Easy Korean Beef Bowls
The combination of flavorful beef, zesty slaw, and spicy garlic sauce, makes these easy Korean beef bowls an amazing weeknight dinner!
Please meet one of our favorite dinners EVER. Modeled after these favorite Korean beef tacos, this “bowl” version is quicker, easier, and just as delicious! (Scroll down for a quick and simple salmon version!)
Slaw + Sauce + Beef
There are three main components to this recipe:
- Zesty, fresh slaw with crunchy cucumbers
- The sauce to end all sauces (creamy, spicy, garlicky)
- Flavorful Korean-style ground beef
While the ingredients list in the recipe may look a bit long, each component comes together incredibly fast. The slaw and sauce can be made ahead of time to speed up dinner night assembly!
And to simplify prep even further, you can use a bag of pre-shredded coleslaw mix for the cabbage and carrots called for in the recipe.
Assembling Korean Beef Bowls
These Korean beef bowls are delicious served with the three main recipe components above. But they are even more delicious with a few additions.
This is how we like to serve them:
- Hot, cooked rice
- Korean beef
- Slaw
- Sauce (and more sauce)
- Lime wedges
- Chopped cilantro
- Avocados
Sometimes we’ll throw naan bread on the side, too. YUM!
Build-Your-Own Meal
The great thing about this recipe and the reason it makes such a fabulous, family-friendly dinner is that it is easily a build-your-own meal where everyone can create the beef and rice bowl of their dreams.
I, for one, always add extra beef, extra slaw, extra sauce, and a lot of fresh lime squeezes. Sometimes, a little drizzle of extra sriracha. Oh, and a good amount of chopped cilantro.
My family? Their bowls have just a tiny bit less personality (and less cabbage), but I don’t judge them for it. Especially because that means more leftovers for meeeeee.
These Korean beef bowls are tremendous.
They are easily one of my favorite things to eat for dinner, and there are never any complaints from the family (see the aforementioned build-your-own appeal).
The flavors are out of this world delicious! I love how quickly and easily this meal comes together. Really, I could eat this over and over and never get tired of it.
And if you’re looking to change it up just a little, try using the sauce for the beef as a salmon marinade. After marinading the salmon for a couple of hours, cook it on the grill, in the air fryer, or broil in the oven and serve with all the other recipe components. SO, SO GOOD.
What to Serve With This:
This is pretty much a complete meal as is! A few additional side suggestions:
- Fresh fruit
- Easy yogurt flatbread
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Easy Korean Beef Bowls
Ingredients
Quick Slaw:
- 4 cups shredded cabbage (napa, green, purple or a combo) – see note
- 1 cup shredded or grated carrots
- 1 cup chopped cucumbers
- ¼ to ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Sriracha, to taste
Sauce to End All Sauces:
- ½ cup sour cream
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1 teaspoon sriracha sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
Korean Beef:
- 1 ½ to 2 pounds lean ground beef
- ½ cup low-sodium soy sauce
- ¼ cup unseasoned rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger or ginger paste
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic (4 to 5 cloves) or 1 teaspoon garlic powder
For serving (optional but tasty):
- Hot, cooked rice
- Naan bread
- Avocado slices
- Fresh lime wedges
- Chopped cilantro
Instructions
- For the slaw, in a large bowl, combine the cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, and cilantro. In a small bowl whisk together the lime juice, soy sauce, olive oil, salt and pepper (start with a pinch of each and add more to taste, if needed), and sriracha. Pour the dressing over the slaw and toss to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve (it can be made 4-6 hours in advance).
- For the sauce, stir together all the ingredients and refrigerate until ready to serve (it can be made several days in advance).
- For the beef, in a 12-inch nonstick skillet set over medium heat, brown the ground beef, breaking the meat into small pieces, until no longer pink. Drain excess grease.
- To the skillet, add the soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, sesame oil, ginger and garlic or garlic powder. Stir to combine and bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 3 to 4 minutes until heated through.
- For serving, to each bowl, add a scoop of rice (if using), add a portion of beef and slaw. Drizzle with sauce. Serve with lime wedges, avocados, and naan bread, if desired.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe (adapted from this Korean tacos recipe)
A family favorite!
Delicious! Leftovers were even better,
the flavors blended even more . I had extra slaw and rice so husband made a piece of salmon for that portion the 3rd day and loved that as well.
You knocked it out of the park with this one! So yummy!
YES! Easy, fast, delicious! I made it dairy free by using vegan sour cream as a substitute and plant based Mayo. Excellent! Thank you!
This was delicious and pretty quick to prepare! We added fried eggs to the top of our bowls. This will definitely be joining our weeknight meal rotation. Thank you!
These were absolutely delicious. Keep in mind that not all sriracha is created equal; our sauce was quite spicy.
LOVED. Even my picky 3 year old ate it. I used brown rice, ground turkey, and 16 oz bag of slaw and made half the sauce and it was enough. Definitely making again!
We love this stuff! Easily one of my favorite meals. So glad I found it!
Amazing flavor!
I made these with chickpeas in lieu of meat. I fried the chickpeas in the same ingredients called for the meat and they were great!
The sauce is next level.
The Cole slaw is so good I could eat it on its own!
Loved this!
This was so so so so good! Do you do anything to make grating the vegetables go faster? I prefer to buy the whole vegetables rather than the bags of slaw to save money, but I’m slow grating.
Are you hand grating on a box grater? Using a food processor with a shredder attachment could help?
Half of my family loved this, the other half still thought it was ok. I loved how fresh it felt with the slaw and how easy it came together. One child made it into a taco lol. When I was preparing it, I was worried because I didn’t love any element on its own. Be patient though because it is so good all together. It totally works.
To Mel, my recipe queen- I’m writing this review live from lunch break at the hospital – needed to tell someone that this might be the best leftovers I have ever eaten in my life. Thank you for this amazing recipe!!!! I feel like it’s even better day 2. Winner for sure!
This one is going to go in my dinner rotation! We all loved it. 😋
I made this meal for a recent family reunion and everyone LOVED it! Kids to adults, everyone wanted seconds! This meal is so flavorful, I will definitely make this over and over.
I finally made this after ogling it for a couple weeks! It was so delicious! I’ll definitely be making it again!
Okay hear me out….
We made the recipe and loved it but ended up with a significant amount of leftover slaw and sauce. With the leftovers we made sandwiches that had the leftover sauce and slaw, chicken, peanuts, and the sweet and spicy hoisin sauce from your Chicken Banh Mi flatbread recipe on a hoagie and it was SO GOOD. Highly recommend!
We had this for dinner last night and my kids were RAVING about how delicious it is– and they pretty much only react that way when we’re having pancakes or something that really is actually a dessert. It was pretty awesome! (And I liked how it all came together pretty easily without me stressing out in the kitchen! I didn’t feel like I was trying to juggle ten tasks at once!)
Just made this for the second time – love it, and we did ground chicken the second time and loved it even more!
This was such a delicious and tasty dinner – another winner, thank you, Mel! 🙂
Major hit at my house! Even my picky four year old ate a whole bowl! (Bless you, Mel haha) It’s sooooooooo yummy and came together so fast!
Oh YAY!! Let’s hope that cute 4-year old stays on an eat-the-dinner-without-complaining roll!
Made this last week and it’s easily the tastiest dinner I have ever made. My family also loved it. We had it over coconut rice.
So similar to the Korean beef tacos but less messy to eat.
I know I will make this one over and over again!
Thanks Mel for another 5 star recipe.
I’m SO happy you loved it so much, Kristina! Thank you for letting me know!
Wow! This was a HUGE hit with my family. This is a great summer dish too. All the flavors worked so well together (I omitted the cilantro), and that sauce….I was dipping the naan bread into the leftover sauce, all the while trying to think of what else I can use it on (my daughter suggested your shawarma chicken!) I don’t cook with ground beef that often anymore (I usually use ground turkey) but I will make a point of having ground beef in the freezer, just to make this dish. We served it over rice as you suggested and I would definitely recommend that. Might try quinoa next. Such a winner Mel – thank you!
Thanks for the review, Darlene! So glad to hear this one was a hit. I think it would be fantastic over quinoa!
Oh my goodness! This was fantastic! We followed the directions and made the sauce(s) and coleslaw ahead of time. That way, dinner came together in a flash! There are only 2 of us, so we kept all the components separate and my hubs ate it for 3 more days and he is NOT a fan of leftovers.
That is the best news! So happy this was a hit, Jane – thanks for letting me know!
Slaw and beef were delicious. I added jalapeno to my slaw for a kick, which worked out great.
The sauce was not for me. Next time I’ll make something similar that omits the lime juice and garlic powder and instead uses sour cream, mayo, Sriracha, soy sauce and honey.
Definitely appreciate this easy recipe and plan to add to my regular rotation!
Thanks for the feedback!
This is amazing! I’m excited to try it with salmon the next time. I did about 2 T. of sriracha in the slaw and a full T. in the sauce (tripled from the 1 t. it called for) because we love spice.
Thanks for adding your variations, Mandy!
So good!
Thanks, Janet!
Made this for dinner, yesterday. It was a total hit!! The Sauce To End All Sauces is very similar to one I make which uses red wine vinegar. I’ve used it on sandwiches, burgers, as a dip…thank you for the fabulous recipe.
Yum, Shellie – I bet red wine vinegar is super tasty in that creamy sauce.
Delicious!!
Thanks, Emily!
Subbed gochujang for the Sriracha because I had it 🙂 and served the cucumbers as a topping instead of in the slaw since I planned for leftovers and didn’t want the cuke to get mushy. Beautiful presentation and I loved the flavors, but the beef was really soupy and my family thought the vinegar was a weird addition to the meat. Next time I’ll start with 1 T and add more to taste, and possibly use a little cornstarch to thicken the meat sauce. Thanks for another delicious dinner!
Thanks for chiming in with your variations/thoughts, Anne!
Could I make this with out the sesame oil? Would that change the flavor much? My husband is allergic 😕
Hi Kendra, I think you could definitely make without.
Made it. Loved it! Appreciated another comment saying they used lentils. I did the same because I didn’t want to run to the store. I served it with quinoa as well. Even my meat-loving husband couldn’t stop raving about our meatless meal. Also, I enjoyed leftovers for lunch today. The slaw was gone, and I was too lazy too mix up more dressing for the slaw, so I topped it with the chopped cabbage, carrots, cucumber and cilantro and added the sauce and it was just as good…maybe even better! It tasted so fresh. I can’t wait to eat some more tomorrow for lunch!!
Love the meatless version!
Holy cow. Just finished a bowl of this and it was AMAZING! Probably moreso because it was incredibly easy too! Top notch. Family approved. I’ll be making this all the time now. Thank you Mel!
Yay! Thanks, Cathy!
This was so easy and tasty. The whole family loved it – which doesn’t happen often. Thanks for another amazing meal!
I made this for dinner, and boy was it delicious! I’m a huge fan of quick to prepare, yummy meals. Will definitely make this again. Thanks!!
We have been followers of Mel’s Kitchen Cafe since the beginning of COVID and I have always trusted the recipes. This one “hits it out of the park” for me. Last night I made this for dinner and enjoyed it thoroughly. The only adjustment I made was to the siracha sauce as we are not huge fans of heat. This morning I am back on the website looking to see what will be Thursday’s dinner.
This was delicious and so easy to make! I ended up using 1/4 cup soy sauce because that’s all I had and it still turned out great. This will definitely be added to our favorites!
Thanks for the review, Lisa!
Made this for dinner and my daughter told me it was her favorite homemade meal she’s ever had!
Ok, that is high praise!! Yay!
Our kids LOVE this recipe. They are careful about what they eat during the week… then Fat Sunday comes around, they fill UP! For example, this recipe with your yeast flatbread, and a delicious dessert. They go to TOWN on it & named it Fat Sunday. Now we can try the bowls version, & the saved carbs can go towards more dessert🙃 thanks!!
Glad this one is a hit with your kiddos, Stacy!
My family loved this! So good, healthy and flavorful! Our 8 year old made several comments on how good it was.
That made my day knowing your 8-year old had rave reviews for this, Mary. Thanks for letting me know!
Made this tonight for my family and it was a huge hit! Such great flavors and super easy to make! Added edamame and some Thai chili sauce to the top 🤤
Yum! Love both of those additions!!
This was fantastic! Will definitely be making this often. The slaw is so delicious! And the sauce😋. I added a bit more siracha to the sauce, and it was fantastic. Such a yummy healthy recipe!
Glad you loved this one, Bri!
Thank you for saving me tonight! Didn’t know what was going to be for supper but I had taken out hamburger, and then this recipe popped into my emails. It was delicious and we all approved! Will 100% make this again.
Yay!! Love it when the stars align like that.
Do you think I could use plain creek yogurt instead of mayo for the sauce??
We do this 100% of the time — it is perfection!
We do this 100% of the time — it is perfection!
Yes, absolutely!
I’m so excited to try this recipe, Mel! Your original Korean Beef and Rice is among my top ten favorite recipes of all time, so I know this one is going to be incredible. Thank you for all you do!!
Love the taco version of these and can’t wait to try the bowls!
This sounds amazing BUT m 5 year old is very ANTI-spice. If I leave out the Sriracha will it be unbalanced?
It will definitely alter the flavor a little – even adding a drop of sriracha will help balance the flavors without being spicy at all. But you could also leave it out.
We have been using your Korean taco recipe to make them into bowls nearly exactly like this for so long, (I find bowls are more filling for the teens And easier on me to prep) And I can report that they are AMAZING. I think I probably made them once a week for a few years now. Sometimes we use ground beef, and sometimes we use the shaved beef at Aldi. We also use ground turkey when non-beef eating family members are with us, all great! I was making this at a friends house who is vegetarian and we used the sauce on lentils for her! Couldn’t love it more.
Love to hear this, Kate!
I saw this pop up this morning. It’s already on my dinner menu for tonight! Thanks so much, Mel, for making dinner delicious! We have many Mel favorites on the regular rotation.
Wow, these look amazing. I just checked your blog for something else and saw these pop up today. I love your korean beef and rice recipe. One of our family favorites. Can’t wait to try this.