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.
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I have made this a few times now and it continues to be a favorite with my family. So so good!
Turned out great I highly recommend this! I am half Korean and this was spot on for bulging I marinade and I paired with home made cucumber kimchi!!
Hello, I hope this message finds you in great health and peace, is it possible to get your recipe for your homemade kimchi? Also did you marinade your ground beef in the sauce before cooking?
This is quick and tasty! I have my daughter teen daughter making it tonight.
Love this recipe, I fry it up with a pound of fresh green beans over rice. A family favorite.
One of our regular favorites. Great with Basmati rice and Impossible meat.
My ratings are simple. If the wife says, meh, you can cook it again if you want that means she will eat it but doesn’t care for it. If she says that was good, we can have it again that is 3 stars! If she says please cook this again that is a 4 star! And if she says, we need to have this again next week, I will eat it anytime you cook it, that is 5 stars. This was dang good and a 4 star by the wife. Easy too.
I made this recipe last night. It was so quick and easy and DELICIOUS!!!
I’ve made this weekly for the past four months. So easy, so good, and my kid is obsessed with it. I add in matchstick carrots and diced spinach to sneak in some vegetables and leave it as-is otherwise. (I also love the regular bulging recipe on here when we can find shaved steak and have time to marinade.) Thank you!!!
This recipe was so good! I added shredded cabbage and carrots. We also had some sesame oil with chili and it added a nice kick! Highly recommend. Tasted exactly like one of our favorite bul-go-gi spots in town!
I made this with sirloin instead of ground beef. I thought about adding other vegetables, but it was late and I was hungry. It was absolutely delicious!
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.