I’ve seen recipes for PF Chang’s Mongolian Beef all over Pinterest for some time and since PF Chang’s is one of my favorite restaurants, I knew I had to try making Mongolian Beef at home.
Usually when we go to PF Chang’s, I am all about the Kung Pao Scallops, but Mongolian Beef is also a favorite of mine.
Crispy but tender pieces of beef coated in a thick, sweet and a little salty sauce. It’s almost like eating beef candy! Add some red pepper flakes if you want to balance the sweetness with some heat.
We don’t go to PF Chang’s often since it is a little pricey and the drive can take a lot of time when there’s traffic. So I am thrilled to be able to make this dish at home and it is so easy!
You don’t have to eat at PF Chang’s to enjoy a fabulously delicious Mongolian Beef. It’s easy to make at home and can be served over white rice for a meal that is sure to become a family favorite.
And your kids will think you have suddenly developed restaurant chef skills. 🙂
Sweet and Salty
This recipe is fairly sweet and salty. If you don not like salty foods, try using low-sodium soy sauce. Likewise, you can reduce the sugar by 1/4 cup.
Tips For Making Mongolian Beef
- Try adding some broccoli or asparagus.
- Sirloin steak can be used instead of flank steak
- Some people think this recipe is too salty or too sweet. If you tend to not like salty foods, try using low sodium soy sauce. If you don’t have much of a sweet tooth, cut back on the sugar but keep in mind that the sugar helps balance the salt and cutting back on the sugar may cause the sauce to taste saltier.
Try These Other Take-Out Favorites
- Thai Chicken Pasta
- General Tso’s Chicken
- Instant Pot Mongolian Beef
- Spicy Mongolian Beef and Pineapple
For more mouth watering recipes follow Spicy Southern Kitchen on Pinterest and Instagram.
Subscribe to Spicy Southern Kitchen’s Youtube Channel.
Mongolian Beef (PF Chang’s copycat)
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Vegetable oil
- 1-2 teaspoons minced ginger
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 cup Vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 pounds flank steak
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
- 1 bunch green onions, cut on diagonal into 2-inch pieces
Instructions
- Make the sauce. Heat 1 tablespoon Vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic and stir for 30 seconds.
- Add soy sauce, water, and brown sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer until thickened some, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Slice flank steak against the grain into 1/4-inch slices with the knife held at a 45 degree angle. Some of the really long pieces I cut in half to make them more bite-sized.
- Toss flank steak with cornstarch and let sit 10 to 15 minutes.
- Heat 1 cup Vegetable oil in a large pan over medium-high heat.
- Add beef (I cooked it in 2 batches) and cook 2-3 minutes, until brown and crispy, flipping pieces over to cook both sides.
- Remove meat with a slotted spoon and discard cooking oil. Place meat back in pan along with sauce and cook over medium heat for 1 minute, stirring to coat meat.
- Add red pepper flakes and green onions and remove from heat.
- Serve over rice.
Nutrition
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Recipe Adapted from: Food.com
Originally published April 14, 2015
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Loved this! I keto-fied it by using Swerve brown sugar, avocado oil and msg free soy sauce. Served it with palmini noodles and soooooo delish!
Absolutely Delicious!! Added some siracha to cut the sweetness a bit. It was perfect. Double the recipe for leftovers … you won’t be sorry!!
Much too sweet for my taste. Cut the sugar down to 2Tbs and then you will have something
This is a really nice recipe. My family loves it. Thanks.
Tastes identical to PF Chang’s if not better. I don’t only use beef but chicken, shrimp, and that idea I got from Chang’s. I also add more veggies. The heavy oil is for browning the beef after you coat with cornstarch. Then pour off oil. I personally don’t have luck doing it that way so I stir fry it in wok oil. I do not think it is too sweet I think the flavors balance themselves out. I do add extra garlic, at least double, but my family likes garlic.
I added two healthy table spoons of garlic chili to spice it up and the flavor turned out delicious!! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Birthday present Air fryer. So of course had to try. Used flank picked the steak setting 2 minutes flip 2 more per batch. I did coat and let steak sit per recipe. Family loved it. No extra oily taste or extra calories. Added to sauce on stove. Yummy
Delicious!! I have made this several times now, along side steamed broccoli and jasmine rice.my family loves it!!
This recipe is awesome! My family loved it so much that we don’t have any leftovers! I added a little oyster sauce to the beef while cooking it just to balance the sweef/savory flavors. I’ll be bookmarking this to make it again.
Can you
Excellent with a couple minor alterations. I don’t know why I didn’t think to add broccoli. Yum! I don’t buy brown sugar so I used 1/2 cup coconut sugar which is a great substitute. It was pretty messy frying the meet so I too wonder about broiling or grilling without the cornstarch (or arrowroot). Next time I will just add the cornstarch to the cold water part and then add to the sauce. Thank you for sharing.
It really is like beef candy!
I add broccoli to this recipe and it is so good!
Made the Mongolian Beef and it turned out awesome! Will definitely make again and also try something similar with chicken. Thanks for the great recipe!
Do you possibly have a Instant Pot recipe guide for this Mongolian beef recipe?
This was a great recipe. I followed except added a few steamed veggies at the end. Big hit. Will be serving again soon.
Delicious!! My alterations: subbed light brown sugar for dark brown, only used 1/2 cup oil for frying the steak and served jasmine rice with it. Very much like PF Chang’s…and NOT to sweet at all! Thank you for sharing!!
Delish! I followed the recipe, and it came out amazing! Will definitely be making it again 🙂
I use top round steak because that’s all they had and the meat was tough. Is there a different kind of meat that’s a bit more tender?
Try a trip tip steak if it’s available
I used thick cut sirloin, sliced it thin, put it in a bag with the corn starch, shook it, put it in the crock pot and put everything else in the crock pot . It’s always tender this way. I am going to add broccoli florets at the end.
Flank or sirloin steak.
I used flap meat instead of flank steak and it was delicious. The fat in the meat really gave it a wonderful buttery texture. My family absolutely loved the recipe. I did find it a bit sweet, but added more red pepper flakes to balance it out more. Next time I will try adding the chili sauce as someone suggested. But this was definitely a home run with my picky family! Thanks for sharing.
Can you use ground ginger in the place on minced and how much
Yes, I would use maybe 1/2 teaspoon.
I have made this many times before using a different recipe. The secret to making the sauce thick is to NOT use WATER!!! The recipe for the sauce calls for water however I made this recipe tonight using the water and my sauce never thickened even after reducing it for a very long time, so please if you’re going to make this do not add water.
You are supposed to add the STARCH too in order to thicken the sauce after you add water
My sauce thickened once I added it to the pan with beef because the need had the corn starch on it.