Saucy, flavorful Mongolian ground beef with that characteristic hoisin sauce flavor – a recipe everyone in the family will love! Its full of the rich, delicious umami goodness but with easy to make ground beef. The recipe uses tamari or soy sauce, maple syrup instead of sugar, mirin, garlic, ginger, green onion, and other simple ingredients for a quick and easy weeknight dinner to add to your regular meal routine.
This saucy Mongolian ground beef recipe is so tasty it’s unreal! It got rave reviews with my family and even the 7 year old loved it. It’s got that irresistible sweet and salty combo that makes your tastebuds happy and using ground beef keeps it budget friendly and fast to make. Plus, it’s easy to double the recipe for meal prep lunches later on!
The recipe can easily be made gluten-free and most of the ingredients are pantry staples so it’s a nice easy dinner to keep in your back pocket for busy weeknights. My quick and easy dinners archive is bursting at the seams with 30 minute meals that are flavorful, approachable and hit the spot.
The only thing you need to chop for this ground beef dinner recipe is that green onion / scallion and you can even use kitchen sheers for this if you don’t want to clean a cutting board. Yup, it’s that simple.
Serve with a pot of rice, brown rice, quinoa or cauliflower rice and your favorite veggie to make it a whole meal. I like pairing with my Asian inspired cucumber and carrot salad for the ultimate taste combo.
Or, if I’m feeling too drained to make a side, I just throw some defrosted frozen peas and carrots in with the beef for those last few minutes of cook time to check the veggie box. (Food bloggers hit our limit too 😆) Either way, it’s easy as can be!
Ingredients
As I mentioned earlier the sauce for this Mongolian ground beef is just made from pantry stables. Don’t have gochugaru? No worries! Just use garlic chili sauce or a little sriracha instead or leave it out if you’re cooking for kids. The maple syrup can be substituted with brown sugar too.
One other note – while fresh ginger and fresh garlic are lovely, you can used jared minced garlic and ginger here without sacrificing much flavor. Helps keep the recipe quick and easy too!
All ingredients are shown below and in the recipe card ingredient list.
How to Make Mongolian Ground Beef
This recipe can be made in a few short and easy steps:
- Whisk together all of the sauce ingredients.
- Start heating a large skillet or wok to medium-high heat.
- Slice the green onions grouping about 1/3 cup of the greens and 1/3 cup of the scallions separately.
- Add oil to the skillet and sear scallions for 1-2 minutes.
- Add ground beef and break up while it browns.
- Once meat has browned add the sauce.
- Mix arrowroot or cornstarch with cold water and pour into skillet.
- Let simmer for another 2-3 minutes until sauce becomes thicker. Add green onion and sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.
Tips for Making the Recipe Perfectly
Recipe Tips
- Don’t overcook the meat! It’s easy to overcook ground beef but to avoid this, just be conscious to add the sauce as soon as it brown and remove from the heat as soon as the sauce has thickened.
- Don’t skip the arrowroot or cornstarch. I tested this recipe without a thickener and the sauce is just so runny that it doesn’t have the same flavor impact. Trust me, I tried to make it work and tested it a few times and it just needs a thickener.
Storage and Freezing
Store Mongolian ground beef leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. Leftovers can also be frozen for up to 3 months. I like to freeze individual meal sized portions over rice so that I can just pull it from the freezer the night before and defrost in the refrigerator in time to reheat for lunch.
Easy Saucy 20 Minute Mongolian Ground Beef
Equipment
- 1 Small bowl
- 1 large skillet or wok
Ingredients
Sauce
- 1/3 cup low sodium tamari or soy sauce
- 2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 2 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 1 Tablespoons mirin
- 2 Tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Beef
- 4-5 green onions
- 1 Tablespoon avocado oil
- 1 lb. lean ground beef 85-90% lean
- 1 Tablespoon arrowroot powder or cornstarch
- 2 Tablespoons water
- Sesame seeds for garnish
- ½ teaspoon gochugaru or sambal olek or sriracha for spice Optional
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together all of the sauce ingredients. See note on spiciness.
- Start heating a large skillet to medium-high heat.
- Slice green onion, separating the green ends from the whiter onion like scallions closer to the stem. You should have about 1/3 cup of the greens and 1/3 cup of the scallions.
- Add avocado oil to heated skillet and tilt pan to spread. Add scallions to pan and sauté for 1-2 minutes.
- Add beef and break up with a flat wooden spatula as it browns (about 5-7 minutes).
- Once meat has browned, pour sauce into the pan.
- Mix arrowroot or cornstarch with 2 Tablespoons cold water and add to skillet, stirring to mix in (you can use the same bowl the sauce was in).
- Let simmer for another 2-3 minutes until sauce has thickened. Stir in green onion and sprinkle with sesame seeds and gochugaru on top as a garnish and serve over rice.
Notes
Nutrition
did you make this recipe?
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