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:
Looking for more recipes? Follow on... My Newsletter Pinterest Facebook Instagram
Instant Pot Mongolian Beef
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:Â 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.
Maddy Alestra says
this is amazing!
Robyn says
Can I saute the steak without corn starch?
Jo Cooks Team says
You can, but the sauce will turn out very runny.
Kathy Latour says
We loved this recipe so much, we made a bigger batch and froze some for quick meals down the road. Highly recommend it… yummy!
Ashley says
My beef was tough. I bought a flank steak and had to cut it myself so it could of been my own fault. But the flavor is nice!
Jo Cooks Team says
Depending where you get the cut the texture can differ! You can also try skirt steak- it’s a bit more tender.
Carol says
I cooked this tonight. Prep time took WAAY longer than this recipe indicates. I started a batch of brown rice on the stove before beginning this recipe and I prepped broccoli and carrots too which I started when the IP was pressurized.
After reading other reviews (on lots of other recipes for this dish) I chose to use 1/4 cup of brown sugar and it was still a bit sweet. I’m not a big fan of spice, so I’ll reduce the chilli flakes to 1/4 tsp next time.
I also had a big sirloin tip steak, so it took about 5 batches of sauteeing in the IP, which was part of the reason my prep time was so long. Next time I will saute using a frying pan or wok so that I have max 2 batches of meat sauteeing. (lots of pots now!).
I was a bit worried about the meat being tender enough… and it was. I love how the IP makes me seem like a much better cook than I am 🙂
All this said, hubby loved the end result and is currently washing the dishes 🙂
Robert "Doc"Hall says
I make Mongolian beef on rice all the time in a wok. Since I bought an InstaPot I have been trying to it for some of my usual dishes.
Your recipe is close to mine for spices and veggies. I tried your recipe and although mine has always turned out good, yours in the InstaPot was melt in your mouth tender and delicious. Thanks for your efforts and tips. Another satisfied cook.
Melanie S says
Giving this a go for dinner tonight, can I double the sauce ingredients and would I need to adjust anything to do it
Jo Cooks Team says
Feel free to double the ingredients! Nope, it’ll all be the same.
Hugh says
Thank you for the delicious recipes ! They’re easy enough for an old man to fix !
Vicky Rensby says
Sharing this with all of my friends. Great Recipe!
Tammy says
This is so easy and delicious!!! The o my thing I did different was to cut the amount of sugar in half. This recipe is a definite keeper.
anastasia. t says
I made this and i adored the sauce! one complaint I would say is that for whatever reason, the cornstarch on the beef was sticking to the instant pot while it was sauteeing ( on medium heat) and it was hard to actually cook the beef . I had to turn it off half way through and clean out my pot. Suateed the rest of the beef on the stove top while the instant pot cleaned. I would also add some sort of heat to the recipe to give it a little extra kick, but all in all it was really good and would make again!!
Jo Cooks Team 2 says
That does tend to happen in the instant pot.. You did the right thing! Searing the meat in a skillet first to get it going so it isn’t as sticky works as well 🙂
Maritza Estrada says
This recipe was SOOOOO perfect! Very delicious this was my first instant pot recipe and my boyfriend and I have already gone back to it. Very flavorful, very easy to follow and very delicious. Thank you!
Deenie says
Great flavor, easy and first time using my Insta Pot. Just the right amount of heat for me!
Amelia says
Can you make this without the corn starch?
Jo Cooks Team says
You can, but the sauce will not thicken.
Deb says
My IP started to BURN as soon as it started cooing.I added more liquid but it did not help.I had to take it out of the IP and finish it on top of
the stove. Any suggestions as to what I did wrong?
Jo Cooks Team says
I would refer to the manual! We haven’t had that issue, especially with adding more liquid.
Kelly M. says
This happened to me as well. It can be caused by a few different things (Google saved me). Mine happened because the sauce (aka: cornstarch) was sticking to the bottom of the pan. Once I stopped cooking and scraped the pot I was able to resume without incident. 🙂
Gina Holmes says
This was excellent- served with basmati rice and brocolli
Lili says
5 stars