P.F. Chang’s Mongolian Beef Copycat

Name: P.F. Chang's Mongolian Beef Copycat
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: 4 tsp. vegetable oil; 2 tsp. ginger (minced); 2 Tbsp. garlic (minced); 1 c. soy sauce; 1 c. water; 1 c. brown sugar (packed); 1 c. vegetable oil (for frying *see notes above); 2 Lb. flank steaks; ½ c. cornstarch; 3 large green onions

By Erica Walker Published on: April 3, 2021 72 Comments

4.93 from 26 votes

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Our copycat P.F. Chang’s Mongolian Beef is pan fried and coated in a delicious sweet and savory sauce. It tastes just like the Mongolian beef entree at the restaurant, but at a fraction of the price!

Mongolian Beef topped with green onions on a bed of rice with chopsticks next to the plate.

P.F. Chang’s Mongolian Beef Copycat

Mongolian Beef is one of my favorite dishes in the world! And with this recipe you can make five times the amount for the same prices as one order of Mongolian Beef from the popular restaurant. I love P.F. Chang’s but it can be a little pricey for what you actually get. Don’t get me wrong, I will be the first to tell you that I LOVE dining out at fun restaurants. It’s nice to have someone else do the cooking for me once in a while. But this dish is so easy to make from home and one that the whole family enjoys. I have been making this recipe for years now and I always get rave reviews. Most people who have it say they actually like it MORE than P.F. Chang’s. It really does taste just like P.F. Chang’s Mongolian Beef!

Chopsticks holding up a piece of Mongolian beef

Tips for this Mongolian Beef Recipe

You can serve it how P.F. Chang’s does by draining the excess sauce and serving it just coated in the sauce. Or you can reserve the excess sauce and spoon it over some rice.
P.F. Chang’s Mongolian beef is thin sliced and pan fried, as is the beef in this copycat recipe. But for a lighter version we have marinated the beef in the sauce and skipped the cornstarch coating. Then just cook the beef in the sauce in a pan over the stove. It still tastes wonderful, but won’t have that crisp coating on the outside. Skipping the frying process is also a time saver.
Add some veggies to the pan. Oftentimes after the beef is cooked, I will remove the beef from the pan, wipe clean, then saute up some broccoli, pea pods, shredded carrots, red peppers, onions or baby corn and throw the beef back in. Then I will stir the sauce in with the beef and the veggies. This is a great way to get some added vitamins and increase your vegetable intake for the day.
Mongolian Beef freezes beautifully! I like to freeze it in the sauce, then thaw completely in the refrigerator before heating. Just heat it in a pan on the stove until hot, but not simmering, as you don’t want to risk your meat getting tough.

What to Serve with Mongolian Beef

Serve Mongolian beef alone with our Restaurant-Style Fried Rice or Panda Express Chow Mein or pair it with one or more of our favorite Asian style recipes for a huge Asian feast:

How to Make P.F. Chang’s Mongolian Beef

P.F. Chang’s Mongolian Beef Copycat

4.93 from 26 votes

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Our copycat P.F. Chang’s Mongolian Beef is pan fried and coated in a delicious sweet and savory sauce. It tastes just like the restaurant at a fraction of the price!

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total: 35 minutes

Serves:

Ingredients

4 tsp. vegetable oil
2 tsp. ginger minced
2 Tbsp. garlic minced
1 c. soy sauce
1 c. water
1 c. brown sugar packed
1 c. vegetable oil for frying *see notes above
2 Lb. flank steaks
½ c. cornstarch
3 large green onions

Instructions

Make the sauce by heating 4 tsp. vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat. Don’t get the oil too hot. Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches. Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then raise the heat to medium and boil the sauce 2-3 minutes or until sauce thickens a little bit. Remove sauce from heat.
Slice the flank steak against the grain into 1/4 inch slices. Tilt the blade of your knife at about a 45 degree angle to the top of the steak so you get wider cuts. Dip the steak pieces into cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef. Let the beef sit about 10 min. so the cornstarch sticks.
As the beef sits, heat up 1 c. oil in a wok (or skillet). Heat the oil over medium heat until its hot, but not smoking. Add the beef to the oil and saute for just 2 minutes, or until beef just begins to darken on the edges. Stir the meat around a little bit so that it cooks evenly. After a few minutes, use a large slotted spoon to take the meat out and onto paper towels, then pour most of the oil out of the skillet. Put the pan back over the heat, add the meat back into it and stir-fry for 1 more minute. Add the sauce to the pan and stir the meat around in the sauce until it is fully coated.
Then remove the beef from the sauce with a slotted spoon or tongs onto a plate for serving and sprinkle on some sliced green onions. You can discard the sauce (this is what P.F. Chang's does) OR save the extra sauce and serve it over rice with the beef.

Equipment

Stove Top
Fry Pan/Skillet

Notes

Recipe adapted from Top Secret Recipes

Recipe Video

Nutrition

Course: Main Course, Dinner

Cuisine: Asian

Mongolian Beef, Beef

Recipe by: Erica Walker

Tried this recipe?Mention @favoritefamilyrecipes or tag #favoritefamilyrecipes!

Recipe adapted from Top Secret Recipes.

72 Comments