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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Korean Ground Beef Bowls
Ingredients
- 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
Instructions
- 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.
Danielle says
This sounds delish and easy! If you want to make it even more Korean, I suggest using gochugaru (Korean chili flakes) and gochujang (Korean red pepper hot sauce).
Emma V. says
If I wanted to add a vegetable to the dish (in addition to cucumbers) what would you recommend?
Lauren Allen says
Bell peppers, zucchini, carrots, celery, onion, mushrooms–so many types of veggies would taste great! Enjoy.
Janelle says
Mama Mia!! Tried this tonight as a quarantine relief dish (#eatthestressaway) and it is DE-LISH! %100 hubby approved. So easy to make. LOVE it. Thanks so much!