Mongolian Beef and Veggies :: Soy Free, Gluten Free, and Naturally Sweetened!

Enjoy Mongolian beef stir fry, loaded with veggies and without the soy, gluten, and processed sugar!

A little walk down memory lane…

So I was driving in Grand Rapids not to long ago, near a spot that I haven’t been by in a very long time. I noticed that a restaurant that my now husband and I used to go to as a very rare, broke college kid date night, and was so sad to see it gone! Mongolian Bar-B-Que…locals do you remember it?! I know, I know, it is probably the furthest thing from traditional or authentic Mongolian meals, but the all you can eat, make your own stir fry bowls to two starving college kids in love was seriously heaven. I remember thinking it was *the* best food in the world. Pretty much anything tastes amazing when you don’t know how to cook and are just starting out, eh?!

A little Mongolian re-make!

My girls were in the van as we drove by, and I told them about our memories there. I decided to try to re-make what I remembered being my favorite flavors there, and this Mongolian beef was born. I was probably so starved of nutrients back then, because I remember craving that beef stir fry like it was air!

The brown sugar dilemma

Most Mongolian beef recipes that you find use brown sugar as the main sweetener for the sauce. While I’m all about using (organic) sugar in moderation with baking and special times, I want to be able to have Mongolian beef on my menu rotation way more frequently than that! Did you know that brown sugar is just sugar and molasses mixed together?! Yep, whenever I need brown sugar for a cookie recipe, it’s just 1 cup of sugar to 1 tablespoon of molasses and you’ve got that warm sweetness in seconds! In the Mongolian beef sauce recipe here, I chose to use real honey and molasses, and the result is out of this world! You’ll never miss the processed sugar!

Let’s talk about the starches

I absolutely love using potato starch for anything that I want to get crispy. I use it to dredge the steak in this recipe because it works so well to give the texture you want in a Mongolian beef stir fry. Corn starch, tapioca, or arrowroot will work, but I just really love the result with potato starch. I use tapioca in the sauce recipe, because I prefer how that thickens sauces. The potato starch would work here as well, but again, I just prefer the texture result with the tapioca.

Heat preferences

If you have little ones at home, be sure to stick to more of the “pinch” of red pepper flakes versus going all out on the ½ tsp. While I love me some heat, some little kids aren’t quite there yet! I do have one that loves some heat, but because of one of my other girls, I tend to keep any heat to minimum. You can add a pinch or two of cayenne or red pepper flakes your individual plate if you would like some extra heat.

Serving ideas!

We are definitely team white rice here, but there are so many other options for serving your Mongolian beef! If you prefer brown rice go for it! If you are in a season of needing to avoid grains, I adore this sauce, beef, and veggie combo on top of a baked potato or sweet potato. It is fantastic just plain as well. You can beef up the veggies a bit more by adding shredded cabbage (my favorite), or more of the veggies already listed.

Print Recipe

Mongolian Beef and Veggies :: Soy Free, Gluten Free, and Naturally Sweetened!

Author: Renee Kohley – Raising Generation Nourished

Ingredients

FOR THE SAUCE:

• ½ cup coconut aminos
• 4 cloves of garlic minced
• 2 tbsp raw honey
• 3 tsp molasses
• 2 tsp tapioca starch
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• Pinch to ½ tsp red pepper flakes depending on your heat prefrence

FOR THE STIR FRY:

• 4 tbsp ghee for cooking in, divided (butter, olive oil, tallow/lard, or avocado oil would work too)
• 1 lb grassfed skirt/flank steak or round steak cut into thin strips
• 2 tbsp potato starch
• 1 small onion cut into strips
• 1 red bell pepper cut into strips
• 1 yellow bell pepper cut into strips
• 1 head of broccoli florets cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 handful sugar peas
• 1 recipe of the above sauce

Instructions

• Whisk the sauce ingredients together in a bowl, and set aside for later.
• Put 2 tablespoons of ghee in a large skillet over medium-high heat. While your skillet warms up, pat dry your strips of steak and then toss them with 2 tablespoons of potato starch. Place the coated steak into the hot ghee and cook until browned and almost crispy. This takes about 5 minutes. Take the steak out of the pan and set aside for later.
• In the same skillet, warm another 2 tablespoons of ghee over medium heat, and add the onion, peppers, broccoli, and sugar peas from above. Cook the veggies over medium heat for a few minutes, until bright in color and still bite tender.
• Add the cooked beef and the sauce into the skillet with the veggies, and simmer until the sauce thickens and the veggies are cooked to your liking, about 5 minutes or so. The sauce is plenty seasoned, but you can season to your taste if you wish.

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