Gotta love instant pot Asian recipes! This instant pot Mongolian beef is made with flank steak & is ready in 20 minutes. Perfect for a quick weeknight meal
Instant Pot Mongolian Beef
Happy 2017 everybody! I am starting off the year by featuring Instant Pot Recipes. This delicious melt-in-your-mouth tender Mongolian Beef is so easy to make that will definitely become part of your weekly rotation. I used flank steak infused with a sweet and savory sauce.
Forget about PF Chang’s when you can make the same recipe at home without frying the beef and is ready in 20 minutes or less. No weird chemicals or fillers, just ingredients that you already have in your pantry.
I decided to make this recipe because it’s my husbands favorite, every time we go to PF Chang’s he orders it. Making restaurant meals at home is much healthier because you can always control the type of ingredients you are putting in and use less oil, sugars, etc.
Serve it with a side of broccoli and rice. I added some shredded carrots to add a pop of color, sweetness, and texture. If you’re not a fan, you can definitely omit it.
I am addicted to my Instant Pot and love the fact that it makes super flavorful foods in no time. Pressure cooking breaks down meat and injects it so much taste. Which is kind of the opposite of a slow cooker, who sometimes “waters down” flavors after cooking for so long.
My first instant pot recipe was with flank steak as well. That day I went with Venezuelan Shredded Beef. It’s very different from this dish but equally delicious. It just goes to show how versatile and ingredient can be.
I hope you can try this delicious Instant Pot Mongolian Beef at home. If you do, please upload a pic on Instagram and tag me @Livingsweetmoments or use the hashtag #LivingSweet. I promise to repost it.
Gotta love instant pot Asian recipes! This instant pot Mongolian beef is made with flank steak & is ready in 20 minutes. Perfect for a quick weeknight meal
- 1 1/2 lbs Flank steak
- 3/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger minced
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1 carrot shredded
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 green onion sliced (garnish)
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons water
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Slice flank steak into strips
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In a bowl, combine soy sauce, water, oil, sugar, ginger, and garlic
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Pour sauce in the instant pot
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Add beef strips and shredded carrot. Mix until the beef is coated in the sauce
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Cook on high pressure for 8 minutes (8 minutes MANUAL)
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After 8 minutes, let the Mongolian beef cool inside the pot for 10 minutes before releasing the pressure (10 Min Natural Pressure Release, NPR)
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In a small bowl, combine the water and the cornstarch until there are no lumps
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Turn the SAUTE button on your Instant Pot and pour in the cornstarch mixture. Let the sauce boil until it thickens. 1-2 minutes
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Pour the beef into a platter and garnish with green onions. Enjoy!
Other Instant Pot Recipes to try:
Asian Sesame Instant Pot Chicken
Wonderful ! I made a couple changes the second go round. Used London broil sliced thin on the bias, spiced it up with siracha and black pepper. Also a tablespoon of ketchup. Increased cool time to 10 minutes.
Yumm Kayla! Those are some delicious suggestions! Thanks for sharing!
This was so yummy love it
Thank you Polly! Glad you liked it!
Great recipe. Maybe you didn’t mean it like it came off, but I felt hurt when you said “without any weird ingredients”. I felt like that statement, saying the authentic ingredients of my Chinese heritage are “weird” make me abnormal. It may seem minor. I found this website and felt like I was all of a sudden an outsider.
Oh my goodness, Justin. That was not my intention at all. I deeply apologize for offending you. I’ve always respected and admired the Chinese culture.
That phrase will be re-written to reflect clearer my intention.
Ok, I’m not a good cook, I don’t even like cooking exactly, but I’m LOVING my IP and this recipe helped to grow said love. Mine turned out way too salty. I used a dark mushroom soy sauce, perhaps that’s why? However, my husband and I loved it!!! Next time I may try just 1/4 c. soy to 1/2 c. water. Even as salty as it was it was SO delicious. Thanks so very much for the recipe. I can’t wait to try your other IP recipes. ❤️
Hi Victoria! I’m glad you liked the recipe . Mushroom soy sauce is way saltier than regular soy sauce, next time use a little less or just substitute for soy sauce. Enjoy your IP!
Very tasty. I would definitely cut the brown sugar down to 1/4 C. and next time I would like to try adding toasted sesame seeds for serving. This time I used 2 shredded carrots (good) and only 2 Tbsp flour (forgot that I was supposed to use cornstarch). I did the pressure cook for 10 min (as opposed to 8) as was suggested and I agree. Will make again
Glad you liked it K. The sesame seeds at the end is a very nice idea. I’ll definitely try it with my next batch
Delicious! I added chopped onions to it, and would suggest using more steak for the amount of liquid at the end. So good that my husband asked me if I could make it for a potluck at his work later! For freezing, would I add all ingredients except for cornstarch and water, and add more time to cook?
Glad you liked it Amanda!
When you freeze, you actually do not need to add time to the cooking. It’ll just take longer for the IP to come to pressure. A tip is to throw your frozen beef and sauce in the ip and press the sautee for 4-5 minutes, then cover and select high pressure.
I don’t usually buy beef, but I found myself at Costco with a big package of flank steak the other day. I came across this recipe and tried it last night. We absolutely loved it! My daughter “mmmmmmm”ed the whole time! I haven’t thrown many veggies into my IP concoctions so far, but my carrots in this one kind of just disappeared right into the liquid. Is this normal? I added some broccoli and that was still somewhat distinguishable at the end. 🙂
Hi Lauren!
Glad you liked it! The carrots may disappear a bit but add flavor to the sauce. Next time, you can cut them a bit bigger if you’d like so they don’t dissolve. Have a great day!
Thanks so much!
You’re welcome 🙂
Thank you for the recipe – I have frozen skirt steak – do you know how I would adjust the cooking directions to be able to go straight into the IP from frozen ? #IPnewbie
Hi Stephanie! You don’t need to adjust the time at all. It’ll just take longer for ip to come to pressure. Hope that helps!
Thanks for the recipe. We made it tonight for dinner. It came out way too salty and I only used half a cup of soy sauce. I think if I only use a quarter cup soy sauce and increase the water, it will work better for us. I made a few other changes to make it low carb. I skipped the brown sugar and used a quarter cup of Swerve (erythritol) and subbed arrowroot for the corn starch.
Hi Ashley! Thanks for your feedback! I am sorry it was too salty for you. Great suggestions on how to make it low carb. I have some swerve in my pantry and I’ll give it a try! Have a great day!
Thanks for the recipe. I used to velvet the meat, boil for 1 minute, then rest, then stir fry. This recipe did away with all that. I used arrowroot as I was out of cornstarch. Also added some crushed red pepper and crushed garlic. It was fab tender and great. I am an experienced cook but novice IP user. Appreciate your recipe!
Glad you liked it, Kimberly! Loved the ideas of adding crushed red pepper and garlic.
This will be my first IP attempt. Do you mean to let the meat rest for 10 minutes THEN do a 10 minute NPR? Or is the resting time actually the NPR “time”?
resting is a NPR Judith. So cook the beef for 8 minutes on high pressure and let it cool in the pot for 10 minutes (natural pressure release) before opening the valve. Good luck!
Great recipe! I had marinated a flank steak overnight in a marinade similar to the mixture you suggested for this dish, Mine used 1/4 cup of honey instead of brown sugar. I use low salt soy sauce to manage the saltiness. We had intended to grill outside or broil in the oven. With temps in the 90s outside and not wanting to heat up the house, I found your recipe, sliced up the steak with an onion, and cooked as directed in the Instant Pot. Wow! So tender and tasty! My husband, quite the chef himself, was very impressed. Definitely a recipe to be repeated. Thanks !
Thanks for your feedback Teri! I’m glad you liked it. Using honey instead of sugar it’s a great suggestion.
If I am using 2 lb. of meat, do I need to increase the cooking time?
Hi Patty! No need to increase the time, it’ll just take longer for the IP to come to pressure
Just made this tonight as I received my IP from amazon today. This was very delicious and the meat was so tender. I won’t need to spend all that money on Chinese food anymore :-). Thanks for the recipe.
So glad you liked Brian! Thanks for your feedback!