My vegan Mongolian "beef" is pan-fried to a crisp, then drenched in a mouthwatering sweet and savory sauce! This scrumptious vegan dinner is better than takeout, and nearly as easy.
Chinese takeout is usually a weekend thing in my house. But I do get the occasional craving for one of my favorite vegan Chinese dishes during the week. That's why I love creating homemade versions of those dishes, but there's a catch: they have to be really, really easy to make. Like, almost as easy as placing an order on my phone. Dishes like my vegan orange tofu, vegan beef and broccoli, and vegan Singapore noodles. This vegan Mongolian beef though...it might just be the easiest AND the most delicious.
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The method for making this one is super simple, as you'll see below. Basically, you'll be throwing together an easy sauce with just a handful of ingredients you probably have on hand. Dredge some seitan in cornstarch, then pan-fry it, along with some garlic, ginger, and chilies. Add the sauce, simmer briefly, and voila — you've got an amazingly delicious dinner that's better than anything you could ever get delivered. And you made it yourself!
Let's talk about how it's done.
Ingredients You'll Need
Below you'll find a list of ingredients in this recipe, with notes and substitutions. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the post to see the full recipe, including the amount of each ingredient.
- Water.
- Cornstarch.
- Soy sauce. Tamari or liquid aminos can be substituted, if needed.
- Brown sugar. Use organic brown sugar to keep the dish vegan, as non-organic sugar is often processed using animal bone char. Coconut sugar works great as a substitute for brown sugar, if you need one. Plain old organic white sugar will even work in a pinch.
- Seitan. You can use store-bought or homemade seitan — it's totally up to you!
- Vegetable oil. Just about any high-heat neutral oil will work. You can use peanut oil, canola oil, or corn oil, among other varieties.
- Garlic.
- Ginger.
- Dried chile peppers. These are optional. Just use them if you'd like your vegan Mongolian beef to be a bit spicy. If your grocery store has a well-stocked international aisle, you can find them there. Otherwise, try an Asian market. If you'd like to add some heat without going out of your way to get the peppers, just add some crushed red pepper flakes, sriracha sauce, or sambal oelek.
- Scallions.
- Rice or rice noodles.
How It's Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Step 1: Make the sauce. First combine the cornstarch and cold water. Cornstarch dissolves best in cold liquids! Next, add the soy sauce and brown sugar.
Step 2: Dredge your seitan in cornstarch. First place the cornstarch in a small bowl, then add your seitan strips, and gently stir to coat them.
Step 3: Now heat your oil in a large skillet and add your seitan strips. Cook them for a few minutes, flip them, then cook them a few minutes longer, until they're crispy all over. Take them out of the skillet and put them on a plate.
Step 4: Add minced garlic, grated ginger, and dried chile peppers to the skillet. Cook the aromatics for a minute. Make sure to stir constantly and don't let anything burn.
Step 5: Add the seitan back into the skillet, then carefully pour the sauce over it. Stir, then cook everything briefly, just to thicken up the sauce, which should happen pretty quickly after it starts simmering.
Step 6: Stir in the scallions, then quickly take the skillet off of heat. Your vegan Mongolian beef is done!
Serve the dish with rice or scallions. Enjoy it right away. It's so good!
Leftovers & Storage
Vegan Mongolian beef is best served immediately after it's cooked. It doesn't stay very crispy in the fridge, but it still tastes good! If you do have leftovers, place them in an airtight container and they'll keep in the fridge for about three days. This dish is best reheated in the microwave.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Seitan is almost all gluten, so you'll need to use an alternative. I've heard from several readers who had luck using Butler Soy Curls, although I haven't tried this myself. You'll also need to swap out the soy sauce with gluten-free tamari.
You'll either need a very large skillet to accommodate all of the seitan, or you'll need to cook it in batches. Aside from that, just double the ingredients and you'll be set!
You can! Just cook the tofu according to my fried tofu recipe, but consider omitting the salt, as the soy sauce in this recipe supplies plenty of it.
Try using a low sodium soy sauce, or simply reduce the amount of soy sauce by up to half.
More Vegan Chinese Recipes
Like this recipe? If so, please stop back and leave me a review and rating below if you try it! Also be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, or subscribe to my newsletter for more recipes like this one!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Mongolian Beef
Ingredients
For the Sauce
- ¼ cup cold water
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons organic brown sugar
For the Stir-Fry
- 1 (8 ounce/226 gram) package seitan strips
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
- 3 or 4 dried chile peppers, halved (optional) Note 1
- 2 scallions, cut into 1 inch pieces
For Serving
- Cooked rice or rice noodles
Instructions
- To make the sauce, first stir the cold water and cornstarch together in a small bowl, until the cornstarch completely dissolves. Stir in the soy sauce and brown sugar. Set this aside for now.
- Place the cornstarch into a medium bowl and add the seitan strips. Stir gently to dredge the seitan in the cornstarch.
- Coat the bottom of a large skillet with the oil and place it over medium-high heat. Add the seitan in as even a layer as possible. Cook the seitan strips until they're browned and crisp on the bottom, about 4 to 5 minutes. Flip and cook them another 4 to 5 minutes more, until the strips are crispy on opposite sides. Remove the seitan from the skillet and transfer it to a plate.
- Lower the heat to medium. Add the garlic, ginger, and dried chilies, if using, to the skillet. Cook everything for about 1 minute, stirring constantly, until very fragrant and the chilies begin to darken a bit.
- Return the seitan to the skillet, then pour the sauce over it. Stir everything well and cook the seitan in the sauce for 1 to 2 minutes, until the sauce has thickened slightly and coats the seitan strips.
- Add the scallions to the skillet and stir everything up, then remove the skillet from heat.
- Divide the seitan onto plates and serve with rice or noodles.
Notes
- You can shake the seeds out of your peppers to reduce the amount of heat they add to the dish, if you'd like.
- Nutrition information does not include noodles or rice.
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Hi,
usually when finding recipes on the web I end up modifying them because one aspect of it or another doesn't really suit me. Not this time: the end result was absolutely awesome and tasty, and looked exactly like in your picture. Thanks a lot ! did it using some homemade seitan, itself made using red wine in the cooking broth, which also turned out awesome.
Would soy curls work instead of seitan?
They should! I'd love to hear how it turns out if you try!
I want to try this with soy curls from butlerfoods.com
Just add some kitchen bouquet browning sauce or a tablespoon of blackstrap molasses for the beef color.
I think that would work great!
I made this for dinner this week and it was very good! So good that when I went to eat the leftover it was already eaten ! THAT is a true measure of yummy!!
Thank you for a delicious vegan meal. BTW I made it with some homemade seitan.
I appreciate your effort
I made this for dinner this week and it was very good! So good that when I went to eat the leftover it was already eaten ! THAT is a true measure of yummy!!
Thank you for a delicious vegan meal. BTW I made it with some homemade seitan.
Awesome recipe! I made it with soy curls. Came out perfect! Keep the recipes coming! Thanks!
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it! I will absolutely keep them coming!
I am 79 and just starting to try vegan recipes and wonder if tempah can be substituted for saitan
I've used tempeh in similar recipes with great results, so I think so! Enjoy!
Is the nutritional information based on 2 or 3 servings?
Two. :)
Made this tonight and the flavours were good. I skipped putting in the cornflour as there was enough cornflour residue on the seitan after drying to thicken the sauce already. Thanks
Glad you liked it! Thank Pauline!
In a pinch, I used soy curls and doubled the recipe.
My carni husband loved it.
Glad it was a hit! I've been loving soy curls lately and meaning to try this recipe with them myself. :)
Do I have to do anything differently if using tofu instead of seitan?
Not much! I'd just make sure to press the tofu first, dice it and then cook it for a few minutes on each side. Enjoy!
I literally just finished preparing this and it was absolutely delicious - thank you so much
Very welcome!! I'm so glad you like it!
Alissa, this was spectacular!! The only changes I made was adding a little amount of sugar free rice vinegar to the sauce and I use brown rice syrup in place of the sugar...I love your recipes, very creative and delicious!! I also used the same seitan as you, the West Soy seitan strips..
DELICIOUS< thank you so much!!
Yay! Thanks so much Janice! I'm glad you liked it!!
Did this today and it was delicious! I had to replace the cornstarch by 2 tbp. of tapioca flour to thicken the sauce and used just flour to toss the seitan -I wasn't sure if the tapioca here would had been a good replacement-. Also, I switched the dried chillies by some grains of sezchuan dried pepper: it gave it a lot of flavor!
Thanks Alissa for the recipe!
Thanks so much Laura! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
I made a double portion a nd wish I'd made more! Absolutely scrumptious! Even the 2 year old liked it!
Yay!! I'm glad it was a hit!
Thanks for this yummy-looking recipe! I'm going to try it this week with soy curls.
I'd love to hear how it works out!
I can't wait to try this recipe! Is there a brand of seitan you would recomend if going the store bought route?
I usually use WestSoy because that's what my supermarket carries. It's good, so go with that if you can find it!
Really good!
I'm glad you think so!! Thanks Mel!
I may have missed something. What liquid am I draining the seitan from?
Have you bought seitan before? Most brands are packed in broth - that's what you'll drain. :)
This is the best damn Chinese food I’ve ever made... let alone vegan Chinese. Subbed broccoli (zomg) and thee some siraccha in because I didn’t have the peppers. Glorious. You are my hero.
Yay!! Broccoli sound like it would be perfect with this! Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks Karen!
As stated, better than takeout. Quick and easy. First time with seitan and we loved it. Great dinner.
Awesome!! Glad it was a hit!
I made the homemade seitan from the recipe you provided. I've never had store bought.. My question is if I should create seitan strips and cook them before I batter them and then recook them? Or will I just batter it as is then fry it? I personally don't like taste of seitan alone and have a hard time eating it if it's not heavily seasoned and cooked really well and crispy. So I'm wondering if I don't cook, then batter, then cook if it will taste too much like dough and have a dough texture? I hope that makes sense. Thanks!
Hi Andrea! With my homemade seitan method you'd proceed until step 4 of simmering the gluten in broth. After that's complete you can cut the seitan into strips and proceed with dreding the seitan strips in cornstarch and frying according to this recipe. Does that answer your question? Let me know if it doesn't - happy to help!
I’m excited to try this recipe but I was also hoping to be able to make it and take for lunches. It says “serve immediately”. What happens if I don’t serve it immediately? I assume it won’t be ask crispy but I have never used seitan before. Is that the only issue?
Yup, that's the only issue! It can get a little soggy when it sits in the sauce - pretty much the same as any Chinese takeout dish that's fried and in sauce. It might help if you cook and store the seitan and sauce separately.
Hi! I love your recipe! Before I clicked a link on this page "make your own sietan", and now I cannot find it... I NEED that recipe, it was perfect! Can you please help me find it? Thank you!
I'm glad you like it! It's here: https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/how-to-make-seitan/
Nice recipe but I recommend skipping the cornstarch as it will make the sauce gelatinous and gross. Thickening is not really necessary for this recipe, but if absolutely necessary you can add a bit of flour to the sauce and then cook it long enough to get rid of the raw flour taste.
Thank you!
Did you try the recipe and it turned that way?
Alissa, I loved every bite of the meal. It was my FIRST seitan attempt (homemade seitan) and your recipe did not disappoint. I added asparagus to the meal and found it to be a nice healthy addition. I also used 1/2 brown rice and 1/2 sauted cauliflower rice.
Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!!
Hands down 1 of the easiest and the most delicious recipes I've tried on Pinterest. This was my first time using seitan and I'm so pleased. My only wish was that there was a bit more sauce to coat the rice noodles but this was so incredibly yummy. My kids were obsessed!!
Yay! I'm so glad to hear it was a hit! Thanks Jenesse!!
Oh, I look forward to trying it. One question: is it ok if I don't use the cornstarch?
You can leave it out, but the recipe will be a bit different. The cornstarch forms a crispy coating on the seitan, so you won't get that, and it helps thicken the sauce. You could also try subbing another thickener like flour or arrowroot.
This does look tasty but i am wondering about the lack of vegetables in it. It looks like it's screaming for broccoli and red pepper. I can't wait to try it.
Loved,loved, loved this recipe! I don't like when people try and change the recipe so I hope it doesn't sound like I'm changing this recipe. I'm gonna cook this again and double the sauce and add steamed broccoli. Just thought it sounded like a nice addition.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! And I totally encourage you to change it (or any of my recipes) to suit your tastes. I've been meaning to make this again with some broccoli myself. :)
It was delicious
Oh. My. Lawd! This was delicious! The only seitan I ever tried was the chicken-style and I did not like it. But regular Seitan is a great substitute for beef and this recipe is spectacular. I doubled the recipe with the hope of having enough leftovers for another meal, but we ate so much of it I have a small portion left for my lunch, which I've put dibs on. Frankly, I'm a terrible cook but even I could pull this one off as it's so easy. Many many thanks!
Yay! I'm so glad to hear it! Seitan is totally hit or miss - I'm glad this was a hit for you. :)
Absolutely fantastic! Demolished it! Even teen angers ate it n didn't even know it wasn't meat. This will be a standby n we hv seitan in freezer
That's so awesome to hear! Glad everyone enjoyed it! Thanks Wendy!
Hello Ashley
I don't have cornstarch only arrowroot can i use this instead
Hi Chris! I'm not sure, as I haven't tried this with arrowroot, but I think it would work. http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/how-to-cook-with-arrowroot-powder/ an article that might have some helpful info on how to work arrowroot into this recipe.
I just whipped this up for lunch with some leftover seitan I had, & it was so good! Made extra sauce and put it over whole wheat spaghetti noodle as that was all I had. Delicious :)
Glad you liked it! Thanks so much Ashley!
This was an amazing recipe! It was a hit at my book club, and hardly anyone could tell that it was vegan. Thank you for this!
Yay! Glad to hear it! Thanks so much Gabrielle!
Thanks for the great recipe! So easy and delicious!
Glad to hear it! Thanks Jennie!
How does the cold water + cornstarch return to the recipe?
It goes in with the sauce - thanks for catching that!
This is just what I was craving. The flavors were perfect and I loved the seitan in it. Thank you so much!
Awesome! Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks Roxanne!!
This sounds delicious, I can't wait to try it. I do the same prep but then toss in a spicy BBQ sauce. It's really good, but this will be a great alternative. Thank you for sharing.
That sounds delicious! I hope you enjoy this!