These Korean Ground Beef Bowls come together fast, with ground beef simmered in a slightly sweet and savory sauce. Serve them over rice with roasted veggies for a quick, satisfying meal that’s faster than takeout!
Big flavor, quick cooking, and DELICIOUS! This is another one to add to your collection of no sweat, I don’t feel like cooking tonight recipes.
These Korean Ground Beef Bowls are an easy, inexpensive way to satisfy your craving for the flavors of beef bulgogi at home. The sauce has that same sweet and savory combo, but using ground beef instead of steak means no marinating and way faster cooking. You can have this meal on the table in about 30 minutes from start to finish!
If you’ve never had Korean-style beef, you’re in for a treat. It’s packed with irresistible, umami-packed flavors of soy, sesame, garlic, and ginger, sweetened with a little brown sugar.
To round it out and boost the nutrition, I like to serve the beef over rice with a sheet pan full of vibrant roasted veggies.
Table of contents
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Ground beef: I use 90% lean ground beef, but ground turkey or chicken are great alternatives if you’re looking for a lighter option.
- Ginger and garlic: Bottled minced garlic and ginger (or ginger paste) are great shortcuts that save time and effort. They work beautifully in this recipe.
- Sesame oil: You’ll find sesame oil in the Asian section of your grocery store. It adds unique, AMAZING flavor to recipes like this.
- Cornstarch: Just a small amount helps give the sauce a little body so it clings to the beef, rather than sinking to the bottom of the skillet.
- Red pepper flakes: You can easily control the spice level of this dish by adding more or less crushed red pepper flakes. You can also eliminate it all together if you’re feeding little ones with a sensitive palette.
- Rice: For quick-cooking recipes like this one, microwaveable frozen or shelf-stable rice is a great way to save time. Most varieties cook in 90 seconds to just a few minutes, so you can heat it right at the end while everything else comes together. We love these bowls with long grain white rice, like jasmine or basmati.
- Vegetables: I like to use broccoli florets, onion, and red bell pepper but anything goes here. Use a combination of vegetables that you love. Mushrooms, zucchini, asparagus, green beans and cauliflower would also work well.
- Gochujang sauce: An optional topping for these Korean Ground Beef Bowls that you’ll find in the Asian section of most grocery stores. It’s a bright red, sweet and spicy sauce made with red chile paste that adds a ton of flavor. If you opt to keep the beef mild, serve this sauce on the side so the spice lovers can add a little heat to their serving.
How to Make Korean Ground Beef Bowls
- Roast the vegetables. Spread the veggies out on a large rimmed baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast in the oven until tender.
- Make the sauce. Whisk together the sauce ingredients and set it aside.
- Cook the beef. Cook the ground beef in a little oil, stirring to break up the meat, until browned. Drain off the excess grease and season with salt and black pepper. Stir in the sauce and cook, stirring occasionally, for a couple of minutes.
- Garnish and serve. Sprinkle the sesame seeds and green onion over the beef and serve it with cooked rice and roasted veggies.
Valerie’s Tips
Timing: If you’re cooking rice from scratch (not using the microwaveable kind), be sure to start it first. The beef comes together quickly, so you’ll want to get the rice going and the veggies in the oven before you start cooking the meat.
Perfect Roasted Veggies: Chop everything into equal-sized pieces for even roasting. For the onion, avoid cutting it too small. Tiny pieces can burn before the other veggies are tender. Instead, cut it into 6 to 8 chunks and keep them intact on the baking sheet. They will naturally break apart as they roast and will soften perfectly without overcooking.
Texture: Cook the beef, breaking it up as it browns, but don’t mash it too much. Leaving some chunkiness gives the dish a better texture.
Simmer Briefly: Once the sauce is added, let it simmer for a few minutes so it thickens slightly and coats the beef. This step deepens the flavor and gives the beef that slightly sticky, glazed finish.
More Easy Ground Beef Recipes
- Hamburger Stew with Rice
- Easy Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
- Lazy Lasagna Casserole
- Ground Beef Chili
- Easy Ground Beef Tacos
- Cabbage Roll Soup
- Spanish Rice with Beans
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Korean Ground Beef Bowls
Ingredients
For the Korean Ground Beef
- ¼ cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon ginger root, finely grated (or ginger paste)
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ¼ teaspoon red-pepper flakes, or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 pound 90% lean ground beef
- ½ teaspoon salt
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- ¼ teaspoon sesame seeds
- Go-Chu-Jang Sauce, optional topping
For the Rice and Veggies
- 3 cups cooked long grain white rice, like Jasmine or Basmati (*see notes below)
- 1 head broccoli (or 2 crowns), cut into florets
- 2 red bell peppers, cored and cut into large 2- to 3-inch pieces
- 1 sweet yellow onion, cut into about 6 chunks
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cook the rice according to package directions (if using microwaveable rice, you can do this step just before serving).
- Meanwhile, transfer the broccoli bell pepper, and onion to a large rimmed baking sheet and toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Transfer the baking sheet to the preheated oven and roast for 20 to 25 minutes, or until browned and fork tender, tossing with a spatula once or twice through the cooking time.
- While the veggies are roasting, in a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes, and cornstarch. Set aside
- Heat the vegetable oil in a 12-inch skillet over MEDIUM-HIGH heat. Cook, stirring occasionally to break up the beef, leaving some chunky texture to the meat (don’t smash it until it’s finely ground). Drain off the excess grease, return the skillet to the heat, and season with ½ teaspoon salt and black pepper, to taste.
- Reduce the heat to MEDIUM-LOW. Stir in the soy sauce mixture and cook, stirring occasionally for 2 to 3 minutes to allow the sauce to combine with the beef and thicken slightly. Remove from the heat and garnish with green onion and sesame seeds.
- Serve the beef over cooked rice with the roasted veggies. For a deliciously spicy kick, top the bowls with Go-Chu-Jang.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
This post was originally published on January 11, 2021. It has been updated with new text and images.
More Easy Asian Recipes
Adapted from Damn Delicious
This was a major hit with my family! From the 7 year old to the 68 year old. Very easy to make, great taste!
Adding this bowl to weekday meals. Slightly sweet and spicy with flavorful roasted veggies.