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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EXCELLENT recipe! Quick, easy and tasty! I made mine with ground turkey and it was delicious. Thank you for another “keeper” recipe 🙂
Thanks, Gina!
This was delicious! Thanks for the great recipe.
Can I double this recipe? We are a family of 5 and plus I would love to have left overs. Thanks!
Yes, absolutely!
This looks amazing, as usual. Will be making this week.
Let us know how you like it!
We had this for dinner yesterday, and it was perfect. However, because my teen son hates onions of any kind, but my husband and I love all onions, I prepared them in a separate skillet, added some spices to it, then I put some on top of ours. Everything was amazing. Thans a gain for alway post such tasty meals. Now they are asking me to make more this week. I will be pulling up some of your older post to try and make everyone happy again. Thank you!
That’s so great to hear! Thank you for sharing with us. We’re excited you’ll try more of our recipes!
This recipe is awesome! I actually crave it so much my family (which also loves it) is getting annoyed! We love the amazing flavour and how simple it is to throw together. Definitely a keeper!
Thank you, Giselle! That makes us happy 🙂
I’m guessing a tsp or so of gochujang would be an appropriate substitute for the crushed red pepper?
Great idea!
Since I am not familiar with Korean food, it would be helpful to have serving suggestions at the end of the recipe. I.e; what other items you serve it with? Sometimes having the right dish to go with can make a big difference in whether or not you like the recipe.
You can serve with rice (or veggies) as pictured. 🙂
This is so good! And sooooo easy to make!!
Great to hear, Jane!
Just made this today with ground turkey and it is delicious! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Yum! Thanks for sharing.
This is a massive hit in our house. I also have success freezing this in portions on rice for hubby who works away to heat for dinner. I usually make four times the amount so we get dinner, left over lunches and some in the freezer for hubby. Thankyou for shearing this recipe x
That’s awesome Rosana! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much for such an amazing recipe. I am officially obsessed 🙂
I enjoy it plain as written, and also sometimes use it as a filling in a meat pastry which is also delicious.
You can check out my full review of it here–>
https://bitesnpieces.co/2018/06/10/simple-yet-delicious-korean-beef-bowl/
hi, chungah! long time follower, first time commenting. love this recipe so hard. i’ve made it countless times. its great with ground turkey, and i always use gochugaru (bc korean spice is life…and my mom left me an xl mason jar full in my freezer – not mad!). thank you for recipes that remind me of my favorite meals growing up.
That’s awesome Helen! Thanks for sharing.
My favorite recipe of yours so far. So easy and delicious! Thank you so much for sharing!!
Our pleasure!
Delicious and ridiculously easy to make, thanks for sharing!
Of course Rebecca! Thank you for sharing!
This was an amazing dinner experience. I will be adding this to our normal rotation. Easy and delicious. Thank you for sharing this.
Awesome to hear Steve! Thank you 🙂
Made 2 versions of this last night. One with ground beef and one with vegetarian crumble for my daughter. Both were absolutely delicious. Will make this regularly.
Awesome Tish! Glad it worked as a vegetarian version as well!
i used ground wagyu beef, reduced the sugar, splashed some cooking wine and added carrot strips and mushrooms and they are DIVINE! you can eat it alone or pair it with spinach pita bread. A great way to finish off left over ground beef.=)
Great additions/substitutions Diana, so glad you enjoyed it so much!
Do you think vegan beef crumbles would be okay?
To be honest, I have never tried vegan beef crumbles before so it’s hard to say!
Let me say, it was “Damn Delicious” I served it with Teriyaki Rice with celery added. Next time I will probably add more veggies. But it was good to the last forkful
This is very similar to a dish my friend Okie from Indonesia taught me to make. Just use Indonesian Ketjap (sweet soy sauce) instead of brown sugar and soy sauce. It is more delicious. Also, I add about a pound of bean sprouts to the burger and Ketjap. It is so good.