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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Made this for my family of 5 so I doubled the recipe. 1/2 cup of brown sugar would have been too much so I stuck with 1/4 and then just doubled everything else. Still was a bit too sweet, but good. Added red pepper, onions and broccoli. Sprinkled the top with some cilantro and avocado slices. Yum!
The flavor was so much better than any other Asian recipe I have tried, they are always more work than reward is worth but not this one. Super easy and tastes great. I was a little short on soy sauce that day so I topped off the measure with Worcestershire but had everything else on hand for a last minute supper. We served the beef over a bag of mixed veggies with noodles picked up from the local grocery and it was a hit.
POWDERED Ginger?!?!? C’mon use the real deal. Completely different flavor.
No comparison between powedered and fresh.
Ground ginger and fresh ginger can be used interchangeably depending on what you have on hand.
would this be good with shitake musrooms?
Yes, absolutely!
This was delicious. I followed your recipe with only a couple minor changes, using a half teaspoon of ground chili paste instead of pepper flakes and adding a couple tablespoons of chopped cilantro after taking it off the heat. It was delicious and a great change from the usual ground beef recipes. I served it with brown rice, sesame broccoli and carrots, and homemade kimchi. It’ll go in our regular rotation, thanks!
My hubby and I both loved this. He has his with Jasmine rice and I had mine in lettuce wraps. This recipe is a keeper! Thank you.
Absolutely love this recipe! When the beef is almost done cooking, I like to add 1/2 cup of water and chopped vegetables to steam for a bit. Great way to increase your veggie intake and add moisture throughout the rice!
I love your blog Chungah!
i know this is an old post, but I just made some, serving size for one, and this is so tasty! I’ll save this to use again and again. I’m glad I found your website.
This was another really delicious recipe I’ve made from your website. All of the things I’ve tried from you are absolutely awesome!!! Most of my “go-to recipes” are from your website, Thank you 🙂
I was skeptical about this recipe, but it is sooooooooo good. It is going into my permanent rotation for sure.
Just made this recipe and it was great. However, it was a bit too sweet for my taste. Definitely plan to make again with less sugar and more red pepper.
I bow to the queen! Thank you for something quick, easy, cheap and DAMNED DELICIOUS! I’m a good cook but even my 12 year old daughter hugged me after eating this. You rock!
I’ve made this twice now and it is super delicious! I mix in a little sriracha because we like spicy but besides that, it’s absolutely perfection! This was really good with the rice and lettuce wraps! This actually vaguely reminds me of Mongolian beef.
I wanted to make this for dinner tonight i have made it once before and it was amazing. I have a question though is there anything else you can do with it. I don’t want to put it over rice again. Can you put it over pasta or something. or do you have any other good ideas. Thanks for the recipe its amazing again.
Quinoa or orzo would be a great substitute.
I think it also works well over a slaw mix.
I made this today with a couple of tweaks I omitted the red pepper flakes and the sesame oil, and in stead of using garlic and ginger I used garlic and ginger stir fry oil to fry the meet and I added in some hoisin sause to the brown sugar/soya sause mixture it turned out tasting exactly like bulgogi
My 17 year old son is making this for us for dinner tonight. I am so excited! I shared the recipe with my student who is vegetarian because I think it would be interesting to try it using beefless crumbles.
This was an amazing meal! I’m a full time student cooking for one, so making a dish that’s 4 servings means lunch for a few days and this one was easy to make and pack. I added some more green and crunch to it by steaming half green beans over my rice in the rice cooker while I cooked the beef. I recommend making a bit more sauce if you plan to add veggies though, and starting the rice a bit earlier than the meat.
This was so delicious and easy, that my husband agrees your blog is perfectly named. Loved the taste, and the leftovers made great lunch. Started the rice when I started dish and both finished up close it time. Just perfect. Thank you. I have a list of recipes that I want to try!!
I taught in Korea and there was a college kid restaurant that was delicious and cheap. They served this there and I ate it at least once a week. I cannot wait to make this!
Super delicious!!