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Weeknight stir-fried 20 Minute Korean Gochujang Beef Bowls. Quick-cooking ground beef tossed in a sweet and spicy Korean chile sauce with caramelized shallots and bell peppers. Serve with a quick, pickled, spicy cucumber salad. Every bite is filled with deliciously flavored beef and just the right amount of spice – flavorful and easy.
The perfect Monday recipe for you all! When I was brainstorming new recipes for this month, I knew I wanted to focus on high-protein, quick, simple dinners. Dinners that would be exciting yet healthy and easy to cook.
When it comes to cooking a new recipe, what can often turn us off is when it feels scary or has an overwhelming amount of steps. I totally get that. I say no immediately if I look at anything with a mile-long ingredient list and even more steps.
So this month, to encourage everyone to be home, cooking more. I knew simple, healthy, and delicious dinners were the trick.
As I mentioned last week, my brothers have been home a lot recently. They love any kind of dish that’s stir-fried and spicy.
Gochujang (fermented Korean Chili paste) is an ingredient I know they love when I use it in recipes, so I just loved the sound of a Gochujang Beef Bowl. I knew I could make it quick and delicious.
Here are the details
Step 1: cook the beef
For this recipe to be quick, I used lean ground beef. You could also use ground pork or even ground chicken if you prefer.
Once you’ve browned the meat, add a slice of butter, lots of bell peppers or other veggies you enjoy, pickled ginger, and garlic. Allow this to cook until super fragrant.
Step 2: Add the flavor
Now, add the low sodium soy sauce. I use tamari, which is a gluten-free soy sauce. Then, add the Gochujang (fermented Korean Chili paste) and ginger juice, which I get from the pickled ginger jar. Or you can now buy ginger juice as well. I just found some at Whole Foods!
Let the sauce simmer and cook down until it coats the beef.
Step 3: caramelize the meat
The final step is to add the maple, or use honey, and let the meat caramelize, plus get crispy in the spicy chile sauce.
Pull it off the stove, then toss it with sesame seeds. YUM!
Step 4: the cucumber salad
I wanted to add a refreshing crunch, so I made a quick pickled cucumber salad using cucumbers, salt, Gochujang chile flakes (or regular chile flakes), and vinegar/ginger juice. Just mix in a small bowl and let it sit for a few minutes.
Simple Simple.
Step 5: serve with rice
Now spoon the beef over cooked rice, you could even use cauliflower rice, add the salad, lots of green onions, and the roasted peanuts. It’s best to serve this right off the stove while still steamy. But if you need to rewarm it, it’s still great. Perfect for our busiest times.
Hoping you guys love this Korean beef bowl as much as we’ve loved it. I’m already excited to make it again later this week!
Looking for other quick weeknight dinners? Here are some favorites:
Chili Crisp Chicken Mango Cucumber Rice Bowl
30 Minute Caramelized Shallot Beef Ramen Noodles
Healthier Homemade One Pot Hamburger Helper
Coconut Popcorn Chicken with Sweet Thai Chili Lime Sauce
30 Minute Sticky Thai Meatballs with Sesame Noodles
Better Than Takeout Sweet Thai Basil Chicken
Spicy Chipotle Honey Salmon Bowls
Lastly, if you make this 20 Minute Korean Gochujang Beef Bowls, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And, of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
20 Minute Korean Gochujang Beef Bowls
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 430 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef (or chicken or pork)
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 bell peppers, sliced
- 3 shallots, sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/4 cup pickled ginger (or 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger)
- 1/2 cup tamari or soy sauce
- 2-3 tablespoons Gochujang (Korean chili paste)
- 2 tablespoons ginger juice
- 2 tablespoons maple or honey
- 1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
- 1/3 cup chopped roasted peanuts
Cucumber Salad
- 4 Persian cucumbers, chopped
- 1 tablespoon Gochujang (Korean chili paste)
- 1/4 cup chopped green onion/ Thai basil
- 2 tablespoons ginger juice or rice vinegar
Instructions
- 1. In a large skillet, combine the beef and a pinch of black pepper. Cook over medium heat, breaking up the meat as it cooks until browned, about 5 minutes. Add the butter, peppers, garlic, shallots, and ginger. Cook 2 minutes.2. Pour over the tamari, add the Gochujang, ginger juice, and 1/3 cup water. Cook until the sauce coats the beef, 2-3 minutes. Mix in the maple/honey and cook another 1-2 minutes until the beef is caramelized. Remove from the heat. Toss with sesame seeds. 3. Meanwhile, In a bowl, mix the cucumbers with 1 teaspoon salt, the chile flakes, ginger juice, and green onions. Let sit 5 minutes.4. Serve the beef and peppers over bowls of rice. Serve with the cucumber salad and top with peanuts. Add spicy mayo if desired. Enjoy!
This post was originally published on January 22, 2024
Very good! Made it tonight and it was pretty easy. I skipped the cucumber salad (to save time) and substituted with some steamed broccoli-and it was still great!
Thanks so much Erin! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! xT
Never heard of ginger juice. Can’t finfd it anywhere. Most stores never even heard of it. What can I substitute this with?
1/4 cup pickled ginger is a big difference compared to 1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger! Can you elaborate on which would be better to use here? Pickled vs fresh can provide very different flavors!
I haven’t made the recipe yet but just wanted to say that the comments on here get so rude. Telling you to stop making other culture’s food is absurd. We all know and understand that most “Asian” foods in America look nothing like what their authentic counterparts would. If one frequents China Panda, you would know that many of the dishes they serve are not authentic to any culture, but most won’t complain about that. The pizza you get from franchise establishments or even some no name places, are not even close to authentic Italian. There is nothing wrong with making dishes based loosely on another culture’s popular dishes. Food is for everyone, it belong to no one. If you don’t like the recipe then unsubscribe, or keep scrolling. I see no insult or disrespect to anyone with this recipe.
How many times do we have to ask you to stop using other cultures for your recipes? Please just listen to your audience for once, my god.
I am working on this delicious smelling Asian inspired recipe right now with my laptop next to the stove. I had to turn the heat off for a sec so I could say that my favorite recipes of yours Tieghan are the ones that take ingredients from around the world and blend them into your own unique dishes. One of my favorites is your khao soi style soup recipe which is easy and delicious. Often I can’t find the ingredients (or the time) to make truly authentic dishes on any given weeknight. But this way I get to enjoy these flavors in my own home, and I get to control how healthy or not to push the ingredients versus relying on take-out. Thanks for your hard work and thank you for sharing your beautiful photos and instructions online for FREE! Kay back to step 2; turning the heat back on!
The whole family thought it was delicious. Thanks for the inspiration and recipe!
Thank you SO much Jessie! So glad you enjoyed this recipe! xT
Not bad. Slightly random ingredients, and bit more complicated than actual (semi-authentic) Korean recipes I’ve made, and not exactly worth the effort. But it was tasty.
FWIW, for the cucumbers, I used gochugaru, which are chili (not Chile) flakes/powder, rather than gochujang, which the recipe calls but is clearly not what’s used in the photos.
Pretty good. There is a similar recipe on here that I like better but this is definitely tasty. I added the shallots in with the peppers…it seemed like the best timing. I was a bit confused about the chilli pepper vs flakes but went with the paste, and it was okay. For some reason the sauce never really caramelized or coated, it was a bit runny/thin, but it might be the maple syrup? I would normally use honey but I didn’t have it on hand. At the end of the day, I did go back for seconds, so did my husband. Flavor was on point!
Looks delicious but could you please fix the errors in your recipe so I don’t waste money on ingredients when it doesn’t work out? Please let me know what to do with the shallots and what chili flakes you use for the cucumbers since they are not included in your ingredients list. Please note CHILE is a country and CHILI is a type of pepper.
When do the shallots go in?
When do you use the shallot?
What! This has been seen before? Looks jolly tasty but still….
I’m sorry, “Gochujang chile flakes”?
I am assuming, from your description, that you mean gochujang chili flakes, not paste, for the cucumbers. Is that correct?
The instructions for the cucumber salad say to mix the cucumbers with 1 tsp of salt and the chilli flakes. Neither of these two are listed in the ingredients. Should that be 1 tablespoon of gochugaru and not gochujang?
Maybe remove the word “Korean” from the name? I appreciate the use of some Korean ingredients like gochujang and gochugaru, but there’s nothing Korean about Japanese soy sauce, Japanese ginger, or peanuts as a meat topping.
This is what I was going to say! Based on the ingredients and recipe, this is just about as Japanese or Thai as it Korean, so the name feels slightly random if not disrespectful.
These people and their over reactive nonsense…