Paleo Mongolian Beef Stir-Fry
This Paleo Mongolian Beef is packed with flavor, color, and texture. It's also Whole30 and Keto friendly. Be sure to follow the recipe and the notes section for make-ahead meal planning tips.
This Paleo Mongolian Beef is packed with flavor, color, and texture. It's also Whole30 and Keto friendly. Be sure to follow the recipe and the notes section for make-ahead meal planning tips.
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos
- 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 tbsp red boat fish sauce
- 1 lb beef sirloin tips (thin sliced against the grain)
- cooking fat of your choice - ghee coconut oil
- 3 large cloves garlic (finely minced)
- 3-inch long thin sliced ginger (from index through ring finger quantity)
- 2 slice to thin strips)
- 3 bulbs scallions (cut into 3-inch length. separate
- Carbohydrate 0 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 4.5 g
- Fiber 0 g
- Protein 0 g
- Saturated Fat 0.639 g
- Serving Size 1 1 people (118g)
- Sodium 0 mg
- Sugar 0 g
- Trans Fat 0.198 g
- Calories 40 calories
Step-by-step
- Thin slice beef against the grain. Add coconut aminos, fish sauce, and sesame oil. Marinate the beef for 20 minutes.
- In the meantime, prepare ingredients listed under “aromatics†.
- Heat cooking fat of your choice over medium-high heat in a skillet/saute pan. When hot, lower the heat to medium. Stir-fry the beef with the marinade until it’s no longer pink. Set aside.
- Add a bit more cooking oil, saute the ginger, garlic, red chili peppers, and white color part of scallions under medium to medium-high heat until fragrant. Season with a small pinch of salt.
- Add beef and green color part of scallions back to the saute pan. Toss everything to combine.
Home cooks frequently slice beef in the wrong direction, leaving tough, rubbery fibers intact that no amount of cooking can tenderize. Slicing sirloin tips strictly perpendicular to the muscle fibers shortens those protein strands, ensuring a tender chew that readily absorbs marinades. Observing this mechanical rule is the single most important factor for achieving restaurant-quality texture at home.
Marinating the meat for twenty minutes in coconut aminos and fish sauce seasons the protein while drawing out surface moisture through osmosis. When introduced to a skillet heated over medium-high, that excess moisture prevents the Maillard reaction necessary for proper browning. Patting the beef thoroughly dry after its rest allows the exterior to brown rapidly without steaming the surrounding aromatics.
Stir-frying relies on thermal momentum, which plummets instantly when too much cold food enters the pan at once. Cook the sirloin in batches if your skillet measures less than twelve inches in diameter, maintaining high heat so the fat renders rather than pools. Once the meat loses its pink hue, remove it immediately to halt cooking and prevent internal moisture loss.
Aromatics like garlic and ginger burn within thirty seconds if exposed to unregulated high heat, turning bitter and acrid. Lowering the burner to medium before adding the ginger, garlic, and scallion whites protects these delicate compounds from scorching while releasing their volatile oils into the fat.
