These Korean Beef Bowls are made with ground beef in the most flavorful sauce that you can serve with rice, cauliflower rice, in lettuce wraps, and more! This meal comes together in 30 minutes or less and is very family friendly! 

Be sure to try my Egg Roll in a Bowl and my Beef Lo Mein recipes next!

A white bowl of rice topped with Korean ground beef in sauce next to cucumbers and carrots.

Korean Beef Bowls

These Korean Beef Bowls are SO quick and easy to make, I think they might even break a record on the blog for being the fastest. You can truly have this meal on the table in 30 minutes or less!

The sauce has the perfect flavor profile – it’s got elements that are salty, sweet, tangy, and that have umami along with a subtle touch of heat that doesn’t make it spicy. 

This is perfect over white or brown rice, cauliflower rice, or in lettuce wraps!

Be sure to check out my pro tips below!

How to Make It

See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.

Cook and crumble ground beef, onions, and garlic in a skillet. Drain any grease and add the sauce mixture. (Beef broth, cornstarch, soy sauce, brown sugar, honey, rice vinegar, hot sauce, sesame oil, ground ginger.)

Cooking ground beef and onions in a skillet and adding sauce.

Bring it to a boil and let it thicken and reduce. Remove from heat once desired consistency is obtained. Garnish with green onions, toasted sesame seeds, and red pepper flakes. Serve over rice!

Cooking ground beef in sauce in a skillet to make Korean Beef Bowls.

Pro Tips

  • Hot Sauce- If you are very heat sensitive, you can leave out the hot sauce, but I don’t detect the hot sauce in the finished product. I use Frank’s Hot Sauce.
  • Ground Pork, Chicken, or Turkey may also be used in this recipe. 
  • Broccoli makes a great addition to this meal, I like to sauté it for 4-5 minutes in the skillet with some olive oil at the beginning and set it aside, then add it to the sauce at the end.
  • Other ingredient additions include water chestnuts, celery, kale, spinach, and more.
  • Other topping options include roughly chopped peanuts, cashews, sliced almonds, and crunchy chow mein noodles.
  • To Control the Sodium in this recipe, consider using low sodium soy sauce and/or reduced sodium broth. Some soy sauce brands contain more salt than others.
  • Be sure to try my Beef Fried Rice recipe next!

Storage

  • Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. (Leftovers do freeze well!)

Korean Beef Bowls filled with rice, ground beef in sauce, cucumbers, and carrots.

Tools For This Recipe

(Amazon affiliate links)- Check out all of my kitchen essentials here.

  • Wok– conducts heat well for this recipe and other stir fry recipes.
  • Rice Cooker/Steamer
  • Better Than Bouillon– This is what I always use for broth in my recipes. It takes very little space and makes it easy to measure out customized amounts of broth.

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Korean Beef Bowls with ground beef in sauce over white rice next to cucumbers and carrots.

Korean Beef Bowls

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
4.85 from 13 ratings
Servings: 4 people
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These Korean Beef Bowls are easy to make with ground beef in a flavorful sauce to serve with rice or in a lettuce wrap!

Ingredients

US Customary - Metric
  • 1 lb. ground beef
  • Salt/pepper
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 small yellow onion, finely diced

Sauce

  • 1 cup beef broth
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon hot sauce
  • ½ teaspoon sesame oil
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger

Garnishes

  • Green onions
  • Toasted sesame seeds
  • Red Pepper Flakes

For Serving

  • Thinly sliced cucumbers
  • Julienned carrots
  • 3 cups cooked rice, see notes for my cooking method

Instructions

  • Combine the beef broth with the cornstarch and mix until well combined. Make sure the broth is not warm/hot so that you don’t activate the cornstarch. Mix in the remaining sauce ingredients and store in a cool place until ready to use.
  • Season the ground beef with salt/pepper. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the ground beef. Cook and crumble for 3 minutes, then add the onions and garlic. Sauté until the beef is cooked through, 5-6 minutes. Drain any grease.
  • Add the sauce and bring it to a boil. Let it continue to boil, thicken, and reduce for 3 minutes, or until desired consistency is obtained. Stir periodically as it cooks. There will be a lot of sauce at first, but it will continue to reduce and thicken.
  • Remove from heat. Garnish with green onions, sesame seeds, and red pepper flakes. Serve over rice, cauliflower rice, or in lettuce wraps! (See notes for my method for making perfectly cooked rice.)

Notes

Pro Tips:
  • Hot Sauce- If you are very heat sensitive, you can leave out the hot sauce, but I don't detect the hot sauce in the finished product. I use Frank's Hot Sauce.
  • Ground Pork, Chicken, or Turkey may also be used in this recipe. 
  • Broccoli makes a great addition to this meal, I like to sauté it for 4-5 minutes in the skillet with some olive oil at the beginning and set it aside, then add it to the sauce at the end.
  • Other ingredient additions include water chestnuts, celery, kale, spinach, and more.
  • Other topping options include roughly chopped peanuts, cashews, sliced almonds, and crunchy chow mein noodles.
  • To Control the Sodium in this recipe, consider using low sodium soy sauce and/or reduced sodium broth. Some soy sauce brands contain more salt than others.
  • Be sure to try my Beef Fried Rice recipe next!
Storage:
  • Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. (Leftovers do freeze well!)
My Process for Perfectly Cooked Rice:
  • Add 2 cups of chicken broth to a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Add 1 cup of white long grain rice and submerge it into liquid. Bring back to a boil and cover the pot. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer (I put my heat on medium-low), and let it steam for 15 minutes. Check on it, if the liquid is gone and the rice is cooked, turn heat off. If not, simmer 5 more minutes, or until cooked through.
  • Optional: Remove it from the heat and let it sit with the lid on for 10 minutes. This makes the rice extra fluffy, and allows any rice stuck to the bottom of the pot to release naturally. Refrain from stirring as this will release starch and make it sticky.
The nutritional information provided is an estimate and is per serving. There are 4 servings in this recipe, 3 cups of cooked white rice is included.

Nutrition

Calories: 413kcal, Carbohydrates: 56g, Protein: 30g, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 0.4g, Cholesterol: 70mg, Sodium: 903mg, Potassium: 590mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 16g, Vitamin A: 2IU, Vitamin C: 4mg, Calcium: 47mg, Iron: 4mg
Did you try this recipe?Mention @TheCozyCook on Instagram or tag #thecozycook!
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American, Asian
Author: Stephanie