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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I love this! I modified a bit, by throwing in some sugar snap peas and sliced water chestnuts (skipping green onion).
It’s a household favorite and I admit to making it way too often.
This recipe is amazing. The kids love it, so thank you for making my job easier.
Thank you for such a super simple and delicious recipe! My family loved it!!
I made this except I swapped out soy sauce with coconut aminos (required slightly less brown sugar due to coconut aminos being a little sweeter than soy sauce) and added sliced grilled mushrooms. I served it over brown rice, the family loves it and it is part of our meal planning now.
Very good! Added zucchini noodles, shredded carrots and red paper. Will definitely make again!
My family loves this recipe. My sister is very picky so it is always hard finding a new recipe she loves. She loves Korean Beef and can’t stop asking for it. My mom and dad back home have fit it to our normal rotation of dinner meals.
As for myself, I am up at college and think Korean Beef is to die for. I have even added in mixed veggies corn, carrots, and green beans to make it into a nice stir fry dish. I have also on occasion made it with rice-a-roni instead of rice.
I have also occasionally, substituted some of the soy sauce for teriyaki sauce to add some sweetness to it. Mmmm good tasted like desert for dinner.
Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe!
We have made this several times now. We added sliced mushrooms and onions. We double up the sauce so there is lots for the rice.
This is a staple in my meal planning. Family loves it. In fact, I taught my college-age son how to make it today so that he can make it on his own. My other son has to be told not to take it all and to leave some for the rest of the family! Thanks for such great recipes!
This was so delicious, I am adding to my favorites! We added sauteed green/red pepper, water chestnuts and onion and blanched broccoli. Yum! The red chili flakes was just amount of kick. Thank you!
This is my youngest son’s favorite dish! I’ve been making it for a few years and it’s so simple and delicious. Thanks for a great recipe!
I’ve been using this recipe of yours for years & just thought to leave a review. My husband LOVES and my smallest rates it a million stars. Thanks!
I was desperate for a quick hamburger dish. I was “Hangry!”. I found this and fortunately had all ingredients except gr onions. It took me start to finish 23 minutes. I had to gather ingredients and mince the garlic. OMGoodness!! DELICIOUS!! I was too hungry to cook the rice so I topped my left over mashed potatoes. Still tasty! I will make more sauce and freeze it for future meals.
So freaking yummy!!!!!
Thank you so much for this recipe. I have been using it for a long time now, and my family loves it. Since my husband is watching his fat intake, I use ground turkey, but this recipe is perfect as is. The ground turkey is leaner so I end up usually doubling the sauce. I also cut up extra green onions and put them in the turkey at the end of the cooking time. They wilt just a little and give a little more depth of flavor. For an added crunch, I use fresh lettuce. My girls take a spoonful of the rice and meat and add it into a leaf of lettuce (bibb, red leaf, or green leaf-I have tried other types, but they like these the best.), wrap it up, and eat it. I love that this meal is quick, easy, and uses items that most of us have on hand already. I would like to know what the fat content and nutritional information of this meal would be using turkey and not beef. Is there any way to post that?
We are so happy to hear this recipe is a keeper for you, Christina!
Nutritional information, however, is provided only for select recipes at this time. If it is not available for a specific recipe, we recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”). Hope that helps!
Very good!!! I added zucchini and cauliflower chopped finely and it was a nice addition.
I made this and used honey for the sweetener instead of brown sugar. Paleo! I added green beans, and mushrooms and served it over cauliflower rice. i also doubled the recipe. A very big hit at my house! Thanks for the recipe! 🙂
This is a long overdue review. I have been making this dish for a good year now and it is one of my family’s favorite dishes. When it comes to food all 3 of my kids have different feelings and tastes, but this bowl they all 3 ABSOLUTELY LOVE! Thank you. I am a big essential oil user so I choose to replace the ginger with doterra ginger oil which works very well. We make this dish very often because it’s easy, quick and ALL 5 of us love it. Can dinner be any simpler?! My hubby is a texture person so we add egg rolls on the side for those who need a crunch (me, I’m so satisfied with the dish alone). I can’t thank you enough for this perfect recipe.
So easy to make. My family loves it
Love this recipe! Some where else I picked up a recommendation to add Bulldog Worstchestire (sorry I can not seem to spell it) specifically and I do- a teaspoon or so to taste. I don’t know why that brand was mentioned, because it seems the same as any to me, but I like it in this dish. I love how I can add any vegtables I have on hand to the cooking pot or on the side as toppers. Tonight it’s rather green- soy beans, spinach, celery, green onions, plus mushrooms and a can of diced water chestnuts (which I almost always use because we like them. Other nights I have cold quick pickled cucs and carrots, radishes…peppers, broccoli, squash. Tonight I made three pounds worth to freeze for an easy post-travel meal when we get home late after an up coming trip.
It was super easy and very tasty. Everyone in my family loved it.
That’s the goal! Thanks for sharing, Jill!