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Mongolian Ground Beef Noodles

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This recipe for Mongolian Ground Beef Noodles came about as an effort to clean out the pantry after the holidays. Little did I know it would quickly become a family favorite!

Serve this delicious dish in this gorgeous white serving bowl I found on Amazon

Every January, I refuse to go to the grocery store until my fridge and pantry are depleted to the point I can no longer put together a meal.

In fact, I have not been to the grocery store but once since December 15th. We have been eating on everything we have — and because of that, I was able to create this delicious new dish for my family.

I did adapt the Mongolian Ground Beef part from I Wash You Dry. I took her recipe and tweaked it a bit for my family's preference and made it my own.

This meal reminds me of a lot of my One Pan Cheeseburger Pasta meal that takes about 20 minutes to make. It also has the flavor of my homemade Eel Sauce — which I think comes from the Hoisin flavor.

So — because of how easy this is to make, let me walk you through this!

How to Make Mongolian Ground Beef Noodles

To make this, you really only need a few simple ingredients — and if you are like me and keep a stocked and organized pantry, you can totally make this on the fly at your house too!

Of course, if you like having your ground beef delivered to the home, the ground beef from Butcher Box is amazing, and it gets delivered straight to your home.

While you are cooking your ground beef, you can let your noodles cook as well in a pasta pot making this a quick 15-minute dinner recipe.

For the ingredients list you need —

The original recipe calls for cornstarch and water and smaller amounts in the ingredients, but because I am serving this with pasta — I did not need the cornstarch.

The reason for this is because the pasta itself is starch and will provide everything we need to thicken the sauce.

I doubled the sauce as well because I knew the noodles would soak it up and wanted to make sure there was plenty.

Cook the ground beef in the skillet with the ginger and garlic. Drain off the fat.

Add in the other ingredients (minus the green onions and toasted sesame seeds).

Remove the noodles from the pasta pot and add into the skillet with the ground beef.

Now, let it keep cooking for a bit until the sauce is thick and coats all the noodles and the meat.

Serve alongside with a delicious salad and a loaf of my Copycat Cheesecake Factory Honey Wheat Bread.

For more pasta recipes, check these out

Yield: 8 servings

Easy Mongolian Ground Beef Noodles

Easy Mongolian Ground Beef Noodles

This Easy Mongolian Ground Beef Noodles recipe comes together in 15 minutes and is one of the most delicious meals you will make this year.

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. lean ground beef
  • 4 tsp minced ginger
  • 6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup of beef broth
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 6 tbsp hoisin sauce
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1 box of Linguine Noodles
  • 4 green onions, diced for garnish
  • Toasted Sesame Seeds for garnish

Instructions

    1. In a medium skillet with high sides on the stovetop, brown the ground beef along with the ginger and garlic until beef is cooked through. Use the back of a wooden spoon to make sure meat is broken up well. Drain any fat and return the pan to the stovetop.
    2. While the ground beef is cooking, get a pot of water started for your pasta noodles. Be sure to salt the water well so that your noodles soak up that flavor.
    3. Combine the remaining ingredients -- the soy sauce, beef broth brown sugar, red pepper flakes, pepper, and hoisin sauce in a small dish and pour into ground beef mixture.
    4. Let them saute in the pan for about 3 minutes to allow the ground beef to absorb the flavors.
    5. Once your pasta is done cooking, transfer the noodles to the ground beef mixture. Mix thoroughly and allow to cook for a couple of more minutes to allow the sauce to thicken.
    6. Top with green onions and toasted sesame seeds for the perfect noodle dish!

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 297Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 51mgSodium: 1396mgCarbohydrates: 31gFiber: 2gSugar: 15gProtein: 22g

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© Jennifer
Cuisine: Chinese / Category: Main Dishes

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Carol

    I made this tonight, we both found it too salty! I always use low sodium soya sauce, so I would cut it in half next time. I also think I might try it with with ground chicken or turkey. I also would not add past water. It was far too runny.

    Reply

    • Jennifer Sikora

      If you found yours too runny you could have added the cornstarch and water slurry. That would have thickened it up. Not sure why yours was so salty — I always use low sodium soy sauce as well — it’s even noted in the recipe. Sorry you had issues. Hope it turns out better for yo if you try it again.

      Reply

      • Lucy

        I suspect Carol may not have drained her pasta. Perhaps you might want to add that to the recipe instructions as some might interpret transferring the noodles may include the water they are cooked in as well. Personally, I tend to reserve about a cup of my pasta water in case the mixture looks too dry and add a little at a time to moisten.

        Reply

    • Leo

      Agree. Mine was too salty as well using low sodium asian soy sauce that we use for all our traditional asian dishes. May just have to reduce soy amount and add some water.

      Reply

      • Jennifer Sikora

        I think the salt content is a preference between people — some say it is perfect than others who have tried it have said it is a tad too salty. Just lessen it the next time and you should be fine.

        Reply

    • tina

      just made this recipe. i only used 4 oz. dry pasta, and also low sodium soy sauce. did not find it too salty and i usually don’t cook w/salt. cook it longer if you feel too runny. the sauce did thicken up. so so good.

      Reply

    • Samantha

      Carol …. I read your comment & it looks like you added your pasta water. I think that may be why your dish was too runny. You don’t add the pasta water, just the drained noodles. I hope this helps you for your next time making this dish. Best Wishes !

      Reply

  2. Laura

    SO delicious…..I made a small portion for my daughter without the hoisin, as she is allergic to sesame and sesame products. She loved it!! The rest of the dish made with the hoisin is AMAZING!! I would totally suggest doubling the sauce recipe, as we love our sauces around my household. It’s quick. easy. and SO MUCH more reasonable than carry-out! We will DEFINATLEY make this again! Thank you for such a gorgeous recipe!

    Reply

  8. Sammi

    It was good, but we found it pretty salty. I used low sodium soy sauce, but I will try using less next time (maybe 3/4 cup), as well as a bit less minced ginger. Good way to use up more of my spaghetti though!

    Reply

  9. Lynn

    Yummy, I didn’t have Hoisin sauce. I did have Spicy and Sweet Chili Heat marinade and dip. I used 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup spicy and sweet chili sauce. Left out the red pepper flakes…. Devine. I used Riced noodles instead of pasta.

    Reply

  12. Yolanda Dugan

    I loved it! The ginger and garluc combination was a fabulously tasty marriage of tastes. Not too salty. The sugar balanced it. I used spaghetti but next time I will use linguini. Yum!

    Reply

  13. Ruth

    OMG 😱 tried this dish today. My husband loves anything with noodles 🍝 and we both loved it.
    I didn’t find it salty at all since I didn’t add any salt 🧂 to the water for the noodles and only used 3/4 of a cup of soy sauce. It came out perfect and we had enough left over for 2 more meals.
    Thanks 🙏 for the recipe I will make it again.

    Reply

  14. Justin

    This was a very good dish. I used 1/2cup soy sauce 1/2 cup chicken broth and added some mushrooms. Wonderful flavor. Thank you

    Reply

  15. Michael

    Not bad. If I make it again I would use the low sodium soy to cut down the saltiness and a thickening agent as the sauce was very runny.

    Reply

  16. Karen Wingate

    This sounded good until I reached the amount of brown sugar in the recipe. My husband is diabetic and that much would mess with his glucose for sure. And I think there is sugar in hoisen sauce as well? Too bad. It sounds like a wonderful dish, but not for us.

    Reply

    • Jennifer Sikora

      Sorry about that. You can adjust it and give it a try to see if you still like it. Some have switched out the hoisin for sweet chile sauce. Just play around with it and you might find a balance that works for your husband. Thanks for stopping by!

      Reply

  17. Michaela

    Made this for my family yesterday, absolutely delicious! A new favorite for sure. Thank you for sharing this recipe! 😊

    Reply

  18. Joelle

    Oh my goodness this is good!! I made it tonight and it’s going directly into my rotation. I did add an onion because I needed to use it up. I also realized I was out of red pepper flakes so I substituted with a couple squeezes of go-chi-jang sauce. My boys love spicy!! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.

    Reply

  19. Kathy

    I had read that someone thought it was too sweet. However most of the comments are about it being too salty. I tonight I would cut back on the brown an d add more if necessary. Does that sound about right?

    Reply

  20. Dawn Heffner

    I was feeding 7 people so I made a double batch. So glad I did because everyone loved it!! I love how simple it was to make. Quick easy dishes are my favorite and this is one that I definitely will be making again!! Thank you!

    Reply

  21. Helida

    I like the concept, was definitely too salty for us, and I decreased the soy sauce and horsin , I sauce to half of the amount and still salty, also added brócoli and mushroom. The garlic and ginger taste fabulous together every time.
    Thanks for the receipt, I’ll try again and just adjust to our taste 😊

    Reply

    • Jennifer Sikora

      It is a dish that either you like the salt content or you it is too much . . . I bet if you play around with it you will find a consistency that is right for your family! Thanks for letting me know 🙂

      Reply

  22. Kris

    Made this tonight, and it was a hit! Cut the soy sauce and brown sugar in half and added 1/2 c. low sodium beef broth. Also added a package of broccoli slaw after the beef was browned. Definitely a keeper!

    Reply

  23. Pooneh

    Hi, have you ever made this as a vegetarian dish with substitute ground beef. I’m going to make it using beef this week but as i have vegetarians at home it’s always easier to make a dish we can all share.

    Reply

  24. Karin

    Hi,

    Thank you for this recipe. All flavors were well paired, except the salt. Please amend the soy sauce amount so it shows a range instead of 1 cup flat. It is too salty and I only discovered reviews indicating this after my family wouldn’t eat dinner. Please save others from this as well by notating in ingredients section. Will make again with 1/2 cup soy or less

    Reply

    • Jennifer Sikora

      I have updated the recipe to include 1/2 soy sauce and 1/2 beef broth. A lot of people say it tastes fine and I think it comes down to your salt preference. If you use regular soy sauce instead of the low sodium soy sauce I suggest to use then it will turn out way too salty as well.

      Reply

  25. Amira Rghei

    Way way way too much salt for me, even tried it with half a cup of salt and was still far too much. I would recommend 1/4 cup soy sauce and 1/4 cup no sodium added beef broth opposed to the full cup of sodium-reduced soy sauce.

    Reply

    • Jennifer Sikora

      I have updated the recipe to include 1/2 soy sauce and 1/2 beef broth. A lot of people say it tastes fine and I think it comes down to your salt preference. If you use regular soy sauce instead of the low sodium soy sauce I suggest to use then it will turn out way too salty as well.

      Reply

  26. Melanie Nixon

    We made this today. Oh my goodness. So delicious! We tweaked a bit to lower sodium and had no hoisin sauce on hand so we made our own and used chili paste since we didn’t have red pepper flakes. It was a hit and will be put into our dinner rotation!

    Reply

  27. Rona Harris

    Made this tonight and it was GREAT! I made a few changes to lighten up the calories:: used Splenda Brown Sugar, 1/4 tsp of the crushed red pepper and whole wheat linguine. Also did add tsp corn starch to liquids. Perfection!

    Reply

  28. Sandy H.

    I’m thinking of using my leftover Rotisserie Chicken instead of the beef?? Do I use all the other ingredients as listed or would you use Chicken Broth instead of beef?

    Reply

  29. Cindy Fine

    Totally delicious!! I made this last night for dinner, doubled the sauce as you suggested and it turned out great. Thanks so much for the wonderful recipe Jennifer. I will add this into my dinner rotation for sure.

    Reply

  31. Robin

    I only have regular soy sauce on hand. I really want to cook this tonight! I am gonna dilute it with water. We like salty food anyways. Im gonna also throw in a bag of frozen mixed veggies that i have! Yum

    Reply

  32. Wendy

    Modifications

    Did 1/4 consommé plus 1/4 c water (didn’t have beef broth)
    1/4 c low sod soya plus 1/4 c water
    5tbsp soy sauce
    1/4 c brown sugar
    1/4 tsp black pepper

    Cooked beef in sauce until sauce thickened and beef absorbed the sauce.

    When noodles ready, drained noodles, put them back in noodle pot and added sufficient beef. Didn’t have green onions but that would have been great. Also, a dash of cooking sherry might have been nice. I don’t like things too saucy and I was just cooking for me so saved the seasoned beef for future meals. On the whole, quite good.

    Reply

  34. Mica

    I haven’t made this dish yet, but one thing that I don’t think is being considered by a lot of commenters is that the soy sauce is not the only source of salt in the dish. Broth, in general, has a ton of salt, but the saltiness of broth isn’t consistent across products, particularly between different types (for example, canned/in a box vs. made with bouillon.) I highly suggest to anyone when using a recipe like this that includes things like broth and hoisin that can vary in taste and saltiness between products to TASTE the sauce in step three before dumping it in, Nobody posting recipes online can 100% account for the variance in taste between two different broths, so ultimately for the best results (especially when using a new recipe!) taste along the way so that you can pivot if you dislike it. My go-to if you noticed that it was too salty in step three would be to add a splash of something like canned pineapple juice to dilute and add some acidity.

    Reply

  35. Jenn

    Question about the nutritional information… what exactly is the serving size? I see it says one, but one what? One cup? One ounce? One plateful? Not sure how to figure that out. Help would be appreciated. Thanks!

    Reply

  36. Tashina

    This was delicious!! We didn’t have hoisen sauce and used spaghetti noodles and cauliflower rice for me. Everyone is asking for seconds and I doubled the sauce. Great recipe!!

    Reply

  38. Patty

    Prepaired this the other day. Followed the recipe with exception of black pepper. Amazing balance of heat with sweetness. I used 10 ozs. rice noodles instead of pasta. So quick and easy! Thanks for sharing

    Reply

  39. Sheila

    Made tonight and I used Low Sodium Beef Broth die to some comments that the dish was too salty. It came out perfect. Family loved it. It’s a keeper. Thanks

    Reply

  40. Shawna

    This recipe turned out great. I did end up having to add just a little bit of corn startch to thicken things up but that may be because I double the recipe. I used spagetti noodles becasue that is what I had on hand but it was still delicious.

    Reply

  41. Natalie

    I wanted to share my comment because I read all of them before making. Everyone has their own idea of “salty”and I feel bad for people who have pages like these. I’ve made some horrible recipes it I was making someone elses recipe to them it was amazing and they had people who felt it was amazing as well. I’m in Ohio…we eat “takeout” asian food maybe 2x a year.
    I made this recipe with what I had the only variation is I use cubes for my “broth” so I made 8oz using 1 cube and put 1/2 cup in the recipe I used 16oz pasta and no seeds and onions for garnish. It had flavor a little sweet, barely spicy and it is less salty than the takeout places, It is not soooo salty that it can’t be consumed. I assume people either consume NO SALT or varied the recipe with pasta and certain ingredients. Ive had food so salty that I notice…this was not my first though. Seemed typical for the style of food. We would make it again..we might use less sugar for my preference, we might use chicken and chicken broth next time, or steak instead. When reviewing recipes…factor in your family, how you typical eat, have you eaten food like this before, did you make changes, and so on. Always be kind.

    Reply

  43. Jen

    Mmm I just made this, and it’s so good! I left out the ginger, green onions, and sesame seeds. I used half the amount of pasta, and I didn’t salt the water. The hoisin sauce I bought wasn’t a spicy kind.

    Reply

  44. Jim

    Looking forward to making this.

    What size box of pasta is needed? 16 oz, 12 oz, 8 oz? (Oh for the good old days when they were all a pound.)

    Reply

  46. Julie

    This went into my keeper folder. 🙂 And I did it in my instant pot because I’m an IP maniac! For other IPers out there, I used 1 liter of liquid (all beef broth, but you could use a mix of water and beef broth for a lighter flavour), and cooked on high for 4 minutes, with quick release. I have an 8 qrt model, for what it’s worth. I also halved the soy sauce because I knew with our brand, it would be too dark tasting with the full measurement. 😀 No additional salt added while making this. Essentially it went like this: cooked beef on saute, added the sauce ingredients, dropped in linguine noodles and moved them around a bit so they wouldn’t stick, poured on the hoisin, closed it, set it, went away until it dinged, then quick release, then stirred in green onion and toasted sesame oil because that’s what I had on hand. It was purrrrfect! AND, because the noodles and sauce cook together, the starch from the noodles create a velvety sauce. 🙂 I want to eat this with miso butter bok choy next time we make it!!! Deelish!!

    Reply

  47. Gayle

    So easy and delicious. I skipped the sugar and doubled the sauce and added broccoli and lightly steamed carrots. Delicious!

    Reply

  48. T

    I did not find the taste too salty. I did make the revised version with low sodium soy and low sodium broth.
    I also used home made hoisin, which may have made a difference too. Yummy.

    Reply

  49. Shannon

    I made this tonight and it made a lot of sauce. I also feel like it could have used some veggies. I only used half the sauce. I used 1/4 cup soy salt and half water to lighten it up even more. It was still pretty salty. It did have a good flavor. I also made some Jasmine rice for an alternative to pasta.

    Reply

  51. Renee

    I’m sorry but this was awful. My husband and I made it, tried to eat it and threw it away and ordered Chinese for dinner. It was too sweet for a dinner meal.

    Reply

    • Jennifer Sikora

      Sorry you did not like it. It is each to his own. Most everyone likes it but there are a couple here and there that don’t like it. I have a lot of other recipes you might find to your liking.

      Reply

  52. KWJ

    That Hoisin sauce becomes very overwhelming. I’m not sure how much less to use, but I’d almost say use 1 TBSP of it and go from there. I think it would have been good if that didn’t take over the dish.

    Reply

  53. Jessica

    This was delish!!! It is only my husband and myself, so I halved the recipe. I also used 6 oz. of stir Fry noodles instead, as I did not have as much linguine on hand as I thought! I let the sauce cook down a bit longer since I had less than half the required pasta. It was a great substitution, it made it more chow mein esque. I also steamed some broccoli and stirred that in, and it was a game changer to sneak some veggies in. The sauce is perfect for stir fry veggies too. Thank you for a great recipe, it will now become a staple in our home for a quick, super satisfying meal! Xoxo

    Reply

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