Looking for a quick and delicious ground beef recipe? This 20 minute ground beef bulgogi is exactly what you’re looking for.

Requiring minimal chopping (a blender does most of the prep for you!), you’ll have a tasty meal made in no time at all.

This recipe is so easy to prepare and yields such tasty results, it’s a recipe to add to your weekly rotation. It’s also an amazing last minute meal idea.

Plus, ground beef bulgogi is more economical than traditional Korean beef bulgogi that uses thinly sliced steak (I need to mention, this recipe isn’t authentic. It’s more inspired by Korean bulgogi than actually being beef bulgogi).

With just a handful of ingredients and a blender you’ll be able to make the quickest and most flavorful 20 minute ground beef bulgogi.

Ground beef bulgogi

Bulgogi is a Korean word that translates to mean fire meat, or fire-cooked meat in English.

The most common way to prepare bulgogi is with thin sliced pieces of beef marinated in a sweet and savory sauce and cooked on a grill over a fire.

Korean bulgogi doesn’t have to be made with just beef however. You can also make a chicken or pork bulgogi.

Whatever you use, the meat is sliced thin so it cooks really fast on a hot grill.

As I mentioned, this recipe certainly isn’t authentic, but it is inspired by this absolutely fantastic meal. Instead of thinly sliced steak, you’ll use ground beef. It cooks up really fast too and is much easier to prepare on a busy weeknight.

Ingredients

It only takes 8 ingredients to make this dish. Here’s what you’ll need to make this easy Korean inspired ground beef:

Ground beef – You’ll want the meat completely thawed with no part of it frozen. If using meat from your freezer, make sure to remove the meat from the freezer the night before and thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Onion – A medium sized yellow or white onion is what you should use. Stay away from red onions, they won’t bring the right type of flavor to the bulgogi.
Neutral oil – For sautéing the onions before adding the meat.
Garlic – Don’t worry you won’t need to mince any garlic. The garlic cloves will be blended up for super simple prep.
Soy sauce – There’s no salt in this recipe. All the saltiness comes from the soy sauce. If you want to cut down on sodium, make sure to use a low-sodium say sauce instead of using less soy sauce overall.
Sesame oil – It adds that distinct nutty flavor and aroma to the beef that you just can’t get with anything else.
Pepper – Freshly ground is best.
Ground ginger – You could also use fresh ginger. Just use a 1 – 2” knob of peeled fresh ginger root. Add it along with the other ingredients into the blender and blend it up.

How to make Korean ground beef

Like I mentioned, this ground beef recipe is really easy to make. Here are the basic steps:

Blend up the beef sauce ingredients in a blender. In a blender add half an onion, soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil, pepper, and ginger. Blend for 30 seconds to a minute until everything is smooth.
Pour the blended up sauce over the ground beef. Using your hands, work the sauce into the meat.
Sauté the onions. Add the other half of the onion that’s been sliced into thin half moons into a heated skillet. Cook until the onions are browned and soft.
Add the flavored ground beef. To the sautéd onions, add the ground beef. Cook undisturbed for a couple minutes to allow it to brown. Break up the meat, stir, and continue cooking.
Serve over rice and enjoy. Serve the beef over freshly cooked rice and enjoy.

Tips for making easy ground beef bulgogi

While this is a simple recipe, there are a few things to keep in mind in order to have the best outcome.

Lengthy marinating helps meat absorb flavor and tenderize, but since ground beef is not a solid cut of beef, there’s no need to marinate it for any length of time. Ground beef doesn’t need to be tenderized and it can absorb flavor readily.
You want to get some tasty caramelization on the meat. Cook the meat quickly and over high heat. In order to get good color, you may want to cook the meat in two batches. A crowded pan is not conducive to browning.
The best pan to cook this dish in is a large cast iron pan. The dark color helps brown things well. Cast iron can also get nice and hot, which is what you need.
If you want this to be spicy, feel free to add some spicy gochujang or other hot sauce to the blender when blending up the beef sauce.
If using a particularly large onion, you could just add a quarter to the blender instead of the entire half.

Serving suggestions

While you can eat this beef with just rice and call it good (a comforting and classic combo), here are some ideas on what to add to take this up a notch.

Thinly sliced romaine lettuce
Kimchi
Korean carrot salad
Gochujang (pay attention to the spice levels, gochujang can be spicy!)
Cilantro or sliced green onions on top

Storage and reheating

This 20 minute ground beef bulgogi makes great leftovers. Once the meat is cool, place it in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

When you want to eat it, you can reheat it in the microwave or on the stove top.

To heat up in the microwave, simply place desired amount in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds or so until warmed through.

To reheat on the stovetop, heat up a skillet over medium heat. Add the meat and cook for a couple minutes, stirring often.