Instant Pot Mongolian Beef (Yummy Weeknight Meal Idea)
Looking for a yummy and easy Instant Pot weeknight meal idea?
Make this flavorful Mongolian Beef dish that features a delicious ginger garlic sauce with tender pieces of beef served over rice. It doesn’t require a ton of ingredients, and it’s easy enough for a pressure cooking newbie.
Hip Tip: Don’t own an Instant Pot? Keep reading as I share slow cooker instructions below as well!
Simple process and easy ingredients for the win!
The basic process for this Instant Pot meal is to brown the meat on saute mode first in the pot, pour in the sauce ingredients, pressure cook, and then thicken the sauce with cornstarch at the end. My kids absolutely love this recipe!
Instant Pot Mongolian Beef
yield: 5 SERVINGS
prep time: 15 MINUTES
cook time: 12 MINUTES
total time: 27 MINUTES
Making Mongolian Beef in your pressure cooker is delicious and convenient!
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. thinly-sliced flank steak (or beef sirloin strips like I used)
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil or vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup less sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 3 tablespoons water
- 4 green onions, sliced
Directions
1
Put oil in the Instant Pot and turn to saute function to heat up.
2
Brown meat in the oil and season with a little salt & pepper. Do this in batches to avoid overcrowding.
3
In a small dish, mix together soy sauce, water, brown sugar, garlic, and ginger.
4
Pour mixture over meat and stir. Close lid and set timer to 12 minutes (manual) HIGH setting.
5
When finished, carefully turn vent to quick release pressure.
6
Whisk cornstarch with water and pour into pot. Stir and turn Instant Pot on saute function to heat up again to thicken. Keep stirring until thickened and turn off pot.
7
Add in onions and serve over rice.
Additional Notes
Recipe adapted from PressureCookingToday.com
Hip Tip: Don’t have an Instant Pot? Go ahead and make it in the slow cooker!
Brown meat on the stove with a little oil first. Then place that and the rest of sauce ingredients in slow cooker, and cook on HIGH for 4 hours (or LOW for 7-8 hours) until the meat is tender. After cooking, whisk cornstarch and water together and pour that mixture into the slow cooker. Stir, and close the lid for 15 minutes to thicken the sauce.
Note: Mongolian Beef is usually made with thinly-sliced flank steak, so you can definitely use that. I had some thinly-sliced sirloin on hand, so I used it and our meal still turned out AMAZING.
The sauce does taste like the popular restaurant-style dish, and the leftovers are still super yummy the next day!
My kids LOVED this Mongolian Beef meal and ate every bite.
These types of simple and easy Instant Pot meals are such lifesavers for my busy schedule! We served this dish over rice and some additional steamed veggies on the side. It ended up being a very simple and straightforward weeknight meal idea everyone approved of! I would definitely make this again!
This will be our dinner on Sunday night. Thanks!
Sure- you’re welcome!
Oh thanks, I’m adding this to my meal plan!
Great! Thanks for stopping by!
What would be the difference when cooking recipe without a instant cooker?
You could brown meat on the stove and then place that plus sauce ingredients in slow cooker, cook on high for 4 hours or until meat is tender – 7-8 on low. Then thicken w cornstarch at the end –is how I would do it.
Hope that helps!
Thanks Lina love all the recipes!
Thanks, Lina! Definitely trying this recipe!
Great! Enjoy!
Thanks for this info, Lina! I’d love to try this recipe but I don’t have an Instant Pot.
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POTOFGOLD40
Thanks for the recipe. ..I have one of these …sounded great for cooking…but have hardly used it due to lack of knowledge lol
This recipe looks amazing and super easy to make!!! Reminds me of the Mongolian recipe that I make for my family but without instant cooker –> https://www.munchkintime.com/mongolian-beef-30-minute-recipe/ 🙂 saving this recipe to give it a try! Thank you so much for sharing!
Could you cook the rice at the same time? I think it’s called pot in pot. Thanks.
Instant Pot should not be operated without adding liquid. Aren’t you afraid of damaging it?
You are adding the sauce liquid. You can definitely add more though if desired.
There’s over 1 cup of liquid in the recipe…
my sauce won’t thickened why?
Darn..hmm cornstarch should definitely thicken it. Is it on sauté to heat up pot again?
yes it is and i tried making it twice now still didn’t thicken
maybe its just not hot enough should I put the lid on? My family loves it anyway.
thanks for your response.
Ah yes maybe try w the lid! Oh I’m glad 👍🏻
I tried didn’t thicken and it was boiling also, hum weird. oh well making it again tonite. Thanks
Kimberly, any chance your meat is adding a lot of juices into the mix? Maybe try a little more cornstarch?
Lina, this looks great! I bought a 3 qt. But haven’t used it yet. I assume I would cut the recipe in half, but that’s just a guess. Does anyone have experience with using the smaller IP?
No, you don’t need to cut the recipe in half…as long as you aren’t going past the MAX FILL line, you’re fine.
This looks delicious ugh so hungry now. I don’t eat beef so I will substitute chicken and turkey thighs. I love recipes that are easily adaptable and you still can get a great meal with substitutions. Thanks for another great recipe idea.
Ooohhh..!! Sounds so yummy, I think I will try this next week but my grandkids have off for spring break and I have them…!! Thanks for the tip hipsters…!!👍🤪✌️
Lina can you give us tips how to cook if one doesn’t have an instant pot or slow cooker?
Just google skillet Mongolian beef and a lot of recipes for skillet on the stove top comes up. I also did a google search for sheet pan Mongolian beef and a lot of recipes came up for that as well. Good luck.
Can’t wait to try it in my crock pot. Yummy.
Oh thanks Patricia -enjoy!
I make this all the time. Its delicious! I add broccoli to mine as well.
Great idea – yum!
I made this for dinner tonight but just cooked on stove top. I used thin sliced breakfast steak so I didn’t need hours in the crock pot delicious. I did double the sauce and even more corn starch with frozen broccoli over rice. DELICIOUS. Last week I had planned on Bar B Que ribs for dinner. Got home I had forgot to preseason and boil my ribs the evening before. Put water under rack layered seasoned ribs and onions used 2 cycles then added sauce. By the time I had taken shower set the table had bread and salad done we were ready to eat. I had my mind so set on ribs I was willing to eat them no matter what from now on I will not bother with the extra work just use my insta pot
Oh so glad! And yep ribs are wonderful in the instant pot! I agree 👍❤️
Thanks for the idea! I modified to make it paleo and the family loved it!
That’s awesome! Thanks for coming back to share that Mia 👍
I made this for dinner tonight and it turned out delicious!! I added broccoli after cooking the meat, 1 min with QR. My 3 yr old loves it as do my 1 yr old! Thank you for sharing this recipe! I love simple, quick and tasty recipes 👍
Oh good – I’m so glad! Thanks for coming back to share with us Suz!