This slow cooker Mongolian beef is flank steak cooked with garlic, ginger, brown sugar and soy sauce. This crock pot recipe tastes just like a meal you would get at a Chinese restaurant!
Make your own take out with this easy Mongolian beef recipe. This dinner is SO simple to put together and always gets rave reviews from family and friends.
Making meals like this slow cooker Mongolian beef, in the crock pot is one of my favorite things to do. Not only does it allow you to have a nice meal when you’re finished with your day but, it feels like you’re getting to skip all the cooking. It kind of feel like cheating because it makes dinner time that much simpler!
HOW DO YOU MAKE SLOW COOKER MONGOLIAN BEEF?
This Mongolian beef has the rich flavors of ginger, garlic, and brown sugar. It’s cooked slowly in the crock pot so every flavor has a chance to really sink in. When it’s almost ready to be served, the green onions get added to the pot and stirred in. The family is sure to love this one.
I highly suggest slightly freezing the flank steak before slicing it. It makes it much easier to slice if you do so. I prefer using the low sodium soy sauce because it keeps the dish a little healthier and you won’t have to worry about the finished dish being overly salty.
This crock pot Mongolian beef pairs well with steamed rice. I always serve it with a green vegetable on the side such as broccoli or asparagus. Of course, there are many other sides that would work as well, but I love the fresh counterpart of a lightly steamed veggie.
ARE THERE SUBSTITUTES FOR FLANK STEAK?
Yes, there are a few other options that will work for this crock pot Mongolian beef. Flank steak is my favorite option but you can also use skirt steak or even hanger steak if you can get your hands on it. You could also use thinly sliced sirloin steak if desired.
WHY IS IT CALLED MONGOLIAN BEEF?
Mongolian beef was created in Taiwan where dishes like this slow cooker Mongolian beef were popular. That area was where the first Mongolian restaurants started opening up. They made the Mongolian style of food popular which is why the name is carried with dishes like this one.
Looking for Mongolian beef but don’t have the time to wait for it to cook in a crock pot? Try my stove top Mongolian beef!
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that it doesn’t take a ton of work to have a delicious meal. I love this crock pot Mongolian beef because it’s easy, but comes out totally delicious and satisfying. Even my kids love this one!
MORE ASIAN RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE
- Pepper Steak Stir Fry
- Slow Cooker Orange Chicken
- Asian Cucumber Salad
- Cream Cheese Wontons
- Firecracker Chicken
Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds flank steak thinly sliced against the grain
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup green onions cut into 1/2 inch pieces
Instructions
- Place the flank steak in a bowl with the cornstarch and toss to coat evenly.
- Add the flank steak to the slow cooker.
- Place the sesame oil, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, brown sugar and water in the slow cooker. Stir to coat the meat in the sauce.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for 2-3 hours or LOW for 4-5 hours.
- Stir in the green onions, then serve.
So easy and so good!
This was great! I rarely comment on recipes or find a good crockpot one, but this one is immediately going in the recipe binder. I doubled the sauce because my husband likes everything to swim in it and cooked it on low for 5 hours which turned out perfectly tender. Another Dinner at the Zoo winner!
Please show recipes using instant pot. Do you have one for the Mongolian Beef ?
Thank You
Mine has turned out really runny. How do I thicken it up please? It just doesn’t seem right at all. Meat is very tender though and flavours are nice just needs to be thicker to stay on the meat.
You could use a little more cornstarch at the beginning, or to thicken later, mix 1 tablespoon of water with 2 teaspoons of cornstarch. Add the cornstarch/water mixture to the slow cooker, and cook on high for another 20 minutes until sauce has thickened.
I used about a 1/2 cup of cornstarch and threw it in a ziploc bag with the steak and shook it up, then dumped it all in the crockpot. The sauce turned out perfectly for us with this amount, although my steak was probably closer to 2lbs.
Hi, This recipe is the first one of yours that I’ve tried. I love Mongolian Beef and always made it step by step. This is fantastic and so easy. Im making your Mongolian chicken nest. I’ve shared these recipes with quite a few friends and one just made it. Thank you!
I have one question. I’m making food to freeze for a neighbor having surgery, as I’ll be away.
Will the scallions freeze well?
The scallions should freeze fine!
Could I do it in a dutch oven in a low temp oven?
I would recommend using my stove top version instead! https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/mongolian-beef/
Made as directed the first time and it was very good. The next time I doubled the sauce, used beef broth instead of water, and added fresh sliced mushrooms prior to serving. The mushrooms mixed with the hot temperature of the meat and gravy worked perfect – no soggy brown mushrooms – fresh and perfect. I served with brown basmati rice and a side of fresh broccoli. Better than take-out and much healthier without the added salt, sugars and msg from take-out.
Could you use this in the instant pot?
I believe it would work but I’ve never tried it myself!
I did I just cornstarch at the end turned out great , I just hp 30 mins , 10 mins NR
I have made Mongolian Beef in my instant pot. It cooks in about 12 minutes, with 12 minute natural release.
This is amazing. Added some red pepper at the beginning to give it a little kick! Will do more next time. Served with jasmine rice and pork egg rolls from Wegmans
I’ve been wanting to make this recipe for a while and with the weather cooling down, I did.
It was tasty and tender!
I used porterhouse steak and added a tablespoon of freshly diced red chilli. My family does love a little spice. I also added half of a red capsicum about an hour before the end of cooking time.
This is definitely on my list to make again, everyone loved it?
Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe. 🤗
Soooo good. I doubled the recipe and ate it for lunch all week. The recipe seems really simple but the flavors came out SO well. My only suggestions would be to either not cut your steak so thin, or to reduce your cooking time a bit. My meat came out a little tough. I also upped the seasonings and did unsalted beef broth in place of water. I’ll absolutely be making this again.
Hello,
This recipe looks delicious, and I would like to make it for a large crowd.
If I triple the recipe and use a 7 quart slow-cooker, do you have any tips for cooking time?
Should all the ingredients be tripled?
Thanks so much.
I would double the cornstarch (so 1/2 cup) and double the soy sauce (to 1 cup). Everything else can be tripled. So long as the slow cooker isn’t full to the brim, the cook time shouldn’t really change. You may just want to stir once during the cook time to make sure everything is evenly distributed.
Thank you, Sara, for the quick reply.
Much appreciated.
Can’t wait to make it.
Hi there! I want to use this for my meal prep this week. Can you advise what the serving size is that equates to 309 calories and 30g of protein? Thank you!
It’s 1 cup!
This may be hopeless but is there any substitute for the toasted sesame seed oil? We are Alaskans that retired a few months ago to Cuenca Ecuador and I can’t find this oil anywhere. I even thought of buying sesame seeds and roasting them in some oil and then using that.
They use a lot of sunflower oil here would that work? Or roast some sesame seeds in it first? Thank you.
Do you have regular sesame oil available to you?
Why not order it online! I order all kinds of hard to find things. Good luck!, I just cooked this recipe & can’t wait for dinner. The gravy tastes GREAT!
So I thought the same thing when all my store had was pure sesame oil. However upon further investigation I discovered that the oil I bought is actually toasted it just isn’t sold as such. If your sesame oil is dark and has a strong nutty smell then it’s toasted.
This popped up in my emailed today, and I thought I’d take a look at it. I found numerous recipes that I liked, so it looks like you have a winner here.
This was a very easy Delicious Recipe!
I doubled everything and added pea pods shredded carrots and sliced mushrooms all fresh! After two hours of cooking on high the last hour I added the veggies
In place of water I used low sodium beef broth
I added two tab spoons of a sesame ginger
Teriyaki marinade and one teaspoon of red pepper flakes
Served over Brown Rice!😊
It was better than Take- Out!
Made this as we had flank steak in the freezer, and all the other ingredients. I’m definitely making this again. I did cut back on the soy sauce to reduce the sodium and I used half of a regular onion cut in strips. Served with rice and broccoli. Really great and so easy.
The sauce was so good! The only complaint I had is that even with cooking on low for 4 hours, my meat was almost too tender and falling apart. Is this normal for this recipe or does my slow cooker just run hotter? Could I potentially cook this on low for 3 hours to avoid this?
You could definitely cook it for 3 hours, I do find that different slow cooker brands can run warmer or cooler sometimes.
I’ve made this recipe 3 times now and it’s delicious. I also add 1/2 can of pineapple chunks and 1 inch chucks of fresh red pepper. Enjoy.
So easy & delicious!
Just made it tastes amazing ,great recipe
Made this tonight it was delicious! Followed recipe exact then added stir fry veggies for last hour and made spaghetti noodles.