Another wonderful Recipe from Jen at CarlsbadCravings!
- Jen's Notes
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Easy Mongolian Beef Recipe
This Mongolian Beef is better than your favorite restaurant's and can feed the family at a fraction of the cost. It boasts a secret ingredient sauce and a winning technique for melt-in-your-mouth beef that will have everyone licking their plates and singing your praises. Best of all, this Mongolian Beef recipe is easy to prep ahead, then it’s just a quick stir fry to dinner!
What is Mongolian Beef?
Typical Mongolian Beef Sauce Consists Of:
- Soy sauce
- Brown sugar
- Garlic
- Ginger
With just these ingredients, I think Mongolian Beef can taste flat and one-dimensional. THIS Mongolian Beef recipe, however, boasts all of the aforementioned ingredients but gets a kick of tang from Asian Sweet Chili Sauce, and now this sauce is off the OMG charts.
If you aren’t familiar with Asian Sweet Chili Sauce (sometimes says “Thai” on the label), it is sweet, with a hint of spice and packed with flavor from a combination of red chilies, onion, garlic, Japanese rice wine, brown sugar and fish sauce. Basically, a whole lot of my favorite everything in one bottle. And now a whole lot of my favorite everything in one stir fry.
Easy Mongolian Beef Ingredients
This is such an easy Mongolian beef and broccoli stir-fry! Here’s what you’ll need to make the stir-fry and the Mongolian beef sauce:
- Flank steak
- Oil: Either vegetable or peanut oil will work.
- Broccoli florets: Buy pre-cut florets to save yourself some time.
- Red bell pepper
- Green onions
- Garlic and ginger: If you’re looking to save time and skip some chopping, you can substitute the fresh garlic and ginger with powders. The typical rule of thumb is 3:1, so one part dried to three parts fresh.
Mongolian Sauce Recipe Ingredients
- Soy sauce: Use reduced-sodium soy sauce so we can control the salt level.
- Brown sugar: Use light brown sugar. It adds sweetness to balance the soy sauce, rice wine and heat. You can more or less depending on personal preferences.
- Asian sweet chili sauce: Sweet, with a hint of spice and packed with flavor from a combination of red chilies, onion, garlic, Japanese rice wine, brown sugar, and fish sauce.
- Mirin: Rice wine adds a sweetness and depth of flavor. I use “Kikkoman Aji-Mirin: Sweet Cooking Rice Seasoning,” which is commonly found in the Asian section of most grocery stores or you can Amazon it.
- Hoisin sauce: Adds a tangy flavor. Asian hot sauce: I recommend adding more to taste at the end of cooking if you would like it spicier instead of red pepper flakes because it distributes more evenly.
- Cornstarch: Thickens the sauce so it’s rich instead of watery.
What’s the Best Beef for Mongolian Beef?
I recommend flank steak in Mongolian Beef because although it is an inexpensive cut of beef, it transforms into buttery delicious when marinated and coated in soy sauce and cornstarch. You can use sirloin steak for this Mongolian Beef recipe as well, but I wouldn’t pay the extra $$ for it if you don’t have it on hand already.
How to Make Mongolian Beef
- Thinly slice beef. In addition to the marinade, the key to tender beef is to THINLY slice your steak across the grain, we are talking 1/8-1/4.” Thin slices ensure steak that is seeping with flavor and is buttery tender. It is much easier to thinly slice your steak if you freeze it for 30 minutes or so. You are welcome to freeze it longer, whatever makes it solid enough for you to handle without it moving under your knife. The beef will defrost completely and quickly in the marinade.
- Slice your beef ACROSS the grain. You can see the “grain” running through the meat in one direction. The grain is essentially the muscle fibers running through the meat. If you cut it parallel to the grain you will end up with long muscle fibers which results in chewy, rubbery meat. You want to cut perpendicular to the muscle fibers so they become as short as possible.
- Marinate beef. Because we are using flank steak, a marinade is crucial to tenderize the beef. Our simple marinade consists of soy sauce and cornstarch. It will be thick and not your typical wet marinade. Let sit at room temperature 30-60 minutes.
- The Trick to Making Mongolian Beef Crispy
- To make Crispy Mongolian Beef you are going to want to add more oil, so you are essentially frying your beef. Make sure you use a high-smoking point oil such as vegetable oil.
- Fill the bottom of your pan completely with vegetable oil. Heat over high heat until it very hot – the oil should sizzle if you flick water on it.
- Add beef in a single layer using tongs. Fry for 1 minute or until deeply golden.
- Flip beef strips over and fry another 1 minute or until deeply golden.
The Trick to Making Mongolian Beef Crispy
To make Crispy Mongolian Beef you are going to want to add more oil, so you are essentially frying your beef. Make sure you use a high smoking point oil such as vegetable oil.
- Fill the bottom of your pan completely with vegetable oil. Heat over high heat until it's super hot – the oil should sizzle if you flick water on it.
- Add beef in a single layer using tongs. Fry for 1 minute or until deeply golden.
- Add beef in a single layer to sear – you will probably need to cook in two batches
- Fry for 1 minute or until deeply golden. Flip beef strips over and fry another 1 minute or until deeply golden. Showing how to make Mongolian Beef by stir-frying broccoli
- Flip beef strips over and fry another 1 minute or until deeply golden
Prepping This Easy Mongolian Beef in Advance
This Mongolian stir-fry has a few steps, but you can prep EVERYTHING beforehand, so all that’s left to do at dinnertime is cook! Here’s how:
- Slice Beef: you can do this at any time before marinating or just before marinating then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- Marinate Beef: marinate your beef for 30 minutes up to 8 hours before cooking.
- Make Mongolian Sauce: whisk the ingredients together up to 24 hours in advance and store, covered in the refrigerator.
- Chop veggies: you can chop your garlic, grate your ginger, and slice your green onions and bell peppers 24 hours in advance, and store in separate air-tight containers in the refrigerator.
Mongolian Beef
Ingredients
- 1 pound flank steak cut across the grain into 1/8″ thin slices, then cut into 2” length pieces*
- 1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- vegetable or peanut oil
Stir Fry
- 3 cups broccoli florets
- 1 red bell pepper thinly sliced then cut in half
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 6 garlic cloves, minced, or 1 Tbs garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger, or 1 Tsp ginger powder
Sauce
- 1/2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup Asian sweet chili sauce (like Mae Ploy)
- 2 tablespoons mirin/sweet Japanese rice wine or dry sherry
- 1 tablespoon quality hoisin sauce (Lee Kum Kee or Kikkoman)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1-2 teaspoons Sriracha/ Asian hot chili sauce
Garnish
- Green onions, chopped
What to do with them...
- Add beef to a large freezer bag along with 1 tablespoon soy sauce. Toss to evenly coat. Add ¼ cup cornstarch and toss to evenly coat. Let sit at room temperature for 30-60 minutes.
- Whisk the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Heat 1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil or peanut oil in a large nonstick skillet over HIGH heat until very hot and sizzling. Add half of the beef to the skillet in a single layer and sear for 1 minute, flip over and cook 1 more minute (it will cook more in the sauce). Don’t overcook or it won’t be as tender! Transfer beef to a large plate and cover. Repeat
- Add 1 tablespoon oil to the now-empty skillet; heat over high heat. Add the broccoli and saute for 30 seconds. Add 3 tablespoons water, cover the pan, and lower the heat to medium. Steam broccoli for 2 minutes.
- Push the broccoli to the sides of the skillet and add 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Add bell pepper, green onions, garlic, ginger, and sauté with broccoli 1 minute.
- Return the beef to the skillet and toss to combine. Whisk the sauce to recombine then add to the skillet. Cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce is thickened, the beef is cooked and the vegetables are crisp and tender, about 1-2 minutes. Taste and add additional sriracha, sweet chili sauce, etc. if desired.
- Serve with rice and garnish with fresh green onions.