I love to mix up our dinner rotation with these quick and easy Korean Ground Beef Bowls. The flavor combination is fantastic with the perfect blend of sweet and spicy Korean BBQ flavor in the meat, served over hot cooked brown rice, with a side of fresh sliced cucumbers. This meal can be ready in less then 30 minutes!
Ya’ll know I’m all about easy, family-friendly dinners. If you want some more great dinner ideas, check my list of 30-minute meals or one pan meals!
I love that this recipe uses ground beef, and other ingredients I usually always have on hand.
If fresh ginger is something you don’t normally have, I would suggest buying it for this recipe, and freezing what you don’t use! It will keep really well in the freezer, and then you’ll have it in the future. You can use it for my favorite Thai chicken lettuce wraps, or Mongolian beef.
How to make Korean Ground Beef:
Start by browning your ground beef in a sauce pan. I season it with salt and pepper as it cooks. Remove grease.
This is totally optional, but once it’s browned I like to put the meat in my food processor. I pulse it 2-3 times into very small pieces, and then return it to the pan.
I love the way the sauce and flavor soaks into the meat when it’s finely ground like this.
Next add the sesame oil, garlic and ginger.
Stir in brown sugar, soy sauce, and sriracha (or crushed red pepper of chili sauce).
Add half of the chopped green onions, reserving the rest for garnish.
Serve over hot cooked rice, garnished with chopped green onion. I like to serve sliced cucumber on the side. It adds a wonderful fresh crunch and flavor that really compliments everything.
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- 1 pound lean ground beef
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 5 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 Tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 Tablespoon freshly grated ginger (*see note below)
- 2/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons Sriracha hot sauces , crushed red pepper flakes, or chili garlic sauce
- 1 bunch green onion , chopped
- hot cooked brown rice , for serving
- Fresh cucumber , sliced, for serving
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat.
- Season beef with salt and pepper and add to skillet. Cook, stirring and crumbling into small pieces with a wooden spoon, until browned.
- Drain excess grease.
- (Optional: put beef in a food processor. Pulse it 2-3 times into very small pieces, and then return it to the pan.)
- Add sesame oil, garlic and ginger.
- Stir in brown sugar, soy sauce, and sriracha (or crushed red pepper of chili sauce).
- Cook for a few minutes, allowing some of the sauce to absorb into the meat.
- Add half of the chopped green onions, reserving the rest for garnish.
- Serve over hot cooked rice, garnished with chopped green onion.
*Fresh ginger really is best for this recipe, so here’s a TIP: freeze your leftover ginger to use another time! fresh ginger keeps really well in the freezer.
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE this recipe and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
Rachel says
These were so easy and good. My whole family loved it.
Kari says
This is AMAZING! I’m not a fan of cucumber (I know, I’m crazy) so I roasted some squash and carrots and threw it in top and it is delicious! A little meat goes a long way in this! That flavor is so yummy! And it was so quick to whip together! Thanks for another stellar recipe!
Lauren Allen says
Hi friend! Thanks so much for sharing–I love the veggies you added!! YUM! I’m so happy you liked it. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment <3
Susan says
Thanks for this easy and yummy recipe! I made it for myself and loved it! Can’t wait for lunch tomorrow! Btw, I topped it with fresh cilantro too!
Nicholas Landry says
Awesome recipe. Was easy to make and tasted very good. I used sambal oelek insted of sriracha. Will definitely make again.
Lauren Allen says
Thanks Nicholas! Happy you liked it–thanks for taking the time to comment 🙂
Lisa says
This recipe was very good and easy to make. We loved the combination of sweet and spicy flavors. I used the crushed red pepper. The cucumber tasted good with the meat. Like another reviewer stated, other vegetables would go well with this dish also so I will probably try some others the next time I make it. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Lauren Allen says
Thanks for your comment, Lisa. I’m happy you liked it!
Nancy Erkmanmum@comcast..net says
Loved the flavor but it is so dry. Did I do something wrong.
Lauren Allen says
Hi Nancy, next time you could double the sauce if you’d like more 🙂
Mil says
This was absolutely delicious and such an easy school week meal! Thank you! I’m so excited to add this to my ground beef recipes I love list. Thank you!
Lauren Allen says
It really is perfect for an easy weeknight meal! I’m so glad you enjoyed it–thanks for commenting!
Polly says
I made it tonight
But it was way too salty for us. Is the 1 cup soy sauce correct????
Lauren Allen says
Yes, did you use low sodium soy sauce?
Richard Worden says
Very easy to make. Ingredients are common even in a small town grocery store. My ten year old son loved this dish. I did half ground beef and half veggie “meat”. I will make this again and the disk will be a staple from now on. I served over rice and ramen, just mixed in the flavor packet with the meat.
I think bamboo shoots and water chest nuts would make a great addition. Don’t get me wrong the cucumbers matched this dish really well.
Lauren Allen says
This is great Richard! Loved your ideas as well.
Joy says
Delicious recipe. Used 1/3 cup soy sauce plus 1/3 cup dashi instead of reduced sodium soy sauce and added gochujang for the chili…
Mike Wade says
Joy glad someone who understands Korean food commented. Great job.
BK says
This recipe is very delicious, but sooo much salt from all that soy sauce . I even used coconut aminos for half of the cup. Too much salt to make again .
Donna says
This recipe is as delicious as it is easy. We love it!
Lauren Allen says
Thanks for commenting Donna! I’m really glad you enjoyed it!
Jordan Merrell says
This is one of my new favorite dinners! It is quick, easy, and delicious which makes it the perfect week night dinner.
Elissa says
I made this tonight and while I imagine it would be very good, it was just too salty. I didn’t have low sodium soy sauce because I have to use gluten free Tamari and couldn’t find a low sodium version. I used half a cup of regular soy sauce it was still extremely salty. It would be great if this recipe included an option for the ratio if you use regular soy sauce.
Leah says
This smelled so good! But unfortunately I think I may have messed up somewhere since it was so salty (not noticeable at first, but after a few bites). Wondering if it’s because I used liquid aminos instead of low-sodium soy sauce?
Lauren Allen says
That must be why–I’ve never used liquid aminos. Sorry!
Miki says
Going to make this tonight, So I don’t have any comments on the recipe itself yet, but I thought I would share something…
you mentioned putting the beef in a food processor to break it down more.
I used to hate the fact that ground beef didn’t break down as much as I wanted it to, and somewhere along the way I realized that if you brown your beef with about 1/2 cup of water per lb, it for some reason breaks down much more. So as long as you plan on straining the grease anyway, you should try it!