This Mongolian chicken is crispy slices of chicken breast stir fried in a sweet and savory sauce. A restaurant favorite that tastes even better when you make it at home!
I’m a huge fan of Mongolian beef, but I have to say, I think I may like this easy Mongolian chicken even better. The chicken is perfectly crispy on the edges and the sauce has the perfect balance of flavors.
I recently ordered Mongolian chicken at my local Chinese restaurant instead of my go-to Mongolian beef, and boy am I hooked. I decided I needed to learn how to make this dish at home, and it’s been on constant rotation in our house ever since.
How do you make Mongolian chicken?
This recipe starts with thin pieces of chicken breast. I recommend partially freezing your chicken breasts to make them easier to slice. You can cube your chicken if that’s easier, but I think the long thin slices are better because they have more surface area for the sauce to cling to. The chicken is coated in cornstarch and stir fried until crispy.
What is Mongolian sauce made of?
The crispy chicken pieces are coated in Mongolian sauce which is a combination of soy sauce, sesame oil and brown sugar. This dish also gets its flavor from the garlic, ginger and green onions that are added in during the cooking process.
Tips for Mongolian chicken
I keep this dish true to the restaurant version by just including chicken and green onions in the sauce. You can absolutely add more vegetables if you like, some great choices are
- Zucchini
- Water chestnuts
- Sliced carrots
- Broccoli
- Mushrooms
- Red peppers
I typically serve Mongolian chicken over steamed rice, but it’s also great over zucchini noodles or cauliflower rice if you’re looking to watch your carbs. If you’re not watching your carbs, try it with a side of chow mein.
If you’re not a fan of chicken breast, feel free to use chicken thighs in this dish. Or try something completely different and use shrimp instead of chicken, I’ve done that before and it’s fabulous. Regardless of how you choose to serve it, Mongolian chicken is sure to be a hit! My kids like it so much that they even ask to have it for lunch the next day.
More asian dishes you’ll enjoy
- Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- Pepper Steak
- Slow Cooker Orange Chicken
- Homemade Egg Rolls
Mongolian Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup + 2 teaspoons cornstarch divided use
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup green onions cut into 1 inch pieces
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place the chicken and 1/4 cup cornstarch in a resealable plastic bag, shake to coat evenly.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan over high heat
- Add the chicken to the pan in a single layer and season to taste with salt and pepper (keeping in mind the sauce has plenty of salt in it!).
- Cook for 3-4 minutes per side or until browned. Cook in multiple batches if needed.
- Remove the chicken from the pan and place on a plate lined with paper towels
- Add the garlic and ginger to the pan and cook for 30 seconds. Add the soy sauce, sesame oil, water and brown sugar to the pan and bring to a simmer.
- Mix the 2 teaspoons of cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of cold water. Add the cornstarch to the sauce and bring to a boil; boil for 30-60 seconds until just thickened.
- Add the chicken and green onions to the pan and toss to coat with the sauce. Serve over rice if desired.
What a delicious recipe! It’s a keeper. Added “fridgables” = any veggies in fridge, and it was delightful! Thank you!
Made this tonight added broccoli and didn’t use rice it was delicious.
Absolutely delicious. I added broccoli and red peppers. Will definitely make again!
I only had golden brown sugar and it was delicious!! We don’t care for leeks, so I did a quick stir with zucinni and white onion and added it to the chicken and added a pinch of red pepper. Make changes as you like. It’s a great base receipe!
It was definitely surprisingly good! I trusted the reviews, but I’m not a huge Chinese fan anyway, but am trying to broaden our dinner choices. The problem is, we have 6 kids, 8 in our family, and the chicken just took forever to fry in batches since I doubled the recipe. If I could just find a way to do that quicker. I was thinking maybe the deep fryer? But the sauce was excellent – definitely use *low sodium* soy sauce!! I also used 1/2 the amount of sugar and it was plenty sweet. So glad I did that because the whole amount would have been way too much. Kids liked it , I liked it and so did my husband!
Any chance I could use light brown sugar since I have that on hand?
Yes that’s fine!
Used chicken thighs.. added mushrooms & broccoli.. absolutely delicious!!! Will be making this again… so easy!!! Will try different veggies next time!!! Thank you!!
Loved this . Easy, satisfying weeknight meal. Used chicken thighs. Added sriracha for spice and some veggies I had on hand.
I used chicken thighs with mine and it was fricken delicious!!!
Just one question tho… how can i make it spicy? When i order this at restaurants i usually get it spicy but i have no idea what they use that keeps the flavor od the dish as well.
Spicy but not super spicy lol
When I add the garlic,I also add red pepper flakes. You determine how hot you want it.
I use chili-garlic paste to make it spicy. It’s so flavorful too!
I’m going to try tonight with organic honey. I haven’t eaten any refined sugars in over 35 years. 😊👍
This is one of my go-to recipes!! Perfect!!
Made this tonight!
Awesome!!
Made this a couple of nights ago. I used half the sugar. It was delicious. Fam ate it up and asked for more. Thanks for sharing!
This recipe is delicious!! Nothing leftover. Lol I am totally making this one again. I can say everything I have made from this blog had been great.
Could this recipe be made in an instant pot?
I don’t think this would a good candidate for the Instant Pot because it cooks so quickly in a regular pan.
Can I use goldenbrown sugar instead?
Yes that’s fine!
Made this last night. Doubled the recipe but used half the sugar. So delicious !
So easy and just delicious! Definitely a crowd pleaser. I made sticky rice with this and I added about double the green onion and some red pepper flakes. My husband asked me to add bamboo shoots and water chestnuts too. I only added a few of those. But this recipe is definitely a keeper!
This was amazing. I did make it a little different. Since my husband and I are doing lower carb diets right now, I used swerve brown sugar, green beans instead of green onion and rice so I could have more of a meal out of it! We absolutely love this recipe! Will be put in our meal rotation now.
Loved this recipe so easy and fast. We like spice so next time I would add some red pepper flakes and cut back on the brown sugar a bit. Thank you definitely a keeper!
Does this recipe freeze well??.
That should be fine!