Korean BBQ Inspired Beef Bowls with Fried Rice
Korean BBQ Beef Bowls with Fried Rice bring the flavors of takeout into your own kitchen. The fried rice is simple to make with any veggies you like or have on hand. The beef mixture is the perfect combo of sweet up front, with some heat in the back!
Fried Rice
This is a “scaled down” version of my go-to fried rice recipe. I would normally just steam some instant brown or white rice, but being that rice is a staple ingredient right now the shelves have been pretty bare. In this particular shoot I used two packages of the ‘microwave for 90 seconds’ brown rice, and it worked great. So really any rice you can find will work!
I almost always have frozen peas on hand so I used those, and I happened to have frozen corn as well. Any soft veggies you like would work great, like mushrooms or zucchini. A simple side dish that comes together really quick, and also re-heats for leftovers very well!
Beef Mixture
The beef mixture is really fool proof in my opinion. It’s simply browning the ground beef, and stirring in the sauce ingredients, it’s that simple! A cornstarch slurry is what thickens the sauce. It’s just water with the dissolved cornstarch.
You can easily adjust the sweetness and the spice level to your liking. If you want it a little sweeter, start by adding 1 tablespoon of brown sugar at a time, tasting in between. Like it spicier? Add sriracha, red pepper flakes, or garlic chili paste.
Ok let’s chat about these jammy eggs! I would normally add a couple scrambled eggs into the fried rice, but I’ve been wanting to make some hard boiled eggs, aka jammy hard boiled eggs. You just boil the eggs for about half the time. It’s a totally optional side to this dish, but I highly recommend, they add a nice texture to the dish. See the recipe notes for how-to!
These bowls make a tasty weeknight meal, or if you’re into meal prepping, this are perfect for weekday lunches!
Enjoy!
May I suggest serving these bowls with my Baked Sriracha Cream Cheese Wontons!? Yum!
If you love this dish, you definitely need to try my Orange Chicken Bowls!
Korean BBQ Inspired Beef Bowls with Fried Rice
Ingredients
For the fried rice
- 3 cups cooked rice brown or white
- 1/2 tbsp peanut or canola oil
- 3 scallions chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger peeled, minced
- 3 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 1/2 cup frozen corn
- 1/2 cup any other veggies you like optional
For the beef and sauce
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup tamari or low sodium soy sauce
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp Gochujang
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp honey
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger peeled, minced
- 1/2 tbsp sriracha more or less for desired heat level
- 3 scallions chopped, divided
Slurry
- 1/2 tbsp corn starch
- 1 tbsp water
Instructions
For the fried rice
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Heat peanut oil over medium heat in a wok or large skillet, add minced garlic, ginger, and scallions. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Stir in cooked rice, sesame oil, soy sauce, peas and corn. Stir-fry on medium/medium-high. Taste for seasoning, add more soy sauce if desired. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes for heat if desired. Cover and reduce heat to low, or turn off burner completely. Rice should stay hot if covered.
For the beef and sauce
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Brown the ground beef in a medium skillet, breaking up with a wooden spoon until no longer pink, drain excess fat.
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While the beef is browning, whisk together the slurry in a small dish or measuring cup (water and corn starch). In a small bowl, whisk together the rest of the sauce ingredients, leaving a few chopped scallions for garnish.
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Add sauce mixture into the cooked drained beef. Heat to a light boil over medium-high heat, stir in slurry, sauce will begin to thicken. Reduce heat to low and cook for about 5 minutes. Serve over fried rice. Add a side of steamed broccoli and a jammy egg! See notes for jammy egg instructions.
Recipe Notes
Tamari, Gochujang (spicy Asian ketchup), and sesame oil are all found in the Asian foods section of the grocery store. Add any veggies you like into the fried rice. You can even scramble some eggs to throw in if you’re not making the jammy eggs.
If you’re looking for that hard boiled jammy egg in my photos: gently add eggs (whole in shells) to boiling water, reduce heat to a gentle boil, set timer for 6 1/2 minutes. Add eggs to an ice bath for 2-3 minutes. Gently crack and peel. Eggs can be stored in fridge for up to 3 days.
