Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: I love the distinct flavors of garlic and ginger paired with the savory soy sauce, sweet brown sugar, and hot pepper flakes. Texture: The beef is slightly crisp thanks to pan-frying with cornstarch and the sauce is thick and slightly syrupy. Ease: This took less time than going out to pick up Chinese food or even having it delivered (see above). Appearance: Don’t forget to garnish with the scallions, they add a lovely pop of green. Pros: Quicker, cheaper, and healthier than Chinese take-out and just as tasty. Cons: Really make sure you shake off excess cornstarch otherwise your pan might smoke a little like mine did (oops). Would I make this again? I’ve added this to my weeknight meal rotation.This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
Ordering take-out can get expensive and who knows exactly what is in that plastic or Styrofoam container they hand you. After some research* I’ve found that Panda Express’ Mongolian Beef has 1000 mg of sodium per serving. PF Chang’s Mongolian Beef has 1340 mg of sodium per serving. Pei Wei’s Mongolian Beef has 1400 mg of sodium per serving. Its recommended that you do not consume more than 1500 mg of sodium daily. Now I usually don’t pay very close attention to calories or daily allowances (I’d rather just eat fresh, wholesome food) but those numbers are ridiculous. Sure, every once in a while take-out food won’t kill you but with the amount of food Americans consume from take-out restaurants and the amount of pre-packaged over-processed food products in the average American pantry, paying attention to those numbers might be necessary if we want our health and planet’s health to improve.
For those reasons (I mean 1400 mg of sodium, really!? You’d never put that much salt in your own cooking!) I’ve decided to start a new series here at Handle the Heat called Take-out at Home. I’ll be featuring recipes for take-out menu favorites but with better, fresher ingredients that are easy and quick enough to make in the same amount of time it would take you to drive to the restaurant or order your food for delivery.
*All nutritional information was found via the respective company website.
Mongolian Beef
Ingredients
- 2/3 lb. flank steak, sliced across the grain
- 3 Tbsp. corn starch
- 3 tsp. canola oil, divided
- 1/2 tsp. grated ginger
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp. (heaping) red pepper flakes
- 2-3 large scallions, sliced
Instructions
- 1. Pat the steak pieces with a paper towel to get rid of any moisture. Toss the steak and cornstarch together; shake of excess cornstarch using a fine strainer.
- 2. Mix together the soy sauce, water, brown sugar and red pepper flakes in a small bowl or large measuring cup.
- 3. Heat half the oil in a wok or large fry-pan at medium-high heat and add the ginger and garlic. Cook for 30 seconds, or until fragrant, then add the soy sauce mixture. Cook for about 2 minutes and transfer back to the bowl or measuring cup.
- 4. Turn the heat up on the wok and add the remaining oil. Add the beef and cook, stirring until just browned.
- 5. Pour the sauce back in and let it cook with the meat. Simmer for around 5 minutes or until thickened. Place beef mixture on top of a bed of brown rice and garnish with scallions. Serve with a side of steamed veggies dolloped with leftover soy sauce mixture (or see note above).
Thanks Tessa! I'll let you know how it turns out.
I don't want to measure teaspoons of oil. My feeling is that if my life/health is that much in the balance, give me a pound of braunschweiger, a half-cup of homemade mayo, and some challah to spread it all on, let me die happy. (That combo may make some nauseous but I allow it for myself once per year)
LemurKing – I think the temperature of the oil is most important, esp when you aren't using a lot. It needs to be just hot enough to caramelize the meat but not too hot that it scorches or burns and smokes. But unless you're trying to cut your fat intake, I would just pour enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan (who really wants to measure teaspoons of oil if they don't have to?).
It looks very good, Tessa. I am salivating.
I have always had difficulty with using so little oil in other dishes – things seem to get gummy and clumpy. Is it a trick of timing, heat, or both? I tend to cook on the higher-temp side with the thought that I needed to caramelize the meat and all.
Thoughts on that?
Andrew – Thanks for the tip!
Rebekah – I'm so excited to hear that you and your boyfriend enjoyed the recipe!! 🙂
I tried this recipe tonight and it was so delicious! My bf even commented that it was better than PF Changs (his fav). I will definitely be making this again. 🙂 Thanks, Tessa!
Hey just wanted to note that low-sodium soy sauce is just watered down soy sauce. Just add less regular soy sauce and replace the rest of the liquid with water.
Anonymous – Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I love quinoa!
WOW! I bookmarked this yesterday and made it tonight…. such simple ingredients come together to make THIS taste?! Wonderful wonderful flavors. I'm a fan 🙂 I put mine on a bed of quinoa, very yummy. Thanks for a great recipe!
Great concept! I am not a fan of high sodium recipes either and this looks amazing.
I love the spirit behind your new series. I will have to check back to see what comes next. The Mongolian beef looks delicious.
This looks WAY better than take out and WAY healthier, love it!!!
This looks delicious – I'll have to give it a try!
Best,
Veronica
The Enchanted Cook