Mongolian Beef
Crisp beef in a sweet soy glaze with scallions.
Ingredients
- 400 g Beef flank steak
- 60 g Cornstarch
- 3 tbsp Dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Light soy sauce
- 40 g Sugar
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 1 Ginger
- 5 Scallions
- 200 ml Neutral oil
Method
- Slice the beef thinly and toss it with the cornstarch until every piece is coated.
- Heat the neutral oil hot in a wok and fry the beef in batches until crisp and deeply browned, then drain on paper towels.
- While the beef fries, mince the garlic and ginger and cut the scallions into 1-inch lengths.
- While the beef fries, whisk the dark soy, light soy, and sugar with a splash of water into a glaze.
- Sizzle the garlic and ginger in the residual oil until fragrant, pour in the glaze and let it bubble and thicken, then toss the beef and scallions through to coat.
- Serve with rice.
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About Mongolian Beef
Mongolian beef is a staple of Chinese-American restaurant menus rather than a dish from Mongolia — the name evokes the grilled-meat associations of Mongolian barbecue more than any traditional recipe. What it delivers is a plate of crisp-edged beef in a glossy, sweet-savory soy glaze studded with scallions, and getting the texture right is the whole game. Slicing flank steak thin, coating every piece in cornstarch, and frying it hot in batches gives the beef a crackly crust that stays crisp even after the sauce goes on.
The glaze is deceptively simple — dark and light soy sauces for color and salt, sugar for gloss and sweetness, garlic and ginger for aromatic backbone — and it's cooked down just until it bubbles and thickens before the beef is tossed back through to coat. The finished dish tastes sweet and deeply savory with a caramelized edge, the scallions cut into inch lengths so they stay bright and slightly crunchy rather than melting away. It's fast, coming together in under half an hour, and made for serving over steamed rice, which soaks up the extra glaze. Fry the beef in batches rather than crowding the wok, or it will steam instead of crisp.
Mongolian Beef: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Mongolian Beef?
A serving has about 677 calories — 45.8g protein, 58g carbs, 30.1g fat, 2.8g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is it high in protein?
Each serving has about 45.8g of protein, roughly 27% of its calories.
Is Mongolian Beef gluten-free?
As written, no — it contains Dark soy sauce, Light soy sauce. You'd need a certified gluten-free swap for those ingredients to make it gluten-free.
How long does Mongolian Beef take to make?
About 28 minutes start to finish, but only around 20 of those are hands-on — the rest is cooking time. In the Homecooked app the timers and parallel steps are sequenced for you so the hands-on part feels even shorter.
How many servings does Mongolian Beef make?
This recipe makes 2 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.