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.
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This recipe so
rocks !!!!!….even better done with pork..a fave in our house…
I’m going to start by saying I just made this for dinner and I love you recipe.
I’ve been in the military for years and have spent time in Korea as well as have many friends who’s wives are from Korea and have eaten a lot of authentic Korean food, bulgogi being by far my favorite. I have a Korean BBQ restaurant I frequent just to get my bulgogi “fix”.
That being said, your recipe tastes very authentic, especially for being a knock-off version. I’m so happy with this recipe especially since it will save me money on eating out.
I did make one tiny adjustment, I doubled the amount of sauce because typically with bulgogi BBQ you take the little bits of meat and sauce left towards the end of the meal and mix it in rice to make a “soup” out of it and it’s one of the best things about bulgogi. The rice sops up all the liquid and has such a magnificent flavor. So I served mine similar to yours except I poured all the extra sauce over top of it to make it similar to the end of meal “soup”.
Oh, did I say thank you?
Turned out freaking delicious! I had to swap red pepper flakes for a little cayenne pepper since I was out, and I used low sodium soy sauce instead of the regular stuff since my family isn’t a fan of salty things. Also added some edamame at the last minute for a pop of color and some more veggies. Not too salty, not too sweet, very quick to make. I’m a college student back home from university for summer, but I know I’ll be more than happy to make this after a long day of classes and work.
Yummy-yum-yum! I made this tonight and it was a total hit! I used 2lbs of ground beef but didn’t double the rest of the recipe, I did this to make it less sweet and it came out perfect. I used coconut aminos instead of soy sauce and coconut aminos are a little sweeter so that helped, I also added a bit more ginger to taste since there was more meat. I’m so glad I read the comments first, I went and bought TOASTED sesame oil rather than using the regular sesame oil I already had, I could really taste the toastiness (not a real word) and I loved it. Next time I will add carrot matchsticks and serve over shredded cabbage.
This was great. Mine came up a little to the dry side. I would like to know what and how I would add some vegetables. I didn’t have sesame oil on hand, so I just used canola oil. I love how quick it is, and I loved the test.
Thank you for trying my recipe! But was the meat overcooked? It certainly should not have a dry outcome. You can also add veggies such as broccoli, bell peppers, and various other stir-fry type veggies. It may be best to saute them first and set them aside to make sure they are not overcooked.
made this at the beginning of the week, for the first time, and am making it again tonight :). It was so delicious!! Even my “I don’t like rice” kid ate it up!
Is it dry ground ginger?
Yes, that’s exactly right.
Found this recipe to use up my ground beef. It’s delicious and my kids literally devoured it! It is so easy and really flavorful. I skipped the red pepper flakes, my kids are 1 and 3, and added carrots. I will definite;y make this again and again.
I made this and it was delicious! I eyeballed the red pepper flakes which in my house means shake until it’s completely red. The extra heat was really good!
Mine felt a little dry and I wonder if it’s because I used fresh grated ginger since I didn’t have ground ginger. Could the fibers of the ginger have made the meat have a dryer texture the way lemongrass sometimes does to some proteins?
What kind of meat did you use? I have found that 80/20 ground beef is the most flavorful.
I love the flavor and simplicity of this dish! I tweaked it a bit:
I cooked the meat through and drained excess fat before adding finely chopped 4 garlic and 4 shiitake mushrooms! added the same sauce mix
I cooked grilled onions, broccoli, and carrots separately from the meat and used as toppings.
I also added a poached egg! it was heavenly!
I just made this today and it was delicious!!! I will definitely be making it again.
This recipe was a hit with the family at dinner tonight! I was looking for something that combined the ingredients I wanted to use up in my refrigerator- 1 lb. ground elk, fresh ginger root, green onion, and garlic. I was thinking of some kind of teriyaki-like concoction with a lot of sauce using those ingredients, but I’m so glad I came across you recipe instead! It was great with ground elk, which I have a ton of after hunting season and always need new and interesting ways to prepare. This is a winner to add to my pinterest recipe box. Thanks!
Made this twice – first time same as your recipe. Tonight I used sirloin steak and added an orange pepper. Delicious both times but better tonight. I feel like it needs the pepper and maybe I’ll add mushrooms next time too. But really, really delicious!!
I made this and added 1 Red Bell pepper chopped into square chunks, 1 head of baby bok choy (I will add 2 baby bok choy heads next time), whole white mushrooms cut into slices, and 1/2 lb of beef as well as all of the other ingredients and green onions. It was delicious. You could probably use the whole pound of beef, but I would make some extra sauce so that you have some for the rice. It was so good, my husband has been waiting for me to make a good asian dish, the others were sub par…this one was Excellent! Thanks for the recipe. 🙂
Just finished making this and it is the best thing I have ever made. Thank you!!! Yummmm.
I have tried various Korean restaurants since my deployment to Korea and they have not hit the mark. This recipe flooded my taste buds with the EXACT flavor I had been craving since I left Korea. Thank you so much for sharing this will definitely become a staple in my household.
I have made this several times already. My husband actually texts me from work and asks me to make it for dinner. 😀 We love it. Thanks for sharing. I have also used 7% lean ground turkey in place of beef when I didn’t have any, and it turned out great!
really easy and really yummy! the only change i made was to use fresh ginger instead of powdered. i served it over brown rice and steamed broccoli. my hubby LOVED it, he even ate it TWO nights in a row!!!! (which is actually saying a lot cuz i typically can’t get him to eat leftovers ever) next time i am going to try it with ground turkey since i am not a big beef fan, but this recipe is definitley going into the regular dinner rotation 🙂
I just made this recipe. Wow, came together so fast and tastes delish, too!
I made this for dinner for my family and all my kids ate it, even the toddler who is a very picky eater.