Korean Beef Bowl Gochujang Spicy (Printable)

Seasoned ground beef in spicy gochujang sauce over rice with pickled vegetables and kimchi.

# What You Need:

→ For the Beef

01 - 1 lb lean ground beef
02 - 2 tbsp vegetable oil
03 - 3 cloves garlic, minced
04 - 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
05 - 3 tbsp gochujang
06 - 2 tbsp soy sauce
07 - 1 tbsp brown sugar
08 - 1 tbsp rice vinegar
09 - 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
10 - 2 green onions, thinly sliced

→ For the Pickled Vegetables

11 - 1/2 cup carrot, julienned
12 - 1/2 cup daikon radish, julienned
13 - 1/2 cup rice vinegar
14 - 1 tbsp sugar
15 - 1/2 tsp salt

→ For Serving

16 - 4 cups cooked white rice
17 - 1 cup cucumber, thinly sliced
18 - 1/2 cup radish, thinly sliced
19 - 1 cup kimchi, chopped
20 - 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

# How-To:

01 - In a small bowl, combine rice vinegar, sugar, and salt. Stir until dissolved. Add julienned carrot and daikon radish, mix well, and set aside to pickle while preparing remaining components.
02 - Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add minced garlic and ginger, sauté for 1 minute until fragrant. Add ground beef and cook, breaking it up with a spoon, until browned and cooked through, approximately 5-6 minutes. Drain excess fat if necessary.
03 - Stir in gochujang, soy sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Cook for 2-3 minutes, allowing the sauce to thicken and coat the beef evenly. Remove from heat and incorporate half the sliced green onions.
04 - Divide cooked rice among 4 bowls. Top each with a generous portion of the beef mixture. Arrange pickled vegetables, cucumber slices, radish slices, and chopped kimchi around the beef. Garnish with remaining green onions and toasted sesame seeds.
05 - Serve immediately while beef is warm and rice is at optimal temperature.

# Expert Tips:

01 -
  • The gochujang sauce hits that perfect balance of spicy, savory, and slightly sweet that makes you keep reaching for another bite.
  • Everything comes together so fast that you can have dinner on the table before you've finished your first cup of tea.
  • It's endlessly customizable depending on what vegetables you have on hand or how much heat you actually want.
02 -
  • Don't skip draining the beef fat—a light hand here keeps the bowl from feeling greasy and lets the sauce shine instead of getting lost.
  • The pickled vegetables need at least 10 minutes to soften and absorb flavor, so start them first rather than rushing them at the end.
  • Gochujang straight from the jar can be paste-like and clumpy, so whisking it into the sauce mixture with a fork beforehand makes for much smoother cooking.
03 -
  • Toast your sesame seeds in a dry skillet for 2 minutes before using—the difference between raw and toasted is the difference between a nice bowl and an unforgettable one.
  • If you can't find gochujang, nothing else quite captures that fermented spicy-sweet complexity, so it's worth a quick trip to an Asian market rather than substituting.
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