Korean Beef Bowl
by Chungah
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Tastes like Korean BBQ (bulgogi) and is on your dinner table in 15 min start to finish! Doesn’t get any easier than this!
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. 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.
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. Any lingering veggies (ex. chopped bell peppers, carrots or broccoli florets) can be thrown right in for a great clean-out-the-fridge meal.
Tips for the Best Korean Beef Bowl
- Use reduced sodium soy sauce. Reduced sodium has less sodium and less salt without compromising flavor.
- Use your favorite meat. Ground beef, pork, chicken or turkey, tofu or plant based ground beef will all work very well here.
- Add vegetables. Mushrooms, carrots, bell peppers or snow peas can be added for a more heartier meal.
- More protein. In need of more protein? Top your bowls with a fried egg.
- 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 great options.
- Meal prep as needed. Perfect for on-the-go, these Korean beef bowls can be conveniently meal prepped for the week ahead.
What to Serve with Korean Beef Bowls
Tools For This Recipe
Large cast iron skillet
Korean Beef Bowl: Frequently Asked Questions
Bulgogi uses marinated sliced beef, grilled or pan-fried, while Korean beef bowls use ground beef for a faster, budget-friendly weeknight version.
Not at all! Ground pork, chicken or turkey, tofu or plant based ground beef can be used in place of the ground beef.
Absolutely! Here are detailed instructions on how to meal prep this for the week.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
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
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So yummy and quick! I doubled the recipe hoping for some lunch leftovers but four adults inhaled it. I sautéed some veggies to make it a meal. I will definitely be making this again!
I love this super easy tasty recipe! I like to add shredded carrots and cucumber with it!
This is in our favorites rotation for sure! So easy, great flavor and we all love it.
Can I cook the meat and sauce and then warm it up for supper when I cook the rice?
Add brocoli slaw at the end and let it steam.
10/10
We’ve made this several times and it’s always a hit! Perfect amount of spice & just a hint of sweetness to balance it out. It’s going into regular rotation!! Delicious!
We make this all the time . Quick, delicious and we always have everything we need . Thanks for such a family favorite .
We make this weekly, and I’m trying to do some food prep for a baby arrival. Do you think I could pre-mix the beef with rice and freeze, or should rice be made fresh each time? Thanks for creating our whole family’s favorite meal!
Hey Claire, the baby is probably already here (congrats!). While I wouldn’t freeze the beef with the rice, you can make rice ahead of time and freeze. A quart size freezer bag should be enough for four servings. I would suggest letting the rice to sit in the fridge for a day after you make it and then put it in the freezer, flat if you can.
I had a slab of pork that I cut off some spareribs that I need to use up. This was very easy to make and tasted fantastic. I served it with TJ’s jasmine rice. Very simple but delicious.
Delicious! Definitely a new family staple. My 1yr old, 11yr old and hubby all loved it! I did not have green onions so that was left out. Other than that, I followed the recipe as stated. Thank you for sharing!
A great quick and easy recipe! Definitely serve over some fresh rice. You can also include firm/extra firm tofu chopped into small 1 cm blocks along with the ground beef to make bigger portions without too much meat. I like to take out the beef after cooking and add the tofu for a few minutes, then put the beef back in along with the sauce step. If you add tofu in addition to the 1lb of beef I’d recommend increasing the amount of sauce accordingly.
As someone else mentioned you can add gochujang (Korean red chili paste) in lieu of the red pepper flakes for more authentic flavour!
Love this.Shared with my family and now it’s everyone’s favorite.I have made it with chicken and steak too.Next is shrimp.
Bulgogi is one of our favorite things to eat when we go out to the Korean restaurant. This recipe tasted like our favorite restaurant just with ground beef! The sauce was excellent. I doubled it because we like extra sauce for the rice. Got some butter lettuce to wrap it all in and my husband loved it! Thank you for this delicious and easy recipe.
I have made this a few times, always great ! Threw some steamed brocoli in with it tonight and cauliflower “fried”rice .
This was so good served over rice! Also served sautéed cabbage and carrots on the side. I will definitely make this again. Thanks for the recipe!
The sugar on this could have been cut in half we felt that it was way too sweet, otherwise the flavor combo was very good.
Super easy and really tasty. I am impressed with this recipe!
I’ve never left a review, but l should as l try so many different recipes. Ths recipe is awesome! Something different to do w ground beef! Fast and easy! My families only beef is they want more sauce for their rice. Lol Tonight is 3rd time l’ve made it. I made the sauce then halved it again! So good!
I love this recipe and have made it many times! I like to add a bag of cole slaw mix (shredded cabbage and carrots) so I almost double the sauce recipe and pour it all together. This mix is delicious over rice or fried into egg roll shells. This time I added some baby corn. Highly recommend this simple quick recipe
Sooo good! Made tonight! I had 1/2 ground beef and 1/2 ground turkey. Followed the recipe really simple and fast. I had leftover brown rice,so didn’t have to wait on that. But my timing was off I wanted a veg. So my meat is done didn’t add the sauce,got out baby bok choy and zucchini, steamed them,warmed the rice added the sauce. Dinner!! Hubby said it was good. It was great for me! Will make this again. Thank you!