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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A surprise. I refused to pay the cost per pound of desired steak and thought there had to be a better choice. Did a quick search in the grocery store for a suitable substitute and this was my choice. Family wolfed it down and wanted more. Thank you!
My son that doesn’t eat many new things had two helpings of this dish! Thank you.
This meal is super delicious and impossible to mess up. I accidentally overcooked the beef, and was missing sesame oil, green onions and ginger. And it STILL tastes amazing.
I have made this several times now, it’s so good. I have doubled the recipe and added shredded carrots to it and it turns out great for my crowd of teens who we know don’t eat many veggies.
One of our family’s favorite recipes! Love to use fresh ginger when I have it. I go easy on the red pepper flakes for my kids, then my husband and I add them on top or throw some Sriracha on to give it a kick. So easy, so tasty, and a regular at our house!
WHENEVER MY DAD MAKES THIS FOR DINNER…I GET TWO BOWLS AND THEN THE LEFTOVERS THE NEXT DAY HOT DAMN…………….ITS AMAZIN
The easiest Korean beef bowl recipe I’ve tried! Me and my husband loved it so much every time we shop for minced beef we know what we’ll cook. I have tried this in rice bowls and it also works with lettuce wraps. This is a good base recipe and may be customised as desired.Yummy!
I had 5 pounds of ground beef in the fridge so I quintupled the recipe and it was great! I added 2 tbsps of gojuchang for Korean flair and a handful of shredded carrots. Everyone raved!
This was SO good! My family could not stop raving about it while eating it.
My daughter and I are vegetarian, so we used the sauce recipe, thickened with a bit of cornstarch, over grilled vegetables. If we ate meat, we would definitely still love this recipe. We appreciate all of the wonderful flavors that come through, and how simple it is to prepare.
This is absolutely going into our meal rotation.
So easy and very delicious! I’ve made this recipe several times. My husband loves it.
SO good! I can’t even tell you how many times ive made this. its perfect for meal prepping too.
soooo damn delicious! Added shredded carrots and red peppers served over rice with an asian cucumber salad
One of my favorites for a few years now! I make it again and again!! So easy and delicious.
We loved this recipe! Very simple and easy to make. Will definitely make this again.
Was easy to prepare and so tasty with white rice and a fresh salad.
Very quick and easy dinner for a weeknight. And it is delicious too!
Really delicious! I cut the recipe in half based on the amount of meat I had. I also put in extra spring onions. It made a really satisfying dinner. I can envision all sorts of possibilities with this as a base. Thank you!
This looks great for my family which has a few picky eaters. Do I put in plain sesame oil or toasted sesame oil?
Wow! This was way better than I thought it would be. Extremely tasty and pleased my elderly mother, too. Served it over rice and had Honey Glazed garlic roasted carrots on the side. The only thing I didn’t have was red pepper flakes so I used cayenne pepper. This dish tasted like I was in Korea again—where I lived for a year serving in the US Air Force. This is a keeper and will make again. Thank you!
Love this easy sweet and spicy combination! This will be in our rotation. We threw on a fried egg because why not!
This was SO GOOD. I used ground turkey and added some green cabbage that I needed to use up. Served over white rice.