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Tender pieces of flank steak are slow-cooked in the tastiest sweet and savory sauce. This slow cooker Mongolian beef is melt-in-your-mouth perfection and bursting with flavor. Quick and easy to prepare and one of our favorite slow cooker meals!
If you love restaurant Mongolian Beef, this super easy make-at-home rendition will be your new favorite dinner. Serve over this easy fried rice for a complete meal. And if you really want to wow your guests, egg rolls and vegetable stir-fry on the side would be amazing!
Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef
Mongolian beef made in the slow cooker is life-changing! Slow cooking the beef ensures that it’ll be delicate and succulent. This slow cooker Mongolian beef recipe is an explosion of flavors in every bite! Garlic, soy sauce, and brown sugar come together to create a caramelized sauce that coats the tender juicy pieces of steak.
This is hands down one of the BEST dinners that I have ever made. My family couldn’t get enough of it! It’s so easy to make restaurant-worthy meals for the family at home. If you love this slow cooker Mongolian beef recipe then I can’t wait for you to try more of our favorites. Make this sweet and sour chicken, these lettuce wraps, of this incredible bang bang chicken.
Mongolian Beef Ingredients
Slow cooker Mongolian beef is SO easy to make with minimal ingredients. The ingredients are simple, but the outcome is incredible! Your dinner is prepped and ready to go in under 10 minutes!
- Flank Steak: Sirloin can be substituted here but avoid stew meat.
- Corn Starch: This acts as a natural tenderizer for the beef.
- Olive Oil: Use canola oil if you’d rather.
- Garlic: Minced or chopped will give the most flavor.
- Soy Sauce: Either low-sodium soy sauce or coconut aminos can be used here.
- Water: This will help make it saucy.
- Brown Sugar: Light or dark brown sugar is both great in the sauce.
- Carrots: Grate a carrot or instead use pre-shredded carrots.
- Green Onions and Sesame Seeds: Optional garnish, but make a stunning topping.
How to Make Mongolian Beef in a Slow Cooker
The beef literally just melts in your mouth! You can always count on the slow cooker for tender beef. The tasty sauce clings to the cornstarch-coated steak and every bite is bursting with flavor. See the recipe card below for exact measurements.
- Cut and Coat: Cut the flank steak thinly and across the grain to ensure a tender bite. Place the steak in a ziplock bag with the cornstarch then shake to coat. Make sure to coat the beef evenly.
- Add ingredients to the Slow Cooker: Mix the oil, garlic, soy sauce, water, brown sugar, and carrots in the slow cooker.
- Coat the Beef: Stir the beef into the slow cooker making sure it’s well-coated
- Cook: Set on high for 2-3 hours or on low for 4-6 hours.
- Garnish and Enjoy: Garnish with chopped green onion and sesame seeds for added flavor and texture then enjoy over rice!
Tips and Variations
Everything about this Mongolian recipe is perfect, and I know that it will become a family favorite at your house just like it did at ours! Here are some ideas and variations to make it your own! I also included instructions for making it in the instant pot when you’re short on time!
- Slicing the Beef: When slicing the flank steak make sure to slice it against the grain. I like to slice mine about 1/4 inch thick.
- Veggies: Roast broccoli, green beans or red bell pepper then stir in before serving. Vegetables add texture and nutrition.
- Instant Pot: This easily converts to a quick Instant Pot recipe. Saute the steak on high until browned. Add the sauce ingredients and cook on “Manual” for 10 minutes. Lastly, quick release the pressure and enjoy!
How to Store Leftovers
Store any leftover Mongolian beef you may have, because it’s great for heating up and enjoying later! I like to make a little extra rice as well for a quick lunch that’s super satisfying!
- In the Refrigerator: Place leftovers in a sealed container for up to 4 days.
- In the Freezer: Once cooled, store leftovers in an air-tight container or freezer ziplock bag for up to 4 months. Thaw in the refrigerator before rewarming.
- To Reheat: Place leftovers in a microwave-safe bowl then heat for 1-2 minutes or until warmed through.
More Savory Slow Cooker Recipes
Slow cooker dinners always save the day! They’re easy and SO delicious. Everyone loves coming home to a warm home-cooked dinner. Try some of our favorites this week for dinner. You’ll love them all!
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Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds flank steak
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
- ¾ cup soy sauce
- ¾ cup water
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 cup carrots, grated
- green onions and sesame seeds, for garnish
Instructions
- Cut flank steak into thin strips. In a ziplock bag add flank steak pieces and cornstarch. Shake to coat.
- In a medium-sized bowl, add the olive oil, minced garlic, soy sauce, water, and brown sugar. Whisk to combine and add to the slow cooker.
- Add the grated carrots and coated flank steak to the slow cooker and stir until coated in the sauce.
- Serve over rice and garnish with green onions and sesame seeds.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This dish is very easy to make and well worth the wait. We were just a little short on brown sugar, but it still turned out great! Instead of flank steak, we used thin strips of sirloin tip. The only thing I added to this was white onion, which I added about an hour before it was finished. I will definitely be making this regularly.
This is SOOOO good and super easy! I normally make Mongolian beef in a wok, so I wasn’t sure if it would taste the same in the crock pot but it’s definitely just as yummy! I added a couple pinches of red pepper flakes. Adding to the weekly rotation :). Thanks for sharing!
I made this recipe exactly as it reads… Let me tell you… I bought a $22 piece of Hereford flank steak from Fresh Market…. And how can strips of beef (cut lovingly against the grain) possibly remain crispy on the outside yet tender… In a slow cooker???? Where’s the wok? Really? OMG. The dusting of corn starch acts as a thickener while somehow coating the beef with a crispness you would expect from flash wok frying! Really! I went with the 2.5hr slow cooker version on high… Glazing beautifully… Flavor extrordinair!!! Did a sesame oil, egg, carrot, onion, fried rice.. Keeping low flavor profile due to this rich sauce. Egg rolls… Uh, yeah…,?Anyway, I was saying under my breath…. ” yessss… Oh yesssss…” This tastes awesome! !!!!! And, although I followed this beautiful recipe …TO A TEEE…. The best compliment I got was… Mmmm… Tender!
I’m so sad. This is an excellent recipe! However… Back off just a fuzz on the soy sauce going in… Save it for the egg rolls later … But I love salt!…, and I ALWAYS cook without it!…. ALWAYS!!!! This beautiful meat was glazed, flavorful, tender…,. And…wait for it… Salty. I hooked it up with red pepper flakes… Yum. But, even this seasoning-withheld rice couldn’t mask the dish’s saltyness.
And tho you don’t know me… This recipe is AMAZING!!!! Don’t not try this method! Girls… Guys. Um… Didn’t think in a million years… You could get crispy tender from a crock pot!!!! Kudos!!!!
This was delicious and so easy! I added cooked broccoli at the end and served with brown rice. My family of 5 devoured it. Looking forward to trying more of your recipes. Thanks!
Loved this recipe!
Will add red pepper flakes next time..and there will be a next time!
I sliced across the grain and it was so tender! I liked this recipe and give it a 4, but my family gives it a 5! I doubled the recipe and served it to my husband and kids who are in their mid 20’s. They all raved about it and went back for 2nds. I put 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes in. I might add a little more next time. I served it with whole grain rice and lots of stir fried broccoli. I will make this again. Minimal prep time and lots of compliments. Thanks Alyssa!
Curious about reheating the leftovers. My sauce became gelatin like in the fridge and would not thin back out after microwaving. Has anyone else had this happen? Should I be reheating on the stovetop instead. Otherwise loved this recipe. Got a crockpot for Christmas and this was my first recipe to test out.
Yes I noticed this as well. Although when it is reheated it is still delicious, the sauce just changes consistency.
I reheated for a minute then mixed the sauce around and spread it out so it heated evenly and not like a big sauce square, then heated another minute and a half.
Like split pea soup you cannot reheat it in the microwave. Put it in a saucepan and reheat it on the stove, calmly and stirring all the time reheat it slowly and it will be fine.
We made this tonight and substituted trip tip (cut into slices & trimmed) for the flank steak, deleted the carrots, low sodium soy sauce, used 1/2 c of brown sugar instead of 3/4 c, added sliced ginger root & red pepper flakes. Cooked for 4.5 hours on low, stirred once with 1.5 hours to go. It was great and the meat was super tender. We tried the tri-tip roast instead of flank due to $2.99 a lb vs $8.99 for flank. This is now one of our favorites for the crock pot. Many thanks!
Can you use chili powder instead of flakes? Didn’t have the flakes!
The flakes just add some spice to the dish. Chili powder is very different from the flakes and would probably be ok without it. 🙂
I’m making this in my slow cooker right now. I reduced the sugar and soy sauce to 1/2 cup each, added a diced onion and a 1/4 teaspoon of Chinese Five Spice. I hope I didn’t ruin it! 🙂
Can I do this in the oven? Any idea how long and what temperature?
Tried this last night. It has a good flavor. Here are my thoughts on the recipe:
1) You should cut AGAINST the grain for tender results.
http://www.finecooking.com/videos/how-to-cut-meat-against-the-grain.aspx
2) This recipe seems to be adapted from a more “traditional” cooking technique, which would include browning the meat before putting it in the cooker. That’s why you coat the meat with cornstarch–to make it crispy during the browning. In this recipe, the cornstarch makes the sauce thick, but coating the meat then putting it immediately in the sauce serves little purpose. You could just as easily add the corn starch directly to the crock pot, probably cutting the quantity back to about 1/8 cup to account for what got left in the ziploc bag.
Alternatively (and this is my preference), you can brown the meat in a wok with vegetable oil for improved texture and flavor, at the cost of a bit more time and effort.
3) As another commenter mentioned, for what we in America call “Mongolian Beef” (which is apparently nothing like what you’d get in Mongolia), you want it to be a bit spicier. Definitely add red pepper flakes.
How much red pepper flakes did you add?
Where are the nutrition facts? It is very good. Will have again.
I suggest My Fitness Pal for getting your nutritional information on recipes. It is a great resource. 🙂
Made this on Saturday night and liked it. Next time I make this I will cut back on the sugar slightly in order to cut back on the sweetness a touch. Thanks for posting this recipe
I just made this again and reduced the sugar and soy sauce to 1/2 cup and it turned out great. 🙂
I made this 2 days ago. Delicious! However my kids found the taste too strong. I wonder if I cut back on the soy sauce and sugar to 1/2cup each, they will like it better. Or “dilute” the sauce with more veggies. Anyway, my husband and I just LOVED it, even though there was more sugar than I usually feel comfortable with. I will try making again with less. Definitely a keeper!
Novice questions regarding the flank steak. Should I cut it with or against the grain? This looks wonderful and I plan to make it soon – thanks for sharing!
Slice it with the grain. 🙂
I’m making this today…but slicing it WITH the grain? Every flank steak recipe i see says slice AGAINST the grain. Now i’m confused.
Sorry yes! Against the grain. Its one of those things that I had to think about. It is easier to show. 🙂
I made it the other night. Loved it! Delicious flavor….although the sauce to meat ratio was off, so next time i’ll use larger cut of beef. And, i did slice against the grain.
Alyssa, I believe you meant to say, “Against the grain.” If you slice meat, esp. beef with the grain, you get stringy slices, or just strings. “Across the grain” gives you the tender slices you want.