Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef
This slow cooker Mongolian beef is an easy and flavorful dinner option! It’s paleo, whole30, AIP and can be adapted for a simple freezer meal.
What is Mongolian beef?
Mongolian beef is a delicious and simple dish made with beef sliced thin that’s in a savory and thick sauce. It’s served with green onion and often a side of rice and vegetables.
Mongolian beef has been one of my absolute favorites during my pregnancy! It’s packed with protein, flavor, and is easy to make into a healthy, simple dish. I decided to adapt this recipe for the slow cooker to make it even more convenient during the postpartum period. It’s also paleo, whole30, and AIP compliant.
How to make Mongolian beef in the slow cooker
- Season the beef well and toss in arrowroot starch to thoroughly coat. Add to the bottom of the slow cooker along with the carrots.
- Combine the coconut aminos, broth, apple cider vinegar, and seasonings (reserving the green onion) and mix well.
- Pour the mixture into the slow cooker and stir well to coat.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 2-3 hours or low for 4 hours. Stir in the green onion at the end.
How to turn this into a freezer meal.
This recipe is part of freezer meal week here on the blog, which is inspired by my own postpartum freezer prep! Here’s all you have to do…
- Add all of the ingredients to a freezer bag.
- Freeze flat in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- When ready to cook, transfer to the fridge and place it in a large container (like a casserole dish or a large bowl in case it leaks at all) to defrost.
- Once the meat is totally thawed, cook as directed.
Here are a few safety things to note about freezer meals…
- Never refreeze previously frozen food.
- Always wait until the meat is totally thawed before putting it in the slow cooker.
Can you adapt this recipe for the instant pot? What about the stovetop?
I have not tried this particular recipe in the instant pot. If you’re going to be freezing it beforehand, it may be challenging to dump it in the instant pot and set it and forget it. However, if the instant pot and slow cooker aren’t your things, I do have a very similar recipe that can be made on the stovetop, here!
What can you serve as a side with this recipe?
- Cauliflower rice. Always a good
- Regular rice.
- Steamed or sauteed broccoli.
The Ingredients for This Recipe
Flank steak
I always think this is the best cut of beef for Mongolian beef. You can often buy this pre-sliced at the butchers counter, but it’s also very easy to slice at home.
Coconut aminos
This is a soy sauce substitute that is soy and gluten-free.
Shredded carrots
This is an optional ingredient, but it helps to add some veggies to the recipe!
You’ll also love…
PrintSlow Cooker Mongolian Beef
- Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb flank steak, sliced thin against the grain
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper (omit for AIP)
- 1 tbsp arrowroot starch
- 1/2 cup carrots, shredded
- 1/2 cup coconut aminos
- 1/2 cup beef broth (sub water)
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp coconut sugar (omit for whole30)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 thumb ginger, grated
- 3–4 green onions, sliced into 1” pieces
Instructions
- Season the beef well and toss in arrowroot starch to thoroughly coat. Add to the bottom of the slow cooker along with the carrots.
- Combine the coconut aminos, broth, apple cider vinegar, and seasonings (reserving the green onion) and mix well.
- Pour the mixture into the slow cooker and stir well to coat.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 2-3 hours or low for 4-5 hours.
- Stir in the green onion and allow to soften.
- Serve with cauliflower rice or steamed broccoli.
Notes
All nutritional information are estimations and will vary. Estimations do not include optional ingredients.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Category: Main Dishes
- Method: Slow Cooker
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 214
- Fat: 5.8g
- Carbohydrates: 14.2g
- Fiber: 0.6g
- Protein: 24.8g
AIP
Low Carb
Paleo
Whole30
Great recipe for the whole family!
Love the ease of this slow cooker version, all the flavor of the stovetop Mongolian beef without the splatter and mess! Making it again tonight 🙂
★★★★★
Thank you so much, Renea!! So happy it was a hit!
Bought the ingredients and am trying this tomorrow. We can’t find Arrowroot & can’t use corn or tapioca, can you let us know what the Arrowroot does to the beef? Could we use a gluten free flour? Also we never cooked flank steak, due to everyone saying it’s so tough, Is the meat tender when done? Thank you!
The arrowroot helps make the exterior crisp and thickens the sauce 🙂 I’m not sure if a GF flour would have the same texture. Flank steak will be tender if it’s sliced super thin like in this recipe.
Will
Cornstarch work just as well if I can’t get arrowroot… can you add broccoli if freezer meal or will it be mushy after crockpot
Cornstarch should work, but the amount will likely be different and it obviously won’t be grain free anymore. I’d recommend cooking the broccoli separately!
This looks great. I don’t do well with coconut sugar.. any recommendations on a substitute ?
The flavor was really good! I was testing this as a freezer meal and prepped everything in a Ziploc and then threw it in the Instant Pot on slow. The texture was wayyyy off. I might have sliced it too thin for a slow cooker though so more than likely my fault. The last hour I added fresh broccoli and had it with brown jasmine rice and it was delish! I’ll make it again but try slicing thicker.
★★★★
Thank you!!
I thought the flavor was excellent! I’m not sure what went wrong with the cooking time for me. It looks like I sliced it similarly to what’s pictured. I checked it after only 2 hours on low and it was already pretty overdone and falling apart (no longer in slices). Again, very tasty but I almost wish I had used the sauce with a ground beef or something since the steak was pricey! Any suggestion on what went wrong?
Huh sorry that happened, maybe it was sliced too thin? I haven’t had that happen personally so not sure!