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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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.
I make this recipe regularly for my family. I double the batch for a family of 4 and we seldom have much left over. I use sriracha instead of red pepper flakes – and I use quite a bit – 2-3 tablespoons at least. Also, I use the stir in ginger paste from Kroger (easy to use) and I use a lot of that too – I would say a tablespoon plus. I also use a bit more garlic than this recipe calls for. I make the rice in the instant pot and it is all ready at the same time. My youngest son says our house always smells like PF Chang’s when I make this. Highly recommend this recipe!!
This is the ginger I use:
https://www.kroger.com/p/gourmet-garden-ginger-stir-in-paste/0087520800068
I put one third the sugar and triple the ginger and it turned out well. It would have been way too sweet the original way.
The recipe is so easy and tastes sooo good! Had to pull something out in a pinch because dinner plans changed so ended up eating home and this fit the bill to a T. Added onions and tricolor peppers for more colors and texture. Omitted the red pepper flakes as cooking for kids as well. It’s such an amazing recipe..thanks so much for sharing! Definitely in the meal rotation now!
Ok, my husband and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this meal! We use sushi rice instead, just preference. We’ve used regular rice in the past.
Have you thought about a left-over dish for this? We always have extra and as happy as I am with leftovers, I’m not creative enough to turn it in to something else. Just a thought! Thanks!
The leftovers are still just as good!
I have made this a few times now. Its officially been added to dinner rotation. Tonight I tossed everything into the slowcooker and used ground turkey. I serve with peppers ans onions, its a great weeknight meal!