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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One of my favorite meals to make, I double the sauce and add broccoli or green pepper over brown rice.
I stumbled upon this recipe – it was damn delicious and easy! Was out of red pepper flakes so subbed siracha instead. I tried it on waygu ground beef, oven baked salmon, and sous vide pork chops. all delicious, thank you!
Loved it. Added carrots, mushrooms and asparagus while cooking the meat. It was a hit!
We cook Asian A Lot at our house. We were not expecting a lot out of this “simple” recipe. Well, let me tell you, it is all and more than all the reviews have said. Increased the ginger, red pepper flakes, and Sesame Oil cause we like it spicy. It is Super Good!
My husband was pretty skeptical when I said I wanted to make an oriental dish with ground beef for dinner tonight. I was too, hoping this would live up to all the comments. Well I’m here to report that it absolutely did!! This recipe is so simple to make, and, as my husband said, “stupidly good.” The best part is that it only uses a few ingredients and is super quick. This will definitely be in our regular meal rotation. We want to try this recipe as lettuce or cabbage boats next time! Thanks for a new dinner staple!
Everything noted in this recipe is true. It’s easy and quick to make, and it’s DELICIOUS! A huge win with everyone in our household, including an 8 year old picky eater.
This is also a recipe I have made when bringing someone a meal — always enjoyed!
If you haven’t made this yet, drop everything and do it NOW! It’s one of the best meals I’ve ever made! Substitutes I utilized: half beef/half pork, instead of just beef; put garlic powder in the sauce instead of fresh, cut out the oil because the beef/p0rk supplies its own; added frozen thai veggies when I put the meat in, made a little extra sauce to account for them; serve it over brown rice. It’s just as good without sesame seeds as well (as there’s plenty of sesame oil in the sauce). With the substitutions, I think of this meal as pretty well-balance/healthy, and it just has no business being that delicious (but it is!).
One of our absolute favorites! I use ground turkey, toss with udon noodles and serve with roasted broccoli. We eat this every other week!
This was delicious, thank you! We served steamed broccoli on the side.
Thank you for this recipe; it is so easy and delicious. While cooking, the garlic and beef makes the house smell wonderful, and the kids and husband start salivating. (As I was writing this, my youngest just said, “Something smells really good,” and my eldest said, “I wasn’t hungry but you cooked something good”). Although it is perfect the way it is, I like to add a tbsp of gochuchang for a little heat and even more Korean flavor. This recipe is on repeat in my house.
So very tasty and easy. My husband and I loved it. Can I cook this and freeze? I’d like to make some for an RV trip.
WOW! I tried this recipe yesterday and was a bit skeptical but wanted to try something new to add to the dinner rotation. It was as promised, fast and delish!!
Most certainly will make again and again and again.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I wish dinner could always be as easy as this one
Really quick and delicious! This has become part of our regular weeknight dinner rotation and is so satisfying considering how easy it is. Usually serve with steamed veggies and basmati rice. I like to 1.5x the sauce.
This dish was delish and really did take only 15 minutes to make. I served it with sautéed veggies – snow peas, mushrooms and onions – that you could add or not. I also included crushed peanuts in addition to the sesame seed topper. My picky eating kids loved this too.
I’ve made this recipe more times than I can count. I double the sauce and add whatever vegetables I have on hand (shredded carrots, broccoli, etc) and serve with chopped daikon kimchi.
This recipe has been a staple in our house ever since I discovered it. I usually make it with gochujang instead of red pepper flakes, and I usually make a double batch for our family of 7. We like it with wonton chips for scooping, and we usually have veggies in bowls or on the side. Occasionally, we throw a fried egg on top for an extra treat!
Delish leftover as well. I would suggest having some warm beef or chicken broth on the side to add just in case as we all know rice is dry and the Korean beef can be a little on the dry side.. I also steam my rice in chicken or beef broth to carry additiinal flavor. This dish is so yummy and easy peasy.
This is a weeknight staple in our house! Absolutely delicious and so easy to make.
My kids love this and is a family favorite…
One added thing I do is buy a package of broccoli slaw and fresh pineapple I put both of those in separate dishes and allow family to add to their liking. Also have experimented with cooking ramen noodles (no flavor packet) drain water and allow family to substitute noodle for the rice or add to dish. Usually make once a week
My kids love this and is a family favorite…
One added thing I do is buy a package of broccoli slaw and fresh pineapple I put both of those in separate dishes and allow family to add to their liking. Also have experimented with cooking ramen noodles (no flavor packet) drain water and allow family to substitute noodle for the rice or add to dish.