Mongolian Chicken

This BEST Mongolian Chicken recipe is ready to serve in 15 minutes and rivals your favorite takeout or restaurant for freshness and flavor!  Tender chicken is drenched in a sweet and savory sauce with crisp green onions and served over steamed rice or egg noodles.  It’s quick, easy and thoroughly delicious!

What is Mongolian Chicken?

Mongolian Chicken is a variation of Mongolian Beef.  Of Chinese-American origin, both of these dishes are two of the most popular Chinese dishes in the United States and can be found in practically every Chinese restaurant.  It’s one of my favorite dishes to order when we go for takeout and it’s also a family favorite when I make it at home.

The sauce for Mongolian chicken is made with soy sauce, water, brown sugar, toasted sesame oil, hoisin sauce, pepper, garlic, ginger, and thickened with cornstarch.  Typically the only vegetable added to Mongolian chicken is green onion but feel free to improvise and add any other veggies of your choice.  Some other tasty additions can include broccoli, mushrooms, bean sprouts, red bell peppers, carrots and zucchini.

I’m using chicken breast for this but you can also use boneless thigh meat.  For a vegetarian Mongolian chicken you can use tofu following our recipe for Baked Tofu.

Serve Mongolian chicken with steamed rice or egg noodles or chow mein.  For a low carb alternative you can serve it with cauliflower rice or spiralized zucchini noodles.

Mongolian Chicken definitely isn’t a low-sugar meal, but it’s an indulgence we really enjoy from time to time.  And if you’d like to reduce the caloric intake you can substitute all or part of the brown sugar with our favorite brown sugar alternative, Sukrin Gold.

If you’re a fan of this popular Chinese dish then you’ll have to give this Mongolian chicken recipe a try – we’re confident you’re going to love it as much or more than your favorite takeout!

Mongolian Chicken Recipe

Let’s get started!

Cooking Chinese food over high heat is a quick process so have all you ingredients prepped and measured in advance.  Cut up the chicken and chop the green onions, keeping the white parts separate (they take longer to cook).  Mince the garlic and ginger.

Combine the sauce ingredients in a bowl.

Sprinkle the chicken with the cornstarch and toss to coat.

Heat the wok (or regular skillet if you don’t have a wok) over high heat.

Once the wok is good and hot pour in the oil.  I use avocado oil because it’s a healthy oil with a high smoke point.

Add the chicken and fry until cooked through.  It will only take about a minute.

Add the garlic and ginger and fry for another 30 seconds.  Pour in the sauce.

Stir in the white parts of the green onions.

Cook for a minute or so until the sauce is thickened.

Add the remaining green onions and stir to coat and to just heat through. You don’t want to cook the soft green onions for long because you want them to remain a little crispy.  Remove from the heat and serve immediately.

Your Mongolian Chicken is ready!

Serve with steamed rice, egg noodles, or chow mein.

Enjoy!

Want to bulk up this dish with more healthy veggies?  Simply add some steamed broccoli and/or fry some bell peppers along with the chicken.  You can also toss in some bean sprouts at the very end.

For more delicious Chinese takeout recipes, be sure to try our:

• Mongolian Beef
• Orange Chicken
• Kung Pao Chicken
• Beef and Broccoli
• General Tso’s Chicken
• Sweet and Sour Chicken
• Orange Beef
• Sesame Chicken

Mongolian Chicken

Kimberly Killebrew

This Mongolian Chicken is ready in 15 minutes and rivals your favorite Chinese restaurant or takeout version!

Print Recipe

4.88 from 55 votes

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 5 mins

Total Time 15 mins

Course Entree, Main Course

Cuisine Chinese

Servings 4 servings

Calories 356 kcal

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 1 lb chicken breast or thighs , cut into thin strips (*Vegetarian/Vegan: use diced tofu tossed in oil and baked in oven until crispy)
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch , for coating
• 2 tablespoons high heat cooking oil (I use and recommend avocado oil as a healthy oil with a high smoke point)
• 1 tablespoon fresh garlic , minced
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger , minced
• 2 bunches green onions , cut into 2 inch pieces, white parts kept separate
• For the Sauce:
• 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• OR Best Homemade Hoisin Sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ cup tamari (can substitute light soy sauce)
• ½ cup water
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• ½ cup brown sugar
• or brown sugar alternative

Instructions

 

• Combine the sauce ingredients in a bowl, stirring until the cornstarch and brown sugar are dissolved, and set aside.
• Sprinkle the cut up chicken with the cornstarch and toss to coat.

  Heat a wok or heavy frying pan over high heat. Once hot, add the oil. Add the chicken and fry until cooked through, about one minute. Add the garlic and ginger and fry for another 30 seconds. Add the sauce and white parts of the green onions and simmer until thickened, about a minute. Add the remaining green onions, stir to coat and remove from heat (the green onions should remain a little crispy).
• Serve immediately with steamed rice, egg noodles or chow mein.

Notes

To make this vegetarian, substitute the chicken for a batch of our Baked Tofu (click link for recipe).  

Nutrition

Calories: 356kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 72mg | Sodium: 1127mg | Potassium: 539mg | Sugar: 29g | Vitamin A: 95IU | Vitamin C: 3.1mg | Calcium: 44mg | Iron: 1.4mg

Keyword Mongolian Chicken

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First published on The Daring Gourmet February 22, 2015