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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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!!
What precent ground beef did you use and it id OK to use pure sesame oil?
I prefer to use 80/20 but you can use whichever you prefer. And yes, pure sesame oil should work just fine.
This was delicious! I added a fried egg on top of mine. Ultimate comfort food! Thanks for sharing.
I didn’t think I’d like this one because for some reason the sauce does not taste good to me by itself. But once combined with the beef, it’s amazing. I added only a splash of rice wine vinegar to the sauce because I like the flavor of it, but the recipe is fantastic by itself. It’s great to get the flavor of Korean Beef without all of the work, one of the easiest dinner recipes to make from this site. Even easier if you have a rice cooker..!