This Korean Beef Bowl recipe is a quick meal you can have on the table in 30 minutes. Sweet, spicy, and totally delicious. Your family will love it, try it!
Most often when I make this I use ground beef, however, it is also great with ground pork. If you want to make it using leftover meat – DO IT! I’ve made this with leftover pot roast and leftover pork tenderloin and it turned out delicious. It’s a pretty versatile recipe because you essentially make a sauce, add the beef, and cook everything together for a few minutes to meld the flavors.
I wanted to mention a couple of important steps. It really is necessary to remove the ground beef from the pan before moving forward with the recipe. There are a few reasons for this, the main reason being grease! If you use very lean ground beef, this won’t be an issue but most of the time there will be grease to get rid of.
Then, when you add your onions, you’ll have enough pan space to clear up all those tasty bits left of the bottom of the pan from the beef. That is part of what makes the sauce so flavorful!
The consistency of the sauce should be slightly thickened when you are finished with the simmer step of the recipe, this image shows that really well, so aim for this when you’re all finished! It will be just right for drizzling over rice. And seriously this recipe makes your taste buds sing, it’s packed with so many flavors!
If you’re like me and are in a serious relationship with your freezer, Korean beef bowls are perfect. Make up a few batches, bag them up and toss ’em into that frozen wonderland. When you want to eat them, thaw and reheat or just heat from frozen with a little water.
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Additionally, if keep browned ground beef in your freezer, toss it in this recipe! That will make this a 15-minute meal. Which is basically like you waving a magic wand and having dinner appear. Who doesn’t want that???
On a slightly unrelated note, the first time I photographed this recipe, I had the chopsticks crossed and sticking into the bowl. My husband and some kind Instagram followers informed me that people only placed chopsticks in meals like that at funerals. Or if they are dissatisfied with the meal. It’s basically death chopsticks. HA!
Although, this mishap pretty much illustrates a major theme in my life: A series of awkward events interrupted occasionally by food {scrolling through my Instagram feed gives me major insight into my life – ha!}.
Like that one time in church I got up to play the piano and stepped on my maxi skirt, causing it to be pulled half way down my bum. In front of everyone. It was real cute. As a fun bonus, my white shirt offset my bright red face beautifully.
So maybe the Korean beef bowl funeral pictures were fitting for my blog, just another story to add to my repertoire? Who knows. I’ve retaken them though! And these new images are much prettier, so I think it’s a win-win all the way around.
TELL ME IN THE COMMENTS BELOW: Have you ever inadvertently mixed up a cultural food custom? Probably not. Just tell me the most embarrassing food story you have. 🙂
Korean Beef Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef or pork
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1/2 medium onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger minced, see note
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes see note
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Brown beef (or pork). Remove from pan and drain excess grease (if necessary).
- Heat sesame oil in pan until shimmering.
- Cook onions until translucent, about 3 minutes.
- Cook garlic and ginger until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add soy sauce, brown sugar and both vinegars.
In a small bowl, combine beef broth and cornstarch to make a slurry. Add the slurry to the pan, stirring constantly.
- Put beef (or pork) back into the pan and simmer until thick and the flavors have melded, about 5 minutes.
- Serve over rice and garnish with green onions, if desired.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
You could also use shredded or leftover beef or pork (great way to use leftovers). Just start with step 2.
You can use 2 teaspoons of dried and ground ginger instead.
You can use siracha instead.
This meal freezes great. Thaw and reheat or reheat from frozen with a little bit of water.
Heather says
This recipe checks all the boxes: quick, easy, delicious! Will definitely be making it again (and again).
Sammi Windley says
I never think of making ethnic food, mainly just because I’m scared I’ll mess it up, but I think this dish is something I could definitely make on my own!
Kris says
The “chopsticks in rice” custom is definitely true in Korean culture as well. I’ve also heard that in some families (maybe in older times?), if the oldest son did so it was a signal to his parents that he wants to marry. But I’m not too sure about the veracity of that statement.
Alli says
That is so interesting Kris! I’m glad you weighed in, thank you! I am definitely clearing asian-inspired food photo shoots with my husband before I take the pictures from now on. HA 🙂