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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Easy and delicious! Four stars because there was no veggies – I added thin carrot sticks, shredded bok choy, and bean sprouts. Thinking about it now I could have added some kimchi for an extra kick too. Next time 🙂 Thanks for a great, quick, easy and adaptable recipe.
Really easy and tasty! It will be on the menu again. I didn’t have sesame oil and used olive oil. I also didn’t have green onions. Neither affected the recipe and I think it could be very adaptable. Your main ingredients would be the brown sugar, soy, ginger, and red pepper flakes and are what make the sauce delicious.
This is an amazing recipe. Easy to make for a weeknight dinner. It is my 16 year old sons favorite meal. I have made it with ground pork before too. Delicious.
This is one of our favorites – my husband asks for it at least once a week! I made it while visiting his son and his girlfriend -it was a hit there too! I’ve shared the recipe with them! Recipe is very easy to follow – I usually double the sauce and green onions. Thank you for this DELICIOUS recipe!
tasty and quick to make
This recipe is amazing!! You literally can’t go wrong – doesn’t matter if you add too much or too little of any of the ingredients, it’s delicious no matter what!! My family loves Asian food and this is my go-to quick weeknight meal. Yum. I serve it with white rice and peas in a bowl.
Really excellent, really easy. Used 1 T. grated fresh ginger in place of the powder, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. I usually have these ingredients on hand and this outstanding and super simple recipe is now part of the rotation. Thank you, Chungah!
Loved it. Instant dinner for . 30mins or less and everyone loved it.
Had this with the Yves vegetarian ground beef and it was so good! It’s become a regular around our house
My family loves it. Make it all the time
Tried this recipe for my family, and they loved it. Easy enough for the teens to make when it’s their turn to cook on our busy days. Will be taking a look at other recipes, too. Thanks!
A family favorite!
Damn, this is delicious and now a staple in my house. Easy, cheap, and yummy? YES
Love this recipe! I serve it on steamed rice with a side os seasonal veggies.
Delicious and simple. Made it with noodles as well. Versatile sauce for easy spin offs.
Made a chicken and vegetable version today.
Delicious. We used leftover chicken instead of ground beef because it was available. My daughter prepped most of the ingredients last night, so cooking was fast!
I love this recipe. I almost always have a lb of ground beef or soy crumbles in the freezer, and love all the flavors of Asian cuisine. This is so easy and quick to make. I’m writing this after having eaten a big bowl of it over rice with steamed broccoli. It’s one of my go-to meals when I’ve had a long day but want to make sure we eat something healthy and filling. all of the ingredients are fairly common pantry staples and it’s so versatile. I think the next time I’ll add a fried egg for something different. Thank you for the great recipe!
I love this recipe. I almost always have a lb of ground beef or soy crumbles in the freezer, and love all the flavors of Asian cuisine. This is so easy and quick to make. I’m writing this after having eaten a big bowl of it over rice with steamed broccoli. It’s one of my go-to meals when I’ve had a long day but want to make sure we eat something healthy and filling. all of the ingredients are fairly common pantry staples and it’s so versatile. I think the next time I’ll add a fried egg for something different. Thank you for the great recipe!
OmG
Someone took ground beef out of the freezer instead of a slab of pork, so i googled and came across this recipe. I dod not want Spaghetti.
I used jarred ginger and garlic and 1,5 lbs meat so I scaled up.
I did not have the green onions or sesame seeds. So I did without. Our store is closed on Sundays
I used sambal instead of the pepper flakes, basically I just browned the beef and mixed all the rest together and dumped it in the pan over the browned beef. I used a bit more soy sauce and then thickened it with corn starch.
So i served with steamed rice and broccoli.
My son who usually doesn’t like saucy stuff annihilated his food, my husband had 3 serving and was looking for more…
This will be a dish I will teach the guys how to make it because it is so easy to make. A Hit in our House.
I’m no chef but have been cooking since I was 9, started out on peanut butter cookies with my Mom, graduated to home made dark cocoa fudge with peanut butter, a couple yrs later. I am 63 now & have cooked almost everything since then, but this is by far one of the easiest and best tasting recipes I’ve ever tried. I’ve made this about 3 times & we are still loving it.
I this by accident looking for other stuff, I am glad I found it.
Thank you for posting a great recipe