Doesn’t this Mongolian Beef look like take out from your favorite Chinese joint? Well you are wrong; this dish is a healthy and much tastier version

I.love.Chinese.food.period. BUT having that said, I do not love all the MSG, gluten and other bad processed ingredients most Chinese restaurants sneak in to their food. Ever since Paleo Parents posted their Chinese Food Roll up and their inspiration of P.F. Chang’s Mongolian Beef I have had Chinese food more on the brain than usual. After looking at all of those amazing Paleo recipes, I quickly realized that I have to find time to make them all. In the meantime, I wanted to start with my favorite Chinese food dish, Mongolian Beef. I loved Paleo Parent’s skillet rendition, but I rarely have time to “cook” over a hot stove during the work week between shuffling the kids off to swim practice and completing the usual errands and chores.

So, it got me thinking that I should make a Paleo Mongolian Beef recipe for the Crock Pot that is easy to prepare for those days where cooking seems impossible. It took me three times to finally nail it and I love love love how the recipe turned out. I think you will be all pleased with the outcome too. Not to brag and all, but I think my Paleo version not only tastes better than the real thing but is much better for you too! Double win in my book. Differences in my recipes from other Paleo Mongolian Beef recipes is I used honey instead of sugar (which was more of a preference) and I added some veggies (why the hell not, right?) to it. There is a lot of sauce to this recipe so feel free to add a little more meat or more veggies to your liking. I like the extra sauce so it can soak up my No Grain Cauliflower Rice. I just make the plain no grain cauliflower rice (stop after step 2) since the dish is flavorful enough and the “rice” doesn’t need anything else.  Another great thing about this recipe is it only takes 4-5 hours to cook on low while other crock pot recipes take all day or at least 8 hours. So if you are pressed for time and don’t have time in the morning to prepare the crock pot, have no worries; you can put it in at lunch and still have a healthy and delicious dinner ready in a few hours.

So how much more convincing do you need. Go, cook! 🙂

4.8 from 4 reviews

Crock Pot Paleo Mongolian Beef

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

5 hours

Total time

5 hours 10 mins

 

If you love Mongolian beef, but are tired of ordering it at Chinese restaurants because you have sworn off MSG then look no further. Make delicious, healthy Chinese food in the comforts of your own home and without much of a mess because all you have to do is dump in the ingredients in a slow cooker and forget it, until of course it is time to eat! Enjoy.

Author: Our Full Plate

Recipe type: Crock Pot

Cuisine: Paleo, Chinese

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 pounds of sirloin beef tip or flank steak, cut into stir fry sized strips
• ½ teaspoon of ginger, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ¾ cups of coconut aminos (sub soy sauce if you are not Paleo)
• ¾ cup of water
• ¾ cup of honey
• ¼ cup of arrowroot powder (sub corn starch if you are not Paleo)
• 1 cup of carrots, shredded or sliced
• green onions, chopped for serving

Instructions

1. Chop up your beef in slices about two inches long and 1 inch thick.
2. Take your chopped beef slices and cover them with arrowroot powder and place them in the crock pot. You will find that most Mongolian recipes use corn starch to thicken up the sauce but I used arrowroot powder. Arrowroot is an herb that is found in rainforest habitats and is great for digestion. You can sub arrowroot powder for flour and corn starch makign it great for baking. Don't worry about the arrowroot soakign up too much of the sauce though. What I love most about this recipe is there is a lot of sauce so feel free to add more veggies to the recipe. Next time I make this I am going to double the carrots at least and God knows what else I will throw in the crock pot. That is the beauty about cooking in crock pots, just throw whatever you have available and in more cases than not it ends up being a keeper.
3. Add your minced garlic, fresh ginger, and sliced carrots on top of your beef. I have mentioned this before on the blog, but I will say it again. My trick to using fresh ginger is always buy a big fresh hunk to store in your freezer. When you buy it peel the entire chunk and then place it in a freezer safe Ziplock bag. Once it is frozen, take it out and use your microplane/ zester and that's it; and just like that you will see it is so easy to add fresh ginger into many of your recipes. What I hate the most about when you try to add fresh ginger that is NOT frozen, it turns into mush and it is so difficult to add it into your recipe. Whatever you have left over of your frozen ginger, throw it back into the freezer until you need it again. It usually lasts up to a few months so rarely do I ever have a piece that goes bad so go ahead and stock up.
4. Add the honey, coconut aminos and water and mix in a separate bowl. Once thoroughly mixed, add it to your crock pot trying to cover all the beef and carrots.
5. Cook on low for 4-5 hours. Remember since the pieces of meat are sliced in small pieces you do not have to cook this meal for over 8 hours like normal slow cooker dishes or it will dry out.
6. Serve the Crock Pot Paleo Mongolian Beef over no grain cauliflower rice.
7. Chop green onions and garnish your beef.
8. Devour your food! It is ok, it's Paleo. Indulge. You deserve it.

3.2.1230

So let me know what you think. Do you agree it tastes better than the Mongolian beef you would order at P.F. Changs?