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
Ingredients
- 2 lb flank steak cut into thin strips
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 cup soy sauce low sodium
- ⅔ cup water
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp ginger minced
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- ½ 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.
Loved it! I’m trying it with chicken next time, on rice noodles. I doubled the ginger to give it a bit more zing, and deglazed the pot with a cup of water. I hate the burn notice! Served it over jasmine rice. Delicious! I must be slow – my prep took a lot longer. I also cut the meat too small, and took a long time to cook. I had never heard the term “velveting”, but, turned out great. I am loving my instant pot! I thanks for sharing this recipe. I will do it again!!
That’s great, Joseph! So happy you enjoyed it so much!
This recipe is great when it actually works (I add broccoli at the end to make broccoli beef). But half the time I try to make this, I get the “burn” message on my instant pot. It seems to be a combination of not being able to fully deglaze the pot after searing the beef and the liquid getting too thick (from the cornstarch and brown sugar).
Hi Kristina,
Thanks for sharing this. Make sure to check the instructions in your user’s manual for the Instant Pot that you are using. It might have different requests for cooking than what I use. It usually happens with different models. Hope this helps!
Outstanding! Easy and fast to make. Loved it. A make again. Served over jasmine rice with coleslaw on the side.
Wonderful! So glad you enjoyed it!
This was great!! It’s a keeper for weekly rotations. Added steamed broccoli first time I made it. Tonight I’m adding green beans. Mmmmmmm.
Fantastic recipe. Flavors are well balanced and it is super easy to make! As the instructions state be sure not to overcrowd the post when browning the meat.
I habitually add a half pound/pound of meat to any recipe I am making and for this meal 2lb of meat is plenty. I also added some fresh bell peppers to garnish with and served over a bed of rice with oven roasted veggies.
That sounds amazing! So glad you enjoyed it!
Added some steamed snow peas and bok choy at the end with the scallions. Yahtzeeeee!!!
Hiiii!!!
The beef got stuck at the bottom of the pot while sautéing. Do you have any tips to prevent this from happening?
Thanks for the recipe
Did you sear it all together or in batches? Sometimes if there is too much beef, they’ll tend to get a little sticky and stuck together!
So Yummy!!! I added sauté onions and green peppers at the end. This is a keeper!!!
I loved the taste. But we had two “Burn” notices while making it. Some of the meat had sauted to the bottom, so we had to abort and clean the pot. The second time, at 7 minutes remaining, we got another indication of burn. So, we let off the pressure and stirred the mixture. That was the only issues. The recipe was very tasty. Thanks
I got 3 “burn” notices, also. I added more water to help solve. But, very tasty, otherwise.
Insanely
delicious!!!!!!!
I used an eye of round – it was delicious and turned out beautifully -p will make again
I made this tonight and served it over a wild rice medley. I used apple cider vinegar in place of the rice vinegar because I didn’t have that ingredient and omitted the chili flakes. I also used 3/4 c of brown sugar. After removing the meat, I added thinly sliced onions and peppers and cooked them on pressure for just a few minutes, which was perfect. The meat came out very tender and I enjoyed the addition of the veggies. I did feel that the sauce was a little too strong and will tame it down tomorrow using lemon or orange juice. But all-in-all I learned a new dish that I may make again.
So damn easy….and delicious…thank you!
Forgot to rate it before submitting my comments