Mongolian Beef? No, it’s Mongolian Chicken!
Mongolian Beef may just be America’s favorite Chinese dish. It’s crispy, salty, sweet, and spicy, and coated in an addictive sauce that’s perfect with steamed white rice. While P.F. Chang’s version is legend, we’ve created our own Mongolian Beef recipe. Not to pat myself on the back *too* much, but people who have tried our recipe swear by it!
But the fact of the matter is, some people just prefer chicken over beef. Also, there comes a time when you start craving something new instead of the same old Orange Chickens, the Sesame Chickens, and the General Tso’s Chickens of the world. This Mongolian Chicken will do the trick.
Recipe Notes
- In this recipe, we call for sliced boneless chicken breast or thighs, but we recommend using thighs, which are harder to accidentally overcook.
- The key to this tasty Mongolian Chicken is in the salty sweet sauce. It’s packed with flavor, which means that we can eliminate the step of marinating the chicken (a typical step in many of our stir-fries). Just give the chicken a light cornstarch dredging, and then fry it to crispy perfection.
- When you also fry the aromatics, all that flavor gets infused into that legendary sauce (that––trust us––has very little to do with Mongolia).
- Pro tip: you can also try this by oven frying the chicken – see directions on our Sesame Chicken – Baked, Not Fried (I suggest using chicken thighs if you want to bake as the chicken breast may dry out too much in the oven).
Toss that crispy chicken into the sauce, and wham–winner, winner, Mongolian Chicken dinner!
Mongolian Chicken: Recipe Instructions
Mix the sliced chicken with 1 tablespoon of oil, until the pieces are evenly coated.
Dredge all of the chicken in the cornstarch, shaking off the excess until the chicken is just lightly coated.
Heat ⅓ cup oil in a wok over high heat. At this point, if the chicken has absorbed the cornstarch and gets moist again, dredge the pieces again before frying. Just before the oil starts to smoke, spread the chicken pieces evenly in the wok, and fry for 1 minute, or until browned and crispy.
Turn the chicken, and let the other side fry for another 30 seconds or until browned and crispy. Transfer to a sheet pan or plate lined with paper towels. The chicken should be fried on all sides with a crusty coating.
Drain the oil from the wok, leaving 1 tablespoon behind, and set over medium high heat. Add the ginger fry for 20 seconds, until fragrant.
Add the dried chili peppers, if using, the garlic, and the white portions of the scallions.
Easy to make Mongolian Chicken Sauce
All of these aromatics add flavor to this tasty sauce.
Next, stir fry for another 15 seconds, and add the soy sauce, brown sugar, and chicken stock (or water).
Bring the sauce to a simmer, and stir constantly until the brown sugar is completely dissolved.
Let the sauce simmer for another 2 minutes, and slowly stir in the cornstarch-water mixture until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
Add the chicken and the green portions of the scallions. Toss everything together for another 10 seconds.
There should be almost no liquid–the sauce should cling to the chicken. If you still have excess sauce, add more of the cornstarch slurry, and increase the heat slightly. Stir until thickened.
For more detailed information on the many ways to use cornstarch to get authentic results at home with our recipes, see our post on How to Use Cornstarch in Chinese Cooking.
Plate and serve your Mongolian Chicken with lots of hot steamed rice!
Mongolian Chicken
Ingredients
- 12 ounces boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs (340g, pat dry with paper towels and cut into ¼-inch thick slices)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (plus ⅓ cup for frying)
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon ginger (julienned or minced)
- 5 dried red chili peppers (optional)
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 3 scallions (cut on a diagonal into 1-inch slices)
- 2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- ¼ cup hot water or low sodium chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch (mixed with 1 tablespoon water)
Instructions
- Mix the sliced chicken with 1 tablespoon of oil, until the pieces are evenly coated. Dredge all of the chicken in the cornstarch, shaking off the excess until the chicken is just lightly coated.
- Heat ⅓ cup oil in a wok over high heat. At this point, if the chicken has absorbed the cornstarch and gets moist again, dredge the pieces again before frying. Just before the oil starts to smoke, spread the chicken pieces evenly in the wok, and fry for 1 minute, or until browned and crispy.
- Turn the chicken, and let the other side fry for another 30 seconds or until browned and crispy. Transfer to a sheet pan or plate lined with paper towels. The chicken should be fried on all sides with a crusty coating.
- Drain the oil from the wok, leaving 1 tablespoon behind, and set over medium high heat. Add the ginger fry for 20 seconds, until fragrant. Add the dried chili peppers, if using, the garlic, and the white portions of the scallions. Stir fry for another 15 seconds, and add the soy sauce, brown sugar, and chicken stock (or water). Bring the sauce to a simmer, and stir constantly until the brown sugar is completely dissolved.
- Let the sauce simmer for another 2 minutes, and slowly stir in the cornstarch-water mixture until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Add the chicken and the green portions of the scallions. Toss everything together for another 10 seconds.
- There should be almost no liquid--the sauce should cling to the chicken. If you still have excess sauce, add more of the cornstarch slurry, and increase the heat slightly. Stir until thickened.
nutrition facts
Tasty dish! I used some fish sauce for part of the soy sauce, to please the Vietnamese palates in my family. Terrific.
Nicely done, Alisha. We love that readers alter recipes to suit their own tastes :-)
Turned out perfect, I did however add green peppers and a yellow onion…which made it even better. Super delicious and I’ll definitely make it again soon.
Nice! Thanks Corissa!
Wonderful meal, full of flavour, on my list along with prok fried rice and Pad Thai
Gref
excellent Greg – enjoy!
Absolutely easy and delicious recipe packed with great flavors I used boneless chicken with jasmine rice this is a quick tasty meal fit for a King ….
Hi SeanPatric, home run on the execution of the recipe! Enjoy!
Wonderful dish for a blizzard dinner. Not having dried chilies on hand I used chili flakes.
I’m going to have to increase the scallions as the supermarket ones are wimpy compared to your picture.
Good substitution of chili flakes Pence!
Made this last night. I can’t believe how simple the ingredients list was, but it came out takeout quality. First time I can say that. Thanks for another fantastic recipe!!
You’re welcome, Cody!
I’ve made a few of your recipes and they are all amazing! Thank you! I’ve made this one many times and usually have fresh ginger on hand, however, I just set out to make this and realized I don’t have any. Can I use ground ginger in a pinch? Thanks again!
Way too sweet. It’s a good recipe but I would reduce the amount of brown sugar to 1/4 cup, and substitute half of the soy sauce with chicken stock next time.
Hi Bulent, you may be confusing our recipe with others you have seen, as our recipe only calls for 2 tablespoons of brown sugar.
I made this for dinner tonight. I used 3 large chicken breasts and there wasn’t any left, so it must’ve been pretty good. I cut the amount of brown sugar a little and had to add a little more chicken broth than the recipe called for.
The 2:1 ratio of corn starch to water for the thickener bis a bit strange (seems high) as it clumped up immediately, so I ended up scooping alot of the chunks of cornstarch out. It still thickened up nicely and I got a good coating on the fried chicken slices.
I also substituted 1/2 finely chopped habanero pepper for the dried peppers. It gave it a nice spicy after-glow as we ate. Nothing too intense.
All in all a good recipe. I’ve been trying to cut back on red meat, so this worked out great. Will definitely make it again….
Hi George, when it comes to using cornstarch slurry, we should be more mindful of reminding everyone not to pour it all in at once. Small variations in measurements, stove heat levels, cooking time, and ingredients make it nearly impossible to exactly predict the amount of slurry needed even in our most well-tested recipes. We try to make it more concentrated, so always drizzle it in slowly while stirring and use about half of the slurry first to see how much it thickens in the first 15 seconds. Then continue to add only of you meed more ;-). For more tips on cornstarch slurry, see our post on How to use cornstarch in Chinese cooking. Happy wokking!
I had the same problem as George on the 2:1 ratio. The issue is not about pouring it into the final dish — this is what 2Tbsp of cornstarch with 1Tbsp of water looks like: https://i.imgur.com/nHdoZwLl.jpg
It was never gonna be pourable in that state.
Hi meng, that looks like a whole lot more than 2 tablespoons of cornstarch!
I don’t know what to say — I’m using a measuring tablespoon and not just eyeballing. Can you give a gram weight for how much you’re using?
I’m getting 17-18g, using the same amount as pictured above: https://i.imgur.com/JnZeg4Hl.jpg
2:1 is just not becoming liquid for me.
Hi Meng, a 2:1 ratio (in volume) of cornstarch to water should give you a thick slurry.
I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong — is my cornstarch too compacted? Took video of how I’m measuring:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHe5yZDhWt4
Bill, did you see my video in the comments below? I’m genuinely curious where I’m messing up my measurement.
Hi Meng, sometimes I recommend using a 1 to 1 ratio of cornstarch to water. I just think for this recipe, I wanted a slightly strong thickener without adding more water. I would say just add a little bit more water until the slurry is more of a slurry than a paste.
that’s definitely not 2 tbsp… maybe 2 cups
Here’s how I’m measuring the 2T: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHe5yZDhWt4