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 love this but i have added a few changes, I use a mix of ground turkey and ground pork. I also shred a carrot and add a couple teaspoons of diced onions into the soy mixture. I use 3 tablespoons of honey instead of the brown sugar. I let the soy mixture sit for 30 mins. to an hour before i use it. My family loves it, even my husband who hates to try new things.
Works well with ground turkey if you want to cut the fat.
Not going to lie I was skeptical about this one, I wasn’t exactly sure how it was going to turn out, but made it regardless because the comments were so positive, and it did not disappoint! And let me tell you, with a 18 month old and a 5yr old I am down with any meal that literally takes less than 20mins to make. Both kids gobbled it all up, hubby said it was delicious, and no leftovers to be found anywhere! Served over steamed rice and used siracha instead of red pepper flakes, and sautéed zucchini on the side, a perfect weeknight meal for busy families!
I made this tonight (added mushrooms and chopped onion) and it was so good!! Thank you for the delicious and easy recipe!
Absolutely love this dish! I first encountered it when I smelled someone’s dish during a dinner break when I was in class. I immediately asked what it was she was eating and how can I get the recipe! She told me about your blog, and within 2 days I was cooking it too! Delicious! I have made this a few times since then and it is a family favorite. I make two versions – beef and vegetarian, with Morningstar Farms brand recipe crumbles. My only question is, I recently discovered that I am allergic to sesame. Although I never had an allergic reaction to sesame before, I do not want to take a chance . Can you recommend an alternative? Thank you, and keep the recipes coming!
You can omit if you need to. Hope that helps!
I made this today with some changes. No sesame oil and seeds due to allergy. Instead added julienne carrots and used fresh ginger. It was delicious, everyone loved it.
Omg this is so good! I lightly sautéed some broccoli and red pepper and set that aside to add at the end and I doubled the sauce, it was so fantastic! I used sriracha in place of the chilli flakes as well. Thanks!!!
Thank you for this recipe! We have made this many times and our family loves it. We serve it with a side of sauteed bok choy – yum!
Made this today. It was super delish. I added Tofu to it, and made it with ground turkey. Thank you
This is one of our family’s favorite simple meals! Thank you!
I make this at least a few times a month and I tell everyone else they should make it. We love it, I have 2 little guys and they love it too. I use real grated ginger instead and sometimes I add cilantro and hot sauce to mine. Excellent recipe thanks so much
I love this recipe so much! It’s easy, affordable, and delicious and makes me feel like I ate out. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
This is one of my favorite things to make when I want something easy but delicious! So easy to add in some veggies to with with it. 🙂
I made this last night and did not make any changes. It was DELICIOUS! Thanks for sharing another fantastic recipe.
I struggle with money so things like this are great. I often make a savoury mince and mix it with rice, but I wanted something different. I made a couple of changes to mine. I used mixed porn and beef mince so it had the beefy flavour but the pork added tenderness. I also wanted to make it a little more nutritious so I slightly reduced the sugar content and added a small onion and a couple of finely sliced bell peppers which also added a fresh and fruity layer to the incredibly savoury sesame.
For the love of God! That’s meant to say “pork”!!! I can’t edit it.
Omg, that’s too funny though! Gotta love autocorrect!
Not sure what to replace the sugar with (seeing honey is a good alternative), but I will definitely try some things and get back to you. The recipe looks amazing and I plan on trying it out tonight!
Let’s see how this baby goes!
I love your blog and have discovered so many delicious recipes here. It is seriously one of my top go-to places for yummy dishes. 🙂 For that reason, I wondered if you could adjust some of your ads and videos? In recent months, your recipe pages have become so much harder to load and scroll through. Thanks for all of your work developing these awesome meals.
I made this last night and it was really good! The only thing I did differently was use more sauce. I also don’t drain my ground beef, because there’s usually not a lot to drain, but this does make it a little more oily.
Since I live alone, I had a little left over today and decided to make a little snack with it. The snack was not healthy, but it was so delicious that I highly recommend. I made a crepe batter and mixed in a little gojuchang before creating a really thin crepe. I then heated the beef with a bit of water and butter until all the water evaporated (extra browning/caramelizing on the beef) and mixed up a bit of sriracha mayo. I placed the beef, sriracha mayo, and green onions on the crepe and folded up like a burrito. Then I garnished my plate with a few drops of chili sesame oil and a tiny sprinkle of Chinese five spice (on the side only). It was truly amazing. If you’re not afraid to eat a little rich here and there, I highly recommend you try.
Thanks so much for the delicious recipe. My little snack invention wouldn’t have been possible without it! 🙂
I’m usually good with checking my spelling on things, but apparently *gochujang is incorrectly spelled so often that the incorrect spelling pops in Google’s predictive search! This is my excuse for the misspelling above. 😉
Super tasty recipe! I added a half of a bag of shredded carrots at the same time as the sauce and let it simmer the last couple minutes. Gave it a nice crunch and added a veggie to make it a complete meal.
Just came across your site tonight and so happy I found you, Chungah! This dish was so incredibly simple to make and my family loved it. There were no leftovers whatsoever, and my kids want it for dinner again tomorrow night! I stuck to the recipe as written and it was perfect. The only thing I did different was to add some steamed broccoli along with the green onions and sesame seeds at the end. Thank you for a great recipe!