Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef - The Recipe Critic (2024)

FAQs

Why is Mongolian beef so tender? ›

The science behind using baking soda to marinate Mongolian Beef: The alkalinity of baking soda raises the pH of the meat, causing the proteins to move further apart, and that makes it more tender and easier for us to chew or bite into.

Our recipe for Mongolian beef sauce includes oyster sauce, soy sauce, tamari soy sauce (as a replacement for dark soy sauce), chili sauce, sugar, and cooking wine. Check the ingredient list to see precise amounts. Don't forget that you can scale the recipe up and down!

If you are looking for an alternative to flank steak, the best would probably be skirt steak. Typically flank steak is more expensive, but skirt steak is very similar in texture and flavor. Feel free to add some broccoli to the slow cooker for a dish that tastes like P.F.

You will be addicted to this Crockpot Skirt Steak. The flavors are unreal and it takes 2 minutes to prep — pretty much guaranteed to enter into your dinner rotation. You can swap the skirt steak for flank steak & use the same seasoning, also delicious.

While there are several ways to velvet, a pound of meat needs about two teaspoons of cornstarch and two teaspoons of oil, says Leung. You may also include two to three tablespoons of water. For beef, add a 1/4-teaspoon of baking soda for tenderizing. Additional seasonings are optional and vary from recipe to recipe.

Velvet the beef: The velveting technique involves tenderizing, marinating, and a quick searing of the meat. To tenderize: Sprinkle with baking soda (the secret Chinese meat tenderizer). To marinate (a quick marinade): Add basic beef marinade and mix to coat evenly. Let marinate for 15 minutes or up to overnight.

It gives the Mongolian beef its signature glossy, thick sauce. If you can't find cornstarch, use flour instead, but it may not provide the same clear, glossy finish. Soy sauce: This gives the dish its savory, umami flavor.

Szechuan Beef vs Mongolian Beef

Szechuan Beef has a sweet and spicy flavor with added chili peppers and Szechuan peppercorns. The Szechuan peppercorns has a distinctive tingly numbing sensation when eaten. Mongolian beef has a mild and much simpler taste, making it a kids' favorite, outside of broccoli beef.

7-Bone Chuck Roast

Identified by the 7-shaped bone it contains. Rich and flavorful, it's ideal for the slow-cooker.

What is a good substitute for flank steak in Mongolian beef? ›

The best meat to use instead of flank steak is skirt steak, flat iron steak, flap (sirloin tip) steak, tri-tip steak, and hanger steak (in that order). Each has its differences, but all do well being marinated and cooked over high heat, like flank steak.

Slow cookers are specially designed to cook food for long periods of time, but yes, you can still overcook in a slow cooker if something is left on the wrong setting for longer than it's supposed to be.

Do you add water when cooking meat in a slow cooker? If your slow cooker is 3/4 full, no extra liquid is required. However, if you're cooking a smaller amount of food, add 1-2cm of liquid in the bottom of the slow cooker bowl to ensure there's enough liquid for cooking.

Tenderloin Steak

The most tender of all cuts of beef, tenderloin steaks are lean and known for their delicate, butter-like texture and thick cut.

Mongolian Beef can be described as having a savory soy-based sauce with scallions as its main aromatic. Szechuan Beef has a similar soy sauce-based profile but with the addition of a spicy element, such as fresh or dried chilis and/or Sichuan peppercorns for a numbing sensation.

Therefore, Mongolia pastureland grass-feed animals' meat is considered organic because it contains low heavy metals compared to the other farm-breed animal meat. Instead, Mongolian meat contains a higher amount of essentials metals such as iron and zinc. Moreover, it is rich in protein.

Tenderness, or toughness, is affected by the purpose of the muscles that produce the meat cut. The goal for many of these muscles is to contract so that an animal can move. We can expect muscles that are more involved in animal movements to be more tough than muscles that simply support the animal.