Easy to make Ground Beef Mongolian Noodles is sweet, spicy, and perfect for busy weeknights! You can make this in 30 minutes or less and it tastes even better than the restaurant version.
There is no food group that I love more than pasta! Recently, I’ve been enjoying Asian flavors and wanted to create an easy beef noodle recipe. This recipe can be made so quickly, it has become a staple on our weeknight table.
I modeled my recipe after PF Chang’s Mongolian Beef with a sweet soy glaze, garlic, and green onions. However, instead of flank steak, I used lean ground beef. This is the perfect dish to satisfy all your quick fix Asian/Chinese food cravings and it’ll make your house smell amazing while cooking!
If you notice, there’s no salt in the beef and sauce mixture. Hoisin sauce tends to be salty and I haven’t found a low-sodium version of it yet. That’s also the reason I recommend using low-sodium soy sauce for this recipe.
GROUND BEEF MONGOLIAN NOODLES
- For the ground beef – I used 90% lean ground beef, you can also use ground turkey, pork, or chicken.
- For the minced garlic – I recommend fresh garlic or jarred minced garlic in water instead of dried granulated garlic or dried garlic powder. Fresh has much more flavor than dried.
- For the ginger– If there’s one ingredient that you simply must use fresh it’s ginger. Dried ginger tastes nothing like fresh ginger. Ginger is a root and it adds so much flavor to recipes. A little ginger goes a long way! It’s in the produce section of your grocery store. It’s inexpensive and you’ll just need a very small knob. As well, it’ll last 3 to 4 weeks on the countertop.
- For the soy sauce – I highly recommend you use low-sodium soy sauce.
- For the hoisin sauce – Hoisin is an Asian barbecue sauce and can be found on the International food section at your grocery store. There’s really no substitute for hoisin.
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Ground Beef Mongolian Noodles
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 4 teaspoons ginger minced
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup beef broth
- ½ cup soy sauce low sodium
- 4 tablespoons hoisin sauce if you can find low-sodium, I recommend it.
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
- 10 ounces noodles linguine, fettuccine, or spaghetti
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
- 4 medium green onions sliced
Instructions
- In a large skillet with high sides brown the ground beef on the stovetop. Add the ginger and garlic the last 2 minutes of browning the ground beef. Break up the meat as it cooks.
- While the ground beef is cooking, cook the pasta according to the package instructions. (I recommend you do not salt the water.) Drain.
- Drain the ground beef and return it to the skillet along with the soy sauce, beef broth, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, pepper, and hoisin sauce. Stir to combine.
- Dissolve the cornstarch in the water and add it to the ground beef mixture. Stir and bring the mixture to a low boil. After the sauce has thickened slightly add the drained noodles to the beef mixture. Stir to combine.
- Allow the noodles to sit in the sauce a few minutes to absorb flavor. Serve hot with a garnish of sliced green onions.
Nutrition
Suz says
My husband made a similar version and served it over rice, instead of noodles, and then I found this recipe and we love it even more than the rice version. The second time making it, though, I added chopped up mushrooms and shredded carrots. It’s so tasty that it’s hard to just eat one serving, oops!
Kay says
I made this just as written except I made a pound of angel hair pasta and served the meat mixture on top of it instead pf mixed through. It was DELICIOUS! Cut the red pepper in half or better if you don’t like heat.
I think the meat and sauce mixture would also be awesome on a bun, like a sloppy joe, maybe even a sweet roll/bun of some sort. Or on tortilla chips to change up traditional nachos.
Grizgirl says
Sweet then spicy, delicious! I added toasted sesame oil to the pasta and sesame seeds to the beef mix. Adds another flavor layer to an already yummy dish!
Maaya says
Can I substitute the beef broth with vegi broth?
Paula says
Yes
MJ says
My husband and I really enjoyed this. It was nice to have something new to do with ground beef. I used 2t of ginger and 2T of brown sugar and thought the sweetness turned out perfect. It was a too salty for us though (and I LOVE salt). So next time I think I will try the reduced sodium soy sauce.
Jessica says
My whole family (school age kid) loved it. Used less red pepper flakes to keep some spice down for the kids but other that followed it exactly. So yummy 😋
PHILLIP MULLEN says
It was delicious. Instead of spaghetti, I had lo-mein noodles on hand. I am a diabetic, so 1/2 cup of sugar was not an option, I use 1/4 cup of monkfruit. I’ve also cutout meat, I substituted with ground “meatless” meat. I will make this again, next time cut down on the ginger, my husband thought it over powered the dish. With all my substitution, it makes a nice vegetarian dish and was quite delicious! Thank you for a nice, middle of the week recipe.
Paula says
I love your substitutions. I’m not a big meat eater either. I’m going to try it your way!
Kim says
Delicious!!! I did reduce the brown sugar to 1/4 cup and used low sodium soy sauce and it was delicious. I will make this again!!!
LUCYG says
Love this quick, easy recipe. I will just cut the sugar in half next time. I did make it all in one pot, the same way I do my spaghetti and meat sauce … I cooked the noodles first, then rinsed and drained them in the sink. Rinsed out the pasta pot with hot water, put it back on the burner, and made the meat and sauce in the same pot, then added the noodles back in at the last minute. I’m too lazy to wash two big pots if I don’t have to. 😊 Thanks for a great recipe that we will enjoy over and over again.
Emily says
This was good but we didn’t love it. I don’t think my sauce got thick enough to coat the noodles and beef so the flavor wasn’t outstanding. I followed the recipe except I added carrots and broccoli for added substance and to make it go farther.
Tamara valdiserri says
The flavors in this dish were amazing. Unfortunately, we had to toss it after a few bites. It was way too spicy, even for my teens who enjoy some heat. I wanted to make a full pound of pasta so I increased the sauce by half, but kept the red pepper flakes at 1/2 teaspoon and it was still too hot. Please list the red pepper flakes as optional. I hope to try this recipe again.
Paula says
I will make that change. Thanks for the feedback.
Henry Martin says
Most recipe ingredients are always optional.
Rona says
This the most amazing flavorful Asian dishes I’ve ever made. Hubby loved this more than takeout! I agree with the cook, in that, using low sodium is the way to go. I did not, because I always like to try the recipes “as is” to judge for myself. Next time I’ll use low sodium.
Gemma says
I loved this recipe… I did, however, only use 2 t. of fresh ginger as it is very strong. That was perfect. Also, I only used about 2 T. of brown sugar. I didn’t want it super sweet. The hoisin sauce is sweet too so 1/2 c. of brown sugar seemed too sweet. I used thick spaghetti and that worked out great. I think a few more green onions would be great too. Wonderful recipe.
Linda says
I used stir fry beef grounded, only did 1/3c brown sugar, grounded carrot, squeeze jar of ginger and garlic. Followed the recipe and this dish was perfect. Not sweet at all.
Lavinia Roy says
I have made this dish 3 times in the last month. We love it!!! And my daughter, who is very picky, loves this dish!! Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Lisa says
This is absolutely delicious! I made it exactly as written. I used linguine and took suggestions and used low sodium soy sauce, I used regular hoisin sauce and it was not too salty. My fussy hubby loved it and asked me if he could have the leftovers the next night. Definitely will become a new go to.
DeeDee says
It was delicious! I will not use as much brown sugar next time. Fast and easy!
LaTonya Teferra says
I delicious recipe! I cooked almost exactly as written on reducing the res pepper a bit. My kids ate it up and if only I weren’t insulin resistant, I would have eating the entire dish. Just the small taste I had impress me quite a bit. I’ll definitely try more of you recipes! Great job!!
Sammy G says
Fast and easy. Very simple to add other ingredients to also. Fresh basil would be wonderful.
I cut the brown sugar in half & it was still plenty sweet. Will be making this again!
Gretchen says
I was looking for something new to make with a pound of ground beef and a full pantry – this was a HUGE hit with my teen and husband! I used bottled minced ginger and doubled the red pepper flakes, also garnished with green onions and white sesame seeds. This came together fast, in one large cast iron skillet and there was very little leftovers, even though there are only 3 of us! Making it again, I’d double the recipe. I served it with store-bought egg rolls and had the whole meal on the table in 30 minutes. I look forward to trying more of your recipes and am following you on twitter!
Carooyn says
I was looking for something different to do with ground beef and I came across this recipe. I didn’t have any pasta but we had some soba noodles so I used those. I halved the amount of brown sugar but otherwise followed the recipe. When I was almost ready to serve it my husband stir fried onions, Napa cabbage and a few orange pepper slices. It was delicious. Great flavor with all the ginger and garlic.
Michelle B says
I made this for the second time. This time I used finely chopped chicken and added peanuts at the end. This recipe is amazing.
Sue Hebert says
Made this and went exactly by Paula’s recipe. It was to die for. Hubby loved it and had enough to share! I’m sure it will be just as tasty warmed up. I used regular soy and I did not find it to be too salty. This is one I will make again and again.
Paula says
I’m so happy you liked it, Sue!
Lily says
Made this for the family, I used ramen noodle instead, honestly, it’s sooo goooood!! Kind of wish I used a thicker type of noodle, but the ramen still hit the spot!
Kristin says
This was excellent and easy! I am not a huge fan of ginger so probably used about 1 tsp. I omitted hoisin because I have a son w a nut allergy and I couldn’t find a safe brand. Will definitely make again!
FabSB says
Very good. I would suggest halving the ginger though – that much is overpowering and makes it very spicy as well. I doubled the sauce and added a bag of asian frozen vegs and a can of sliced water chestnuts. We garnished with sliced cucumbers and peanuts.
Megan says
This is good, but way too sweet. Next time I will try half the amount of brown sugar.