Korean Ground Beef

Korean Ground Beef has all the flavors of your favorite Korean BBQ but made budget-friendly with ground beef. It’s delicious served over rice or wrapped in lettuce leaves!

Korean BBQ beef is one of our favorite dishes to prepare here at home but sometimes, we want an easier, quicker and cheaper alternative.

Enter, Korean ground beef! Made with ground beef and a simple 4-ingredient sauce, it delivers the sweet and salty flavors we crave in half the cost and half the time.

Not only is this beef dish an economical one-pan dinner, there’re so many ways you can enjoy it, too! It’s amazing piled high over white steamed rice for a convenient one-bowl meal and it’s just as delicious wrapped in crisp lettuce leaves for a low carb option.

The deliciously seasoned meat can also be used to fill egg rolls and wontons or tacos and quesadillas for a unique fusion of east and west flavors.

You can quickly turn this Korean-inspired beef into a complete dinner by tossing in shredded carrots, fresh spinach, and diced zucchini or chopped cabbage. So yummy, expect empty bowls when you serve this for dinner tonight!

The recipe serves four but you can easily double (or triple!) as needed. It makes great leftovers and is perfect for packed lunches to work (or school).

I usually cook a large batch and portion it out with a serving of steamed rice in Tupperware containers so on the days I am too lazy to cook (which is often), I just thaw in the fridge for a couple of hours and zap in the microwave for a few minutes until piping hot. This is one hack that has saved me the stress of figuring out what’s for dinner and the high cost of eating out.

This is such as easy dish to make, I feel silly even adding tips on how to make it but, hey, here they are:

• Finely mince the ginger or better yet, grate it, extract the juice and stir the juice into the marinade. This way, you get all the flavor without having small bits to bite into. I personally prefer the taste of fresh ginger but you can sub with 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger if you don’t have any fresh on hand. Just stir the ground ginger powder with the soy sauce marinade so it get’s evenly distributed.
• Half a teaspoon of red pepper flakes was just the right amount of spice for us but you can always adjust accordingly to fit personal tastes or omit altogether to make the dish more kid friendly.
• If you ‘re adding veggies, make sure to cut them into bite size pieces so they cook in tandem with the ground beef. Lightly brown the meat, add the sauce and give the beef a good few minutes to cook up and absorb the liquid. When the ground beef is about done and most of the sauce is reduced, toss in the veggies and allow to cook for another minute or two until they’re tender-crisp.

That’s it, folks! Enjoy and please don’t forget to leave a comment and rate the recipe in the comment form below to let me know what you think. I love hearing from you.

5 from 2 votes

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Korean Ground Beef

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

15 mins

Total Time

20 mins

 

Korean Ground Beef has all the flavors of your favorite Korean BBQ but made budget-friendly with ground beef. It's delicious served over rice or wrapped in lettuce leaves!

Course: Main Entree

Cuisine: Asian

Servings: 4

Calories: 304 kcal

Author: Lalaine

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 thumb size ginger, peeled and finely minced
• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup green onions, chopped
• sesame seeds

Instructions

1. In a wide pan over medium heat, heat vegetable oil. Add garlic and ginger and cook until aromatic. 

2. Add ground beef and cook, breaking apart with the back of a spoon, for about 3 to 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Drain excess fat.

3. In a bowl, combine soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and red pepper flakes. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Add to the pan.

4. Continue to simmer until beef is cooked through. Add green onions and cook, stirring to distribute, for about 1 minute. 

5. Transfer to serving platter and garnish with sesame seeds. Serve hot.