Easy, Inexpensive Recipe: Mongolian Beef for Under $10!
I have thought multiple times about tackling Mongolian beef in my kitchen, but I never, ever thought I’d be able to do it. I finally worked up the confidence as my nearest PF Chang’s restaurant is over 30 minutes away and on a weeknight that’s just not feasible. And, the menu price… well that’s not always in the budget. So I whipped up my own version of this very popular restaurant favorite and let me tell ‘ya. I’m glad I got the guts to do it because this recipe is SO easy. And, for my family of four, the recipe cost me about $10 to make. And a little boost to my ego if I do say so myself. 😉 I think you can do it, too. Items I used for this recipe:
Recipe for Mongolian Beef
Make the sauce first. Pour 2 teaspoons of oil into a medium saucepan over medium/low heat. Add minced garlic and ginger stirring with a whisk. Add the soy sauce and water. Dissolve the brown sugar into the liquid and bring to a boil for about 5 minutes. The sauce will still be fairly runny when it’s done boiling, that’s ok. Remove it from the heat.
Slice the flank steak in 1/4 inch slices at a 45 degree angle against the grain into bite size pieces. (I had my butcher do this – easy peasy! My butcher is awesome.) Dip the steak pieces into the cornstarch to apply a thin layer of dusting to the steak. Let that sit for about 10 minutes.
As the beef sits, heat one cup of oil in your pan. If you don’t have a wok (I don’t as you can see from the pictures) use a little more oil. I used about a cup and a half – just enough to almost cover the meat. The beef will begin to brown on the edges. That’s good. Stir the meat around a bit and after a couple minutes remove the beef from the oil with a slotted spoon into a bowl lined with paper towels and pour the oil out into a bowl or something that it won’t melt.
Put the pan back over medium heat and put meat back in, browning for a minute or so. Add the sauce to this pan and the green onions. Serve over rice.Enjoy.
What is Mongolian Beef?
Mongolian beef is a dish usually served in Chinese-American restaurants consisting of sliced beef, typically a flank or flat-iron steak, and stir-fried with vegetables (usually green onions) in a savory brown sauce, usually made with soy sauce, and chili peppers.
Easy, Inexpensive Recipe: Mongolian Beef
Prep Time 35 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 4 servings
Author Kate
Ingredients
- Mongolian Beef Ingredients:
- 2tvegetable oil
- 1/2t.minced ginger
- 1Tchopped garlic
- 1/2cuplow sodium soy sauce
- 1/2cupwater
- 3/4cupdark brown sugar
- 1cvegetable oil
- 1poundflankor flat iron steak
- 1/4ccorn starch
- 2large green onions
Instructions
Pour 2 teaspoons of oil into a medium saucepan over medium/low heat.
Add minced garlic and ginger stirring with a whisk.
Add the soy sauce and water.
Dissolve the brown sugar into the liquid and bring to a boil for about 5 minutes.
The sauce will still be fairly runny when it's done boiling, that's ok.
Remove it from the heat.
Slice the flank steak in 1/4 inch slices at a 45 degree angle against the grain into bite size pieces. (I had my butcher do this - easy peasy! My butcher is awesome.)
Dip the steak pieces into the cornstarch to apply a thin layer of dusting to the steak.
Let that sit for about 10 minutes.
As the beef sits, heat one cup of oil in your pan.
If you don't have a wok (I don't as you can see from the pictures) use a little more oil.
I used about a cup and a half - just enough to almost cover the meat.
The beef will begin to brown on the edges. That's good.
Stir the meat around a bit and after a couple minutes remove the beef from the oil with a slotted spoon into a bowl lined with paper towels and pour the oil out into a bowl or something that it won't melt.
Put the pan back over med heat and put meat back in, browning for a minute or so.
Add the sauce to this pan and the green onions.
Serve over rice. Enjoy!
Studies have shown that if you like this Mongolian Beef recipe you’ll probably really love these ones, too. Click on the image to be taken directly to any of these posts.
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FAQs
Making the Mongolian Beef Sauce
Whisk the Mongolian Beef Sauce ingredients together consisting of soy sauce, water, brown sugar, Asian sweet chili sauce, rice wine, hoisin, pepper, sriracha and cornstarch.
What is a substitute for cornstarch in Mongolian beef? ›
Try using arrowroot or tapioca starch as substitutions for cornstarch. Both options are great starchy flours and are also gluten-free! It's important to note that if you're using either one of these to double the amount (that I call for using cornstarch) as it is not an equal 1:1 replacement of cornstarch.
What is the difference between Mongolian beef and Chinese beef? ›
Szechuan beef vs Mongolian beef, what's the difference? Szechuan beef has a sweet and spicy flavor, and Mongolian beef has a mild taste. Szechuan beef hails from the Sichuan Province in southwestern China. Its main ingredients are chili peppers, garlic, and Szechuan peppercorn.
Why is Mongolian beef so tender? ›
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 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.
How to make beef tender like Chinese restaurants? ›
There are a few methods, but this is the easiest way:
- Sprinkle 3/4 tsp baking soda (bi-carbonate soda) on 250g / 8oz sliced economical beef cuts.
- Toss with fingers, leave for 30 minutes.
- Rinse, pat off excess water.
- Proceed with stir fry recipe. It can be marinated with wet or dry seasonings, or cooked plain.
Velveting is a Chinese method of marinating which keeps delicate meat and seafood moist and tender during cooking. The velveting technique is very easy and gives amazing results.
What is the closest substitute for cornstarch? ›
The 11 Best Substitutes for Cornstarch
- Wheat flour. Share on Pinterest AwakenedEye/Getty Images. ...
- Arrowroot. Arrowroot is a starchy flour made from the roots of the Maranta genus of plants, which is found in the tropics. ...
- Potato starch. ...
- Tapioca. ...
- Rice flour. ...
- Ground flaxseeds. ...
- Glucomannan. ...
- Psyllium husk.
5 Best Cornstarch Substitutes
- All-Purpose Flour. Yep, that's right — all-purpose flour is a very stable thickener. ...
- Arrowroot Powder. If you happen to have this starch on hand, you're in luck: It has the same thickening power as cornstarch, and it creates a beautiful, shiny sauce. ...
- Potato Starch. ...
- Rice Flour. ...
- Tapioca Starch.
If you are like me, you probably asked yourself what's the difference between Szechuan Beef vs Mongolian Beef because these two dishes look very similar. The main difference is in flavor and the use of peppercorns. Szechuan Beef has a sweet and spicy flavor with added chili peppers and Szechuan peppercorns.
Mongolian beef is a dish from Taiwan consisting of sliced beef, typically flank steak, usually made with onions. The beef is commonly paired with scallions or mixed vegetables and is often not spicy. The dish is often served over steamed rice, or in the US, over crispy fried cellophane noodles.
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 is the secret ingredient to tenderize meat? ›
Whether hosting a holiday cookout, serving up some stir-fry or tackling game meats, baking soda is the go-to meat tenderizer to help make your steak, chicken or turkey silkier, juicier and yummier.
What does baking soda do to meat? ›
Baking soda. Here's where it gets science-y: The baking soda raises the pH on the outside of the meat as it marinates, in a process known as velveting (which can also be done with a cornstarch slurry). This makes it so the proteins have a harder time bonding to each other when it's time to cook the meat.
Do you need to rinse baking soda off meat? ›
From there, leave it in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight. Then take the meat out of the container and rinse it ensuring that all—or most—of the baking soda is off the steak.
What's the difference between Mongolian and teriyaki? ›
True Teriyaki has Mirin and Sake in it and those two ingredients aren't in my Mongolian Beef recipe. That's like saying Ketchup is just co*cktail Sauce even though it needs horseradish to make it so.
Does Mongolian beef contain oyster sauce? ›
Place the steak in a shallow bowl and add the water, vegetable, and cornstarch mixture. Massage all the ingredients into the meat. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 12 hours. For the sauce: Combine the oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, cornstarch, vinegar, garlic and half the ginger in a small bowl and set aside.
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.
What does Mongolian beef taste like? ›
It had a slightly crusty exterior, and was served with peppers and onions, over a bed of crisp rice straws. Was my favorite. I'm out east now and at all Chinese restaurants Mongolian beef is a sickly sweet, watery brown sauce with generic mixed vegetables. It tastes like soy sauce and sugar.
