Mongolian Beef is a delicious Asian dish coated with a soy, ginger and garlic sauce. This recipe comes together faster than you can order Chinese take out. Served with rice, it’s a flavorful meal that you can easily make at home.
Mongolian Beef is one of my husband’s favorite dishes whenever we dine out at a Chinese Restaurant. I also like it, because it’s not super spicy. The thinly sliced beef has a bit of a crispy texture and the sauce is heavenly!
I’m so happy that I can make this dish at home, now! The sauce takes no more than 20 minutes to make. My well-seasoned Wok makes quick work of flash cooking the meat and– chop, chop— dinner is ready!
This recipe comes together super fast, so I started immediately cooking Jasmine rice in my rice cooker. For the sauce, you’ll need soy sauce (I always use low-sodium), water and brown sugar.
Thinly slice flank steak (or your choice of beef) and coat with corn starch.
In a small pot. heat some oil and add the garlic and ginger. Cook until fragrant (about one minute). Add the soy sauce/brown sugar mixture. Boil until thickened (3-5 minutes). Set aside.
I love my Wok (I use it fairly often). Otherwise, use a pan that you can really heat up to be HOT (a non-stick pan isn’t recommended). Shake off the excess cornstarch from the beef, and quickly brown the meat– do it in batches, if necessary, so you don’t crowd the meat. Don’t worry about cooking the beef to well-done, as that will happen once you add the sauce.
Add the sauce to the pan, and stir until hot and bubbly.
Remove the beef from heat and garnish with green onions and (optional) sesame seeds.
Serve over sticky rice and dinner is ready to enjoy.
TASTING NOTES: My husband was so pleased with this meal, as was I. The beef was tender, and that sweet and savory sauce was out-of-this-world flavorful. There were no leftovers, whatsoever. We’d still continue ordering Mongolian Beef if we’re at a Chinese restaurant. However, this homemade version certainly does a great job of tasting just as good.
Perfect and Easy Mongolian Beef
Equipment
- 1 wok or pan with high sides is ideal
Ingredients
For the sauce:
- 4 cloves garlic finely minced
- ½ tsp fresh ginger minced
- ½ cup soy sauce low sodium is best
- ¼ cup water
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
For the beef:
- 1 pound flank steak or your favorite cut of beef thinly sliced
- ⅓ cup cornstarch
- 2 green onions sliced
Instructions
- Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a small pan over medium low heat. Add ginger and garlic and stir just until fragrant (about 1 minute). Add soy sauce, water and brown sugar and bring to a boil. Let boil 3-5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Set aside.
- Slice the flank steak into ¼" slices and toss with cornstarch. NOTE: Freezing the beef for about 20 minutes, makes slicing a lot easier.Gently shake off any excess cornstarch.
- Place 1 tablespoon at a time of oil in a pan or wok and heat over medium high heat. Cook the beef in small batches for about 2 minutes. (It doesn't need to cook all of the way through, it will cook completely when combined with the sauce).
- Once all the beef has been cooked, combine with the sauce and heat over medium until hot and bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in green onions. Serve over rice.
Notes
How much ginger?
Yikes! Thank you for pointing that out. I’ve updated the recipe to say 1/2 tsp of fresh minced ginger. So sorry…