Korean Beef Bowl
by Chungah
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Tastes like Korean BBQ (bulgogi) and is on your dinner table in just 15 min! Quick, easy, budget-friendly, and a hit with the entire family!
Featured Comment
Please welcome our favorited Korean beef bowls, one of our most popular recipes on Damn Delicious. This recipe is a special twist on the traditional Korean dish, bulgogi, but as a cheater version, we are swapping out thin slices of sirloin with ground beef.
Why You’ll Love This Korean Beef Bowl
- Weeknight hero. With a short ingredient list, these beef bowls come together incredibly fast. The cooking process itself takes just about 10-15 minutes, and if you have some leftover cooked rice lying around, dinner will be on the table in 20 minutes or less. It’s a budget-friendly alternative to traditional bulgogi while still capturing authentic Korean BBQ flavors.
- Budget-friendly. Using pantry staples, ground beef and rice, this dish can easily feed a family of four without breaking the bank.
- Flexible recipe. Throw in any lingering veggies (ex. chopped bell peppers, carrots or broccoli florets) for an easy clean-out-the-fridge meal.
What is the difference between bulgogi and Korean beef bowls?
Bulgogi uses marinated sliced beef, grilled or pan-fried, while Korean beef bowls use ground beef for a faster, budget-friendly weeknight version. Bulgogi is also marinated overnight to enhance its flavors and tenderness but with this quick ground beef version, you can have the same flavors in lightning speed time.
How to make korean beef bowls
- Prep the sauce. Combine the brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, and ginger. To make the bowls more spicy, swap out the red pepper flakes for gochujang (Korean red chili paste).
- Crumble the ground beef. Sauté the garlic first in a large cast iron skillet, then crumble the ground beef (or desired meat), draining the excess fat.
- Add the sauce and simmer. Add the sauce, simmering until heated through, about 2 minutes. This would be a great time to add in any leafy greens (baby spinach or kale) for those picky eaters!
- Serve. Serve warm over rice, topped with a fried egg for additional protein.
What to Serve with Korean Beef Bowls
Tools For This Recipe
Large cast iron skillet
Korean Beef Bowl: Frequently Asked Questions
Not at all! Use ground pork, chicken or turkey, tofu or plant based ground beef in place of the ground beef.
Add a fried egg on top (sunny side or over easy), breaking the runny yolk into a rich, velvety sauce to mix with the rice.
Yes! Swap out the soy sauce for gluten-free tamari.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Absolutely! Here are detailed instructions on how to meal prep this for the week.
100%! This is one of our favorite crockpot recipes, perfect for those chilly months.
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers in individual freezer bags, thaw overnight, and reheat on the stovetop (adding a tablespoon of water as needed).
Korean Beef Bowl
Video
Ingredients
- ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes, or more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- ¼ teaspoon sesame seeds
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes and ginger.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add ground beef and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; drain excess fat.
- Stir in soy sauce mixture and green onions until well combined, allowing to simmer until heated through, about 2 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with green onion and sesame seeds, if desired.
Equipment
Notes
- Use reduced sodium soy sauce. Reduced sodium has less sodium and less salt without compromising flavor.
- Pick your favorite protein. Ground beef, pork, chicken or turkey, tofu or plant based ground beef will all work very well here. In need of more protein? Top your bowl with a sunny side up fried egg.
- Add vegetables. Mushrooms, carrots, bell peppers or snow peas can be added for a more heartier meal, perfect for picky eaters and grown ups!
- Double the sauce. Need extra sauce for sopping with rice? The sauce portion can easily be doubled or tripled for those saucy folks!
- Serve with your favorite grains. White rice, brown rice, cauliflower rice, quinoa or farro are all solid options.
- Meal prep as needed. Perfect for on-the-go, these Korean beef bowls can be conveniently meal prepped for the week ahead.
Did you make this recipe?
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I also diced an onion and cooked with beef. Taste good.
Thank you
This is pretty much in our weekly rotation!! Delish!!
I’ve made this many times, it’s a great simple recipe-easy to turn out in a half an hour. The only change I make is to halve the sugar. I serve it with optional garnishes of grated carrots, diced cucumbers, slivered scallions, kimchi, diced avocado, sriracha, and sesame seeds. My peeps request it when I haven’t made it in a while. Thanks for the well-written recipe.
Love this recipe, have made it for years. Wanted to come here to ensure it continues on
Super easy and FAST to make with ingredients I’d say most people would have in their kitchen. I put it over riced cauliflower and broccoli….delicious!
Definitely a new favorite in the recipe book.
This was a 10/10 for everyone in my home, including a culinary student and an Asian. (Although the Asian added a fried egg and some kimchi). I added some stir fried cabbage, carrot & broccoli. Even w low sodium soy sauce it was a little salty for me but I’m sensitive to salt. My culinary expert said to save this one, no need to ever try another recipe for this dish!
This is my go to recipe for a quick tasty meal, and easily doubled for company. I normally use ground pork, and Korean red pepper from the Asian market, and additional green onion.
This is delicious. FYI I added a bit of fresh minced ginger as well as a bit of beef bouillon to make it taste richer.
I have used this recipe for years on All kinds of meats. Love love love the marinade❣️❣️❣️
I add finely chopped carrot and water chestnuts. Soo good. My kids love it over Angel hair pasta.
One of our family favorites!! We roast broccoli in the air fry to serve with it. Soooo yummy!!!
I made this last night and my dad absolutely loved it. We are a japanese family and I’m 12 years old tying to help my family out. This was easy to make and very delicious but the sauce was too strong I reccommend using less soy sauce.
I used broccoli instead of green onions. Loved it!!
First, let me start with I have some very picky eaters, and they just loved this. I made double the meant and three times the sauce as another commenter suggested. Amazing.
We absolutely love this recipe. I like to serve it over rice and topped with sliced cucumbers and a little shredded lettuce for freshness. If I have fresh ginger, I will use a piece of that minced up instead of the dry
Delicious! And even better when made with chopped pork instead of the ground beef.
We really liked this. I added a tbs. of Gochujang because we like our Bulgogi to have just a little kick. Otherwise I followed it to the last letter and it was delicious. It’s not often that a first time recipe makes it into our rotation after one try with no further ‘monkeying’ by me.
Got a quickie Bibimbap or Dolsot Bibimbap recipe I can try?
My family loves this meal! We had 1/2 bag of broccoli slaw to the sauce, too.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! It is so easy to make and the perfect answer when you have 1 lb of meat. The dish is full of flavor and tastes like, “more please!”