Korean Ground Beef Bowl (Print Version)
Savory ground beef in sweet-spicy Korean sauce with fresh toppings over steamed rice, ready in 25 minutes.
# Ingredient List:
→ Main
01 - 1 lb lean ground beef
02 - 2 cups cooked jasmine or short-grain rice
→ Sauce
03 - 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
04 - 2 tbsp brown sugar
05 - 1 tbsp sesame oil
06 - 3 cloves garlic, minced
07 - 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
08 - 1/2 to 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
09 - 2 tsp rice vinegar
10 - 1 tbsp gochujang (Korean chili paste)
→ Toppings
11 - 2 green onions, sliced
12 - 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
13 - 1 carrot, julienned
14 - 1 small cucumber, thinly sliced
15 - Kimchi for serving
# Directions:
01 - In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, minced garlic, grated ginger, red pepper flakes, rice vinegar, and gochujang until well combined. Set aside.
02 - Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and cook, breaking it apart with a spatula, until browned and cooked through, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Drain any excess fat if necessary.
03 - Pour the prepared sauce over the browned beef and stir thoroughly to combine. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes until the sauce thickens slightly and evenly coats the beef.
04 - Divide the cooked rice evenly among 4 serving bowls. Spoon the saucy ground beef mixture over each portion of rice.
05 - Top each bowl with sliced green onions, toasted sesame seeds, julienned carrot, thinly sliced cucumber, and kimchi if desired. Serve immediately while hot.
# Expert Advice:
01 -
- The sauce comes together from pantry staples you probably already have, which means no emergency grocery runs on a tired evening.
- It scales effortlessly from a solo dinner to feeding a crowd, and the toppings make everyone feel like they built something personal.
- Cleanup is basically one pan and one bowl, and that alone is reason enough to keep this in heavy rotation.
02 -
- Drain the fat from the beef before adding the sauce or you will end up with a greasy pool that dilutes every flavor you just built.
- The sauce will look thin when you first pour it in, but trust the simmer because it thickens faster than you expect and over-reducing is harder to fix than under-reducing.
03 -
- Grate the garlic along with the ginger using a microplane so it almost melts into the sauce rather than leaving chunks that catch people off guard.
- Fry an egg in the same skillet after the beef comes out and lay it on top of each bowl because the runny yolk mixed into the sauce is genuinely transformative.