Copycat PF Chang's Mongolian Beef tastes just like PF Chang's version, but is made much healthier, and cheaper, at home!
A couple weeks ago during girl’s weekend, my Mom and I decided to pop into PF Changs for a delectable dinner out.
Right away we agreed to split an entree, as they’re usually plenty big enough for two. One order of my Mom’s favorite Chinese dish of all time – Mongolian Beef – comin’ right up!
The first bite was simply sensational. The thinly sliced beef melted in our mouths, while the consistency and taste of the subtly-sweet sauce was spot on.
It was nearly, dare I say, perfect.
Only nearly perfect though, because the teeny-tiny plate sitting on our table was hardly enough for one, AND it was overflowing with 5 times as many green onions as pieces of beef!
“Where’s the BEEF?!” we wanted to shout!
“I’m going to write a letter.” my Mom declared, in between bites of delectable but hard-to-find meat unearthed from an endless supply of green onions.
My Mom’s a letter writer. If you mess with her, she will totally tell someone about it.
“Mom, don’t write a letter.” I tried to reason with her. “This is clearly a travesty, but nobody at PFC’s really cares what we think,” knowing she’d write one anyways.
Which, obviously, she did. And, obviously, got a $25 gift certificate in the mail because of it!! “Uh-HUH!” she exclaimed when she ripped open the letter.
This recipe’s for you, Mom.
May you never have to write another Mongolian Beef related letter ever again.
Why buy overpriced, undersized, nearly non-existent Mongolian Beef (chicken, or salmon!) at a restaurant, when you can easily make it at home?!
Ingredients
- 1 lb flank steak, thinly sliced against the grain
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 2-1/2 Tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
- 1/2 bunch asparagus, trimmed then cut into bite-sized pieces
- 3 garlic cloves, grated or finely minced
- 1 inch knob of ginger, peeled then grated or finely minced
- 1/2 cup gluten free reduced-sodium Tamari, or soy sauce if not gluten free
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 3 green onions, cut into thirds
- cooked rice, for serving
Directions
- Toss the flank steak with cornstarch in a plastic bag until all the pieces are coated. Empty the beef into a colander then shake off excess cornstarch. Set aside.
- Heat 1 Tablespoon oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add asparagus then saute for 1 minute. Add garlic and ginger then saute until extremely fragrant, 30 seconds, being careful not to let the garlic burn. Add Tamari, water and brown sugar then turn heat down to medium and let the sauce simmer for 2 minutes. Pour the mixture into a bowl then set aside.
- Heat remaining 1-1/2 Tablespoons oil in the same skillet over high heat. Add the beef and cook, stirring every so often, until it is just barely cooked. Some pink still showing is ok. Add the sauce with asparagus back into the skillet, turn the heat down to medium-low, then simmer until sauce reaches your desired thickness.
- Stir in green onions then serve over cooked rice.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are estimates only. Please read our full nutrition information disclaimer.
I will rearrange the dishwasher as well.
My hubby has to have the outside of his car clean, and I could care less. I need the inside clean–you know, the part *I* can see!
I’m a total car slob–I don’t even want to know how many candy wrappers there are stuffed into the pockets in the doors! And don’t get me started on my backseat…Between the clothes and all my son’s artwork from daycare…Yikes! The rest of my house kind of looks like that as well, except the kitchen. I keep the kitchen spotless!
Haha, these are all so awesome! When my husband and I were on our honeymoon, we went to a restaurant and our waiter was drunk! We got there before the dinner rush, and we didn’t get our food til an hour and a half later! There were 3 other couples in our section that had the same problem and needless to say we got our meals comped. The funny thing is, he took our order, appeared to write it down, brought us drinks (wrong ones). They said he never even turned our order in, and when he tried to bring us stuff like side salads, he always had the wrong stuff! And he told us they were out of one of the sides, we told the manager this and he said they were never out of it!! It was crazy! I got really upset, we were starving and it was our honeymoon!! Needless to say, I didn’t need to write the company on that one :D My weirdness: any dish left in the sink has to be washed, sometimes my husband offers to do the dishes, but if he doesn’t do them in a timely fashion, I end up doing them because it drives me crazy! My husband has a thing about his books, as in DO NOT touch his books! I think it’s because he didn’t have a bedroom when he was a kid, so he had to keep his possessions tucked away from his brothers :)
Re: doing the dishes in a timely fashion – I am the SAME way!
My wierd quirk is trying to find something that I know I should have-receipts, recipes, pieces of mail, paper things-I know I have it and can’t/won’t stop until I find it if it’s lost!
You always post the best recipes!
On another note, I can totally relate with the cleaning thing. I love keeping my house clean (I dust the door moldings…who does that?!) but only cleaned my car because my boyfriend made me. Full of dirt and dust and hay (My last job was on a horse farm). Sadly it didn’t last because a few days later there was garbage on the floor. I’m a car slob.
My parents wrote a letter to Applebee’s once and the manager personally delivered a gift card to their house!
My biggest quirk is at work. I’m a teacher and I get so irritated when my students don’t put books back in our classroom library in a tidy way. I hate to see the books messy!
My weird quirk..
I CRAVE food like I’m 9 months pregnant and then I can not for the life of me say no to the craving.
So, I am sitting here reading this and drooling over the mongolian beef. I figure, well I will just make it tomorrow for dinner.
Then my sweet husband calls on his way home from DSM (who was stopping by Best Buy at Jordan Creek) and I tell him he should go to P.F. Changs for me :) Being the dear that he is, he agrees and should be on his way home with my bedtime snack of mongolian beef soon.
Thanks for the great post!
OH, and I will be trying your recipe soon. I just needed an immediate fix.
OMG hubby is the BEST! :D
OCD isn’t these “quirks” or habits that people are sharing. I’m not trying to ruin a few funny stories, but many people are ignorant to what OCD truly is. I just feel it shouldn’t be used lightly. You don’t have a “bit” of OCD, it’s a disorder, not a quirk someone has. I feel more agitated by this since it was trending on Twitter.
Welcome to the club! My house is spotless while my car is like a dumping ground for my daily errands..nothing too bad..but it doesn’t seem to bother me ONE BIT, ha. The mongolian beef looks grrreat by the way!
My mom was a letter writer too.
She used to get free trash bags and coupons from them if the bags ripped and she wrote a letter to them. She has also received car wash tokens in the mail after writing a letter about a car wash in the area.
These all made me laugh so hard! My OCD- the shampoo and conditioner bottles must be facing the same way on the shelf. The boyfriend will turn them just to hear me get in the shower and move them.
HAHA! Hilarious post :) I love summer fruit and I typically spend a small fortune on fruit at the local grocery store. But if it’s not up to par, I return it for another fruit item or my money back. Am I cheap? My boyfriend thinks I’m nuts (in his opinion, NOT worth the trip to the store for $5 back) but I’m not wasting my money on brown, mushy watermelon!
Dang, just when I’m attempting to be a vegetarian you remind me why this never lasts with me! I have too many quirks to list out without somebody responding I need therapy (duh). I’ll throw in that couch throw blankets need to be folded after use and I cannot leave for a trip if the kitchen sink isn’t clean. It legit bothers me.
Ew me too!