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You are here: Home / Korean / Easy Bulgogi Recipe (with ground beef option)

Easy Bulgogi Recipe (with ground beef option)

Published: Jun 20, 2020 · Updated: Oct 4, 2020 · This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

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bulgogi on a round plate with chopsticks and salad

No pre-marinating or slicing meat ahead of time for this classic Korean beef dish. Just dump in the pot, and dinner ready in 15 minutes.

bulgogi on a round plate with chopsticks and salad
The classic beef dish that comes sizzling to your table at Korean restaurants is actually very easy to make at home with a few staple ingredients and help from the Asian meat counter.

Serve with steamed rice or cauliflower rice, sesame spinach, or even homemade kimchi.

For the vegetarians, you can serve up Korean BBQ mushrooms instead.

This dish is meant to be served QUICKLY using ingredients you hopefully already have sitting around the kitchen.

Bulgogi vs. Kalbi

Bulgogi is the Korean term for the thin sliced seasoned beef dish. It literally means “fire meat” and can be also be made with pork.

Not to be confused with kalbi, the grilled sliced short ribs with oblong shaped bones still attached. Kalbi means “rib” in Korean.

Both are seasoned with the similar ingredients, but bulgogi cooks much more quickly and is often less expensive than beef short ribs.

Korean bbq beef and onion with green onion on a blue plate
Too much onion? Sometimes we let the garnishes get carried away with green onion and white onion. Remove if you don’t care for them.

What we are NOT doing in this recipe

  1. Pre-marinating meat – Might be nice, but we don’t have time
  2. Slicing meat – Paper thin pre-sliced beef can be found in Asian supermarkets, where it is used commonly for hot pot or shabu shabu. If you can’t find pre-sliced meat, use ground beef.
  3. Adding fruit – Many recipes will add some fresh grated pear or apple, but we added mirin instead because it can live in the pantry forever (and we really don’t feel like grating fresh fruit).
sliced beef, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, and sesame oil on a wood cutting board
Pre-sliced beef comes prepackaged at Asian grocery stores on styrofoam trays. For bulgogi, it is commonly seasoned with soy sauce, sugar, garlic, and sesame oil.

Must have ingredients

In addition to the beef, just a few simple ingredients make this dish sizzle:

  1. Soy sauce
  2. Sugar – cane sugar gives a clean sweet taste but any sweetener such as brown sugar or even honey will do
  3. Garlic – Korean cuisine uses this aromatic heavily
  4. Black pepper – another trademark ingredient that is necessary with beef

Nice to have ingredients (that we don’t have): fresh ginger and fresh pear or apple

Secret ingredient: We add mirin for fruitiness and sweetness.

If you don’t have mirin, you can sub with rice wine or dry sherry plus an additional teaspoon of sugar.

Korean bbq ground beef on a blue plate
If you can’t find pre-sliced meat, sub with ground beef. Some restaurants do this when they add it to bibimbap rice bowls or wrap in kimbap seaweed rice rolls.

What kind of beef?

Any type of thin sliced beef will work for this dish. Because it is sliced so thinly, it will cook quickly and remain tender.

Otherwise, ground beef will work in a pinch.

Ground Beef Option

close up of Korean bbq ground beef on cauliflower rice
Here it is served with cauliflower rice instead of regular grain rice for a low carb option. The filling could also work in fresh lettuce cups.

Time needed: 15 minutes.

Let’s make bulgogi the easy way

  1. Chop vegetables

    Slice the onion, mince garlic, and chop any of your other optional garnishes such as green onion. sliced onion, beef, garlic, ginger, and green onion on a wood cutting board

  2. Chop the beef

    The beef should already be pre sliced, but a you’ll want it cut it roughly into more manageable pieces. Run your knife through it a few times. sliced beef, onion, and garlic on a wooden cutting board

  3. Heat oil

    Heat a thick bottomed pan to medium high heat and add the oil. oil in a black pan

  4. Add beef

    sliced beef in a black pot

  5. Add seasoning

    Right after you add the beef, you can go ahead and add the rest of the seasoning ingredients. sliced beef in a black pot with sugar and soy sauce

  6. Stir fry

    The sugar will make this burn easily. You will want to keep stirring and turning the beef just until the beef is cooked through and no longer pink. Remove from the pan.sliced beef and soy sauce with sugar in a black pot

  7. Cook onion

    Remove the beef from the pan, and add the sliced onion. It will take a minute or two to just start becoming translucent but still have some bite.

  8. Mix

    Add the beef back to the pot and just reheat through for 30 seconds. korean bbq beef with onion in a pan

  9. Serve hot

    Add your optional garnishes and serve piping hot!close up of Korean bbq beef and onion

Cost and Quantity

This recipe is for 1/2 pound of sliced beef that I bought for $8 at the Japanese supermarket (it’s pricier than other markets but I find the quality of the beef to be the best). It feeds 2 people with additional side dishes.

I’ll estimate the additional ingredients at a generous $2, bringing the total cost to $10 or $5 per person.

If you’re really hungry though and eat the whole 1/2 lb of beef yourself, that makes this dish $10 per person, which is still lower than the $15-$20 restaurants sell this for (in the San Francisco/Bay Area).

Helpful Tips

  1. If you don’t have mirin, substitute rice wine or dry sherry plus 1 teaspoon of sugar. Or skip the wine all together and add an additional 1 tsp of sugar.
  2. If you have fresh ginger on hand, add 1/2 tsp of grated ginger with the other seasoning ingredients.
  3. If you have fresh pears or apples on hand, grate in 1 Tablespoon if you’re feeling adventurous.
  4. If you are cooking more than a 1/2 lb of beef, work in batches. otherwise, the meat ends up stewing in its own juices and you’ll miss out on meat caramelization.
  5. For a low carb option, wrap in lettuce cups instead or serve with cauliflower rice.

More easy Korean recipes

Quick Kimchi Pork Stir-Fry

7 Vegan Korean Recipes for Beginners

bulgogi on a round plate with chopsticks and salad
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Easy Bulgogi Recipe (with ground beef option)

No pre-marinating or slicing meat ahead of time for this classic Korean beef dish. Just dump in the pot, and dinner ready in 15 minutes.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Korean
Diet Low Fat
Keyword 15 minute meals, quick beef recipes
Prep Time 7 minutes
Cook Time 8 minutes
Servings 2
Calories 312kcal
Author Asian Test Kitchen

Ingredients

  • 1/2 lb paper thin sliced beef or ground beef
  • 2 tsp oil
  • 2 Tb soy sauce
  • 1 Tb mirin see Note 1
  • 2 tsp brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1/2 ea onion sliced, optional

Optional Garnishes

  • green onion sliced
  • toasted sesame seeds
  • sesame oil

Instructions

  • Heat pan to medium high heat. Add oil and beef.
  • Add remaining ingredients except onion. Cook while stirring beef so it doesn't stick, until beef is cooked through and no longer pink. About 3-4 minutes.
  • Remove beef from pan. Add sliced onion and stir fry for 1-2 minutes until the onion is cooked and starting to turn translucent.
  • Add beef back to the pan to stir. Or serve beef on a bed of the cooked onions.
  • Add any of the garnishes that you have. Or no garnish at all works too!

Notes

  1. If you don’t have mirin, sub with rice wine or dry sherry plus 1 teaspoon of sugar. Or skip the wine all together and add an additional 1 tsp of sugar.
  2. If you have fresh ginger ginger on hand, add 1/2 tsp of grated ginger with the other seasoning ingredients.
  3. If you have fresh pears or apples on hand, grate in a Tablespoon if you’d like.
  4. If you are cooking more than a 1/2 lb of beef, work in batches. otherwise, the meat ends up stewing in its own juices and you’ll miss out on meat caramelization.
  5. For a low carb option, wrap in lettuce cups instead or serve with cauliflower rice instead of regular grain rice.

Nutrition

Calories: 312kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 69mg | Sodium: 1130mg | Potassium: 342mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Calcium: 8mg | Iron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @agiletestkitchen or tag #agiletestkitchen!
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