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Easy Mongolian Beef

This recipe is an easy way to make your favorite Chinese takeout dish at home. Flank steak is dredged in cornstarch and seared in batches in a large skillet. Fresh ginger and garlic start the sauce. Soy sauce, brown sugar and water are added and cooked until thick. The seared steak is added to the sauce to finish cooking and topped with green onions.

Course Beef, Entree
Cuisine Chinese
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  • 1 lb flank steak
  • ¼ cup cornstarch
  • ¼ cup canola oil divided
  • 2 tsp fresh ginger minced
  • 1 tbsp garlic minced
  • ⅓ cup light soy sauce low sodium
  • ⅓ cup water
  • ½ cup dark brown sugar
  • 4 scallions green parts only, cut into 2 inch pieces

Instructions

  1. Freeze the steak for 1 hour prior to cutting, to make it easier to handle. Slice flank steak against the grain. Cut into ¼ inch thick pieces and add it to a Ziploc bag with cornstarch.
  2. Move the steak around in the bag, making sure each piece is fully coated with cornstarch. Leave it to sit while you prep the rest of the ingredients.
  3. Heat canola oil in a large frying pan on medium high heat.
  4. Add steak, shaking off any excess cornstarch to the pan in a single layer and cook on each side for 1 minute. Don’t overcrowd the pan, you want the meat to sear, you will have to cook in batches.
  5. Remove from pan and set aside.
  6. Add ginger and garlic to pan and sauté 10-15 seconds.
  7. Then add the soy sauce, water, dark brown sugar to the pan and let it come to a boil.
  8. Next add the steak back in and let the sauce thicken for 20-30 seconds.
  9. If the sauce isn’t thickening enough, add 1 tbsp cornstarch to 1 tbsp cold water, stir to dissolve the cornstarch and add it to the pan.
  10. Once sauce is thickened, add green onions and stir to combine and cook 20-30 seconds.

Recipe Notes

I double the sauce, so I use 1 tbsp + 1 tsp fresh ginger, 2 tbsp garlic, ⅔ cup soy sauce, ⅔ cup water, 1 cup brown sugar and 8 scallions. Extra sauce is even better if you are serving it over cooked white rice. If the sauce is too thin, make sure to make the slurry (the cornstarch and water mixture) in a separate cup or bowl then pour it into the sauce. If you do not dissolve the cornstarch in the water first, you will have cornstarch lumps in the sauce.