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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Made this for dinner tonight….AMAZING. It was quick and easy to prepare and very tasty! Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe. This will be a regular favorite in our home for sure!
This was delicious. Thank you!!!
Making this tonight with ground turkey … seems so easy & so yummy….can’t wait!
please share! how was it with the ground turkey!?
Our family LOVED this dish and I had it on the table in no time. It is joining our rotation. I really like a lot of the flavors your blog provides, I haven’t had a single thing I didn’t love!
Super recipe – we love Korean food after living there for awhile but good recipes are hard to find. I switched from ground beef to a stir fry beef and since my husband and I love heat added extra crushed chili and several sliced Thai peppers. The sauce is great and we really enjoyed the sweet and spicy contrast. Will definitely make this again. Thanks for a great recipe.
I like to try new recipes, but I always seem to end up with new chicken dishes. I was so pleased to find this new ground beef recipe. I made it last night with a little apprehension as to whether my family would like it, but it received unanimous thumbs up. The sauce is a great combination of sweet and spicy. Low sodium soy sauce may be a good option for some people, but we loved it as written. The sesame oil is a must and adds a wonderful flavor to the sauce. Thanks for the awesome, easy recipe!
My family loves this! I make it about once a week. The sauce is incredible tasting! I’ve done it with ground beef, ground turkey, ground chicken, even meatballs for a party. Last time I made it I diced chicken breast into small pieces and it was fantastic. Tonight I’m dicing pork sirloin into small cubes. Can’t wait! Thank you for this recipe!
I discovered this recipe a few months and make it once a week now!! It’s super delicious and so fast and easy. I literally crave it every few days. 🙂 Thanks for the great recipe.
Made this tonight. It is so yummy. I used ground pork instead of the beef. Turned out great! Thank you!
Have made this once and am totally in love with it! I added spinach and next time I am thinking of peppers as well because I am really into loading my food with veggies! The flavour was just so excellent! Thanks!
Going to try tripling for about 20 people? I will be putting it in little lettuce wraps as an appetizer. Hope it works!?
Keribear – how did this come out when tripled? I’m thinking of doing this for a group as well.
Yum! Made this and added a red pepper to it, it was delicious! I’m planning on adding more veggies next time. My boyfriend loved it to! Thank you!
Hey there – this was floating around my FB newsfeed last week, and it sounded tasty. (I’m Korean, but being adopted, I’ve never really been exposed to Korean food – I’ve never had actual bulgogi.) Tried it tonight and really liked it! I even bought sesame seeds to go in it like it shows in the photo, but then I followed the recipe and forgot to put them in. Ah well… I’ll sprinkle them in the leftovers. Thanks again for an easy, yummy, and new-to-me dish. 🙂
Me too! Adopted and not very familiar with korean food. I loved this dish!
I made the beef bowl a couple of weeks ago (so glad Buzzfeed featured it!) and with the addition of extra soy sauce to our taste, it was, as advertised, Damn Delicious. We both liked it so much that I copied the sauce recipe (double the soy) to use as my standard beef stir fry sauce. I’ve been searching for one that didn’t require me to use everything in my pantry, but still delivered great clean flavors. This is it. I briefly marinate sliced beef in a little of the sauce, and use the rest (with cornstarch) to finish the stir fry. So quick and easy, yet so very good!
Saw this on my favorite bloggers site “Hot Mess Mom,” I had already planned on making it, March made in heaven
I have had beef bulgogi many times from H Mart; the flavor in this recipe are spot on!!
Just made this, it really is easy, quick, and just so delish! Thanks for sharing the recipe! 🙂
Made a veggie version of this (with soy crumbles) tonight…was delish and so quick and easy. I think it’ll become a regular part of our rotation, esp. as we love Korean flavors. Thanks for the recipe!
This was great! Sooooo simple, and tasted great! What a great find, thank you!
I love Korean food and tend to always make bulgogi so I’m glad I came across this post to try out something new.