Korean-Inspired Ground Beef Bowls (with extra veggies!)
These Korean-Inspired Ground Beef Bowls are the kind of weeknight dinner that checks every box—quick, flavorful, and packed with extra veggies. Ready in just 30 minutes, it’s a nourishing, family-friendly dinner that everyone will happily dig into.
Kids in the Kitchen:
- Veggie prep: Kids can do something a simple as washing a veggie or getting it out of the fridge to help with this recipe. You can also have them grate the carrots with you. For younger kids, hold the carrot together and show them how to safely grate using a box grater.
- Mix the Sauce: Have kids measure and/or mix the soy sauce and other sauce ingredient in a liquid measuring cup or bowl.
- Cook + Stir: Kids can help add the vegetables and sauce to the pan after cooking the meat. Also, teach kids how to safely stir ingredients up at the stove by holding the utensil together.
- DIY Bowls: Get kids involved with this meal by having them prep the ingredients and toppings. Even just have them sprinkle on some sesame seeds! Then the kids can make their own bowls for dinner.
Subs and Tips for Korean-Inspired Ground Beef Bowls:
- Gochujang: is a spicy, sweet, and savory fermented Korean chili paste. It gives this dish that signature Korean flavor. It’s not super spicy, but you can add a teaspoon and then add more if you are unsure about it. Most grocery stores will have it. However, if you don’t have it on hand, you can simply leave it out and this dish will still be tasty.
- Veggie additions: I often change up the vegetables I add to ground meat depending on what I have on hand. I think grated carrots add a little sweetness which most kids really like. You can add as much or as little grated or finely chopped vegetables to this dish as you’d like. Mushrooms, riced cauliflower, bell pepper, onions, greens…they would be good additions too.
- Meat: If you don’t want to use beef in this recipe, you can replace it with ground turkey or chicken. Dark meat ground poultry works best. You will also want to add a tablespoon of oil while cooking the meat since it’s much more lean.
- For any easy sauce/shortcut: use a store-bought teriyaki or other Asian sauce to taste. We like Bacahan’s Japanese Barbecue sauce a lot.
- Ginger and garlic shortcut: For weeknight dinners, I always keep cubes of frozen garlic and ginger paste in the freezer. It makes it so much easier to use those for this recipe.
- Rice shortcut: I use frozen or shelf-stable cooked rice to make this dinner even faster! Just heat in the microwave and it’s ready!
- Side dish: I like to serve this meal with just some simple sliced cucumber but snap peas or sautéed broccoli/green beans would also be good.
Korean-Inspired Ground Beef Bowls
a quick, flavorful, and nutritious dinner the whole family will love.
Ingredients
- oil spray
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 or 2 large carrots, finely shredded see note for veggie options
- 1 small zucchini, finely shredded
- 2 cups baby spinach, finely chopped
- 3 to 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tsp grated fresh ginger/ginger paste
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce, tamari, or coconut aminos
- 1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 Tbsp honey or sweetener of your choice
- 1 Tbsp gochujang sauce or paste*
- 4 large eggs, optional
- cooked rice, for serving
- sliced scallions, for serving optional
- toasted sesame seeds, for serving optional
Instructions
- Spray a large skillet with oil spray and place over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the ground beef. Crumble and cook until browned and cooked through. Drain any excess fat.
- Stir in the carrot, zucchini, and spinach (or whatever vegetables you'd like to use). Lower the heat to medium and continue to cook until all the vegetables have softened, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic and ginger and continue to cook for another minute.
- Add the water and simmer, scraping up any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- Add the soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, honey, and gochujang. Stir well to combine. Taste and add more seasonings as desired. Keep warm over low heat.
- Before serving, fry the eggs in a separate non-stick skillet to your preference.
- Serve the ground beef mixture and eggs, if using, over rice. Top with scallions and sesame seeds.
Notes
Veggies: you can really use as much or as little grated or finely chopped veggies as you'd like in this recipe. If your family isn't used to loading up ground meat with vegetables, just do a cup or so of grated carrot and go from there. Frozen riced cauliflower is also great option. It's so easy and it blends right into the meat.
For any easy sauce/shortcut: use a store-bought teriyaki or other Asian sauce to taste. We like Bacahan's Japanese Barbecue sauce a lot.
Gochujang is a spicy, sweet, and savory fermented Korean chili paste. It isn't super spicy but add a little at a time if you are unsure. You can leave it out if you don't have it.
Looking for even MORE easy weeknight dinner recipes? Check out What’s For Dinner: 30 Stress-free, one-pot dinners to feed the whole family!
