What readers are saying about this recipe
I have made this multiple times and LOVE ❤️ it. The flavors are amazing! Thank you for the great addition to our “go to” recipes.
Jen
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This recipe is a reader favorite, with over 400+ ratings! Browse more reader comments below.
5 reasons you’ll love this easy ground beef recipe
- Quick prep + cook – It’s seriously the best weeknight meal. Prep a few ingredients and cook them up with the ground beef, that’s it!
- So versatile – Keep it simple and serve with with rice or cauliflower rice. It also goes well with just about any veggies, check out the comments below to see what other people are serving with this Korean ground beef.
- Family friendly – This is a meal even picky eaters will love. It’s also a hit with the kiddos!
- Great for meal prep – Double the recipe to make a big batch for meal prep or to freeze for later.
- That spicy sauce – The 2-ingredient spicy mayo sauce is optional, but highly recommended. It’s just the right mix of creamy and spicy with the beef.
Looking for more? Here are all of our quick + easy recipes!
Ingredient notes
- Coconut aminos – Gives the beef that sweet-salty flavor, similar to soy sauce. These are NOT liquid aminos, which are much saltier. If using liquid aminos you should cut the amount in half. See the recipe card notes.
- Fish sauce – Adds more salty, umami flavor (and doesn’t taste “fishy”). You can omit this if desired and replace with a little coconut aminos and/or a pinch of salt to taste.
- Serving – There are tons of serving options in addition to what’s listed in the recipe. Use whatever you have on hand for rice or veggies.
- Toppings – We love homemade sauces and toppings. Some good options here are fresh green onions, red pepper flakes, avocado – whatever you want!
Tips from an expert home chef
- Follow these instructions to cook cauliflower rice perfectly every time (it’s delicious mixed up with the beef and sauce for this recipe).
- Cook the beef in the sauce at the end until the sauce caramelizes the beef bits. Medium-high heat is needed to get those delicious, crispy bits.
- For a different take on this recipe, try it with ground chicken, turkey or pork – they’ll all work!
- The red pepper flakes and spicy mayo can be left out if you don’t want any heat with this dish.
More Quick + Easy Bowls To Try
- Teriyaki Chicken Bowl
- Spicy Pork Bowls
- Ground Beef Taco Bowls
- Cilantro Lime Shrimp Bowls
- Thai Basil Chicken Bowls
We hope you love this recipe as much as we do!
Don’t forget to leave a quick star rating and review below, we read every comment and truly appreciate your feedback. Also, be sure to browse the rest of our easy, delicious recipes to find some other favorites too!
Get the Recipe:
Healthy 20-Minute Korean Beef Bowl
This delicious Korean beef bowl is ready in around 20 minutes and is a family-friendly meal. Made with ground beef, serve it with either white rice or cauliflower rice for a fast gluten-free dinner, and the leftovers make great lunches too!
Ingredients
- 1 shallot, diced
- 2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and grated on a microplane
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 pounds ground beef, (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 cup coconut aminos, (see notes)
- 2 tbsp fish sauce, (see notes)
- 4 cups cauliflower rice, (can sub white rice if you’re not doing Whole30)
- 6 cups greens of choice, (chopped romaine, arugula, spinach, etc.)
Optional sauce:
- 1/4 cup mayo
- 1 tbsp hot sauce, (adjust to taste)
Optional toppings:
- chopped green onions
- sliced avocado
Instructions
- Start by preparing rice to have it ready. If serving with cauliflower rice, wait until the beef is almost done as it only takes a few minutes to cook.
- Dice shallot and grate ginger to have it ready.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add sesame oil. Once hot, add in ground beef. Break the beef up into small bits.
- Add the shallot, ginger, red pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder and mix with the beef. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the meat is browned and developing some crispy bits, about 8 minutes.
- Add the coconut aminos and fish sauce and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
- If you are making the optional sauce, mix the mayo and hot sauce in a small bowl.
- Serve beef in a bowl over a bed of greens with rice or cauliflower rice. Top with optional sauce and enjoy.
Notes
- The recipe can also be made with ground pork, chicken or turkey.
- The coconut aminos linked to in the recipe are the aminos we use (Coconut Secret coconut aminos). Braggs brand aminos are NOT the same thing. Braggs liquid aminos are a soy-based and much saltier than coconut aminos. If you use Braggs aminos, we suggest using only 1-2 tbsp to start and adjusting to taste. You can also omit the salt from the recipe.
- As an alternative to coconut aminos, you can make your own using our DIY coconut aminos substitute recipe.
- If you wish to omit the fish sauce, you can replace it with more coconut aminos. Since fish sauce is salty, you may need to add more salt to suit your taste.
Did you make this recipe?Tag @realsimplegood with hashtag #realsimplegood on Instagram. We love to see what you make!
Favorite dish in our house, for the greens I use a bag of Cole Slaw mix, stays nice and crunchy and adds flavor.
What would you suggest for a non-spicy sauce?
Our sweet potato fry sauce or our chipotle aioli (minus the chipotle) would be great! Any store bought sauce you like would work too.
Someone had made me a Korean beef bowl I absolutely loved so I was trying to find a recipe to imitate what I had. This looked like the closest recipe I could find. Tried it last night.
Super easy to make. Will use this recipe again however omit the fish sauce, it’s SO salty! I think the rest of the flavors I’m looking for are there somewhere under the saltiness. Bummed for now as this was my meal plan meals for the week but hopefully the next batch is perfect!
Hopefully so! Omitting the fish sauce will make it less salty for sure.
Fantastic quick dinner. It tasted amazing!
Wow! This was really good. I substituted ground beef for turkey. Everyone loved it!
Happy to hear that! Thanks for coming back to leave a review, we appreciate it 🙂
Very delicious meal
Glad you enjoyed it!
This was great! I also added broccoli to it which was good
I may have commented before because this recipe has become a staple in our home. Last time I made it, we subbed ground turkey for beef and served it over cilantro lime rice with a bag of broccoli slaw and some snap peas on the side. Total hit with everyone in the family! We use chili garlic sauce to flavor our mayo aioli and add a little extra garlic powder.
Happy to hear this one is a staple in your house! It’s so easy to modify with whatever you have or want 🙂
Such a fantastic easy recipe! Always a win in my house of 4! I make Kim chee cucumbers to go with this if I plan ahead… this recipe is a go to.
Been making this recipe for a couple of years now and it is always a family favorite!
Happy to hear that Mary!
Absolutely delicious!
So happy you enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to leave a review!
Made this tonight with my teenage son. Oh my! It was delicious. Everyone in the family liked it! We did add in some shredded cabbage toward the end of the cooktime just for a bit of a crunch. Yum
Could have this every night !
Agreed, we have this one often 🙂
I added freshly squeezed lime juice and zucchini. All of the flavors were delish!
I made this for my family last night and everyone loved it! I was anticipating a large amount of leftovers, as there are only 3 people in my family, but we ate all of it. I can’t wait to make this again. It is definitely a new family favorite. Thank you!
Hahaha! We’ve had that happen, too! We think we’re meal prepping a big enough batch and it never lasts as long as we think. Thanks for giving our recipe a try and also for coming back to share how it went. We love hearing from you. 🙂
This was EXCELLENT!!! Soooo savory and delicious! Served as suggested with cauli rice on a bed of spinach…Lawrd, it’s so good!
This is such a great recipe! It’s delicious, easy & kid-friendly! Everyone in my family, including my 5 year old twins ate every last bite!
That’s the best review! We love hearing it’s a hit for the whole fam! Thanks so much for taking the time to come back and leave a review for us. We appreciate your support! 🙂
I just made this and it is DELISH! I made it with chicken, but I bet the beef would give it even more flavor! The sauce adds a nice kick. So glad I found this recipe!
I made this last night and it was definitely easy and delicious. We served over rice w/ sauteed spinach and kimchi, as well as the sauce/green onions. Fantastic as a leftover lunch too!
I made this a couple weeks ago, but doubled the sauce & served it with broccoli, zucchini, onions, and garlic sautéed in toasted sesame oil and my picky almost 7 year old ate two full bowls, zucchini & all. Being put into our normal rotation.
Love the pairing with different veggies, we need to try that! Thanks so much for coming back over to leave a rating and review, we appreciate it 🙂
We love this recipe! I make it with stir-fry veggies instead of the greens (family preference) and often double the sauce because it’s just soooooo good. Thanks for a great recipe!!
You’re welcome! Thanks for coming back to leave a rating and review, we appreciate it 🙂
Printed this recipe a while ago; finally tried it. It was a big hit with the family! Used cauliflower rice for whole 30 and rice for those who are not.
As promised it’s quick and simple to make. Very tasty.
Thanks Wendy, glad you enjoyed the recipe!
This recipe is always a hit in our house. It’s easy to modify and delicious as written.
This recipe was delicious and easy to prepare. So flavorful and came together quickly! Enjoy!
What are the calories on each bowl?
We don’t have that information available but you can plug the recipe details into an online calculator like myfitnesspal if needed.
I’ve been eyeing this recipe for a while and have finally made it! We LOVED it! My husband wants it added into the rotation and my girls (11 & 13) enjoyed it as well! I made steamed broccoli as a side and hubby and 11yo tossed that in with the beef and rice! I made jasmine rice instead of cauliflower and we used baby spinach as our green!
So glad to hear that you tried and enjoyed this recipe, it’s one of our family favorites too 🙂
So easy and delicious
We absolutely love this recipe! My daughter has insisted that it’s on our weekly menu! We eat it with spinach and rice, and drizzle Hoisin Sauce on top.
Love hearing that, thanks for coming back to leave a review!
I love the flavor of this dish but when I make it again, I’d use cabbage/slaw and not lettuce. The lettuce wilts and gets slimy from the heat of the rice and meat. I’d probably add the slaw to the meat at the end of simmering so soften it up.
What kind of hot sauce do you use? Or what kind do you think works best for this recipe? Thanks!
We just use whatever we have on hand at the time. Typically, it’s a jalapeno based hot sauced. Really, whatever kind you enjoy will work great! Let us know how it goes. We’d love to hear. 🙂
A friend made this for me and my 4 kids when my husband was out of town and one of my kids got sick. It was delish!!! I cannot wait to try it myself. I’m wondering if this freezes well?
What a lovely friend you have! We haven’t tried freezing this one, but I think the beef would be fine. I’d just make whatever rice or cauliflower rice to go with it the day you plan to actually eat it. Hope that helps! And we hope you find many new favorite recipes on our site! 🙂
Such a simple and delicious recipe. Easy to add any veggies you want to the bowl.
Could I cut this recipe down to 1lb of ground beef? If so, do I need to cut the rest of the ingredients by half, too? It’s just two of us and 1lb is usually plenty including leftovers.
Yes you can cut it to 1lb and yes you should cut the rest of the ingredients. If you change the servings in the recipe card, all of the ingredients will update automatically for you 🙂