Dinner doesn’t get any easier than this Keto Mongolian Beef. Simply add the ingredients to your slow cooker and let it do all the work! It’s as tasty as take-out and far healthier.
This Keto Mongolian Beef is one of my most popular keto slow cooker recipes. It’s what I like to call a “dump-and-run meal”, meaning you just dump in all the ingredients and walk away. A few hours later, dinner is done!
But it still has all the great flavor of the original, with a fraction of the carbs. My kids love this so we make it often. Served over cauliflower rice, it’s an easy and healthy dinner we can all enjoy.
Try my Keto Meatball Casserole for another family-friendly slow cooker recipe!
Why you will love this recipe
We can all use more easy keto dinner recipes, and it really doesn’t get any easier than Keto Mongolian Beef. It takes only about 10 minutes of active prep and then it practically cooks itself.
This recipe has all the classic umami flavor of your favorite takeout. It’s a little bit sweet and a little bit spicy, with plenty of sauce that soaks into any keto rice or noodles you pair it with.
I utilized my slow cooker for this dish to minimize the effort and the clean-up. Tougher cuts of meat like flank steak or skirt steak benefit from slow braising, and become melt-in-your-mouth tender.
But not everyone has a crockpot so I’ve also included instructions for both the Instant Pot and the stovetop.
Ingredients you need
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- Flank steak: Flank steak is a good choice for Mongolian beef, as it’s easy to slice thinly. You can also use top sirloin or skirt steak.
- Swerve Brown: I highly recommend a brown sugar replacement, as it gives this recipe a more authentic flavor. You can also use granular sweetener and 1 teaspoon of molasses.
- Allulose: You don’t have to add the allulose but it does help make the sauce a bit stickier, like traditional Mongolian beef.
- Tamari: I prefer tamari over coconut aminos, because it has more umami flavor and fewer carbs. It’s also better than soy sauce as it’s completely gluten-free.
- Sesame oil: Use toasted sesame oil for the best flavor.
- Garlic: Fresh minced garlic is best, but if you must substitute granulated garlic, use ¾ teaspoon.
- Ginger: I use ground ginger for simplicity, but you can also use a teaspoon of fresh grated ginger.
- Red pepper flakes: Add another ¼ teaspoon if you like more heat.
- Glucomannan: Traditional Mongolian beef takes cornstarch for a rich, thick sauce. A keto thickening agent, like glucomannan or xanthan gum, makes the sauce thicker without starch.
- Garnish: Green onion, sesame seeds, salt.
Step by Step Directions
1. Prep the beef: Slice the beef thinly against the grain. This is easier to do when the meat is partially frozen. You don’t want it rock hard, but it 30 to 45 minutes in the freezer is about right. Place the sliced beef at the bottom of a slow cooker.
2. Make the sauce: Whisk together the sweeteners, water, tamari, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes. Pour over the meat and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours.
3. Thicken the sauce: Remove some of the liquid into a bowl and add the glucomannan. Whisk to combined well, then pour back into the pot and stir to coat the beef.
4. Garnish and serve: Sprinkle the Keto Mongolian Beef with sliced green onion and some sesame seeds. Serve over cauliflower rice.
Expert Tips and FAQ
Instant Pot Directions: Use the sauté function to brown the beef in a little oil first. Don’t add any water to the sauce, as pressure cookers force moisture out of the meat and it may end up quite soupy. Then cook the beef on Manual High for 10 minutes, then thicken with glucomannan.
Stovetop Directions: Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add half the beef and sauté until nicely browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Repeat with more oil and the remaining beef.
Add the sauce to the pan and bring to a simmer. Push all the beef to one side and whisk in the glucomannan, then stir well to combine.
This Keto Mongolian Beef has 2 grams of carbs per serving. It is much lower in carbohydrate than the traditional version, which can easily have 15 to 25 grams per serving.
Mongolian beef is a sweet and slightly spicy dish. You can easily adjust the heat to your liking by adding more or less red pepper flakes.
The popular version of this dish from PF Chang’s contains a great deal of sugar. But this keto recipe has no added sugars and all the great flavor of the original!
More take-out copycat recipes
- Keto Korean Beef tops my list of easy dinner favorites. The meat is richly flavored and perfect with lightly sautéed zucchini noodles.
- Getting my whole family to agree on one dinner recipe is tough, but Easy Keto Chicken Fajitas works every time!
- This Keto Chicken Yakitori always meets with approval. One reader says: “I made this recipe for dinner tonight. Delicious! Even my non keto eating husband loved and gobbled it up.”
- Pizza night is back on with my delicious keto pizza dough. Add all your favorite toppings and dig in!
Keto Mongolian Beef Recipe
Equipment
- slow cooker (or Instant Pot)
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs flank or sirloin steak
- ⅓ cup Swerve Brown
- 2 tablespoon allulose (optional)
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup tamari or soy sauce (or coconut aminos)
- 2 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ tsp glucomannan powder (or ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum)
- 2 green onions, chopped
- Sesame seeds for sprinkling
Instructions
- Slice the beef very thinly against the grain. This works best when it is semi-frozen (but not rock solid). Place the beef in the bottom of a slow cooker.
- In a medium bowl or glass measuring up, whisk together the sweeteners, water, tamari, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes. Pour over the beef.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours, OR high for 2 to 3 hours.
- When the beef has finished cooking, spoon some of the broth out of the pot into a bowl. Whisk in the glucomannan powder until combined, then pour the broth back into the pot and stir to coat.
- Sprinkle the beef with the chopped green onions and some sesame seeds and serve over cauliflower rice.
Jessica says
Yum I love Mongolian chicken! Thank you so much!
Kristyn says
I love Mongolian Beef!! Love that the slow cooker does all the work! I’m adding this to the menu!
Heni's says
Great recipe! Short on time, so used Instant Pot. Followed recipe exactly, however, had only 1 lb of sirloin tip steak. 10 minutes in IP on high pressure, quick release. Place IP on saute, added a bit more xanthum gum (as I only had 1 lb of steak) until desired consistency. Carolyn, your website is my only go-to! Made the chocolate donuts just before this, spot on. Thank you for sharing your creations!
Carolyn says
Good to know about the IP version!
Diane says
Thank you for the IP instructions.
Amy W says
…and I forgot to add my thanks for another great recipe, Carolyn! This one’s a keeper.
Amy W says
I made this today and it was scrumptious! My favorite kind of recipe, because I had all the ingredients already, including the flank steak, which was in my freezer.
I thawed the flank steak overnight in the fridge, and this morning, it was just frozen enough to make slicing easy.
I did not know about more carbs in Coconut Aminos. I never replaced my Tamari when I used it up but I guess I will get some more.
I made it in a real Crock-Pot, and my meat clumped together in the bottom too..
All the discussion of sodium in coconut aminos and tamari was interesting – the only change I made to the recipe was add 1 tsp salt to it.
I had some mushrooms to use up, so I sautéed them in a little butter and then mixed them into the beef mixture. That worked very well.
Gabby says
I wonder, can this be made and then frozen? I like to have meals prepped and in the freezer for us to just take out as needed since we’re a family of night nurses who can’t always cook.
Carolyn says
I can’t see why not!
Betsy Stokes says
Thanks for another fun, easy, crowd-pleasing dinner recipe! We will try this one soon. I will be buying my meat fresh, so I suppose I’ll stick it in the freezer to firm it up a bit before slicing. Great tip!
Cheryl says
I want to try making this in an Instant Pot. Do you think that any adjustments need to be made?
Carolyn says
Yes, of course adjustments need to be made. I can’t guide you, though. This is a slow cooker recipe. You may try googling it.
Michelle Neill says
Thank you x 10. This is my favorite Chinese food And I have been trying to find a ketofied recipe.. And with the Instant Pot!!! You are my hero. Definitely putting this on the menu for this week. Yummy!!!
Michelle Neill says
I meant crock pot…I had Instant Pot on the brain! ????
Lauren says
You used the slow cooker function on your instant pot to make this. Any guess how long to set if you wanted to do this under pressure instead of low and slow?
Carolyn says
No but I am sure there are some similar recipes you could find to guide you.
Janet says
I can’t get the brown swerve. Plain swerve ok?
Carolyn says
Yes, it should be fine.
PDX Girl says
fThe tamarai I use has less soduim, I don’t use soy sauce. I like the tamaria best.
Erica B says
Sorry to bother again PDX Girl, but I’m curious what brand of tamari you use that’s so low in sodium. Mind sharing?
Cheryl P says
Carolyn, this looks delicious! I love Mongolian beef. Unfortunately, I have everything but the meat! ???? Delayed satisfaction. 🙂
SG says
What do you think of soy sauce for people with thyroid issues? I love the stuff but try to avoid any soy. I also don’t like the carb count in coconut aminos.
This recipe looks incredible! Can you do a General Tso’s recipe too sometime? 🙂
Cheryl P says
SG, traditionally naturally fermented soy (like Tamari) doesn’t have nearly the detrimental thyroid effect that non-fermented soy does. I feel comfortable using Tamari.
SG says
I’ll check it out, thanks.
Carolyn says
I don’t have thyroid issues or even pretend to know how they affect people, so I am not much guidance there. But as someone else responded, the fermented soy products are supposed to be a lot better for us than the plain soy. Now, I am not saying this is a reputable source but a simple Google search brought up this article with suggests that while you should avoid soy, miso and tamari are different because of the fermentation. https://shawellnessclinic.com/en/shamagazine/dietary-recommendations-to-hypothyroidism-and-hyperthyroidism/
SG says
Thanks, Carolyn, I’ll look into it.
PDXGirl says
thank you for this. I won’t use the coconut aminos, but not just for carb count but because it’s also so ridiculously high in sodium. I used it one time and I literally looked like the Pillsbury dough boy. you poked my arm and water shot out of my eyes.
Erica B says
Wow. So what do you use as a soy sauce substitute? Even low-sodium soy sauce and tamari have, literally, six times as much sodium as coconut aminos.
Erica B says
My mistake: they have only double the sodium content of coconut aminos. (I misread the serving sizes on the bottles.)
Carolyn says
Oh my! LOL. What an image. I don’t seem to have any issues from sodium consumption but I know it’s not great for everyone. I think you can get reduced sodium tamari too.
Allyn Bamberger says
Interesting. My bottle of coconut aminos claims that it has 270 mg. of sodium per T and my gluten free less sodium soy sauce has 590 mg. per T. So, maybe the lady who tends to blow up with coconut aminos has an allergy to it or something because it is clearly lower in sodium than soy sauce. Also, my coconut aminos has no added sugar. It claims 1 g. of carb per T whereas the soy sauce is 9 g. per T. I’m a little confused by the previous comments about sugar and sodium.
Erica B says
Hi Allyn, I can only comment based on my observations. I’ve never seen coconut aminos with less than 3 carbs per tablespoon (1 carb per teaspoon, the common serving size) and I don’t think I’ve ever seen plain soy sauce or tamari with 9 per tablespoon. (Wow, 9 per tablespoon? Are you sure it’s plain soy sauce? Maybe check your ingredients and switch brands!) My tamari has 1 carb per tablespoon. If I were using coconut aminos instead of tamari, I’d be using enough to triple the carb count of the soy, and would likely need to add more to compensate for the aminos’ weak flavor. Regarding sugar, coconut aminos contain sugar already, without any being added. Remember that sugar is sugar, whether it’s added or naturally occurring in the product. Many labels now list grams of added sugar as if it’s more significant than the naturally-occurring sugar in the ingredients, which is a rather spurious approach. Regarding sodium levels, I’ve also never seen coconut aminos that have more sodium than soy/tamari.
Allyn Bamberger says
Thanks, Erica and Carolyn. You are right. I read the label wrong. My coconut aminos is Coconut Secret brand, and it has 1 g. carbs per teaspoon, not tablespoon. So, that’s 3 g. per Tablespoon. It has no added sugar, but it contains 1 g. of sugar, naturally occurring, per teaspoon. It has 90 mg. of sodium per teaspoon or 270 mg. per tablespoon. And, of course, I read the soy sauce bottle wrong, too. It has 3 g. carbs per Tablespoon, but it has 2 g added sugar and 590 mg. of sodium. I looked at a bottle of tamari at the store yesterday and it had over 700 mg. of sodium per Tablespoon. If sodium is a concern, tamari would not seem to be a good choice. And, you are right about coconut aminos being weak. Soy sauce might be worth the extra sodium.
Carolyn says
Try to find soy sauce with no added sugar. There are plenty out there that only have 1g total carbs per tablespoon.
Erica B says
Hi Allyn. Thanks for taking the time to reply. Labels are interesting reading, indeed! Personally, I don’t concern myself with sodium levels, so I use regular gluten-free tamari without concern. Reduced sodium tamari exists, though, if you’re worried about that. Either way, I think the flavor is worth it!
Carolyn says
I feel the same way but yes, those labels can be misleading if you don’t look carefully at the serving sizes.
Carolyn says
Hey Allyn. So I have Thrive market Coconut aminos in my cupboard right now and it’s 2g of carbs PER TEASPOON, whereas the tamari in my cupboard is 1g of carbs PER TABLESPOON. Since there are three teaspoons to a tablespoon, that means the coconut aminos has 6g of carbs per Tablespoon, so 6 times as much as the tamari.
Be sure you are reading the serving sizes correctly. That’s always a bit misleading.
Tamari certainly has more sodium than coconut aminos but again be sure you are making the sizes match, since coconut aminos is always given in TEASPOONS vs. TABLESPOONS.
Erica B says
This looks great, Carolyn! Totally agree about coconut aminos. That stuff doesn’t taste like soy sauce at all. Because it’s so light and SO sweet, it’s really more like watered down teriyaki sauce than straight soy sauce. I’m surprised that it pops up in so many keto recipes, because it’s really just a source of sugar. I use tamari as well. Traditionally fermented soy in small amounts isn’t nearly as detrimental as the gobs of non-fermented soy western society consumes regularly en masse.
Carolyn says
Bang on, my friend! Glad someone agrees with me. I was in a group the other day and people kept telling one woman that she could reduce the carbs in a recipe by switching to coconut aminos. Um…. no. Way higher carb!
Jackie says
Does the glucomannan powder need to go into a hot liquid to thicken? Thanks. Love your recipe, always learning something new to try.
Jennifer says
I plan on making this tonight along side some cali rice! Thanks for the recipe
Lori A Kling says
Only 1.6 net carbs!! This will definitely be going on my list for next week! I bet it would be good with chicken and pork also.
Thank you for another amazing looking recipe!
Carolyn says
I know! If I’d used coconut aminos, it would be more like 5 carbs per serving, just FYI.
Heather says
Thank you so much for pointing this out! Got a gluten intolerant kiddo before I went keto and never really took notice of carb point variance between Tamari and aminos and additional sugars in em. Will go Tamari plus erithrytol/monkfruit/allulose from here on out.
Lois MacKenzie says
I only have a Dutch oven. At what temperature and for how long do I cook this?
Lois MacKenzie says
I don’t have a slow cooker, so how long do I cook it in the oven with my Dutch oven?
Carolyn says
I would probably just stir fry it, it will be a lot faster. But I would imagine that a 300F oven for 4 hours would do if you want to pop your whole Dutch oven in there.