dish is hearty and delicious, and the perfect weeknight meal!
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and just predict that this Mongolian Beef recipe will become one of your new go-to dinner recipes!
Yield: 6 servings
30-Minute Mongolian Beef
This 30-Minute Mongolian Beef is savory and sweet and so delicious!!
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Ingredients
- 1½ pound 1-inch thick sirloin steak
- ⅓ cup cornstarch
- ¼ cup canola oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
- 4 tablespoon garlic, minced
- Red pepper flakes or chili oil
- ⅓ cup reduced sodium tamari sauce (for gluten-free), or soy sauce if you prefer
- ½ cup water
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 8 stalks scallions, green parts only, cut into 2 inch pieces
Instructions
- Slice the steak in ¼-inch slices. Lay the slices flat, cover with plastic wrap and use a meat pounder to flatten the meat. Put the meat in a ziploc bag and add the cornstarch. Massage the steak and cornstarch together to make sure each piece is fully coated.
- Pour the canola oil into a large frying pan, and heat on medium high heat.
- Add the steak to the pan in a single layer and cook for 30 seconds per side (1 minute total). Cook the steak in batches rather than over-crowding the pan. Remove the steak from the pan as it finishes cooking, set it aside on a plate, then sprinkle with salt.
- Next, add the ginger, garlic, and chili oil or red pepper flakes (if desired for more spice) to the pan and sauté for 10-15 seconds.
- Stir in tamari (or soy sauce), water and brown sugar and bring the mixture to a boil.
- Fold the steak back in and let the sauce thicken for 20-30 seconds. (The cornstarch used on the steak should thicken the sauce.)
- Turn off the heat, add the green onions, and stir to combine.
- Serve over white rice, rice noodles or in lettuce wraps.
Nutrition Information
Yield
6Serving Size
4 ounces of beef with ½ cup rice
Amount Per ServingCalories 478Total Fat 28gSaturated Fat 7gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 18gCholesterol 105mgSodium 908mgCarbohydrates 23gFiber 1gSugar 11gProtein 33g
This nutrition card uses an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. This estimate is not a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice!
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Niki
Hello. Can you please confirm you much garlic and ginger to use? The recipe calls for 4 tbsp of garlic and 1 tbsp of ginger. This seems like a lot. Please confirm the amounts.
Reply
holly
Hi Niki, the amount of ginger is correct and if the garlic seems like too much cut it in half. 4 cloves of garlic = 1 tablespoon.
Reply
Sherry Fuller
After reading the comments it seemed that most of them were from those who were eager to try it, but I just got through making it and thought I would tell you about my experience. The reason I chose your recipe from the many others I read is that it used the least amount of brown sugar. The last recipe for Mongolian Beef that I tried was so sweet I could barely stand it. I was a bit surprised about the amount of of garlic it called for, so like another commenter I decided to cut it down, and I wish I had not. I think it could have used all that garlic. Before going any farther, I do need to report that my family loved it and gave it thumbs up. There were no leftovers. We ate every bite. The problem I had was it that it was really a lot of work. The cutting and pounding itself took about 20 minutes, and that was with hubby’s help. It took me three batches to cook all the meat, and when I finished, my pan looked nothing like yours in the picture. Mine was all gummy, but when I put in the sauce, scraped the bottom, and stirred it all up, it actually looked great. When I put the meat back in, and topped it with the green onions, it was beautiful. I just wish I could have cooked in the pressure cooker to save all the work. Also, I wish I had put in more red pepper flakes along with more garlic. Maybe you could adapt this for the Ninja Foodi or Instapot.
Reply
holly
Hi Sherry, thanks for all the details about your experience making this dish. I know readers appreciate the comments and reviews of other home cooks. It's great to hear that the whole family enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for stopping by and sharing!
Treva
My family loves this recipe! Do you know if I could make this ahead and freeze it?
Reply
holly
Hi Treva, I'm so glad your family is enjoying this recipe! I think you could but reheating it without overcooking it might be difficult. I don't want your meat to get tough. I would let it defrost over night in the fridge and then heat it briefly on the stove top with some oil. Good luck!
Reply
Carlos Mendez
I’m going to try this tonight! It’s 5:16 in Texas hopefully we have dinner by 6pm!! Ye haw!!!!
Reply
holly
Hey Carlos! I hope dinner was a hit tonight!
Reply
Annette
I'm making this for dinner tonight and ran into a question. Is it possible the recipe intended to have 4 cloves of minced garlic instead of 4 tablespoons of minced garlic? I've read that 4 average size garlic cloves = 1 tablespoon of minced garlic. Doing the math, sixteen cloves of garlic seems like a lot, so I will try 4 cloves and see how it turns out.
Reply
holly
Hi Annette, I agree - that does seem like a bit much. That must be a misprint. Thanks for catching that and reaching out.
Reply
Alice
Do you think it would change how it tastes if i put carrots and cucumber?
Reply
Brian
Do you think this would turn out okay if I use cubed, stew meat? It looks delicious!!
Reply
holly
Hi Brian, I believe stew meat is intended to cook low and slow so it becomes tender. This recipe only requires 1 minutes of cooking the meat so the stew meat might be a bit tough.
Reply
Leigh Madison
My beef came out so chewy. We couldn’t even chew through it. What do you think I did wrong ?
Reply
holly
Hey Leigh, that is very unusual since this recipe gets rave reviews. Here are the main reasons for what you're describing... you used a different cut of beef, cut the pieces too thick, didn't pound them as thinly as specified, or cooked the meat longer than recommended. I hope that helps and you give it another try!
Reply
Jaden
If you need to tenderize the meat beforehand, use 1 teaspoon of baking soda to a 1/2 cup of water, per 12 ounces of meat. Let the meat sit in the solution for 15 minutes then rinse the meat. When you finally cook the steak, it will be more tender. I did this with an older cut of sirloin I had in the freezer for this dish.
Reply
holly
Thanks for the tip, Jaden!
Reply
Hollie Lindgren
This is an amazing recipe. Everyone in my family loves it! We will be making this again and again, thank you for the recipe!
holly
Hi Hollie! Thanks so much for your amazing comment! I'm thrilled to hear how much you and the family enjoyed it!🙌
Reply
John R Freer
Hi,
I am a little bit confused.My daughter has Celiacs and her enjoyment of eating is severely limited.
Since soy is a wheat product how is this dish gluten free?
ThanksReply
holly
Hi John, I'm happy to help! I don't use soy for this recipe I use Tamari which is gluten-free. In the ingredients you'll see Tamari listed and soy sauce in parenthesis for those who aren't gluten intolerant.
Reply
Sherry Fullet
My husband and son are celiacs. I buy gluten free soy sauce all the time. Kikoman makes one that is excellent.
holly
Hi Sherry! That's great to know. Thanks for the tip!
Carol Johnson
Tasty and great 👍. Was easy to make. Going to try more of your recipes.
Reply
holly
Hi Carol, that's great to hear! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.😊
Reply
Tracy
My family like extra sauce for the rice any suggestions how to make more of the sauce?
Reply
holly
Hi Tracy, I would just double the sauce ingredients. So the fresh grated ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes or chili oil, reduced sodium tamari sauce/soy sauce, water and brown sugar. Good luck!
Reply
james Alicea
Double the ingredients of sauce or even triple
Reply
holly
Hi James, I love the idea of making extra sauce. Thanks for mentioning it!
Yvette
Delicious recipe! I added onions and sweet peppers when it was almost done ☺️
holly
Thanks, Yvette! I love that you added some veggies.
Jeff
CRACK! This recipe hit the ball out of the park. Used thin slice beef, pounded, liberal cornstarch, cut up and separated on wax paper. 6 cloves/heaping ginger/ brown surgar. Used a cornstarch slurry thicken at end and was perfect. Son loved it (makes me happy as 3/10 cook) will do again. Mahalo!!!
Reply
holly
Yayyy! I love hearing that, Jeff! So glad the recipe was a hit!
Reply
Shelly N. McGee
the family loved it! we give it a thumbs up!!
Reply
holly
Yayyy! I love hearing that, Shelly! Thank you.:D
Reply
skid
so tasty! i added an onion before the garlic/ginger/ chili and tossed in roasted broccoli at the end and it turned out great!
Reply
holly
That sounds delicious! I'm thrilled you enjoyed the recipe.
Reply
Tina
Do I have to use canola oil? Can I use olive oil?
Reply
holly
Hi Tina, I think that should be fine. Just make sure the olive oil you're using is ok for the temperature you're cooking at.
Reply
Mary Nelson
I used peanut oil and yum!
Reply
holly
Thank you, Mary!
Reply
Mercie
I used Olive Oil! Delicious!
Reply
holly
Hi Mercie! That's great to hear! Thank you!
Reply
Damon Rigetta
This is an amazing dish that will be enjoyed by all.
Reply
holly
Hi Damon! I'm thrilled you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks so much!
Reply
Rita
EXCELLENT. We had leftover rare steak and this recipe was fabulous! Thanks!
Reply
holly
Yayy! I love that, Rita! Thank you so much!
Reply
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