Korean Beef & Veggies

If you’re looking for a NEW and EXCITING way to use your boring pound of ground beef, look no further!

This easy, 20-minute dinner is a creative use of ground beef that the whole family will love. It’s packed full of veggies and Asian-inspired flavors. Serve with a whole grain of your choice for a balanced and filling meal.

About this Recipe:

I don’t know about you, but I get really burnt out on ground beef. As much as I love tacos, spaghetti, and burgers, those can get boring REALLY fast.

So I searched Pinterest for some new ideas (as one does), and I came across a recipe for “Korean Beef.” Andrew and I really love Asian food, so this sounded right up our alley! That recipe was pretty good, but I decided I wanted to put my own personal twist on it!

How I made this recipe “my own”:

First, I cut out a LOT of the sugar content. Asian sauces typically have a decent amount of white or brown sugar. While this is necessary to balance the flavors, I find that it doesn’t take as much as some recipes call for.

Second, I cut down on the salt content by using less soy sauce. I use regular soy sauce, because I find the low sodium kind to be a bit too bland. But you could reduce the sodium content even MORE by using the low sodium kind!

Third, I upped the fluid content of the sauce by adding beef broth (or beef bouillon+water). I did this for a couple reasons. By adding more fluid, the end dish will not be too dry. This seems obvious, but part of making a good sauce is allowing it to simmer and reduce. By letting the water content evaporate out, the sauce will reduce in volume and become thicker and more flavorful. This is a good thing, but only if there’s enough fluid in the first place. If there’s too little, it can reduce too much and cause the dish to be too dry – or burn! And we don’t want that.

Fourth, I wanted to make this dish easier and healthier by adding a ton of veggies! Usually I would make this entree and serve a salad or veggies on the side – but WHY do that when I can throw the veggies in this ah-mazing sauce I just made! Let those veggies soak in the goodness! Plus, this makes the meal almost a “one pot recipe”. (The rice/quinoa is still made separately.) Ultimately, I find that adding the veggies right into the beef and sauce saves some time, serving dishes, cleaning those serving dishes, etc. Gotta love saving time!

Lastly, I tweaked the seasonings to my personal tastes. Fun fact: you can too! I just recommend trying out the measurements in the recipe first, before tweaking. Some of these flavors are strong and can go overboard real fast. I think you’ll find that it’s a good balance of flavors, and not too spicy. (Though you’re welcome to give it an extra kick if you want!)

Check out the notes at the bottom of the recipe card for some seasoning tweaks and some other substitution ideas!

I hope you enjoy my take on Korean Beef! If you have questions, please comment below. As always, I would love feedback and your reviews of the recipe!

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Korean Beef & Veggies

Yield: 4-6 servings

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

This easy, 20-minute dinner is a creative use of ground beef that the whole family will love. It's packed full of veggies and Asian-inspired flavors. Serve with a whole grain of your choice for a balanced and filling meal.

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Ingredients

For Cooking:

• 1 c. Rice, Quinoa, or Brown Rice (uncooked)
• 1 lb Ground Beef (90/10 is preferred)
• 1 T. Sesame Oil
• 1 c. Beef Broth
• 3 T. Soy Sauce
• 2 T. Brown Sugar
• 1 T. Rice Wine Vinegar
• 1 T. Minced Garlic (2-3 cloves)
• 2 tsp. Minced Ginger
• 1/2 tsp. Red Pepper Flakes (or to taste, optional)
• 2 bags Frozen Mixed Veggies (peas, carrots, green beans)

For Serving:

• Garnish with Sriracha, Green Onion, and/or Sesame Seeds

Instructions

1. Begin preparing your rice or quinoa according to the package instructions.
2. Heat sesame oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Begin browning ground beef in oil.
3. While meat is browning, mix together broth, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and all seasonings in a mixing bowl. (I use a 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup.) Stir the sauce to make sure the sugar is dissolved.
4. Once meat is browned, pour sauce into meat. Allow to simmer and thicken - about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.
5. While sauce is thickening, pop the frozen veggies in the microwave for about half the recommended cooking time. This is just to get them defrosted a little before pouring them in with the meat.
6. Add veggies to the meat and sauce. Stir, and allow veggies to finish cooking.
7. Serve over rice or quinoa, and garnish as desired.
8. Enjoy!

Notes

*Vegetable oil will work if you do not have sesame oil... But sesame oil adds a distinct Asian flare that you won't achieve with anything else. With that in mind, do not use too much - it's a VERY strong flavor.

**You can dissolve one beef bouillon cube into one cup of water in place of the beef broth.

Seasoning tweaks:

• You can use chili-infused sesame oil or extra red pepper flakes to increase the spiciness of the dish!
• You can substitute the minced garlic and ginger for their powdered equivalents. (But fresh is always more flavorful.)

(The Nutrition info below is based on using rice as the grain.)

Nutrition Information

Yield 6 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 369Total Fat 18gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 10gCholesterol 67mgSodium 695mgCarbohydrates 25gNet Carbohydrates 22gFiber 3gSugar 5gProtein 25g