Mongolian Beef Stir Fry with Bell Peppers
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Mongolian Beef Stir Fry with Bell Peppers
Have you ever ordered takeout just to be disappointed? It happens to me all the time. It makes me want to eat out less, especially when you realize you can cook up this PF Chang copycat Mongolian beef in less than 20 minutes.
What is Mongolian Beef?
Mongolian beef, despite its name, is a Taiwanese/Chinese dish consisting of thinly sliced pieces of steak, stir fried in a garlicky, gingery, soy-sauce-based dark brown sauce. It is a popular Chinese restaurant dish that’s second to broccoli beef.
It’s typically not spicy, but you can add chili peppers to heat things up. The brown sauce caramelizes and reduces to a thick sauce that coats the beef. In its basic form, beef is stir fried with large wedges of yellow onions, garnished with green onions/scallions and served over steamed rice.
Green onions, yellow bell peppers, red bell peppers, corn starch, beef, yellow onions and ginger.
What You Will Need
Steak — For stir fry dishes, the best type of steak cuts you can use are flank steak, skirt steak, New York strip steak, sirloin steak and even rump steak which is the cheapest cut. In this recipe I’m using top sirloin steak from Costco.
Light soy sauce — This will be used in the brown sauce. It will also be used to marinate the beef briefly. FYI, if you have soy sauce that’s labeled all-purpose or isn’t labeled neither light nor dark, it’s light soy sauce that you have.
Dark Soy Sauce — Mainly used for coloring the sauce dark brown.
Oyster sauce — A salty umami flavor that will be also be be used in the sauce.
Sugar — To balance out the saltiness of the two soy and oyster sauces.
Vinegar — To balance out the sweetness of the sugar. You can use whatever you have on hand: white vinegar, rice vinegar or black vinegar.
Baking soda and water — This is optional but highy recommended. These ingredients will be used in a restaurant method called velveting. Velveting meat makes it tender with a smooth and silky texture that we all come to love in Chinese cuisine. The science behind it involves the alkalinity of baking soda. This raises the pH of the meat, causing the meat proteins to move apart, making the meat tender.
Beaten egg and corn starch — To provide a thin crispy crust on the beef when deep-fried.
Neutral oil — For frying and sauteing. I’m using vegetable oil.
Sesame oil — For that amazing nutty aroma.
Yellow onion, ginger, garlic, green onions/scallions — These are your aromatics that will provide that lovely Asian perfume. The leafy green part of the green onions will be used as garnish.
Vegetables (optional) — Pick your favorite vegetables. For this recipe, I’m making it more well rounded by adding bell peppers. It also adds a beautiful pop of color. My green color will be coming from green onions/scallions so I’m using bell peppers of other colors.
Sauce made. Beef fried. Time to put everything together.
Szechuan Beef vs Mongolian Beef
If you are like me, you probably asked yourself what’s the difference between Szechuan Beef vs Mongolian Beef because these two dishes look very similar. The main difference is in flavor and the use of peppercorns.
Szechuan Beef has a sweet and spicy flavor with added chili peppers and Szechuan peppercorns. The Szechuan peppercorns has a distinctive tingly numbing sensation when eaten.
Mongolian beef has a mild and much simpler taste, making it a kids’ favorite, outside of broccoli beef.
Cooking Tips to Help you Succeed
Make sure you cut the beef against the grain.
Deep fry the beef first on high heat to create a crispy crust that will lock in the moisture.
Don’t overcrowd the skillet. I’m using a large 12” skillet and I still have to cook the beef in two batches. Crowding the beef will lower the cooking temperature. The beef will stay in the oil longer than it needs to be. This overcooks and dries it out. Overcrowding will also steam the beef which will not result in a crispy crust.
Make it a Meal
Serve this amazingly delicious tender and crispy Mongolian beef with:
Steamed rice
Fried rice
Chow mien
Mongolian Beef Stir Fry with Bell Peppers
Ingredients
Instructions
- Slice the beef against the grain into ⅛" thick bite-size pieces. In a medium-sized bowl, mix beef with soy sauce, baking soda, water, and beaten egg. Leave the corn starch out until you are ready to fry. Let it marinate for at least 10 minutes.
- Make the sauce. In a small bowl, mix together vinegar, sugar, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sesame oil, and oyster sauce.
- In a medium-size skillet or wok, add a generous amount of oil (about ½ inch high ) and heat on medium-high. Excess oil will be removed later. While you are waiting for the oil to reach temperature, add corn starch to the beef and give it a toss with your hands until evenly coated. Drop beef, one slice at a time, into the hot oil and fry for about 2 minutes, making sure to toss for even cooking. Do this in batches to prevent overcrowding that could drop the temperature. Remove beef and transfer to a wire rack or a plate lined with paper towels to drain excess oil.
- Drain oil from the skillet, leaving a thin layer behind in the skillet. Heat the oil on medium-high. Add yellow onion, ginger, chili peppers (if using), the root ends of the green onions, and garlic. Saute until fragrant (about 30 seconds).
- Add bell peppers, fried beef, and the prepared sauce. Toss until combined. Cook for 2 minutes. Serve with steamed rice or noodles for a complete meal.
Notes
For the vinegar, you can use whatever you have on hand (rice vinegar, white vinegar, or black vinegar).
The baking soda works as a meat tenderizer.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
552Fat
37 gSat. Fat
13 gCarbs
23 gFiber
4 gNet carbs
19 gSugar
11 gProtein
32 gSodium
1484 mgCholesterol
162 mgThe values provided should be considered estimates. Factors such as brands purchased, natural variations in fresh ingredients, etc. will change the nutritional information in any recipe. To obtain accurate nutritional information for a recipe, use your preferred nutrition calculator to determine nutritional information with the actual ingredients and quantities used.
