Mongolian Beef Ramen Noodles – a copycat recipe of the popular PF Chang’s Mongolian Beef but made better with green peppers and ramen noodles. So simple to make and so delicious, you’ll want to forget about takeout!
I’ve never considered ramen a guilty pleasure because – well – I’ve never felt ashamed of how much I love them! They might be considered a college kid staple but that doesn’t mean we can’t spruce them up a bit. Let’s take this dorm room dish from meh to mmm.
What can I say other than I was really craving Mongolian Beef as it 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. It takes less time to whip this up in the comfort of your own kitchen then it would to drive out and order it.
What Is Mongolian Beef?
This dish is pretty westernized, so it’s safe to say it’s not quite traditional Mongolian fare. Especially since you mostly see it in Chinese American restaurants! We’re going to learn some new techniques today with this dish, such as velveting our beef by tossing it in corn starch to achieve that perfectly crunchy rice, as well as create a sinful sauce with a little thickener.
Where Can I Find Ramen Noodles?
You can find ramen noodles in the Asian aisle of your local grocery store, believe me you’ll be able to hunt them down with ease! You could also use any other Asian style noodles if you’re not into these instant snacks, just be sure to follow the package instructions closely.
Ingredients
Beef
- Beef – Flank steak is best for this recipe, as it cooks well when sliced up nice and thin.
- Vegetable oil – For our sauce and later for frying, be sure to use something neutral tasting.
- Cornstarch – We’re going to use this to crisp up the beef into so be sure not to skip this important ingredient.
- Veggies – Just some green bell pepper, we want some that is bright and acidic.
- Ramen – Be sure to keep these noodles uncooked, feel free to use whichever kind is your favorite.
- Green onion – Chopped up nice and fine, held off till the end for garnish.
Sauce
- Soy sauce – Low sodium as usual, we want to control our sodium content.
- Brown sugar – We need a bit of sugar to sweeten up this sauce.
- Garlic – Use as much or little as you like.
- Sesame oil – This will give our dish the most perfect toasty and nutty flavor, a must have ingredient in my opinion.
- Red pepper flakes – For a bit of heat! Feel free to omit this ingredient if you’re heat averse.
- Broth – Low sodium broth is a must as we have some salty stuff going on here. I used chicken broth.
How To Make Mongolian Beef Ramen Noodles
- Prep the beef: Slice the flank steak into small thin pieces against the grain. In a large ziploc bag add the starch and the beef to it. Close the ziploc bag and shake really well until each pieces is coated with cornstarch.
- Cook the steak: In a non stick skillet heat the oil. When the oil is hot, add beef and cook until browned. It will take 2 or 3 batches because you don’t want the steak pieces to stick to each other. Also if you need more oil after the first batch feel free to add more. Remove beef from skillet to a plate and empty the oil from the skillet.
- Saute the peppers: Add the bell pepper to the skillet and saute it for a couple minutes just until it gets soft. Remove the pepper from the skillet to a plate and set aside.
- Combine the sauce: In that same skillet add sauce ingredients, the sesame oil, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, chicken broth and red pepper flakes. Stir and cook over medium heat until sauce thickens a bit and reduces by about a quarter. It took me about 10 minutes until the sauce thickened and reduced. You don’t want to reduce it too much because you need more sauce for the noodles.
- Cook the noodles: In the meantime cook the ramen noodles according to package instructions.
- Finish the dish: Return the beef and bell pepper to the skillet and toss in the sauce. Add the cooked ramen noodles to the skillet and toss everything together. Top with green onions and serve.
The Best Cut Of Beef To Use For Mongolian Beef
I strongly recommend using flank steak in a dish like this because it’s inexpensive and cooks really well when sliced nice and thin. Another option would be to use sirloin steak, but it’s a more expensive cut of beef so keep that in mind when humming and hawing in the meat aisle.
Control Your Salt
It’s easy to go overboard in a recipe like this. I mean when you’re adding this much soy sauce and broth to a dish, the sodium can spike before you even know it! Keep in mind that it’s always easy to add salt, but plum near impossible to take it away once it’s been added. Look for low sodium additions or incorporate this ingredients slowly if that’s not an option, tasting as you go.
What Else Can I Use In This Dish?
I would never try to shy you away from bulking out your dinners or experimenting with different flavors. If you’re willing to stray from the original, I’m willing to steer you in the right direction.
Tips
- To slice the beef easier, place it 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.
What Can I Serve Mongolian Beef Ramen With?
Since this is a dish that packs a bit of veggies, protein, and carbs all in one place, you can enjoy this all on its own, but isn’t that just less fun? Try some of these awesome recipes if you’d like to make an entire tasty spread!
- Orange Chicken
- Instant Pot Beef and Broccoli
- Instant Pot General Tso’s Chicken
- Chili Garlic Shrimp
- Kung Pao Chicken
Storing Leftovers
Allow the dish to cool completely before storing it in an airtight container in the fridge. It should last up to 4 days refrigerated.
Freezer
You can freeze this recipe! Just prepare your meat, veggies, and sauce and allow them to cool completely before storing in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Reheat in the microwave or on the stove when ready to eat. Cooked ramen noodles don’t freeze well so cook them when you’re ready to serve your supper.
More Must Try Recipes:
- PF Chang’s Mongolian Beef Copycat Recipe
- Beef Broccoli Noodle Stir Fry
- Easy Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
- Crockpot Mongolian Beef
- Korean BBQ Chicken
- Mongolian Chicken
- Chicken Teriyaki
- Sticky Honey Soy Chicken Wings
- Yakisoba
- Three Cup Chicken
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Mongolian Beef Ramen Noodles
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pound flank steak
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 green bell pepper sliced into thin strips
- 8 ounce ramen noodles uncooked
- 3 green onions chopped
For Sauce
- 2 tablespoon sesame oil
- 3/4 cup soy sauce low sodium
- 2/3 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 1/4 cup chicken broth low sodium, or no sodium added
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Slice the flank steak into small thin pieces against the grain. In a large ziploc bag add the starch and the beef to it. Close the ziploc bag and shake really well until each pieces is coated with cornstarch.
- In a non stick skillet heat the oil. When the oil is hot, add beef and cook until browned. It will take 2 or 3 batches because you don’t want the steak pieces to stick to each other. Also if you need more oil after the first batch feel free to add more. Remove beef from skillet to a plate and empty the oil from the skillet.
- Add the bell pepper to the skillet and saute it for a couple minutes just until it gets soft. Remove the pepper from the skillet to a plate and set aside.
- In that same skillet add sauce ingredients, the sesame oil, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, chicken broth and red pepper flakes. Stir and cook over medium heat until sauce thickens a bit and reduces by about a quarter. It took me about 10 minutes until the sauce thickened and reduced. You don’t want to reduce it too much because you need more sauce for the noodles.
- In the meantime cook the ramen noodles according to package instructions.
- Return the beef and bell pepper to the skillet and toss in the sauce. Add the cooked ramen noodles to the skillet and toss everything together. Top with green onions and serve.
Recipe Notes
- You can find ramen noodles in the Asian aisle of your local grocery store. You could also use any other Asian style noodles.
- Since there’s a lot of soy sauce in this recipe, I strongly recommend using a low sodium soy sauce.
- Allow the dish to cool completely before storing it in an airtight container in the fridge. It should last up to 4 days refrigerated.
- You can freeze this recipe! Just prepare your meat, veggies, and sauce and allow them to cool completely before storing in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Reheat in the microwave or on the stove when ready to eat. Cooked ramen noodles don’t freeze well so cook them when you’re ready to serve your supper.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Can I use ground beef instead of flank steak?
It wouldn’t work the same way with the cornstarch. I would just cook it in a bit of oil then add it to the sauce. Let me know how it turns out for you if you give it a try.
I really liked this recipe. However, the recipe didn’t call for leaving the seasoning packets out, which wasn’t a big deal. And, I cooked three 3oz. packages of ramen noodles, which was a little more than the recipe called for. My final result was very soupy. Very tasty – but very soupy.
This looks great and I am anxious to try it. Should I assume you don’t use the flavor packet that comes with the ramen noodles since you make your own sauce?
Not in this recipe, but you can save it and use it for something else. 🙂
Could you use Chow Mein Noodles instead of Ramen?
Sure!
Delicious!
Overall very good but WAY too sweet for me and my husband. I think I’ll cut the sugar in half next time and see if that helps.
Great recipe, definitely will be making it again. I just used thin rice noodles from my store. Added a few more veggies too, like bok choy. Really good!
Unrelated to recipe: the ads on this website are really intrusive. I could barely leave this comment. I know you gotta make money but this is too much.
I loved this recipe very much. I might have had my measurements a bit off because there was a lot of sauce but even so it came out very tasty even my picky twelve year old ate everything on her plate. I did cook green onion in the sauce which I noticed added a bit more flaver to the already very flavorful sauce.
Very good!
Great taste but I felt it was too oily! Too much sesame oil?
You can use less oil!
This a family favorite and is always requested
I liked this recipe and so did husband. I did add some snap peas, mushrooms (sauteed), and some water chestnuts. I will make again.
This recipe was a huge hit with my family and I will be making this again soon.