Korean Beef Bowl
by Chungah
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our privacy policy for details.
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
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
I made this tonight (and am still eating this as I’m writing) and wow! Easy and delicious!! My family love it too, which is great! Thanks so much for such a wonderful recipe!
Looks amazing! Just wondering if there is a sub for the brown sugar? Thanks!
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
We substitute honey for the brown sugar and we really like how it turns out.
Made it and loved it! I made something like this a few times but never really had a strict recipe so it would always come out a bit different since the last. (I never write anything down-I keep telling myself to write it down but..) I do use garlic/ginger paste (use it last-do not cook) and I use red curry paste..(cook it with the meat.
This has become a go-to meal for us. We loved it from the first time we tried it and it is so easy and quick to make and really tastes great! The only thing we have changed is that we add broccoli. Thank you so much for posting this!
This was a wonderful dish. My whole family enjoyed this. May add some extra vegies next time, but otherwise a perfect recipe. Thank you. Will be a regular in our house now.
Just made this and the family LOVED it! Only thing I will do differently next time is double the recipe! We have no leftovers!
I will also try adding some veggies next time. Fantastic flavor!
I’m going to go and check out some of your other recipes!
Thank you!
Super-delicious! Had to restrain myself from eating the whole thing in one sitting. Although a little too salty for me (maybe the brand of soy sauce – it wasn’t a reduced sodium kind) so I will try substituting half of the soy sauce with some low sodium broth or water next time. Great quick recipe that gives the flavors you’re looking for without all the time marinating, slicing and grilling, etc. 🙂 Love your blog and look forward to trying some of your other yummy-looking recipes. Omissions/substitutions: didn’t have any sesame seeds and didn’t really miss them; didn’t have red pepper flakes so added dash of cayenne pepper instead; coconut oil used instead of vegetable.
I don’t know what I’m missing but I found nothing special about this dish. Yes, it was easy to make but it was way too sweet and that’s with way more red pepper flakes and siracha then called for. I will not make this again as it was not worth eating.
I’m sorry that this recipe did not turn out the way you had imagined. I only post recipes that have been successfully tested in my own kitchen, and as you can see from the comments here, many of these readers have had great outcomes in the final dish as well. However, I understand that we all have different taste preferences, and I really appreciate your honest feedback.
Also, if the recipe is too sweet to taste, you can always reduce the amount of sugar as needed. Isn’t that the beauty of home cooking? 🙂
Made this tonight after a long day, and it was SO good! Took virtually no time at all to make, very little clean-up, and was delicious! A big WIN in my book. I will definitely be making this again 🙂 I think next time I’ll add some veggies, too!
I made this for the 2nd time last night and the whole family LOVED it; this includes a 10, 7, and 2 year old boys. I followed the recipe exactly. Everyone wanted seconds so I’ll have to make double next time to so we have leftovers.
I made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious! Totally satisfied my Korean bbq cravings 😉 I opted for honey instead of sugar and tahini instead of sesame oil and it turned out perfect. Took the advice from other comments and mixed in some shredded carrot before adding the sauce. Served it with shredded cabbage on top, some nice fresh lettuce leaves (for wrapping) from the garden and sriracha. Yummo!
I found this recipe maybe 2 or 3 months ago and it has been in our regular rotation ever since. It is so good even my kids ask for seconds! We love it!
I’ve never left a recipe review again (all seem to exclaim how they hated a recipe—then list 1,000 changes they made, rendering what they made nothing even resembling the published recipe!) This one, though, deserves kudos. Today is Saturday. I made it for dinner on Thursday, and my son loved it so much he asked for it again the next night–in sufficient quantity to have it around all the time for lunches, etc. He’s got a good palate, and is well-versed in different cuisines, and cannot get ENOUGH of this stuff. (Right now, there’s a big Tupperware with four pounds of it—I won’t even venture to guess how quickly it will be devoured.)
My daughter, who verges precariously close to a picky eater, loves it, too.
But it was my son’s first reaction that got me: “This is the most delightful thing you’ve added for as long as I can remember. Please make it a staple. ” (I’m not kidding. Those were his exact words. Not that he’s a toddler or anything–but it was high praise, indeed.) And every single serving he’s had since then? It’s been punctuated with similar accolades, attempts to extract promises from me to always have ingredients on hand, and lots of, “Mmmmm—this is SO GOOD. You’ve gotta keep this stuff around!”
I’m a chef. It’s not like my family is starving or does not get good food. Seriously! This is really, really good. It’s rare I use a recipe or more than an idea to use as a springboard, but I made this as written—the only exception being that I had a knob of fresh ginger I wanted to use up, and subbed it for the dried. This is DAMN DELICIOUS just as written. THANK YOU!
Thank you for this amazing recipe!!! This has become a staple for our family, and I make it about every other week. The whole family LOVES it. I usually reduce the sugar by about 1/2 and I add some fish sauce. So quick and delicious.
I’m pretty amazed to see so many positive comments on a single recipe! I’m making this tonight as it fits in with my diet, and I’m hoping that it’s as delicious as it sounds. It looks too easy haha.
We love this recipe at our home and I actually make this at least once a week, my kids LOVE it, I add broccoli to it and it’s delicious!
Hi,
Just wanna let you know the link to your video is broken. Tried refreshing the page to see if it would help, but it didn’t.
Thanks for letting me know, Gen. I apologize that it was not working for you – I just checked the video and it seems to be working right now! 🙂
I was really happy with this recipe, instead of putting it over rice I topped it over your everyday ramen, and instead of sesame oil I opted to substitute it with olive oil and toast sesame seeds to extract the flavor out of them
I used sriracha instead of garlic and pepper flakes, and fresh ginger in the sauce with a little extra water. I also garnish with fresh jalapeno and cilantro, and serve it with steamed broccoli and carrots. It’s a family favorite!
Just made the Korean Beef bowl for my family of 5 and LOVED it. Easy and FULL of flavor. First recipe I have used off your blog, but we will definitely be back!
FYI, we are also the proud owners of 2 Corgies. Have to be the best dogs on earth!
Hilary