This easy crispy mongolian beef recipe is fast, simple, and packed with savory goodness. Marinated, thinly sliced beef tossed in a sticky sauce full of umami and bright aromatic flavor with garlic and ginger is exactly what we're looking for in a takeout style weeknight meal, friend. Especially when it takes just 30 minutes to make! Serve this popular Chinese American dish up with steamed rice, lo mein noodles, and a brown bag full of fried chicken wings, heavy on the flats ;).
This homemade mongolian beef recipe is one of the first that ended up on Sweet Tea + Thyme back in 2016, y'all! I just wanna say thanks so much for all the love for this recipe. It has been recently updated with better photos, step-by-step process shots, helpful content, and a clearer recipe.
Living in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains means I can’t just grab things like I could back in South Florida—especially good Chinese food! In Florida, it was always right next to Publix. Which Publix? Every Publix.
I grew up with friends whose families owned those restaurants, so I spent a lot of time hanging out, doing homework, and learning to appreciate those classic Chinese-American takeout dishes.
PF Chang's eat your heart out, you know?
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A Crispy Sticky Mongolian Beef Recipe
Something about Chinese restaurants: they move quick! Orders come in, and meats that have been velveting or marinating are moved to hot oil in a wok, a waiting sauce is thrown in, sides are flipped into boxes and boom, ready for pick up. It's all so very fast, but because of their prep work it's also very easy.
We're taking a page out of their book by slicing up the tender beef and giving it a little love in cornstarch to get it ready for frying. Then you reduce the sauce in a pot, fry the beef strips, toss 'em in the sauce and you're getting dinner on the table in less than half an hour. Yes, it's really that simple!
What Cut of Beef Should I Use?
When you're making a stir fry, you want to use a cut that's meant to be quick cooking: a sirloin steak, some rump roast, a fancy steak works, flank steak as shown. You want something more lean rather than something with a lot of fat that'll need rendering like a ribeye.
What you shouldn't use is anything that would be best for slow cooking: anything with a lot of connective tissue and sinew like a chuck steak, london broil, or 'stew meat'.
Ingredients
Full ingredients, measurements, and printable instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Flank Steak - this is an affordable cut that must be sliced against the grain, otherwise you'll have chewy, hard to eat beef. Luckily, flank steak has very obvious grain lines going across it, just cut perpendicular to them and you're
- Cornstarch
- Toasted Sesame Oil - this isn't meant to be used for frying or high heat. Use it at the very end for flavor. It's SO good and fragrant, once you try it you'll be hooked!
- Low Sodium Soy Sauce - please use low sodium soy sauce. It'll save your taste buds; regular soy sauce is too salty for this recipe.
- Chicken Broth
- Fresh Ginger and Garlic - this is the main thing that makes this mongolian beef. General Tso's beef is more tangy, less gingery.
- Dark Brown Sugar
- Vegetable Oil - we're using this high heat neutral oil to fry
- Somethin' Spicy - I used Sambal Oelek in mine...it's just a preference because it's like a garlic focused chunky hot sauce and I always have it on hand. I've also used sriracha and red pepper flakes and it tastes just as great.
- Scallions and Sesame Seeds
- Kosher Salt and Black Pepper
How to Make Crispy Mongolian Beef
Step 1 | Get that beef coated in cornstarch, salt, and pepper, and set it aside.
Step 2 | Cook down your sauce in a small saucepan over medium heat for about 10-15 minutes.
Step 3 | While that's simmering, fry up the beef in a large skillet or wok with a little oil over medium high heat. Because the slices are so thin, they cook up quickly, about 1-2 minutes, so it's easy to make this batch by batch. Remember, we never want to overcrowd the pan when we are searing proteins, they won't get brown and crisp!
Step 4 | Remove excess oil from the wok and finish the sauce by giving the ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes a little sizzle in vegetable oil to bloom the flavors.
Step 5 | Add in the the sauce and reduce it down for another 5 to 10 minutes, we want to thicken it into a sticky, reduced sauce.
Step 6 | Then toss the crispy beef in the now reduced sauce. Give a little zhush for about a minute to coat everything.
Step 7 | Serve immediately over rice or noodles with veggies, sprinkled with sesame seeds and sliced scallions.
Variations and Pro Tips
- Use low sodium soy sauce (or tamari, if that's your thing)! This recipe is made with low sodium all-purpose or light soy sauce in mind, if you use dark soy sauce or full-sodium, the saltiness will shoot sky high!
- You can make this in a wok or a large frying pan, I've done it many times in both.
- Throw the beef into the freezer for about 10 minutes before slicing to get clean, easy cuts without the meat mushing up.
Storage and Reheating
You can keep the leftover beef in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
To keep your Mongolian beef crispy when reheating, use the oven or an air fryer instead of the microwave. Here’s how:
- Oven method: Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Spread the beef out on a baking sheet in a single layer and heat for 10-15 minutes, flipping halfway through to maintain the crispiness.
- Air fryer method: Set your air fryer to 350°F (175°C) and heat for about 3-5 minutes. This will help crisp it back up without drying it out.
Equipment
- Wok or Large Skillet
- Saucepan
- Asian Spider Spoon - you can use a slotted spoon but the spider is a big wide spoon that can scoop up all the beef quickly.
More Chinese Takeout Recipes Made at Home
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Easy Sticky Crispy Mongolian Beef
Ingredients
- 1 pound flank steak, sliced thinly and cut into bite sized pieces
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup soy sauce, low sodium
- ¼ cup chicken broth, low sodium
- 2 teaspoon ginger, freshly grated
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 green onions, green parts only, chopped
- 1 teaspoon sambal oelek , or sriracha, harissa, or chili garlic sauce; or ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoon sesame oil
- sesame seeds, for garnish
- white rice, to serve
Instructions
- In a medium sized bowl, toss the beef slices in salt, pepper and cornstarch. Set aside.1 pound flank steak, ¼ cup cornstarch, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper
- In a small saucepan, whisk together brown sugar, soy sauce, chicken broth, half the ginger and garlic, and simmer over medium heat until reduced by ¼, about 15 minutes.½ cup soy sauce, ¼ cup chicken broth, 4 garlic cloves, ¼ cup dark brown sugar, 2 teaspoon ginger
- In a large skillet, wok, or saute pan, heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat and place steak pieces in one layer in batches. Cook for 2 minutes on one side then another minute on the other, the beef should have a brown crispy crust on each piece. Using an Asian spider, scoop each batch up onto a plate lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil.½ cup vegetable oil
- After all batches are done, discard the excess oil from the wok, leaving about 2 tablespoon of oil or so in the pan. Add the rest of the garlic and ginger, half of the green scallions, the sambal oelek (or red pepper flakes or sriracha), into the oil and stir. Let that sizzle for about 2 minutes, until fragrant.2 teaspoon ginger, 4 garlic cloves, 2 green onions, 1 teaspoon sambal oelek
- Add our soy sauce mixture into the wok with sesame oil and let the sauce reduce more for 5 minutes over medium heat stirring occasionally. Once reduced into a sticky sauce, add the sesame oil and toss the beef in. Cook for another minute to coat them.2 teaspoon sesame oil
- Toss in sesame seeds and the reserved sliced green onion then serve immediately with white rice and vegetables, if desired.sesame seeds, white rice, 2 green onions
Recipe Notes
Variations and Pro Tips
- Use low sodium soy sauce (or tamari, if that's your thing)! This recipe is made with low sodium all-purpose or light soy sauce in mind, if you use dark soy sauce or full-sodium, the saltiness will shoot sky high!
- You can make this in a wok or a large frying pan, I've done it many times in both.
- Throw the beef into the freezer for about 10 minutes before slicing to get clean, easy cuts without the meat mushing up.
Storage and Reheating
You can keep the leftover beef in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. To keep your Mongolian beef crispy when reheating, use the oven or an air fryer instead of the microwave. Here’s how:- Oven method: Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Spread the beef out on a baking sheet in a single layer and heat for 10-15 minutes, flipping halfway through to maintain the crispiness.
- Air fryer method: Set your air fryer to 350°F (175°C) and heat for about 3-5 minutes. This will help crisp it back up without drying it out.
Nutrition Information
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