Mongolian Beef. Crispy and delicious beef smothered in a sweet, savory sauce with a mild kick (that can be omitted if desired)!
A popular dish in Asian food made with simple ingredients that pairs deliciously with steamed rice, chow mein, or rice noodles. I also love having it with vegetables, like steamed broccoli, snow peas, green beans, bell peppers like red bell pepper or any leafy greens.
One of my Favorite Dishes
Back when I used to work in an office, I remember ordering this dish for lunch at my Chinese restaurant. There would be times I would salivate just thinking of that crispy beef in that sweet, savory and spicy sauce. Paired with some white rice or brown rice and some vegetables, it made for a delicious meal. For good reason, I decided I had to re-make this copycat recipe at home and I'm happy to share it with you!
The Best Mongolian Beef!
There are many Mongolian beef recipes online but mine is:
- easy to make
- packed with flavor
- perfectly balanced in sweetness and saltiness
- does not require any deep frying, just a hot pan will do!
If it's your first time making this, I will show you step by step with visuals and a short video on how to make this stir-fry beef.
What is Mongolian beef?
It’s tender beef, usually flank steak, cut into thin slices, coated in cornstarch and fried until crispy. Then covered in a sweet sauce that is balanced in saltiness and has a slightly mild kick, which can be omitted.
It's a kind of dish that is so popular in Chinese food and you'll find it sold at many Asian restaurants or at your favorite Chinese takeout place. Despite the name of the dish, it does not originate from Mongolian cuisine. It originates from Taiwan.
Easy Mongolian Beef Recipe
This Mongolian beef stir fry is simple to make at home and requires no deep frying. We are simply marinating the beef and then coating it in cornstarch. Next, we’ll shallow fry the beef until crispy. Finally, we’ll fry the aromatics and pour in the pre-mixed sauce to thicken and reduce. Adding the beef back into coat. Optionally, you may garnish with green onions or sesame seeds to enjoy!
Ingredients
For this Mongolian crispy beef, you’ll need the following ingredients. Please scroll down to recipe card for full measurements.
- Flank beef steak, skirt steak, sirloin steak will all work. Flank steak is the best cut of beef for this type of dish as it's lean and has little muscle fibers creating the best results for a tender texture.
- Corn starch, potato starch or tapioca starch: this helps make the beef crispy.
- Ginger: This helps tenderize the beef and elevates that delicious sauce!
- Garlic: Adds a little bit of that garlicky flavor and aroma in making the best beef stir fry dish!
- Red chili pepper: this adds a mild spicy kick! Feel free to substitute with red pepper flakes or chili peppers.
- Green onion: This will act as our garnish for the finished dish.
- Neutral oil: avocado oil, grapeseed oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil or canola oil work for this recipe. Please avoid using olive oil as it has a slight taste and scent.
Beef marinade
- Regular soy sauce: Just your regular all-purpose soy sauce that simply says "Soy Sauce" not light soy sauce or dark soy sauce. Most Asian or Western grocers and select online retailers, like Amazon, will carry this ingredient.
- You may substitute with low sodium soy sauce if needed.
- Black pepper: To help season our beef.
- Baking soda: This is the best way to tenderize the beef quickly and it's commonly used in Chinese cooking for tenderizing meat.
Mongolian beef sauce
- Hoisin sauce: This adds a caramelized sweetness to our sauce. It's not the same as Oyster sauce but it has the same texture. Oyster sauce is saltier and not sweet.
- Regular soy sauce: not light or dark soy sauce! Or replace with low sodium soy sauce to taste.
- Brown sugar: light or dark brown sugar will work.
- Sesame oil: This adds a nutty flavor to the dish.
- Corn starch, potato starch or tapioca starch: this helps thicken our sauce.
- Cold water: adding a little water to our sauce to help loosen it so there's plenty to cover the beef.
Optional garnish
- Toasted sesame seeds
How to make Mongolian Beef
Below are brief steps with visuals to show you how to make Mongolian Beef. Please scroll down to the recipe card below to find full instructions and details.
- Thinly slice beef against the grain into 0.75 cm thick pieces and 2 inches in length. Do not slice any thinner.
- Marinate beef strips with Marinade ingredients and set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine sauce ingredients.
- On a large plate or large bowl, add cornstarch and generously dredge beef slices into starch until well coated. Transfer coated pieces onto a large plate. Repeat this process until all your beef is coated.
- In a large skillet on medium heat, add and heat oil. Check if oil is hot by inserting a wooden chopstick and look for bubbles.
- Once oil is hot, fry beef in a single layer in batches 1 minute on each side until slightly crispy. Important: Immediately spread beef apart to prevent sticking. Fry in 2-3 batches to prevent overcrowding.
- Remove cooked beef from oil and set aside on a large plate or baking tray lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil. Discard excess oil leaving 1 teaspoon in the pan.
- Over low heat, sauté ginger, garlic, red chili for 10 seconds.
- Pour in sauce to reduce and thicken.
- Once thick, add beef and mix to coat evenly. Garnish with green onions.
- Remove off heat. Optionally garnish with sesame seeds. Enjoy!
Cooking Tips
Below are tips to help you make this great recipe even better:
Freeze flank steak for 30 minutes to make slicing easier!
This is a trick I’ve learned from countless chefs and I’m passing it on! If you freeze your beef for 30 minutes, it will make slicing the beef into thin pieces much easier.
Baking soda helps to tenderize meat
In case you’re wondering why we’re adding baking soda to the beef, this is a popular meat tenderizing agent used in Chinese cuisine to make meat tender.
Coat beef generously in starch for crispy texture
Ensure your beef is evenly coated in the cornstarch if you want a crispier beef texture.
Do not over fry your beef
Since we are frying the thinly sliced beef in hot oil, it’s important not to over fry it or it’ll too crispy and dry.
Simmer sauce over LOW heat
Because this sauce contains a high amount of sugar thanks to the hoisin and brown sugar, it’s important to first simmer the sauce over low heat to avoid burning.
FAQ
Below are frequently asked questions about this authentic Mongolian beef recipe:
How long will this dish last?
Up to 3 days stored in an airtight container.
Is Mongolian beef spicy?
Usually, it’s not spicy but my version has a slight mild kick – it’s not overpowering. If you’re not a fan of spice you can omit the red chilis.
Other Chinese recipes you may like!
If you enjoyed this Mongolian beef recipe, you may like these other recipes:
Easy Mongolian Beef (30-min. Recipe)
Ingredients
- 330 grams flank steak or sub with sirloin steak or skirt steak
- 7 tablespoon cornstarch or sub with potato starch or tapioca starch
- 5-6 small slices ginger with or without skin on
- 4 teaspoon garlic minced
- 1 red chili pepper sliced (optional)
- 1 stalk green onion finely chopped
- ½ cup avocado oil or any neutral tasting oil
Beef marinade:
- 1 teaspoon regular soy sauce not light or dark soy sauce
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
Sauce:
- 4 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoon regular soy sauce not light or dark soy sauce!
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar light or dark brown sugar will work
- 2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch or sub with potato starch or tapioca starch
- ½ cup water
Optional garnish:
- ½ teaspoon Sesame seeds toasted
Instructions
- Thinly slice beef against the grain into 0.75 cm thick pieces and 2 inches in length. Do not slice any thinner.
- Marinate beef strips with Marinade ingredients and set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine Sauce ingredients.
- On a large plate or in a large bowl, add cornstarch and generously dredge beef slices into starch until well coated. Transfer coated pieces onto a large plate. Repeat this process until all your beef is coated.
- In a large skillet on medium heat, add and heat oil. Check if oil is hot by inserting a wooden chopstick and look for bubbles.
- Once oil is hot, fry beef in a single layer in batches 1 minute on each side until slightly crispy. Important: Immediately spread beef apart to prevent sticking. Fry in 2-3 batches to prevent overcrowding.
- Remove cooked beef from oil and set aside on a large plate or baking tray lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil. Discard excess oil leaving 1 teaspoon in the pan.
- Over low heat, sauté ginger, garlic, red chili for 10 seconds.
- Pour in sauce to reduce and thicken.
- Once thick, add beef and mix to coat evenly. Garnish with green onions.
- Remove off heat. Optionally garnish with sesame seeds. Enjoy!
Emma
Tastes like you ordered from a Chinese restaurant and so easy to make! For some reason I’ve always been a bit intimidated by flank steak but it was really easy to cut, especially with her tip to freeze for 30 mins, and also easy to cook. I air fried some broccoli and served with rice and it was perfect.
christieathome
Thank you so much Emma for making my Mongolian beef! I'm so glad the tip to freeze the flank steak was helpful!
David
Hello, and thank you for all the great recipes.
This recipe calls for sesame oil, is that the dark toasted sesame oil?
Thank you.
christieathome
You're welcome! It's roasted/toasted sesame oil. For the exact brand, I use Kadoya Pure Sesame Oil. Hope this helps!
Boyd
Awesome awesome awesome!!! I love this recipie!
christieathome
Thank you so much Boyd! I truly appreciate your kind support!
Javi
Fantastic, I became a star when I served it !!!
Thank you..
christieathome
Thanks so much for making my recipe! So happy to read this!
Michael A Wade
I am an Asian food nut, I cook all the time, recently I had major dental implant surgery and can only eat soft foods; will ground beef work for this? Any other ideas for me? I am stuck the healing process is 4 to 6 months.
Thanks! Mike
christieathome
Sorry to hear that you had to have dental surgery. Yes ground beef could work but I would skip coating the beef in starch since you'd like to keep it soft. You can simply fry the beef until cooked, remove from the pan and then cook your sauce. Then add the ground beef back into the sauce to mix and pair it with some soft steamed rice or soft noodles. I also share a very easy rice porridge called Congee that requires very little chewing if you dice up the chicken finely or use ground chicken, click here for the recipe. I would also suggest my Egg Drop Soup as well, click here. Hope this helps and wishing you a smooth recovery!
Danielle
I made this for my husband and we are making it again tonight! This was the best recipe! Thank you!
christieathome
Thanks so much Danielle for making my recipe and leaving this kind review! I am really happy to read this. Glad you both enjoyed it!