These Korean Beef Bowls are a family favorite recipe. They are quick to make, and the recipe can be adjusted to suit your family’s preferences and pantry!

Are Korean Beef Bowls gluten-free?

This recipe can be gluten-free if you make sure that the soy sauce that you are using is gluten-free.

What should I use instead of sesame oil?

Instead of sesame oil, you can use a neutral oil such as vegetable oil.

What should I use instead of rice wine vinegar?

You can use rice wine, beer, or a neutral acid like white vinegar instead of rice wine vinegar.

What can I serve Korean Ground Beef Bowls with?

Korean Beef Bowls are great served with rice, dark leafy greens, or a salad mix, and/or a fried egg. When you make the rice, make sure to salt the water right before you add the dried rice to increase the flavor. And when you fry the egg, don’t use butter, use either vegetable or sesame oil to fry it.

Are Korean Ground Beef Bowls spicy?

They have a slight kick to them because of the red pepper flakes. You can omit that if you would like the dish to have no spice, but you can also increase the red pepper flakes if you want more spice. You can also top it with hot sauce, or include hot sauce or a pinch of cayenne pepper in the sauce that you cook the meat in if you’re looking to increase the spice level!

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How to Make Korean Ground Beef Bowls:

When it comes to seasonings, acids, and fats that make this bowl taste distinctly Korean, we reference the book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. It’s a great book for learning how to cook!

Check out our post on Kitchen Essentials to make sure your kitchen is fully stocked!

Special Equipment:

No special equipment is needed for this recipe. Here are some of the tools that we used in this post though!

Large Skillet

Measuring Spoons

Measuring Cups

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1 tsp of salt

3 tsp sesame oil

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

¼ cup soy sauce

¼ cup brown sugar

2 tbsp sesame oil

½ tsp dried ginger or 1 ½ tbsp fresh grated ginger

2 tbsp rice vinegar

¼ – ½ tsp crushed red pepper

In a large saute pan, cook the ground beef with the salt and sesame oil. When the meat is cooked through, add the 3-4 cloves of minced garlic and saute until the garlic is cooked as well. Strain the excess oil out of the pan. In a bowl, mix the soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and crushed red pepper. Pour the mixture over the cooked ground beef and simmer on medium-low until the sauce thickens slightly and everything is well mixed together.

Serve over rice, with mixed greens, and/or a fried egg and hot sauce. If you’re going to serve the Korean Ground Beef Bowls with fried eggs, try frying the eggs in sesame oil to keep the Asian flavors throughout.

Let us know in the comments below what you would serve these ground beef bowls with.