This post may contain affiliate links for which I earn a commission. Read my disclosure page here.
Liven up your dinner time with these delicious and easy Korean beef bowls. Ready to serve in 30 minutes, these beef and rice bowls are hearty and tasty, and a great option for a weeknight meal.
Email Me This Recipe
Enter your email and we'll send the recipe directly to you!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Delicious Meets Healthy.
If you are stuck in a bit of a mealtime rut, these Korean beef bowls are a great way to shake things up.
Seasoned ground beef is cooked with carrots and placed on a bed of rice, before being topped with cucumber and green onions for one tasty dish that is full of taste and texture.
For more easy recipes, be sure to check out my beef chili and Mongolian beef.
Why you will love this recipe!
- Quick: Ready to serve in 30 minutes, these Korean rice bowls come together easily.
- Flavorful: The beef is seasoned with ginger, soy sauce and sriracha for one delicious bite.
- Hearty: This korean beef bowls recipe is a great filling and comforting dinner, perfect after a busy day at the office!
Tools You Need
- Skillet for cooking the Korean ground beef and sauce
- Measuring cups
- Garlic press for finely pressed garlic
- Grater for grating the ginger
- Pot for cooking the rice on the stove or Instant Pot for making rice even faster.
Ingredients for Korean beef and rice bowls
- Rice: I used long-grain white rice for this recipe.
- Sesame oil: For cooking. Sesame oil adds a great flavor to the dish, but you can use olive, vegetable or canola if that’s what you have.
- Beef: I use lean ground beef so that the dish isn’t too greasy. If you can, use grass-fed for better quality and flavor.
- Seasonings: Ginger, soy sauce, sweetener, sriracha, salt and pepper.
- Carrots: Carrots are cooked with the seasoned beef and add a great texture as well as a little extra goodness.
- Toppings: I finish of the Korean Beef bowls with cucumber, scallions, sesame seeds, sriracha mayo.
How to make Korean beef bowls
- Prepare the rice according to package directions.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of sesame oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef to the hot skillet and brown until almost cooked through (about 7 minutes).
- Stir in the minced garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sweetener, and sriracha to the skillet. Season with salt and pepper.
- Stir in the julienned carrots and cook for about 2 more minutes until they soften slightly.
- Serve the Korean beef over the cooked rice and garnish with chopped green onions, cucumber slices, and sesame seeds and drizzle some Sriracha mayo.
Can you make this with other proteins?
I love to make this recipe with ground beef as it works so well with the hefty flavors in the seasoning. You can of course make this with ground chicken, turkey or pork as well.
What’s the best rice to use?
I make this with long-grain white rice, like basmati or jasmine, but you can make it with wild or brown rice if you prefer. Just be aware that the water to rice and the cooking times will alter depending on the type of rice you use.
Can you make it ahead of time?
These Korean ground beef bowls are best served as soon as they are ready, but you can make the elements ahead of time too. The seasoned ground beef can be stored covered in the fridge for up to 4 days and then reheated in a skillet to serve.
Cooked rice will keep well in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. Reheat it in the microwave, with a couple of tablespoons of water, cover with a damp paper towel and reheat on high for about 20 seconds per cup.
TIPS FROM NELI’S KITCHEN
Recipe Notes and Tips
- Make sure you brown the ground beef until all the water/liquid has evaporated. It’s best if you brown it over medium high heat for about 3 – 4 minutes without disturbing the beef and before stirring it again.
- You can adjust the spiciness of this dish by adding more or less sriracha to suit your tastes.
- Korean beef and rice bowls are a full meal in themselves, but you can serve them with a side of veggies like pak choi, asparagus or green beans if you fancy.
- This Korean beef recipe is so delicious, it’s also great served over noodles.
- To make it gluten-free, use tamari sauce instead of soy sauce.
- To make it Paleo & Whole30, use cauliflower rice instead of white rice, and gluten-free tamari sauce instead of soy sauce.
More Beef Recipes
If you loved this Korean ground beef recipe, I am sure you will also love these other beef recipes.
- Steak with Spicy Mushroom Sauce
- Beef and Cabbage Skillet
- Beef and Butternut Squash Stew
- Sous Vide Steak
Korean Beef Bowls
Email Me This Recipe
Enter your email and we’ll send the recipe directly to you!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Delicious Meets Healthy.
INGREDIENTS
- 1.5 cups uncooked long-grain white rice
- 4 tablespoons sesame oil, divided
- 1 lb lean ground beef, I used 90% lean
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 4 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sweetener or coconut sugar
- 4 teaspoons sriracha
- ¼ teaspoon salt & pepper, each
- 1 cup carrots, julienne style
- Cucumber slices, for garnish
- 4 chopped scallions, for garnish
- Sesame seeds, for garnish
- sriracha mayo sauce, for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
- Prepare the rice according to package directions.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of sesame oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef to the hot skillet and brown until all the liquid has evaporated and the beef is cooked through.
- Stir in the minced garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sweetener and sriracha to the skillet. Season with salt and pepper.
- Stir in the julienned carrots and cook for about 2 more minutes until they soften slightly.
- Serve the Korean beef over the cooked rice and garnish with chopped green onions, cucumber slices, sesame seeds and drizzle some Sriracha mayo.
TIPS & NOTES
- Make sure you brown the ground beef until all the water/liquid has evaporated. It’s best if you brown it over medium-high heat for about 3 – 4 minutes without disturbing the beef and before stirring it again.
- You can adjust the spiciness of this dish by adding more or less sriracha to suit your tastes.
- Korean beef and rice bowls are a full meal in themselves, but you can serve them with a side of veggies like pak choi, asparagus or green beans if you fancy.
- This Korean beef recipe is so delicious, it’s also great served over noodles.
- To make it gluten-free, use tamari sauce instead of soy sauce.
- To make it Paleo & Whole30, use cauliflower rice instead of white rice, and gluten-free tamari sauce instead of soy sauce.
NUTRITION
Use the tag #DeliciousMeetsHealthy when posting a picture of your recipe, and make sure to follow @deliciousmeetshealthy on Instagram!
This is probably my favorite, I make it about every other week and it’s my go to easy weekday meal, replacing tacos most days. So much flavor! I love it
This is a great recipe! Quick, easy, any my whole family liked it! I served it with green beans.
I love this recipe but you never say what to do with the other two tablespoons of sesame oil
It says 4 T of sesame oil divided . I see that you use 2T sesame oil when Browning the meat . Where do you put the other 2T of sesame oil?
We loved this recipe! I didn’t see what to do with the rice wine vinegar, so I added it to the beef mixture. But as we were eating it, I wondered if I should have maybe soaked the cucumber slices in it? Any tips would be appreciated! 🙂 Thank you!
Hi Corinne, glad to hear that you loved the recipe! The vinegar is added to the beef mixture. I updated the instructions. Thanks for letting me know.