This Mongolian Beef recipe is a copycat version of PF Chang’s famous Mongolian beef but even better! It’s an incredibly delicious dish made of simple ingredients like soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and dark brown sugar which coats tender pieces of flank steak in a sweet and tangy sauce!
If you’re like me and crave any kind of Asian-style takeout, this recipe is exactly what you need. Served on a bed of white rice with a side of steamed broccoli, and it's heaven!
I tried this Mongolian beef recipe for the first time at my neighbor’s house and I’m so excited to share this flavorful dish with you all. I just know you’ll love it as much as my family does.
Making it from home is so easy to do because most of the items you’ve probably got in your kitchen and we all know that as delicious and convenient as ordering takeout can be, it comes with a ton of added sugar and high sodium ingredients. This way you can control what goes in and what stays out.
Plus, it’s ready in 30 minutes!
The answer to your weeknight dinner dilemma is always a quick and easy dish and this one is the best! Besides the fact that this flank steak recipe is mouthwatering and crazy delicious, it’s also budget-friendly because flank steak is not an expensive cut of beef.
Once you know how to cook flank steak this way, the sky’s the limit to what you can do with it next time!
Lets start cooking.
Ingredients
- For the sauce - Olive oil, ginger, garlic, soy, sauce, dark brown sugar, and water. Combined, these ingredients make the dark, sweet and tangy, glossy sauce that coats the beef.
- Olive oil - Used to pan-fry the steak.
- Flank steak - I use about 1 ½ lbs of flank steak cut into strips.
- Cornstarch - A thickening agent that coats the steak before it gets cooked. Not only does it make a really nice coating on the steak which is texturally amazing, but it helps to thicken the sauce as it cooks together with the meat.
- Green onion - Cooked along with the Mongolian beef as part of the dish but save a little extra for garnish!
How to make PF Chang's Mongolian Beef Recipe:
Step 1: Combine all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and then set it aside.
Step 2: Grab your flank steak and slice it diagonally against the grain. I make mine about ¼” thick, but you can cut yours to your desired thickness.
Step 3: Place cornstarch in a shallow bowl and dip each piece of steak into the cornstarch, making sure it’s all evenly coated. Place the pieces on a plate and let them sit for about 5-10 minutes.
Step 4: Take the steak and cut them further into 1” bites.
Step 5: Heat oil in a pot or skillet over medium heat. Add the beef slices and cook for 2 minutes, stirring and flipping the meat so that it cooks evenly.
Step 6: Remove the beef from the oil using a slotted spoon and transfer them to a paper towel-lined plate to rest.
Step 7: Drain the oil (or grab a new skillet) and add the meat back onto the pan, still over medium heat. Add the sauce and bring to a boil uncovered. Cook for 1 minute.
Step 8: Add the green onion and cook for an extra minute before turning off the heat.
Serve immediately over cooked rice and garnish with some extra green onion. Enjoy!
Cooking Tips
- Cutting beef across the grain means you’re cutting across the tough muscle fibers, cutting them short. This makes it more tender and easier to chew.
- If your pan is a little on the smaller side, be sure to cook in batches to avoid overcrowding.
- For simplicity, you can actually buy a flank steak that’s already pre-cut into strips.
- Not a fan of beef? Use chicken, pork, or even tofu for a twist!
- Use low sodium if you’re concerned about the sodium levels. You could also use an alternative like tamari or coconut aminos.
- Brown sugar is what caramelizes and creates that beautiful sweet and sticky, dark-colored, sauce, but if white sugar is what you have, go ahead and use it. It’ll still caramelize nicely, without the additional color.
What to Serve with Mongolian Beef
Most often, I’ll serve this dish over plain white rice and a side of steamed broccoli, but you can definitely switch it up to your liking.
- Try serving it on a bed of noodles (egg noodles, or udon noodles are great), brown rice, or quinoa.
- Cauliflower rice or spaghetti squash is another brilliant way of serving this dish when you’re on the hunt for a low-carb meal.
- These zucchini noodles with pesto would be great without the pesto sauce added!
- Skip the broccoli and serve with green beans with bacon, or mixed grilled veggies instead.
How to Store Leftovers
Keep any leftovers stored in an airtight container for up to 4 days. If you happen to have a lot of leftover sauce, don’t throw it out! Keep it in a separate container in the fridge. It will keep for up to 2 weeks which means you can use it again for other dishes.
More Beef Recipes to Try
- Easy Beef Rice Pilaf
- How to Grill Ribeye Steak
- Tastefully Simple Beef Stroganoff
- The Best New York Strip Steak
- How To Cook A Ribeye Steak
- Beef Barley Soup
Q. Did YOU like this Dinner Recipe?
Let me know in the comments below, I would love to hear from you!
📖 Recipe
P. F. Chang's Mongolian Beef Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon ginger minced
- 1 tablespoon garlic chopped
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ½ cup water
- ¾ cup dark brown sugar
- 1 cup olive oil or avocado oil for frying
- 1.5 lb flank steak
- ⅓ cup cornstarch more in needed
- green onion diagonally sliced
Instructions
- In a small sauce pan combine 2 teaspoons olive oil, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, dark brown sugar and water. Bring it to a boil on a medium heat and cook for about 2-3 minutes, remove from the heat and set aside.
- Slice flank steak diagonally into ¼" thick slices. Dip both sides of the steak slices in cornstarch, place it on a plate and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes.
- Cut the steak slices into 1 inch bites.
- Using a pot/skillet heat 1 cup of olive oil on a medium heat. Add the beef slices and cook for 2 minutes, stirring the meat so it cooks evenly.
- Using slotted spoon remove the meat onto a plate lined with paper towel.
- Drain the oil (or grab a new skillet) and return the meat into the skillet. Cook on medium heat for 1 minutes. Add the sauce, bring it to a boil and cook for 1 minute. Add green onion, cook for 1 more minute. Turn off the heat. Serve while hot over cooked rice. Garnish with extra green onion.
Notes
Nutrition
Have an awesome day!
This post was updated January 5, 2022, the recipe is still the same!
Kathy Bocko
Silly as it may sound, after taking beef out of skillet with oil in it, drain on paper towel, place in skillet,add sauce ....
Placing beef in skillet means not back in oil but a different skillet correct?
Munchkin Time
Drain oil from the skillet then add beef and sauce into the same skillet, now without oil in it 🙂
Jason
Thanks for the detailed recipe and pictures. Can't wait to try making this one!
Munchkin Time
You are very welcome, Jason! Can't wait to hear what you think of this recipe!
Jenn @ BoiledNoodle.com
Saw this on the Totally Terrific Tuesday link party!! Looks amazing! Thanks for sharing!!!
Munchkin Time
Thank you for stopping by Jenn!:)
Pamela
I was looking at the stage where you said add green onions and cook 1 minute and serve. It was not thick but watery and had a dull brownish glaze to it in comparisons to the finish presentation where the glaze was a reddish brown and sticky. It is obvious that the finish product picture does not represent what you had in that skillet and you used someone's photo from another picture. Not honest.....
Munchkin Time
Thank you so much Pamela for sharing your observation. The sauce does turn out watery but because you dip steak in the cornstarch before cooking it attracts the sauce to the meat and in return it gives this thick glaze layer around each slice. I can proudly take your comment as a compliment. All pictures on this blog are taken by me including the finish product of this recipe. Thank you for stopping by!