Korean Beef and Rice {Or Quinoa}: Simple 20-Minute Meal
This simple, delicious meal of flavorful Korean beef (you can use ground turkey, too!) is tasty and comes together in 20 minutes!
Anyone else playing major catch up after the holidays? I haven’t even thought about New Year resolutions (snore), I’m seriously still trying to crawl out from piles of laundry and chocolate.
If you are like me (high five?? or not…), let’s all give a little cheer for this 20-minute meal that most likely will save your bacon some time in the near future.
It has for me, that I know. I’ve been making it for months now, tweaking it here and there, and the fact that it can be thrown together in 20 minutes nearly makes me weep.
We love the simple, Asian flavors; it’s delicious served over rice or quinoa but let me tell you, it’s equally divine as a lettuce wrap or a combo of all (see the notes below the recipe title).
Interestingly enough, I’ve actually been to Korea (in a past lifetime, over 16 years ago when my brother dragged me there to go backpacking and I ended up with a really, really bad stomach issue after eating raw cow liver; delightful experience, really) and it should come as no surprise that I didn’t taste anything in Korea remotely close to the recipe I’m sharing today.
That may be a good or bad thing, depending on how you view life.
And since we are talking false advertising here, I should probably mention that “beef” is used loosely as I alternate between ground beef, ground turkey and have even used ground chicken with super stellar results.
Anyway you look at it, this quick, weeknight meal is a staple in our dinner rotation. Fast, easy, tasty and healthy! As I like to say: no better way to bring on 2015 than a meal that could save your sanity.
What To Serve With This:
Skillet Green Beans
Fresh fruit or this Honey Lime Fruit Salad
One Year Ago: Video Tip: How to Cut Grape Tomatoes and Other Pesky Foods Quickly
Two Years Ago: Chewy Granola Bars
Three Years Ago: Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake
Korean Beef and Rice {Or Quinoa}
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds ground turkey or ground beef or ground chicken
- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- Salt and pepper
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup low-sodium soy sauce
- ¼ cup low-sodium chicken or beef broth
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes plus more to taste or 1 teaspoon chili-garlic sauce
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger or 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger
- 3 green onions, chopped
- Hot, cooked rice or quinoa for serving
Instructions
- Start the rice or quinoa, cooking according to package directions (usually about 15-17 minutes cooking time).
- While the rice/quinoa cooks, in a large, 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat, add the meat, garlic and 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Cook, stirring to break the meat into small pieces, until the meat is cooked through and crumbly, about 7-10 minutes. Drain any excess grease.
- In a liquid measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, soy sauce, broth, sesame oil, red pepper flakes (or chili-garlic sauce), and ginger.
- Stir the sauce into the meat and simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes or so.
- Serve over hot, cooked rice or quinoa, topped with the chopped green onions.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted from Damn Delicious (used less sugar, took out the cooking oil, increased meat slightly and added more liquid so it wasn’t dry, varied the other ingredients)
109 Comments on “Korean Beef and Rice {Or Quinoa}: Simple 20-Minute Meal”
Excellent! All three kids and my husband loved it. We are big fans of bibimbap, but all I had was ground beef. This recipe was a great alternative.
We needed a quick meal tonight and had all the ingredients for this one on hand! All four of us eating loved it!
I have made this many times and my family and I love it! My favorite way to eat it is to skip the rice and quinoa and have it piled on roasted spaghetti squash. Yum!
Can you use honey instead of the brown sugar?
I haven’t tried that, but I’m sure you could.
Just made this tonight and it was SO good! We loved it!
I love this recipe. I make this all the time and so quick and easy. I appreciate you and your blog!
Thank you so much, Laura!
I can’t believe I haven’t made this until now! It’s easy to make and all the ingredients are things I normally have on hand!! It was SO YUMMY! Everyone ate multiple servings (we put it in lettuce wraps). Next time I might put less red pepper flakes and let people add their own Siracha sauce if they want more heat (my younger kids drank a lot of milk with it haha)
I’ve made this recipe probably once a month for our lunches for probably a year so I figured I’d finally comment. For a healthy lunch, we make this into a “lettuce wrap” salad as you’ve suggested. I serve the meat on a bed of lettuce, top with some rice, the Korean beef, matchstick carrots, cucumbers, green onions, chow mein noodles, and Thai sweet chili sauce on top. It’s delicious! Thanks for a great simple recipe.
I made this with one pound of ground turkey, half the sugar (coconut) and coconut aminos. It was delicious! And so fast/easy. It has earned a place in our go-to recipe book. Thanks Mel!
I’m pretty sure this is my second comment on this post – but just have to say again how much I love this! I doubled it last night and used 2 lbs ground beef and 1 lb ground turkey. Just for fun I used 1 T sesame oil, 1 T peanut butter. Not sure it altered the flavor much – but just thought I’d try something new (and my sesame oil is getting low!). I also put about 1 tsp corn starch in the sauce because I remember it being a little thin on previous times I made it. I made it with quinoa then made a really tasty Asian slaw (coleslaw mix, red onion, jalapeño, cilantro; dressing: rice wine vinegar, honey, garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper). Then I made a sriracha mayo (made with half greek yogurt) and like juice. My husband and friend who joined us for dinner kept discussing how delicious it was – and I was thinking why is this not on my weekly rotation?! I also made it a while back in taco form (as inspired by your Korean beef taco recipe!) This recipe is a winner! Thanks so much, Mel! I feel like I owe so much of my increased cooking game to you!
This sounds amazing, Anna! I might have to copy that whole lineup!
It was a hit! And I made rice in the instant pot for the first time and that worked, too!
Very simple and very delicious! My recipe books are 95% filled with your recipes, Mel. Thank you for sharing (and my family REALLY thanks you :))!
Thanks so much, Becky!
Made this with ground pork tonight, yummy! Used half coconut aminos and half Tamari in place of soy sauce, and only added half the brown sugar since coconut aminos are sweet. Added shredded spinach with the rice in my bowl and it was delicious.
I had this at a friend’s house and loved it! I made it for my family tonight (so easy!) with 1 lb of turkey (it was just as delicious with turkey as beef). Thank you for this great recipe!!
I love this recipe! I add a bed of chopped lettuce under the rice and drizzle Sriracha mayo on top. Way easier than the previous recipes I have found, and really delicious!
Absolutely delicious and quick and easy to make!
Made this last night and it was so tasty! I used beef better than bullion in the sauce and probably had a little less meat and the same amount of sauce – but it was so good. Made it with quinoa and made a broccoli slaw with a little Asian dressing (rice vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and sesame oil) and served it altogether. Will definitely be making it again! My boyfriend said it was the best thing he’d ever eaten with quinoa.
This was so tasty! I love that it was fast, and full of flavor. Another great one, Mel!
Tried this one tonight and everyone loved it!! Going into my meal rotation for sure. Love quick and easy dishes like this using simple ingredients we all have on hand. Thanks for another great recipe, Mel!! I love your blog and so many of my family’s favorites come from you!!
Made it with ground venison and doubled the sauce just because we like a little sauce to pour over the rice. Also added about 2 teaspoons of corn starch to thicken it just a little bit. If making for lettuce wraps, I would make this just as printed.
Over all was super easy and tasted good. Everyone liked it and we will be adding this to our rotation, along with some stir-fried veggies to go on the side.
Yum!!!!!! I just made this recipe but lightened it up a little with a sprinkle of coconut sugar instead of 1/4 C brown sugar and a mix of Braggs liquid aminos & coconut aminos instead of soy sauce! So delicious!
I browned 3lbs of ground beef and used half to make your amazing spaghetti sauce last night and saved half to make this tonight…Do I need an intervention? I soak chopped water chestnuts in the soy mixture before adding to the ground beef, huge favorite around here! Thanks for sharing all your culinary genius!
This is so, so delicious. I have made it every week for months, and my family and I still look forward to it every single time. Thank you, thank you, Mel!!
Is there something I could use as a substitute for the sesame oil?
You could try leaving it out or adding a touch of olive oil.
The olive oil worked really well! Thank you so much!!
This was quick and delicious! I added a diced green bell pepper and broccoli for the last few minutes to make a complete meal. We’ll definitely be adding this to the regular rotation.
Question though: the sauce turned out quite thin. Is that normal? Would there be a good way to thicken it that wouldn’t affect the flavor?
If you add a little bit of cornstarch mixed with cold water (maybe 2 teaspoons with 2 tablespoons water or something like that), it can help thicken it!
I make this recipe at least 2x a month and we never get tired of it. I double the sauce recipe and stir fry some veggies to add on top of the rice and beef. Baby bok choy, cabbage, snap peas, edamame, green beans, broccoli, carrots…. just about anything I stir fry tastes amazing because of your sauce. Even my pickiest of eaters will eat it. I add a sprinkle of furikake before serving for some extra sesame seed crunch.
Yum! Love your additions, Karen!
Pretty sure I have already commented on this but just want to report that I make this just about once a week. My family never tires of it. If it’s Monday in my house we are probably eating Korean stir fry! Although this week has been crazy so we are just now eating it on a Wednesday.
These kind of left a strong yucky taste in my mouth that wouldn’t go away. 🙁 I’m wondering if I did something wrong…or maybe I was just expecting it to be sweeter and more teriyaki-ish?
Darn. Not complaining. Just adding versatility to these reviews! 😉
Hi Mel!
Thank you for this recipe! I have been making it regularly at least 2 to 3 times a month since you posted it and we all love it so much.
I thought I’d tell you about an addition we made last night and loved. I had a big bucket of chopped green/red cabbage, kale, carrots and green onions in the fridge. I keep it on hand for a quick lunch or dinner salad. On a whim I added this to our rice and Korean beef and it was so good! The rice and beef were warm and the salad mix was fresh and crunchy. Well, for lunch today my husband decided to wilt the salad greens and put them on our left over rice and beef and that was sooo good too. Now I’m not sure which I like better!
Thank you for all of the wonderful recipes. I have been following your blog since 2008 when I was a new wife and had my fist baby. We are now a family of 6 and so, so many of your recipes have become our family favorites. I talk about you as if you are a close, personal friend. haha. I moved to the Boise are from LA and I always hope to run into you at the grocery store 🙂 Maybe some day! Anyhow, just wanted you to know how much I appreciate you!
have a great day!
Thanks for the update on this recipe, Caroline! I love, love the idea of adding those fresh vegetables to this dish. I will definitely be copying that idea. And that would be so fun to run into you! I can’t believe you’ve been a reader since the very beginning. That’s more awesome than I can even say. Thank you!
Hi Mel! Thank you so much for this recipe! In the year since you posted it I’ve made it once sometimes twice a month. It has become a regular and we all love it, especially my husband! Thank you!
This is one of my favorite recipes and is in regular rotation on my meal plan. I usually make this with ground turkey and quinoa. I add a little extra ginger and brown it with the turkey and garlic. Last time I made it, I added some edamame. Otherwise, everything else is the same. Delicious and cooks up quickly!
I have made this several times now. The first time was on a whim since I needed a quick dinner. Everyone loved it! I keep coming back to it over, and over again. It’s my go-to when my menu isn’t panning out. It always sounds good for dinner 🙂 I like to serve my with stir-fry veggies (like peppers, mushrooms and zucchini). Quick, easy, delish. Doesn’t get much better!
This dish saved my Sunday night! I made it as-written except with 1 pound ground beef. I steamed 1 pound of frozen broccoli and stirred it in at the end. It was perfect!
Just had to say that this was so very delicious! I had some kale & red & yellow peppers that I wanted to use up; they were a really easy add in. My husband couldn’t get over how tasty this was; it made for some great leftovers, too. I will be making this again & again.
Finally made this after much debate on whether or not my not-so-adventurous-when-it-comes-to-trying-new-foods family would actually eat it. They all loved it, even my youngest who is a super picky eater! Thank you!!! We adore (okay, mostly me because I love to bake more than cook) your dessert recipes and now I’m very excited to try even more of your other recipes. Keep up the great work!!!
Made this tonight and it was a big hit. Everyone including the toddler ate it and asked for seconds. Awesome!
This is excellent!
This was delicious! I loved it, and I weirdly used the leftovers as a base for tacos. Wasn’t sure how that would turn out, but they were awesome with the meat, black beans, sriracha, and cilantro.
Hi! I am trying to find the recipe box on this site…has it been removed?
Ziplist has discontinued their service for the shopping list and recipe boxes – sorry for any inconvenience.
I have been making the Damn Delicious version for a while now. I like to double the sauce add about 2 cups of finely diced veggies; usually carrots, onions, mushrooms, peppers, maybe sprouts. My husband served an LDS mission in Korea and loves Korean food. This dish passes the test!
Made this tonight for dinner and served it over quinoa. It was very easy and tasty. I could see how you could add any veggies to this dish. Another fast go to dinner in this house. Thanks again Mel!
I made this tonight for dinner. Super easy to throw together, and it was delicious! Both my little boys gobbled it up. Thank you for all your fabulous recipes. We eat your food almost every night of the week!