Pan-fried to a crisp and drenched in a sweet, savory, sticky sauce, this vegan Mongolian beef is better than takeout, and just about as easy.
Sometimes, after a long weekend, it takes me a bit to get my bearings. After three days off I'm back to work and asking myself how I ever managed to get anything done. At all. Know the feeling?
Sometimes, during weeks like these, you just need some takeout. I actually cooked like crazy over the long weekend (and had fun doing it), but now, I just want something easy. Unfortunately, at the moment, there isn't a whole lot of vegan takeout in the immediate vicinity. Fortunately, this stuff is almost as easy as takeout. Also, it's extremely delicious, which is also definitely nice to have during a discombobulated post-holiday week.
I went with seitan for the vegan "beef" in this one. I'm always tempted to go with tofu, and I usually find that readers are more receptive to tofu recipes, but seitan makes such a wickedly amazing stand-in for beef that I just couldn't help myself for once. If you're not down with gluten or just really anti-seitan, pan-fry up some tofu instead. In fact, I've included a bunch of notes in the recipe for swapping out the seitan, sweetener, or avoiding the oil. While I totally stick behind the original recipe, I realize there's a lot going on that could conflict with the various diets of the peeps that visit this site, so switch things up as needed.
Vegan Mongolian Beef
Ingredients
For the Sauce
- 2 tbsp. soy sauce
- 2 tbsp. granulated sugar, turbinado, coconut or organic brown sugar all work
- ¼ cup water
- 2 tbsp. chilled water
- 1 tsp. cornstarch
For the Stir-Fry
- 1-8 oz. package seitan strips, or make your own
- 2 tbsp. cornstarch
- 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp. freshly grated ginger
- 2-3 dried chili peppers, halved (optional)
- 2 scallions, cut into 1 inch pieces
For Serving
- Cooked rice or rice noodles
Instructions
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Make the sauce by stirring soy sauce, sugar and ¼ cup of water or broth together in a small bowl. Stir cornstarch and chilled water together in a small cup. Set aside.
-
Drain the seitan and discard liquid. Place cornstarch into a medium bowl and add seitan strips. Toss to coat.
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Coat the bottom of a large skillet with oil and place over medium-high heat. Add seitan in as even a layer as possible. Cook until strips are browned and crisp on bottoms, about 4-5 minutes. Flip and cook 4-5 minutes more, until strips are crispy on opposite sides. Remove seitan from skillet and transfer to a paper-towel lined plate.
-
Lower heat to medium. Add garlic, ginger and dried chilies, if using, to skillet. Sauté 2 minutes, until very fragrant and chilies begin to darken a bit. Return seitan to skillet with sauce, cornstarch mixture and scallions. Flip a few times to coat, and cook just until sauce becomes very thick, about 2 minutes.
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Divide noodles or rice onto plates and top with seitan. Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
Options! Because I know this blog sees vegans that follow all kinds of eating patterns:br]If you avoid gluten, sub gluten-free tamari for the soy sauce, and some cubed pan-fried tofu cooked according to [this method.
If you want to reduce or cut down on the oil, you can do that, but I'd suggest skipping the cornstarch and simply pan-searing the seitan. If you're using no oil whatsoever, stir the garlic and ginger right into the sauce, so they don't burn.
Maple syrup or agave can be used in place of granulated sugar, though the flavor will be a bit milder and the sauce might not thicken up quite as much.
Nutrition information does not include noodles or rice.
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!
How does the cold water + cornstarch return to the recipe?
It goes in with the sauce - thanks for catching that!
Thanks for the great recipe! So easy and delicious!
Glad to hear it! Thanks Jennie!
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!
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!
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.
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!
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. :)
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
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.
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.
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!!
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!!
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!
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/
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.
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!
As stated, better than takeout. Quick and easy. First time with seitan and we loved it. Great dinner.
Awesome!! Glad it was a hit!
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!
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. :)
Really good!
I'm glad you think so!! Thanks Mel!
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!
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 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!
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!
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!!
I literally just finished preparing this and it was absolutely delicious - thank you so much
Very welcome!! I'm so glad you like it!
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!
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. :)
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!
Is the nutritional information based on 2 or 3 servings?
Two. :)
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!
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 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 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 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!
Would soy curls work instead of seitan?
They should! I'd love to hear how it turns out if you try!
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.