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Our copycat P.F. Chang’s Mongolian Beef is pan fried and coated in a delicious sweet and savory sauce. It tastes just like the Mongolian beef entrée at the restaurant, but at a fraction of the cost!
Mongolian beef is one of my favorite dishes in the world! And with this easy Mongolian beef recipe, you can make five times the amount for the same price as ONE order from P.F. Chang’s (and every bit as delicious)! I love the restaurant, but it can be a little pricey for what you actually get.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE dining out at fun restaurants or getting Chinese takeout from my favorite places. It’s nice to have someone else do the cooking every once in a while. But this dish is so easy to make from home, and it’s one that the whole family enjoys! Most people who have tried it say they actually like it MORE than P.F. Chang’s. It really does taste just like P.F. Chang’s Mongolian Beef, if not better!
Ingredients in Mongolian Beef
You start with simple, grocery store ingredients, and end up with a tasty, restaurant-quality meal! Here’s what you need for this recipe:
- Vegetable oil – four teaspoons. You will use more for frying down below.
- Ginger – Fresh ginger lasts forever in the freezer! Mince or grate the ginger and save the rest for another recipe.
- Garlic – about two tablespoons of freshly minced garlic.
- Soy sauce – Feel free to use regular or low sodium soy sauce, whatever you have on hand.
- One cup of water
- Brown sugar – one cup packed brown sugar. Use light or dark brown.
- Vegetable oil for frying – this is what you’ll use to sear the sliced beef.
- 2 pounds flank steak – You can use strip sirloin steak, flank steak, skirt steak, etc.
- Cornstarch – for thickening
- 3 large green onions – sliced
Best Meat to use for Mongolian Beef
Flank steak is the best type of meat to use for this recipe because it’s thin, cooks up quickly, and it stays tender in the sauce. However, you can use thinly sliced skirt steak or sirloin steak if that’s what you have on hand. The marinated beef is thin sliced and pan fried over medium-high heat in batches, so the outside is crisp and the inside is nice and tender. So delicious!
Cut Some Calories with these Tricks
P.F. Chang’s Mongolian beef is thin sliced and pan fried, as is the beef in this copycat recipe. But for a lighter version, I like to marinate the beef in the sauce and skip the cornstarch coating. Then I just cook the beef in the sauce in a pan over the stove. It still tastes wonderful, but won’t have that crisp fried coating on the outside. Skipping the frying process is also a time saver.
Add Veggies to the Dish
Add some veggies to the pan for added color and taste (and nutrition). After the beef is cooked, I will remove the beef from the pan, wipe the pan clean, and then sauté up some broccoli, pea pods, red bell pepper, shredded carrots, onions or baby corn. Once the veggies are sautéed, I throw the beef back in and stir the sauce in with the beef and veggies. This is a great way to get some added vitamins and increase your vegetable intake for the day.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can serve this dish how P.F. Chang’s does by draining the excess sauce and serving it just coated in the sauce. Or you can reserve the excess sauce and spoon it over some rice.
Mongolian Beef freezes beautifully! I like to freeze it in the sauce, then thaw completely in the refrigerator before heating. Just heat it in a pan on the stove until hot, but not simmering, as you don’t want to risk the meat getting tough.
Yes. The marinade consists of sugar, soy sauce (if using gluten-free soy sauce) and other ingredients that do not contain gluten, so this and other typical Mongolian beef recipes are gluten-free.
READ MORE: 10+ Date Night In Dinner Recipe
What to Serve with Mongolian Beef
Serve Mongolian beef alone with our Restaurant-Style Fried Rice or Panda Express Chow Mein or pair it with one or more of our favorite Asian style recipes for a huge Asian feast:
Orange Chicken
PF Chang’s Lettuce Wraps
Sesame Chicken
Air Fryer Frozen Egg Rolls
Crockpot Cashew Chicken
How to Make P.F. Chang’s Mongolian Beef
P.F. Chang’s Mongolian Beef Copycat
Video
Equipment
- Stove Top
- Fry Pan/Skillet
Ingredients
- 4 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons ginger minced
- 2 tablespoons garlic minced
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 cup vegetable oil for frying *see notes above
- 2 pounds flank steaks
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 3 large green onions
Instructions
- Make the sauce by heating 4 teaspoons of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat. Don’t get the oil too hot. Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches. Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then raise the heat to medium and boil the sauce 2-3 minutes or until sauce thickens a little bit. Remove sauce from heat.
- Slice the flank steak against the grain into ¼ inch slices. Tilt the blade of your knife at about a 45 degree angle to the top of the steak so you get wider cuts. Dip the steak pieces into cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef. Let the beef sit about 10 minutes so the cornstarch sticks.
- As the beef sits, heat up 1 cup oil in a wok (or skillet). Heat the oil over medium heat until it's hot, but not smoking. Add the beef to the oil and saute for just 2 minutes, or until beef just begins to darken on the edges. Stir the meat around a little bit so that it cooks evenly. After a few minutes, use a large slotted spoon to take the meat out and onto paper towels, then pour most of the oil out of the skillet. Put the pan back over the heat, add the meat back into it and stir-fry for 1 more minute. Add the sauce to the pan and stir the meat around in the sauce until it is fully coated
- Remove the beef from the sauce with a slotted spoon or tongs onto a plate for serving and sprinkle on some sliced green onions. You can discard the sauce (this is what P.F. Chang's does) or save the extra sauce and serve it over rice with the beef.
Notes
- Recipe adapted from Top Secret Recipes
- Mongolian Beef freezes beautifully! I like to freeze it in the sauce, then thaw completely in the refrigerator before heating. Just heat it in a pan on the stove until hot, but not simmering, as you don’t want to risk your meat getting tough.
- For an extra kick of heat, add a pinch of red pepper flakes to the sauce.
Nutrition Information
Recipe adapted from Top Secret Recipes.
Haven’t tried the recipe yet but it sounds delicious. Can’t wait to try it.
I want to make this but am confused about one thing:
Am I supposed to put in a cup of soy sauce and a cup of brown sugar?
Thank you!
Yep!
* HLO TO YOUZ !
* RE P F CHANGS MONGOLIAN BEEF RECIPE PLS CNFRM WHAT YOU MEAN BY
“1 C BROWN SUGAR” & “1 C SOY SAUCE”……….???
– ME LIKE TO FIX THIS DISH BUT ME BIT “CONFUSIOUS” RE THE ” C ”
– SURELEY NOT ” ONE CUP ” ???
– CHEERS & HAPPY MUM’S DAY…..!!!!!
It definitely means 1 cup. We are trying to get this fixed on all of our recipes. Thank you!
Terrific. Very very tasty
I’m soooo excited to have stumbled upon this recipe! I’m going to be making this tonight!
I love the Mongolian beef at PF Changs! I can’t wait to try this one with my family!
This recipe is on point! I made this last night. Added lots of broccoli, bean sprouts and a smaller mixture of carrots, cauliflower, snow peas and peppers. I gave it five stars because it was delicious and it was also approved by my husband who is an avid carnivore.
Thank you for sharing it!
First time I made this it was a hit! I made a lot and brought it to work for my employees to try, (they went crazy!) I had quite a bit of sauce left over, I had made a bit extra. I froze it and am now trying to make it again with the pre-made sauce. I will let you know how it comes out but I thought I’d ask. If the sauce needs thinning, what would you recommend? I am really going to go lite on the corn starch because I can see how thick the sauce got. I am heating the sauce now to see the consistency whisking it till it blends well. Really is a fabulous recipe. Thanks! .
Yes, do lighter on the cornstarch if you want it thinned out, you can also add a little beef broth to thin it as well. Glad you like the recipe!
Have to say, I only froze the extra sauce but could not get the right consistency I added a bit more soy and water, I actually tried lots of things but it just wasn’t the same.; Tonight I am doing it from scratch again with filet mignon and shrimp, I even got a piece of fresh ginger, I usually use powder, Once again, I will let you know how it comes out. I do still w ant to know how to thin out the sauce and make it right for the next time. It seems a shame I made extra and it was so flipping good but couldn’t get it to right.
Yes, definitely let us know how it turned out!
Actually, I have been making this for years now! :O I would make it w/breaded chicken pieces (it was called General Tsao’ s. But, my DH-not liking chicken too much–got kinda sick of the Gen. Tsao’ s. I was delighted to find this as it was basically the same thing with a different meat–not chicken! Thanks for posting this!! (BTW–my family loves it—including hubby????
So glad you like this recipe! We love it with the beef, too. Gives it a whole different flavor. Way good tossed with broccoli or zucchini too 😉
I went right off stir fries because the meat never turned out the same as restaurant quality. Anyway, I found the answer and now I am a big time stir frier! Before the meat is cooked, sprinkle bi carb soda (baking soda) all over the meat and leave for around 20 minutes – then rinse the meat and do whatever you have to do, according to recipes. The meat turns out exactly the same as chinese restaurant! Awesome!
Thank you, Chris! I’ve never tried baking soda on meat before stir-frying. I’m going to try this. Thank you for the tip!
Made this tonight. BIG hit!!!