Mongolian Chicken
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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! And if you’re looking for a vegetarian Mongolian chicken, I’ve got you covered too!
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 my:
- Mongolian Beef
- Orange Chicken
- Egg Foo Young
- Kung Pao Chicken
- Beef and Broccoli
- General Tso’s Chicken
- Beef Stir Fry
- Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Orange Beef
- Sesame Chicken
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Mongolian Chicken
Ingredients
- 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
Nutrition
First published on The Daring Gourmet February 22, 2015
Hi, I’m Kimberly Killebrew and welcome to Daring Gourmet where you'll find delicious originals, revitalized classics, and simply downright good eats from around the world! Originally from Germany, later raised in England, world-traveled, and now living in the U.S., from my globally-influenced kitchen I invite you to tour the world through your taste buds!
Wonderful! Added some sliced carrots, green pepper slices, and water chestnuts. Thanks for this great addition to our recipe book.
Thanks, George, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
The wife loves me for making this.
I made this dish with the help of my 11 year old step daughter. It was a great recipe , nice and simple to make with her. She was surprised at how great it tastes n that WE made it! Awesome! A++++++
Victoria
That’s awesome, Victoria, and I’m so glad you both enjoyed it, thank you!
I made this tonight for the 1st time. Delicious. I added some bok choy, water chestnuts and baby bella mushrooms. I think next time I’ll reduce the brown sugar. :-) Thanks for sharing!
Amazing!! I love this,great full flavor! Definitely adding this to the repeat list. I added asparagus,and it was delicious!
Fantastic, Heather, thank you!
Is there a way to make this without so much soy sauce? I am concerned about the sodium content.
Hi Yvonne, you can certainly cut down on the amount of soy sauce if you prefer or you can also use a light soy sauce.
This was amazing. I added a little bit of Chinese rice wine because I just bought it and love the flavor and I also added a few red chilis. The sauce has incredible flavor. Sweet, spicy, salty. Really delicious!
Fantastic, TR, thanks so much!
Made the recipe tonight. I halved the recipe (for 2 people), cooked two cups of broccoli on the side, and served everything on rice. It was incredibly delicious!
Wonderful, Julie, thanks so much!
Just a quick question, would this work with turkey breasts instead of chicken breasts?
Hi Remis, yes, you can use turkey. Happy cooking!
Both my boyfriend and I really enjoyed this, and it was very easy to make, would definitely make again.
Wonderful, Nicole, thanks so much!
This was awesome and I use only part of the brown sugar. My sons girlfriend is vegan and was wondering is there a vegan recipe for this? The funny thing is later on my son said just don’t invite her when we have this. The recipe is awesome and I am so looking forward to others. Thank you so much for sharing.
Fantastic, Linda, thank you! I think your son is onto something, lol. But you could make it vegan by substituting something like Yves Meatless Chicken Strips or Butler’s Soy Curls in place of the chicken.
I love this recipe..I do not add the brown sugar, that way it isn’t as sweet . It still tastes the same as any good chinese restuarant.
Wonderful, thank you, Judi!
Absolutely fantastic recipe, so easy and even more delicious. Thanks for making me a star tonight!
Awesome, thanks so much, Tim!
single dad without a lot of time and a limited culinary skill…going to try this tonight because THIS is one of our favorites and IF I can make it at home, sure beats the long drive to the nearest Chinese restaurant! I also liked reading some of the other comments and gleaning what I can from them. For intstance…I had planned on adding some mushrooms and didnt think about how the extra moisture from the shroom could throw off the sauce …I am a fan from here on out! Thanks for your work!
Awesome, Ken, let us know how it turned out!
Fabulous. I took a chance and made this for some dinner guests without taking it on a test run first. Everyone loved it, a total hit.
I’m so glad to hear that – thanks, Tim!
Hi Kimberly,
After seeing the picture of this dish, I was so very much looking forward to try it, as it looked fabulous, and today I made it. And really, it tastes just as great as it looks….AND the finished dish also looks exactly like the picture that got my attention in the 1st place!!!!Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe, the only thing I did that wrong was allow the green onions to cook several minutes longer than was suggested, but that’s an easy fix, still was fantastic, LOVED it :)
Fantastic, Hannah, I’m so happy to hear that :) Thank you!
Plaese take me off your email. Thank you!!
That’s a little hard to do when you leave an anonymous comment without an email address! :)