DIY Mongolian Grill

This post contains instructions for quickly and easily creating your own DIY Mongolian Grill at home, perfect for company, grill nights or even camping.  Enjoy!

There is this Mongolian style grill restaurant that my husband and I go to just about every date night we get.

It is that good.

They have rows and rows of noodles, meats, veggies, fruits, sauces, toppings . . .

And you walk through and load your bowl to overflowing and hand it to the burly men who throw it onto a fire hot grill and toss your food around and say things like “Huuuu Hot”.

It’s such a fun experience – and I’m not even talking about how amazing the food is yet!

But I will now.  It is oh-so-delicious that my husband and I, being true to our do-it-yourself selves, decided to give it a try at home.  It was such success, and sooo easy!, that we have since had company over 3 times to make it.

This is so great for company because all you do is line-up the prepped food, and they fill up their bowls as they please.  Then you hand it to your own personal burly man who can say things like “Huuu Hot” for tips and giggles.

I’d like to walk you through our process of getting it prepped, foods we’ve discovered that work well, and tricks to cooking it just right.

Then you too can enjoy good company, good food, and good fun – with as much ease as any get-together you’ve ever done.

(There really is no “recipe” for this or given amounts.  Best to just give it your best guess for how many people you plan to serve.  Any extra’s can be easily stored in the freezer to use another time.)

I’ll name our favorite foods to have in the assembly line and give suggestions, but feel free to branch out and select your own favorite veggies, meats, noodles, toppings and sauces.  Once it is all mixed and cooked, it is wonderful!

The best thing is, it can all be prepped early in the day and easily be set out on a long table once you are ready to assemble and cook.

I like to cook up 2 kinds of noodles, and I use them both in my bowl.  Our preference is spaghetti noodles (kid friendly, too) and rice noodles.  You can cook them in advance and set them in fridge until ready to eat.

Meats!  You can go crazy with the meats.  The restaurant we go to has fish options, beefs, sausages of all kinds, chicken, etc.  For ease, we stick with chicken and my favorite, Hillshire Farm Sausages.  You can shop at your local Kroger store to find all sorts of varieties, from smoked to spicy.  I asked the meat guys to show me their stock and I was please there were so many options.  (And a quick heads up – between 3/30-4/19/16 you can pick up 2 Hillshire Farm sausages for only $5 while supplies last.  Please view your weekly Kroger Ad for verification.)

All I do is slice the sausages about 1/4 inch thick.  The chicken is really easy to prepare as well, as I just take a frozen chicken breast and slice them as thinly as I can manage.  That way they cook perfectly at the same pace as the veggies.  (Be sure to use food safety when dealing with the raw chicken.  Best to keep it separate from the other toppings).

Then you can add a wide variety of veggies, and fruits even.  What is so great about this method of cooking, even if the veggies are frozen from the store, they cook so well on the grill and taste almost like fresh vegetables.  So feel free to buy all frozen if you need it super quick and easy – but there are a few fresh veggies I like to add.

Here is our list:

• Frozen broccoli
• Frozen pea pods
• Frozen green beans
• Frozen carrots
• Frozen hashbrown cubes
• Fresh sliced zucchini (my favorite part)
• Fresh celery
• Fresh peppers
• Fresh cilantro

You could also consider frozen pineapple, frozen mango’s, bean sprouts, onions, water chestnuts, lentils . . . the sky is the limit!

Now let’s talk about sauces.

I grab whatever I happen to have in my fridge, but I love to make sure I have a teriyaki sauce and a sweet and sour sauce and some hot sauce for those who like a little fire on their tongue.  I like to also throw in some canned garlic and a bit of olive oil (helps it cook better I think).  But really, any sauce you like will work.  You could also be super great and make your own sauces – but then it wouldn’t be as easy as throwing a bottle on the table.  I go for ease 😉

Now while you are prepping, don’t forget the toppings.  Peanuts, sunflower seeds, a dash of coconut, and low mien noodles are delicious on top of it all (but remember they go on after it has been grilled).

Now I’d like to go over the process of making and cooking each bowl.  Give each person a large bowl to add their mix-ins.

I like to start with the noodles and meat and just throw it in the bowl.

Then go super crazy with the veggies because they are healthy and you can never have enough, right?!  Just pile them all on top.

Next pick a variety of sauces and dump in to your hearts content.  You don’t want to be too stingy with the sauce, because that is the moisture that is going to help it all cook.

As far as cooking goes, there are many ways to do it.  We’ve done it indoors a couple of times, just with an electric skillet – and it worked great.  We enjoyed this time using a camp chef and a cast iron pan or dutch oven.  If you have a iron griddle, that would be perfect to cook multiple bowls at a time.

All you do is hand it to the grill master and they dump it in an already hot surface.

You’ll want to be sure to stir it up real good at first.  Then you can let it sit a bit and cook and then stir again.

It usually takes about 4-6 minutes for all the meat and frozen veggies to be cooked all the way.

Then you can scoop it all up and dish it up on a clean plate.

You’ll be drooling before you even get it to your mouth.

My grill man suggests keeping a bottle of water to spray between servings on the hot pan.  It helps so that sauce doesn’t stick and burn all over.  He will even spray a bit of water in with the food if the sauce seems to be burning to the bottom while cooking it.

Then you go add any or all toppings available – and dive in!

It is truly delightful, and I really hope you’ll give it a try!  I’d love to hear if you do.  I’d also love to hear if you have any questions or comments and if you’ve ever been to a Mongolian style grill before and what you think.

Don’t forget to pin this recipe for quick reference.  You could also share the link with your friends or family that you plan to invite and have them each bring their favorite veggies or toppings to go with it.  I don’t think there could possibly be an easier pot luck in the world!

Finally, I’d like to also add:

• “This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group®  and Hillshire Farm, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #nohasslesavorymeal http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV”
• You can also explore other sausage recipes at Hillshire Farm online.

Thanks for reading!

*Linking up to these parties, HERE.