Talk about a 30-minute flavor explosion. These Korean beef bowls are one of our new favorite weeknight dinners. It starts with a pound of lean ground beef, lots of chopped scallions, an abundance of garlic, and a few sauces and seasonings that we’ll combine in a measuring cup and pour it over the the stir fry beef. The hint of sesame oil, the sweetness from brown sugar, and the heat from the gochujang chili paste honestly make this one of the most delicious rice bowls. And if you’re watching your calories or low-carbing it, you can serve these as lettuce wraps with cucumber salad on the side. I’ve made a ton of Korean-inspired dishes in the past, like my Korean BBQ sauce or my instant pot beef bowls; there are also my Korean BBQ bowls. And one thing that all of these recipes have in common is that they do require more prep time. However, they are absolutely delicious and something to try! For this recipe, we skip the marinade entirely because the ground beef doesn’t really require time to break down. This tastes so incredibly delicious, and I hope you love it as much as we do!
Ingredients for gochujang beef bowls:
Ground Beef: I like to use 95-96% lean ground beef. This way, you don’t need to drain any excess grease from the pan. If you have ground beef with a higher fat percentage, you can still use it. I suggest you drain it once the beef has rendered off the fat to avoid the recipe becoming too greasy.Green onions: these are also called scallions or spring onions. You’ll want to separate the whites from the greens. We’ll saute the white portion and cook them down, and use the green portion to garnish with at the end.Garlic: I like to press the garlic through a garlic press to ensure the flavor is evenly dispersed through the meat. Feel free to use minced garlic here. Brown sugar: Adds the much-needed sweetness to the recipe. It also helps balance out the heat from the tablespoons of gochujang paste. I should mention that you could swap the brown sugar for honey if you prefer.Low-sodium soy sauce: adds umami to the dish. It’s also our main source of sodium.Gochujang paste: this is readily available in most grocery stores these days. I found it in the international aisle. You can also purchase it online here.Toasted Sesame Oil: Adds a smokey flavor to the ground beef recipe.Grated Ginger (or ginger paste): Works beautifully in enhancing all the other flavors.Gochugaru: sun-dried peppers that have been coarsely ground into flakes similar to red pepper flakes.Rice Vinegar: adds the acidic touch this recipe needs. It balances out the sweet brown sugar, the spicy gochujang, and the salty soy sauce.White Pepper: adds a unique flavor.Jasmine Rice: to serve the gochujang beef with. You could also use brown rice, other carbohydrates or serve this in lettuce wraps if you prefer.Toasted sesame seeds: Add a little texture over the ground beef. I also use them in my cucumber salad.Vegetables: Onions, carrots, and cucumbers make the cucumber salad that I love serving with this recipe. You’ll also need many of the other ingredients listed above.
Making Korean beef bowls:
If you like this recipe, you might also like:
Quick Sesame Gochujang NoodlesChili Crisp Salmon with Cucumber Sweet Pepper SaladCrazy Good Quick Garlic NoodlesSesame Ginger Tofu and Veggie Stir FrySizzling Jalapeno Chicken
Spicy Cucumber Salad: Toss 5 sliced Persian cucumbers with ¼ thinly sliced white onion and 1 carrot cut into matchsticks in a sieve over a bowl with ½ teaspoon salt. Let sit 5 minutes. Drain liquid from the bowl and transfer the veggies to the bowl. Add 1 clove minced garlic, 2 thinly sliced scallions, 2 tsp of gochugaru, 1 tbsp sugar, 2 teaspoons rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon gochujang, 2 tsp of toasted sesame oil, and 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds. Taste and adjust with a big pinch of salt or sugar or other ingredients as desired.
