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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Just whipped this up. AND IT WAS AMAZING! I was inspired by the comment above to add broccoli, which I roasted with peanuts in my cast iron skillet while frying this up. SO GOOD! I used a pretty unhealthy but flavorful ground beef – 85/15 but I had bought it on a great sale – it was the Dakota grass fed organic – which I NEVER buy but I think my market was trying to make it move. Needed a good recipe for it and found you. Next time I’ll try it with ground turkey – and i could definitely see this inside a lettuce leaf! THANK YOU! Just discovered your Damn Delicious blog and you ain’t kiddin!
I’m so glad you had a chance to make this. I actually just made this tonight too – we have this at least once a week!
I made this last night and couldnt believe how good it was. I was out of sesame oil so i subsituted with sesame tahini and didn’t notice a different. It is my new go-to comfort food.
Just made this tonight and WOW, it was so good and a perfect match to my bulgogi craving! The only change I made was using Bragg’s Liquid Aminos instead of soy. I was able to pull it together, and make burnt chili garlic cauliflower in under 40 min. I will definitely be making this again, thanks!
Thus was amazingly yummy. I feed 5 boys plus my husband and I at least 6 nights a week. This was quick, different and fairly cheap. Also the cat liked it too (we have a cat who eats some of the meat portion of our dinner everynight).
I’m so glad! Quick and easy is a must, especially when you have 6 boys and a cat to feed!
Fabulous!! My kids devoured this! Served with a side of Japanese cucumber salad
I just made this (with the addition of sliced orange pepper) and my daughter loved it!
Amazing! Was looking for something quick and easy and found your blog on Pinterest. We love Korean food and it gives us a break from our daily Chinese food that we cook. The husband was skeptical and thought it would be too salty when he saw the soy, but ended up loving it. I used the red pepper paste I had on hand from the Korean grocery instead of the flakes. It was great. This will be a staple in our house from now on! Thank you for an awesome recipe!
Thanks for this recipe! I found it today on Pinterest, realized that I had all the ingredients and made it for dinner. It was as quick and easy as you said it would be. Note: My little boy likes the bulgogi sauce a LOT. So, I doubled the sauce and it was perfection. 😉 Thanks again!
This dish is a keeper. Easy and exactly what I have been looking for in flavors. I added some shredded carrot for color and topped the serving with fresh cilantro. Delicious.
I made this last night for dinner and you’re right! It is damn delicious! And so easy and quick. I made my rice in a pressure cooker so this dinner took all of about 15 minutes to make! I will certainly be making this often! Hmmmm…. now I’m wondering if I can make a big batches of this and portion it out into freezer meals!
I would love to turn this into a freezer meal too! If I ever try it out, I’ll let you know how it turns out!
One of my kids’ favorite meals! I usually triple this and put half in the freezer- no issues at all.
Made this last night and it turned out fantastic! I am making again tonight, but a double batch so that there is lots for leftovers! I added some steamed broccoli on the side and it was perfect!
Delicious! It will be in the regular rotation from here on out! I used sriracha as Jocelynne did. I think the sauce will be my go to for all kinds of things – from chicken to meatballs. Thanks for the great recipe!
Fast, flavorful, and fantastic!! Added some crushed peanuts and a squirt of lime, so good!
SOOOO DELICIOUS! I used Sriracha instead of the red pepper flakes since I didn’t have any on hand. I will definitely be making this again!
WHY WAS THIS SO GOOD, I am actually upset that I never found this before… gotta love google Superb recipe. Instagram loves you also.
Tbh, I went into this thinking it probably wouldn’t be very good becuase of how little effort is needed. After I tried it though, I was genuinely shocked! For something so simple and easy, it’s really yummy. I definitely wouldn’t mind making this again. xD
Sometimes simple is best! So glad you had a chance to try it out!
Nice recipe. Thanks so much.
Thank you for the recipe. Liked it a lot. I serve it with salad topped with coleslaw dressing, which I find is typical in Korean restaurants.
This was amazing! My picky baby ate it all and my oldest asked to eat it every day. It’s a dream come true for a busy mom.
I’m so glad the kids liked it! This beef bowl is definitely one of our favorite dishes!
This looks beautiful and delicious! Wanted to let you know that I’m putting this in a beef recipe round-up. I’ll be linking back to your site and only including a picture in collage format so that neither your photo nor your recipe can be “swiped” from my site. If anyone wants to see details, they have to come visit you! Please do let me know if you don’t want a mention and link shared for any reason. I hope the round-up brings you lots of traffic!
Just made this for me and my fiance. I added some roasted broccoli. It was amazing! We wanted to make it again immediately. SO GOOD!