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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made this a bunch of times. to me it tastes better with coconut aminos. I also add broccoli. kids love it too.
Thanks!
This is delicious and so easy. Its one of my husbands favorite recipe. If you dont have sesame oil, buy it online or you will pay a lot in a grocery store.
This is one of my all time favorite recipes. My teens and hubby loves it, and my picky toddler niece and nephew love it. I have this on rotation and always triple it.
Made it twice this week! So good!
Great recipe! Works great with some extra peppercorns. I stir fried the rice in and added an egg and it was extra tasty!
This recipe is so good! It’s been a little while since we’ve had it and making again tonight. I like to serve it with Stir fry cabbage and broccoli, and omit the sesame seed garnish.
This was really good, although I did make a couple tweaks. First I doubled the sauce recipe to pour over my rice. I also added some Sombal paste because we like a little more heat. And next time I will drastically cut the amount of sugar as it was way too sweet even though I didn’t use the full amount needed. A very good recipe though and will add to our weekly rotation.
I’ve made this, and just by chance mixed my salad that had Newman’s Own Sesame Ginger on it. Now I just put the salad and dressing on top all the time! So good
This is a favorite in my house. I add onions, mushrooms, and peppers (any kind I happen to have) and serve it with Jasmine rice and baked broccoli. Adding onions took this meal to the next level. I also use ground turkey. Turned out great and works well for meal prep as well. I have used the same sauce here with angel hair pasta and chicken for like a stick pasta meal. Its delish!
Thanks for sharing Sam!
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/