30 Minute Mongolian Beef with Coconut Rice
Mongolian beef is such a classic and delicious Asian dish… and easy to make at home! In just 30 minutes you’ll have an incredible meal!
Deliciously savory and warm, this Mongolian beef is pan fried and coated in a finger-licking sticky sauce that will have you coming back for seconds!
Who loves P.F. Chang’s restaurant? *raises hand*… although it’s been years since I’ve been there, I remembered that hubby loves their Mongolian Beef… so when I stumbled upon a recipe online, I knew I had to give it a try! Simple and easy, this mongolian beef comes together quickly and packs a big flavor punch. The one drawback is that it’s not spicy like P.F. Chang’s is (according to hubby), but I think next time I’ll add some cayenne or sriracha to the sauce 🙂 The other good thing is that it uses flank steak, which is a relatively inexpensive cut of meat, and doesn’t use any fancy ingredients… in fact, you probably have all the other ingredients in your kitchen right now 🙂 Don’t you just love those kind of recipes? We sure do!
To make dinner a little less hectic, I cooked my rice earlier in the afternoon, but you could easily cook it at any time. You could also omit the rice completely and just serve over a bed of steamed broccoli or however you’d like it. I boiled my rice in a mixture of coconut milk and water, so it had a creamy consistency and a slight hint of sweetness. I love the creamy, sticky, texture of this rice, and the subtle sweetness really goes well with most Asian dishes.
If you’ve never seen a flank steak before, here’s what it looks like… this is a 1.3 lb steak
This particular cut of steak can be tough if not sliced properly, so here’s the simple way to do it…. see those lines running horizontally through the steak? That’s the grain… as in the grain of a piece of wood. You need to slice AGAINST the grain, meaning slice vertically. It also makes it more tender if you slice at a 45 degree angle to the meat, instead of traditionally.
Not this way…
Like this!
You’ll end up with nice strips
Thin enough that they’ll cook in the short time it takes to make the dish
Okay, okay…enough of Meat 101 😛 I sliced my steak earlier in the day as well, and let it hang out in a ziploc bag in the refrigerator until I was ready to use it. More prep ahead means less stress while cooking… haha, less stress… that’s hard to say with a straight face while my 2 kids are running around like maniacs demanding food while I’m trying to cook lol.
The sauce looks kind of gross, but oh my it smells good!
When adding your cornstarch, be a little more careful than I was….. yep, alllll over my black pants. Bad Amanda, very bad!
Letting the meat rest
Frying it up!
It gets nice a crispy around the edges while searing in the pan after the oil has been drained
Sauce-y goodness!
Okay, are you hungry now? I am!! Now if you’re wondering what to do as a side dish for this meal, steamed broccoli would be a super quick and nutritious way to round out the meal. In fact, I did steam some for the kiddos and snuck a few florets into the sauce, beef and rice on my plate… and ohhhh my… you should definitely try it!! I also highly recommend my SMOKY CARAMELIZED CAULIFLOWER
Recipe adapted from Food.com
Mongolian Beef
Ingredients
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
- 3/4 tsp grated fresh ginger could easily swap out 1/4 tsp of ground ginger instead
- 1 Tbsp garlic minced
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- approximately 1 cup vegetable oil ,for frying your steak
- 2 green onions sliced
- 1 lb flank steak
- 1/4 cup corn starch
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp hoisin sauce (these last two ingredients are optional but I enjoyed the extra flavor)
Instructions
- Slice your steak into strips, pat dry, place into ziploc bag. Add cornstarch, 2 Tbsp soy sauce and 2 Tbsp hoisin sauce to the bag, seal tightly, and smoosh around until the meat is coated. Let rest for 10 minutes.
- Heat 2 tsp. vegetable oil in small saucepan over medium low heat. Add ginger, and garlic, cook for 20 seconds, then add 1/2 cup soy sauce and 1/2 cup water.
- Dissolve brown sugar into sauce and bring to a boil. Boil gently for 2-3 minutes until it starts to thicken. Set aside to keep warm.
- Heat 1 cup of vegetable oil over medium heat. Add beef and saute for 30 seconds - 1 minute per side. It doesn't matter if the beef isn't finished cooking yet, it'll continue to cook in the remaining steps.
- Remove beef to drain on a paper towel. Drain oil from pan.
- Place pan back on medium heat and slide your beef back in. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add your sauce to the pan, cook for 1 minute. Add green onions, cook for 20 seconds.
- Remove beef and onions to serving platter and reserve sauce in a bowl for drizzling over the meat.
Notes
Sticky Coconut Rice
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups jasmine rice basmati or long grain white rice works fine too
- 2 cups coconut milk unsweetened
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Bring coconut milk and water to a boil, add salt and rice, stir to combine.
- Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes.
- Fluff with fork and either serve or place in airtight container and refrigerate until use.
Subbed beef for chicken and my family loved it! It was a little too sweet so I’ll only use 1/2 cup of brown sugar when I make the dish again. I even made my own hoisin sauce. Great recipe!
Family loved it! Definitely making it again. I thought it was a bit too sweet, so I think I’ll cut back just slightly on the brown sugar next time.
This was incredible! I used top sirloin steak since I couldn’t find flank steak. The meat was so tender and juicy and the coconut rice is such a nice subtle flavor. I’m a new cook and with so much trial and error lately, I’m always encouraged when something turns out! Thank you so much!
This is delicious! I made a few small changes to suit my family, but I can’t believe I’ve had this on my list for a couple of years without making it. It was easy and so delicious!
I put just enough oil in my skillet to cover the bottom and cooked the beef in two batches. I used flat iron steak, because they didn’t have anything less than ~2.5 lb. of flank steak per pack at my store, and I didn’t want to deal with all of the extra – we try to only eat beef or pork once per week or less.
I added broccoli and shredded carrots to have a one dish meal. This will definitely be added to the rotation!
This is my go to recipe when I’m craving Mongolian beef! I’ve made it several times and my husband and i love it. The only thing i do different is i only put a little over half the sauce back into the pan with the meat and save some for when we eat it later.
Our family absolutely loves this!
Hi! So I know this is an old post, but I just happened to come across it & would love to give it a try. I have a question though. In the ingredients list it says 1/2 cup of soy sauce & 1/2 cup of water. However, in the directions it says add 1/4 cup of soy sauce & 1/4 cup of water. So I’m curious as to which is correct? I don’t want to add too much or too little. Hopefully you’re still responding to comments! Thanks for your time!
Hi Nichole 🙂 Thanks so much for bringing that to my attention… it should be 1/2 cup of each! Whew, I’ve fixed the recipe now 🙂 I hope you love it!
I made the Mongolian beef last night and even though I had reduced sodium soy sauce it was extremely salty! Disappointing because I really liked it otherwise. Did anyone else think so? Any advice??
Hi Jessica 🙂 I’m so sorry you found the Mongolian beef to be too salty! You’re the first person to have commented about it being salty, and we don’t find it heavy on the salt… any chance you used more than 1/2 cup? Did you season the meat at all? If not, then all I can chalk it up to an unfortunate difference in tastebuds :/
I would make Thai Coconut Cashew Rice and few different stir-fry recipes! So many great ones to choose from!
Decided to try this out and everyone loved it, definitely making this again!
Hi Harley 🙂 I’m SO glad everyone loved it!
This was the best! I actually used skirt steak instead (it’s what I had on hand) and I think it cooked up identical to yours. My husband is usually very picky about home made Chinese food, but he even said this will be “regular rotation”! I also did the coconut rice, and my toddler was in love. He ate the rice with the sauce mixed in and had seconds! We had no left overs… everyone in the family agreed, this recipe was delish!
Thank you so much for sharing, we loved it!
Hi Kat! 🙂 I am SO happy to hear that you all loved the beef (and rice)!!
When you made the coconut rice did you use coconut milk in the can or the unsweetened beverage?
Mongolian beef is like my absolute favourite dish. I constantly find myself making excuses to go to Pei Wei to get my fix, so of course I had to try this recipe. I finally got around to making it tonight and oh my gosh it was so good. My family devoured it; sadly this means no leftovers.
Hi Chloe 🙂 I’m SO glad everyone loved it!! We don’t usually end up with leftovers either lol
This looks very appetizing! I can’t help imagining the juicy taste of the Mongolian beef! And very helpful meat cutting tips 🙂
Thank you so much!! 🙂
Cornstarch (or flour) looks very good on black pants, Amanda. And I think they are partners in crime. 😀
I hope to make this Mongolian Beef very soon. Bookmarked. Thanks for sharing. And a question – is it really important to use flank steak?
Have a lovely week ahead, Amanda. <3
Lol thank you… I think cornstarch or flour on black pants is the new fashion statement 😛 I think any cut of meat would do well, just as long as it was sliced thinly 🙂 If you try it with another meat, let me know how you like it 🙂 Thank you, you have a lovely week as well <3
Love mongolian beef, it’s always the first thing I order when I am craving take out. Never made it myself before though so this is definitely a recipe I need to try!
Awesome, I hope you LOVE it! 😀
Dahhh I want to go to PF Changs so bad, I’ve never been! They don’t have them near me. I recently went to Atlantic City and there was one there but we got there right as they were closing, BOOO! So I’m just going to have to make this instead. Seriously, everything you make is SO good… I couldn’t help it, had to follow your blog at this point, there’s no way around it.
Ohhhh PF Changs is so delicious, but we never have much time without the kiddos, so it’s been a while…. actually, hubby and I were dating last time I was there… so like 9 years ago lol. I think you’ll love this recipe!! Thank you for following!! I feel like I stalk your blog all the time, it’s awesome 😀
Well, this is just heaven for me! I could eat like this everyday! 😀
You and me both!! 😀
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Ooooh yum! My husband would love love love this! Adding it to my “must-make” list!! Thanks for sharing! 😀
You’re welcome!! I hope he loves it! 😀
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Looks really good- my super picky husband loves PF Chang’s Mongolian Beef. I’ll have to make this for him since the nearest one is an hour away!
Thank you!! I hope he loves it as much as my husband did 😀
The Caramelized Cauliflower will be on our Sunday dinner table. YUM!
Awesome!!! Let me know how you like it 😀
I had just set aside a similar recipe to make later in the week. Yours looks better…glad I didn’t make the other one yet! I’ll be giving this a try, it looks fabulous!
Thank you so much!! I’m sure you’ll LOVE it 😀
This looks tasty and good twist on rice.
Thank you!! It’s subtle, but good 🙂