Mongolian Ground Beef
This Mongolian ground beef is a flavorful and cost-effective alternative to the classic. It’s a healthier soy-free alternative that’s paleo, whole30, and AIP friendly.
Mongolian beef is made with steak (usually flank steak) that is coated in a starch (like corn starch or arrowroot) to make it crispy and then combined with a soy sauce-based sauce and green onions. It’s a flavorful and hearty dish that tastes great with rice and veggies!
However, I don’t have Mongolian Beef as often because of the expensive steak cuts that are used. I always have the much cheaper and easier to work with ground beef on hand and decided to modify this recipe to be made with ground beef.
It’s cheaper, it’s easier, and it’s just as yummy! This recipe is a healthier alternative made paleo, gluten-free, soy-free, whole30, and AIP.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- It’s flavor-packed! It has all of the flavors you love about Mongolian beef!
- It’s cost-effective. Ground beef is a cheaper alternative to steak, making this a much more cost-effective meal.
The Ingredients You’ll Need
- Ground beef. To make this Mongolian beef cheaper and easier for a weeknight meal!
- Coconut aminos. This a soy-free alternative to soy sauce. If you can tolerate other alternatives, those will also work.
- Broth . You can use a broth of your choice, but I think chicken broth works best.
- Arrowroot starch. This a grain-free thickener that helps to thicken the sauce. I haven’t tried tapioca starch as it’s a bit gummier, but I do prefer arrowroot for sauces.
- Green onions, ginger and garlic. These add tons of flavor to the dish and I recommend using fresh ingredients rather than dried.
How to make Mongolian Ground Beef
- Cook the ground beef. Brown the ground beef on medium heat, adding salt and pepper. Once the beef is browned, set aside, leaving about 2 tbsp of fat in the pan.
- Prep and cook the sauce. Whisk together the coconut aminos, broth, apple cider vinegar, coconut sugar, and arrowroot starch. Set aside. Using the same pan, bring the heat to low-medium heat and add the garlic and ginger to the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until fragrant. Pour the sauce into the pan and stir. Allow to heat and thick for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the ground beef back to the pan and stir well to coat with the sauce. Add the green onions and cook for 2-3 minutes or until softened.
Tips & Tricks
- Add more broth to thin out the sauce. This sauce winds up being thick like traditional Mongolian beef. If you prefer a thinner sauce, add a bit more beef broth.
What to serve with Mongolian Beef
- Roasted bok choy. I love adding bok choy as a veggie compliment to a myriad of Asian dishes.
- Cauliflower rice (or rice if tolerated)
- Stir-fried vegetables. I like having stir-fried vegetables like these with recipes like this.
You’ll also love…
PrintMongolian Ground Beef
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
This Mongolian ground beef is a flavorful and cost-effective alternative to the classic. It’s a healthier soy-free alternative that’s paleo, whole30, and AIP friendly.
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper (omit for AIP)
- 1/3 cup coconut aminos
- 1/4 cup broth
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp coconut sugar (omit for whole30)
- 1 tbsp + 1 tsp arrowroot starch
- 1 thumb ginger, grated
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 green onions, sliced into 1” slices
Instructions
- Using a large skillet, brown the ground beef on medium heat, adding salt and pepper. Once the beef is browned, set aside, leaving about 2 tbsp of fat in the pan.
- In a seperate bowl, whisk together the coconut aminos, broth, apple cider vinegar, coconut sugar, and arrowroot starch. Set aside.
- Using the same pan, bring the heat to low-medium heat and add the garlic and ginger to the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until fragrant.
- Pour the sauce into the pan and stir. Allow to heat and thick for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the ground beef back to the pan and stir well to coat with the sauce. Add the green onions and cook for 2-3 minutes or until softened.
- Serve fresh over cauliflower rice or with vegetables of your choice.
Notes
All nutritional information are estimations and will vary. Nutritional information does not include optional ingredients.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 15
- Category: Main Dishes
- Method: One Pot
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 166
- Fat: 3.6g
- Carbohydrates: 4.9g
- Fiber: 0.4g
- Protein: 27.3g
This recipe was originally published is 2019 and updated in 2023. Photos by Modern Food Stories.
So tasty and a quick weeknight meal! Definitely making this again!
★★★★★
Thank you so much, Nicole!
Delicious and quick to make! I added some steamed broccoli and it was a perfect meal.
★★★★★
Thank you so so much, Emily!! So glad you liked it 🙂
Really good! It was slightly salty for my taste buds so I might omit the salt part since aminos has sodium already in it.
★★★★
So good!! Mixed this with some cauliflower rice and it was amazing! This will be a regular in our house from now on.
★★★★★
I am not a huge ginger fan. The stir fry recipe was too strong for my personal preference for ginger. Is this very gingery? I’m not sure if Mongolian beef is basically a “ginger” dish. If it isn’t based on the ginger, what amount would you recommend to lesson the overall ginger taste without ruining dish? Thank you!
Loved this! I have added in grains for my pregnancy so I had it over white rice with roasted broccoli.
Thanks for another good one!
★★★★★
It was Super easy to Make, The Taste Was Good as Well.
However my Family isn’t a Fan Of Salty Foods and This Dish is SALTY , I even cut out the salt that was Supposed to be added but the salt from the Coconut Aminos was Just To Much.
Next Time I Make this Im going to try half Coconut Aminos and Half Water. Hopefully that will Cut the Salt.
★★★
Super easy, quick and delicious! This will be in my meal prep often!
★★★★★
This was delicious! Thank you for the recipe 🙂
Our new weeknight favourite!! Soooo delicious, and easy to make!!
★★★★★
Love, love, this one. Quick and easy, yet full of flavor. The boyfriend was crazy about it. Will be making again and again and again……
★★★★★
This is really good and easy to make. I made it tonight with ground bison and added onions and mushrooms. I meant to cook broccoli with it, but forgot.
★★★★★
This is fabulous paired with riced broccoli! I love how flavorful it is, and it’s so easy to make.
★★★★★
Thank you so much, Jess!!
This may just be my new favorite dish!! Not only is it supremely delicious, but super easy!! When I first started my AIP transition I literally cried every day. It seemed an insurmountable battle to drop all of those foods from my diet. I dropped weight so fast it scared me, then I found Michelle’s website, ordered her AIP comfort food cookbook, and it saved my life (and my taste buds). I have cooked probably 85% of her recipes and they are just delicious. This one takes the cake, though. I think I will make this once a week. We enjoyed it with cauliflower rice and broccoli. Sadly, there were no leftovers as my husband devoured what was left when he got home. Only down side. 🙂
★★★★★
Love this! I usually add broccoli to pump it up a little, so good. Does this freeze well?
I haven’t tried to freeze it, but let me know if you do!
So yummy! We will definitely be making this again. Eating with rice tonight – perfect for our reintroduction of non-gluten grains from Whole30.
★★★★★
This is an AMAZING recipe!!!! I cook a lot and love to cook! This recipe is so quick, healthy and full of flavor!!!! Served mine with sautéed cabbage and mushrooms!!! I’m sure it would be even more amazing over rice…but sadly can’t eat that right now!!! Try this ASAP!!!!
★★★★★
Amazingly good and easy to make!! Thank you so much for this excellent recipe!
★★★★★
We had this for supper tonight with cauli-rice and stir fried veggies. It was delicious and I will certainly make it again. I did add more broth than the recipe called for but that just gave us more sauce to pour over the cauli-rice and veggies. Thanks for the great recipe!
★★★★★
I made this for mu family a few days ago and am now going to add it to my rotation…it is that good!! I used the cauliflower base as suggested and my wife who doesn’t like cauliflower at all, said that it wasn’t that bad. Win/win!! Next time though I am going to add some red pepper flakes for some heat. Thank you, I look forward to trying some of your other recipes!
★★★★★
Delicious, will make again. Thank you so much. Added a little crushed red pepper for heat.
★★★★★
I loved this recipe. I accidentally used 1 TB instead of 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar and it still tasted great. Thanks for continuing to provide good recipes.
★★★★★
This was delicious but omg the salt! I’m glad I didn’t add the sea salt otherwise it would’ve been inedible. Next time I’ll try it with water instead of broth and less coconut aminos. I mixed it with basmati rice and broccoli.
★★★★
I didn’t have coconut sugar and used honey. I had lean meat so I used coconut oil for the reserved hamburger oil. One of those make the sauce very gooey. I’ll use regular sugar next time. Otherwise, I loved the flavor.
★★★★★
Thank you for a delicious AIP recipe! I am new to this, and am already over the meat and veggies for every meal. This makes me look forward to lunch even more!
★★★★★
Thank you so much, Kari!! So glad you like it!!
OMG This was so easy to whip up and the flavor was amazing! I will be making this often.
★★★★★
So glad you liked this recipe!!
This was delicious! The flavor was perfect.
★★★★★
Loved this recipe for a quick and easy weeknight meal! The flavor is amazing and me and my husband both loved it. I know I will be making this again and again. We served it over cauliflower rice and a side of air fried green beans. This is soooo yummy!
★★★★★
I’m making this again tonight, made it a few months back and it was SO delicious! Subbed the coconut aminos for gluten free tamari (less salt) as my coconut aminos bottle had only a few drops left in it!! It’s a hit with all 3 of my kids, so that’s a win for me! Delicious and saucy, so amazing!!
★★★★★
A hit with the family. Nice to have an easy meal thats AIP friendly and enjoyed by all. Keep them coming! 🙂
★★★★★
So glad your family enjoyed!
This was delicious and very easy. My husband said “THIS is paleo?!” When he took his first bite, he loved it. I served over cauliflower rice and added some stir fried bell peppers to the beef.
★★★★★
YUM! So glad you enjoyed!!
This is such a great recipe! Super simple for week nights but not skimping on flavor. We added bokchoy and served over rice. We’ll definitely be making this one again
★★★★★
It was good! I omitted the coconut sugar, I think next time I’ll add some veggies in!
So glad you enjoyed it! I love adding stir fried vegetables in!
Hi! This looks so good, but it is not Whole30 since there is coconut sugar in it. Has anyone made it without?
Yup, it says omit for whole30 🙂 You can make it without it and it’ll still taste great.
The flavor is good, but the texture is too gooey. Every time I use Arrow Root this happens. Ugh.
You can add 2 tbsp of broth or so the thin out the texture!
Nice and easy to make
★★★★
We’ve made this recipe multiple times now. Always a hit with kids and adults alike. We love it!
★★★★★
So glad!!
Could I use allulose instead of coconut sugar?
I’m not familiar enough with cooking with allulose to know whether this would work well.
Love this recipe! It’s one of the best AIP recipes I’ve come across. Versatile in that you can add mushrooms or broccoli. Make it your own. I also prefer coconut secret brand aminos to the others. Thank you!
★★★★★
Thank you! So glad you love it!
Only one I made change was to reduce salt to 1/2 tsp.
★★★★★
Thank you!!
I want to thank you for this recipe!!!. My diet is basically AIP most of the time. This is because of health issues. One of the problems is that i cannot chew meat unless ground and in little pieces. Not being a good cook (although I am quite talented in burning my food- ha ha), it never occurred to me that I could use ground beef instead! And this whole recipe is safe allergy/reaction-wise for me. THANK you – I don’t eat much now because I have only one choice, no imagination, and just don’t much like to cook. (no dairy, soy, gluten, legumes, nightshade, etc. and no crunchy stuff like salad, granola or soft or liquid (eg smoothie) on an empty stomach. Not wanting sympathy – I just want you to know how helpful your info is to some of us!!! THANK YOU, Thank you!!
So glad you are enjoying this recipe!!
just wrote a review to thank you, Michele and did not do the star’s
★★★★★
So good and easy. The sauce is so flavorful. Its definitely going into our rotation now.
★★★★★
yay, so glad!!
WOWOWOW!! That’s literally what I’ve been saying after every bite of this I’ve been trying to teach myself more healthy recipes and this is the first one of yours I’ve tried! Super easy and super DELISH! I paired it with cauli rice and I cannot get over how yummy this meal is. Thank you so much! 🙂
★★★★★
Thank you!!