Instant Pot Mongolian Beef
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This Instant Pot Mongolian Beef recipe is your answer to “take-out” at home! Much better than the restaurant version, easy, saucy, tender beef, delicious, and ready in minutes!
Instant Pot Mongolian Beef
After all this time, I still love my Instant Pot and I still use it on a weekly basis. Sometimes even twice or three times in a week. By this point I think I can call myself an Instant Pot pro! It’s incredible for soups, curry, and this ultra tender Mongolian Beef.
Mongolian Beef is one of my favorite take-out dishes, but I no longer go out to restaurants for it. I make it myself at home! It’s really easy and tastes so much better. This sauce has been carefully tried and tested to create perfect flavors. The balance of sweetness from the brown sugar with tangy rice vinegar, fresh garlic and ginger, and a hint of heat. You won’t believe what’s come out of your kitchen!
I know that Mongolian Beef is a very fast stir fry that can be done on the stovetop, but trust me with this Instant Pot version. The beef comes out infused with so much flavor, and it’s ridiculously tender. No more rubbery, tough pieces of meat!
How to Make Instant Pot Mongolian Beef
- Prepare the beef and sauce: Toss the strips of beef with the cornstarch and let everything sit together for about 5 minutes. In this time, you can make the sauce. Mix the rice vinegar, soy sauce, water, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, and red pepper flakes together in a small bowl and set aside.
- Sear the beef: Turn your Instant Pot onto its “saute” setting and add half the sesame oil. Once it’s nice and hot, add half the beef and sear for a few minutes on each side. Remove the cooked beef and repeat with the remaining oil and meat.
- Cook the beef: Add all the beef back to the pot, and stir in the sauce. Close the lid and set the Instant Pot to high pressure, and cook for 10 minutes.
- Depressurize and serve: Use the quick release to let all the pressure out of your Instant Pot once the 10 minutes is up. Mix in the fresh green onions, garnish with sesame seeds, and serve.
Tips for Making the Best Instant Pot Mongolian Beef:
Use the right cut of beef. Typically Mongolian beef is made with flank steak, but top round beef can also be used. To slice it easier, place the beef in the freezer for about 20 minutes before slicing. This will make it so much easier to slice it as thinly as possible. Always slice the beef against the grain.
Make sure to toss the beef with cornstarch before cooking and let it sit for 5 minutes before searing. This is known as velveting and you’ll end up with very tender meat. Do not use flour; the results will not be the same.
When searing the beef, do not overcrowd the pan. Do it in batches. If you add too much beef to the pan, you will not sear the meat. It will steam it instead. This step can also be done separately from the Instant Pot in a skillet if preferred.
Can I Use Chicken Instead of Beef?
This recipe will be fantastic with chicken! You can use thin slices of either chicken thigh or breast depending on what you like better. You can also try it out with thinly sliced pork loin! Placing these meats in the freezer for 20 minutes, like the beef, will help you cut them nice and thin.
Can You Make Mongolian Beef in the Slow Cooker?
This recipe will work very well in your slow cooker because you’ll get the same ultra-tender pieces of meat. Sear the meat in a skillet; the sear imparts so much incredible flavor and is a step I wouldn’t skip. Add the seared beef and prepared sauce to your slow cooker, give it all a good stir, and cover. Cook for 4-5 hours on low or 2-3 hours on high.
What to Serve with Mongolian Beef
- Rice- brown or white will work. I love to use basmati or jasmine.
- Steamed vegetables.
- Noodles- try out soba, udon, ramen, or rice noodles.
How to Store Mongolian Beef
Store this Mongolian Beef in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. You can either reheat it in the microwave, or use a skillet over medium heat. If you’re using the skillet method, feel free to add a splash of water or broth to thin out the sauce if it cooks off too much during the reheating process.
How to Freeze Mongolian Beef
Store in an airtight container to freeze. You can also split it up into individual portions to make thawing easier. It will last 3-4 months frozen. Reheat either in the microwave, or in a skillet over medium heat.
Looking for More Instant Pot Recipes? Try These:
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Instant Pot Mongolian Beef
Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 20 mins
Total: 30 mins
Serves: 8
This Instant Pot Mongolian Beef is your answer to "take-out" at home! Much better than the restaurant version, easy, saucy, tender beef, delicious and ready in minutes!
Ingredients
- 2 lb flank steak cut into thin strips
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 cup soy sauce low sodium
- 2/3 cup water
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp ginger minced
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 3 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 green onions chopped
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds
Instructions
- Prepare the beef: In a large bowl toss the flank steak strips with the cornstarch together and let them sit for 5 minutes. This will ensure the cornstarch penetrates the beef.
- Make the sauce: In a medium size bowl add the rice vinegar, soy sauce, water, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, red pepper flakes and whisk well. Set aside.
- Turn your Instant Pot to the saute setting. (See your manufacturer's guide for detailed instructions on how to use your instant pot.)
- Sear the beef: Add half of the sesame oil to the pot. When the oil is hot add half of the flank steak and cook 2 to 3 minutes until it starts to brown. Remove from the pot and repeat with remaining sesame oil and beef. Return all the beef to the pot and press the cancel button on your Instant Pot.
- Pour the sauce over the beef and stir well.
- Cook: Close the lid (follow the manufacturer's guide for instructions on how to close the instant pot lid). Set the Instant Pot to the Manual (high pressure) setting and set the timer to 10 minutes.
- When cooking is complete, use a quick release to depressurize.
- Stir in the green onions and garnish with sesame seeds. Serve over rice.
Video
Recipe Notes
- TIP: To slice the steak easier, place it in the freezer for 20 minutes before slicing.
- MEAT: Top round beef can also be used for this. You can also use chicken breast or thighs instead of beef.
- What is an Instant Pot: An IP is a multi-cooker, it's like seven different appliances all in one! It does the job of a slow cooker, pressure cooker, rice cooker, steamer, yogurt maker, etc.
- I don't have an Instant Pot, can I still make this: Yes! Check out my Mongolian Beef recipe here.
- Nutrition: Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Nutrition Information:
Calories: 358kcal (18%)Carbohydrates: 37g (12%)Protein: 26g (52%)Fat: 10g (15%)Saturated Fat: 3g (19%)Cholesterol: 68mg (23%)Sodium: 1134mg (49%)Potassium: 494mg (14%)Sugar: 27g (30%)Vitamin A: 65IU (1%)Vitamin C: 1.1mg (1%)Calcium: 57mg (6%)Iron: 2.7mg (15%)
Gerry Bresslour says
I cut the brown sugar down to 1 Tbsp. and increased the red pepper flakes to 1/2 Tbsp. and was very happy with the result.
Sabrina says
I loved this recipe thank you for sharing the recipe. I am new to IP cooking so maybe it’s just me but I found it hard to crisp the beef in the IP. I will use my wok to brown the meat next time, no other changes required ❤️
jo says
Glad you liked it!
Don says
Made the Mongolian Insta Pot version, was great. Thanks for the great recipe!
jo says
My pleasure, Don! Glad you liked it!
Cynthia says
Every time I use peanut oil on the ip it splatters everywhere. I usually add it after the ip shows hot. I’m a doing something wrong?
Jo Cooks Team says
Is there any way your peanut oil has some water content to it? I’d refer to your IP’s manual, very strange issue.
Sarah says
This was delicious. It is saucier than I was expecting it to be. Is this normal? Also do you have any suggestions on making it less salty? I didn’t notice the recipe called for low sodium soy sauce until half way though making it. So I will try that next time. But any other suggestion would be welcome as well.
Jo Cooks Team says
Soy sauce is the only ingredient with salt so you can use less soy sauce if you’d like next time. Using low sodium will make a big difference. Check out the step photos near the top- ours was nice and saucy as well!
Nicole SMITH says
My instant pot Ultra kept giving me a “burn” error during this recipe 🙁 I’m thinking I need to add more water? Do you ever get this error with this or any recipe? I had the same error with a chicken recipe earlier this week as well. I have to quick release all the steam then stir everything (which seems like it has enough liquid but I’m a newbie so I could be wrong) and it’s adding a lot of time to my recipes? Help! Thanks 🙂 And despite the complications it definitely came out really yummy! once the pressure released I added shredded carrots last minute so I could sneak some veggies in! We had it with rice noodles and it was perfect!
jo says
Usually that’s what it means. Honestly, I’ve never got the burn notice on my IP, and from my understanding some IPs are more prone to it than other.
MK says
I’m making this now and it smells divine. BUT I also keep getting the burn notice!! I wonder if it’s because I sautéed the meat first and didn’t scrape enough. I have since stopped and scraped everything from the bottom twice but am getting the burn notice again for the 3rd time. I will also try adding more water to thin the sauce. I hope all this stopping and starting doesn’t affect the tenderness of the meat but it smells so good, I can’t wait to finish cooking it and trying it! Thank you for the super helpful recipe tips!
Jo Cooks Team says
Check out your IP manual if you’re getting a burn notice to see what a good solution could be!
DrB says
Hi, in the recipe, you include “sesame oil.” Do you mean toasted sesame oil? Thx.
Nicole Beaulieu says
You can use either regular or toasted sesame oil- up to you.
Dennis Jensen says
I like to velvetize my stir-fry meat with Baking Soda. After 3 minutes I rinse the meat with water. Does Cornstarch work the same?
Nicole Beaulieu says
Cornstarch gives the meat a more crisp bite and thickens the sauce. I wouldn’t rinse off. It doesn’t tenderize but the pieces are small enough that tenderization wouldn’t make much difference!
Lucy Edwards says
This was a super tasty recipe but next time I will cut the sugar to ⅓ cup. It was way too sweet for me and my hubby. Otherwise very very yummy!!! Thank you!
Jennifer says
Excellent! Will make again.
Joanna Cismaru says
Great!
DJ says
Do you think flat iron steak would be a good substitute for flank?
Joanna Cismaru says
Yeah, it should be fine!
Charlie says
Sounds like a great recipe but for the slow cooker, you say 2-3 hours on low, 4-5 on high. shouldn’t that be the other way around?
Nicole Beaulieu says
Yes! Good catch. Recipe has been updated 🙂
Amber says
Awesome
Delaney Lattimer says
This is a wonderful recipe! We substituted Coconut Aminos for the soy sauce and beef broth for the water!
Ann says
I love your recipes jocooks, and this one is amazing—a huge hit at our house
Jessica M. says
I want to add broccoli to the mix. Can you tell me when you would add the broccoli so as not to overcook it?
Nicole Beaulieu says
Broccoli done in the Instant Pot cooks very fast. After the beef is done cooking you can add the broccoli, then cook on high pressure for 0 minutes. The pot will basically come up to pressure and then be all done. Quick release all the pressure and serve.
Jerry says
Do you have a substitute for brown sugar? To sweet for me!
Nicole Beaulieu says
You can cut down on the sugar or leave it out completely if you like. The sugar caramelizes and creates a thicker sauce, so if it turns out thin after it’s done cooking you can add a cornstarch slurry and thicken it on the saute setting.
Joan Beasley says
Very good and easy to make
Victoria Hetchler says
I just made this! Delicious and easy! thanks!
Joanna Cismaru says
So happy you enjoyed it!