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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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..!
I was dubious because I never had no-marinade bulgogi (on principle as a Korean!), but the flavor was excellent! Took me longer to make b/c I didn’t have ground beef – had to use some short rib meat. Added some onions. But otherwise, fantastic meal for the family!
This was so quick and easy and even the kids liked it! Will definitely be a regular on the dinner rotation! Thanks!
I made this tonight. How. What. Where do I begin?? So EASY and fast ! I didn’t have any green onion on hand but it didn’t take away from the recipe flavored. I added cilantro just cuz I had that instead of the green onion. I’m in LOVE!! I made brown rice to go with it and I could eat the entire dish by myself, I would never have thought of creating something like this but I love these flavored! AND your site! You are soooo creative and thank you for your recipes!!!! You are a true inspiration to me! ❤️
This was incredibly delicious! I will definitely be making again!
Thank you for this awesome recipe! Everyone in my family LOVES it! It’s now a regular in my line up of recipes.
This is DELICIOUS! My husband and kids (ages 10 and 12) loved it. My husband said it tastes just like typical korean beef dishes (in a good way!). This is now a regular in our meal rotation. I serve it with roasted or steamed broccoli or green beans. In fact, I’m doubling it tonight so we can have it again tomorrow. My friend has very picky kids and they loved it too.
Made this for me and my DH. Tonight. Was one of the easiest Asian dishes I have ever made. So flavorful.This will definitely be one I will make again. Thanks for posting this.
I have been waiting two long days to make this! I love that I have all the pantry ingredients. Plan to serve with rice and fresh asparagus, with Sirachi on the side. I think dinner will be early tonight!
This was so easy, so fast, it’s awesome! It will be a regular in my meal rotation. The second time I made it, I forgot to get more rice at the store and served it over udon noodles. Still great. It’s almost too sweet for my husband tho, so now when I make it I had about a half tbsp to a table spoon of rice vinegar or fish sauce to it. Thanks for the awesome meal