I am loving this 20-minute Ground Beef Stir Fry! Using Korean inspired-seasoning such as Gochujang and soy sauce, juicy ground beef is tossed in a flavorful homemade stir fry sauce, along with fresh vegetables such as garlic, broccoli and carrots.
Serve it over white or brown rice, this makes for a quick and fantastic dinner on busy evenings!
Ground Beef Stir Fry
This simple ground beef stir fry is such a versatile and budget-friendly dish – perfect for a simple yet tasty meal.
After having so many yummy stir fry recipes on the blog (check out Chicken and Asparagus Stir Fry, Teriyaki Chicken Stir Fry, Shrimp Stir Fry, Mongolian Beef Noodles, Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry!), I want to share a stir fry recipe using ground beef because it’s such a common item most of us have at hand, and ground beef is so easy to make a quick meal.
In addition to ground beef, I want to incorporate a delicious sauce (key to an awesome stir fry), some crunchy veggies (for the texture, for health reasons…)
Ground beef stir fry is a versatile stir fry recipe. I’m playing around with some Korean flavors in this recipe because they are bold, powerful and contain delicious notes of sweet, savory and zesty.
This recipe will incorporate delicious Korean seasonings and spices that will probably remind you of flavors from classic Korean dishes such as my Bulgogi (Korean BBQ Beef).
It is light, flavorful, with lots of delicious textures, and perfect served over white or brown rice for a delicious and easy meal!
However, feel free to make this your own – I have other sauce, seasonings and veggie suggestions in the ‘Variation and Substitution’ section and you can take your ground beef stir fry to many different (and very yummy) directions!
Ingredients Notes
This Korean Ground Beef Stir Fry calls for easy-to-find ingredients. You should be able to get all of this from most mainstream grocery store (some of it in the Asian aisle!).
- Ground Beef – I like to use 90% lean beef, or even leaner if you can find them. We don’t want a lot of fat in this recipe and lean meat tastes the best in this Korean Ground Beef Stir Fry, or any Ground Beef Stir Fry really. Because we are using lean ground beef, the trick is to not overcook it so that it stays juicy and moist (more on that later).
- Gochujang – this is a Korean red pepper paste, or red chili paste. It is the secret ingredient for the sauce that brings about complicated delicious Korean flavors. It does pack some heat, so reduce it if you prefer this dish milder. If you really don’t want to use this, you can omit it completely and substitute with soy sauce. This dish will taste different without it and you will lose a lot of amazing flavors that cannot be achieved by soy sauce alone.
- Soy sauce
- Minced garlic cloves – do not substitute with garlic powder, it doesn’t taste the same!
- Sesame oil – gives it an umami nutty flavor.
- Rice vinegar
- Brown sugar – a little sweetness to balance out the savory, tangy and spicy
- Broccoli – cut it into smaller florets so that it is cooked easily
- Carrots – I like to slice them into coin-shaped but you can cut it up however you like. Avoid large pieces so that it is cooked through easily.
Step-by-step Instructions
Stir fry is a quick way to prepare your meals and I want to walk you through how I make this Korean Ground Beef Stir Fry, and provide you with some tips and tricks,
It is quick, but there is a little art to it. With a little practice, it really gets easier and even better.
Step 1: Prepare Korean stir fry sauce
In a small bowl, bring all the sauce ingredient together. We want to do this before starting the stir fry process to:
- combine the sauce and blend all the flavors together
- stir fry process is quick, so it’s easier to have one thing to pour into the pan versus measuring and pouring a bunch of sauces.
Step 2: Stir Fry Vegetables
I like to heat up my frying pan and stir fry my vegetables first.
Drizzle some oil on the pan so veggies don’t stick to it, wait till pan is hot, and stir fry broccoli and carrots until they turn a bright color and are softer (but still crunchy).
Do not overcook veggies to avoid becoming soggy.
Step 3: Stir fry ground beef
Next, remove vegetables from the skillet, and bring in the ground beef.
We are cooking ground beef and vegetables separately because they take different amount of time to cook, and we want to ensure they are both cooked just right (not over or undercooked).
Also avoid overcooking ground beef because overcooked ground beef is tough and dry.
Step 4: Bring everything together
Once most of the ground beef is no longer pink, immediately add veggies back into the skillet, and also the stir fry sauce.
Give everything a good stir so that ground beef and veggies are well coated in sauce.
This should take around a minute or so – not very long. Once everything is combine, and beef is no longer pink, remove skillet from heat promptly.
Ground beef should be juicy and coated in sauce (but the dish shouldn’t be overly soupy).
Broccoli and carrots should be crunchy and some sauce clinging onto it as well.
Step 5: Garnish and serve
Garnish stir fry with some sliced green onions and sesame seeds. Other potential garnishes: fried garlic, fried onions, crushed up seaweed, or cilantro.
My favorite way to serve Korean Ground Beef Stir Fry is over white or brown rice. If you are not familiar with making plain rice, this recipe will show you how to make rice on the stovetop.
Rice will soak up some of the juices from the ground beef, broccoli and carrots, and its fairly neutral flavor will complement the bold, flavorful Ground Beef Stir Fry with vegetables.
Tips and Tricks
A couple of notes to help you take the recipe from good to excellent!
- Use a large enough skillet: Makes it easier to stir the items around which helps everything cook more evenly.
- Avoid overcooking beef:
- Make sure skillet is heated and fairly hot (medium high to high heat) when stir frying.
- Process goes fast, so lay everything out next to the stove before stir frying, and keep stirring continuously to make sure everything cooks evenly.
- Do not overcook ground beef and veggies! Since it’s cooked under fairly high heat, they will cook quickly so remove from heat promptly once cooked. Overcooked veggies are soggy and overcooked ground beef is dry and tough…in other words, not very yummy!
Substitution and Variation
Here are other ingredients you can use to make Korean Ground Beef Stir Fry:
- Ground beef: use any other ground meat such as ground chicken, ground turkey, ground pork etc.
- Other Vegetables: Bell peppers, cabbage, green beans, snap peas, bok choy works great in this too. Try to cut the vegetables in a way where they cook for around the same amount of time. This will make stir frying them together easier.
- Other Seasonings: Feel free to add other sauces seasonings such as oyster sauce, rice wine, hoisin sauce, tamari (a gluten free option to soy sauce), ginger or red pepper flakes.
- Gochujang: use less if you like it less spicy. You can completely omit it and substitute with the same amount of soy sauce but the taste will be differently (flavors less complex).
- Lower Carb option: Instead of serving over white rice, opt for brown rice, cauliflower rice or wrap ground beef stir fry in lettuce wraps.
Make Ahead and Storage
Korean Ground Beef Stir Fry is SUCH a great recipe to make ahead as meal prep, or store as leftovers.
It keeps well, it reheats well in the microwave, it tastes just as good after a few days. In fact, ground beef and veggies would have soaked in more of the flavors from the sauce after a few days, thus making the dish every more flavorful.
To store Korean Ground Beef Stir Fry, keep in air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, you don’t have to marinate it. The dish will be flavorful due to the sauce and spices you add to it.
You can add bell peppers, snap peas, onions, spinach or any other veggies you like or have on hand.
The spice level will depend on the amount of gochujang used. To tone down the spice, reduce the amount of gochujang..
Make sure to fully defrost and pat dry ingredients, especially if they were frozen or just washed. Cook the stir fry on high heat to evaporate any excess liquid quickly.
The only thing you may have to do differently is to cook your ground beef stir fry in two batches if you have a small skillet. Avoid overcrowding skillet and make sure you can move the ground beef and vegetables around so they cook evenly.
ENJOYED THIS RECIPE? Tell us what you think by leaving a rating and review below! 🤍
More Delicious Stir Fry!
Check out more stir fry recipes on the blog!
- Ramen Noodle Stir Fry
- General Tso Shrimp
- Asian Style Green Beans
- Easy Chicken Fried Rice
- Thai Pineapple Fried Rice
Korean Ground Beef Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1 lbs ground beef
- 2 cup broccoli florets
- 2 stalks carrots peeled, sliced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp green onions chopped
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
Korean Stir Fry Sauce
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp Gochujang adjust according to spice level
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp cornstarch
Instructions
- Bring all ingredients for Korean Stir Fry Sauce into a small bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Heat large frying pan to medium high/high heat. Add vegetable oil. Once pan is heated, add broccoli florets and carrots. Stir continuously until they turned darker green/darker orange – this will take a few minutes. Remove veggies promptly from skillet and set aside. Do not overcook – they should still be crunchy.
- Add ground beef to skillet. Break it apart into small pieces. Cook until most of the beef are no longer pink (some should still be pink). Immediately add garlic, broccoli, carrots and stir fry sauce to pan.
- Stir continuously so that ground beef and vegetables are coated in sauce. Once ground beef is completely cooked, remove from heat promptly.
- Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds. Serve over rice. Enjoy!
I made this when we had friends over for dinner last night and it was a hit. Everyone loved it. The flavors are big and bold. I added more gochujang because we like our food spicy. Added some green beans and bell peppers instead of broccoli. Served with store-bought egg rolls. Quick and easy meal, but also very delicious and satisfying. Will definitely make it again.
Thank you, Shadi. I’m so glad to hear everyone enjoyed it.
We had this stir fry for dinner last night and it was delicious! My whole family loved it and we will be making it often.
I’m so glad to hear! Thank you so much for sharing.
love this recipe, thanks for the stir fry tips. I usually overload my pans with all the ingredients!
You are so welcome! Happy to hear you enjoyed it!
I literally have a jar of gochujang in my pantry and didn’t know what to do with it, so I searched around and found this recipe. This stir fry was so simple and delicious. I followed the instructions exactly. In the future I will switch up with some different veggies, maybe try it with ground chicken. Thanks for this!
You bet! Glad you enjoyed this stir fry recipe.
This recipe is delicious and easy to make. It is perfect for a busy mom like me. A++
Thank you so much, Allison! Happy to hear that it was yummy and easy!
made this for dinner tonight. super easy, super delicious and totally recommend making this. family of five loved this!! thank you for creating this website and sharing your recipes!!
Thank you so much for your kind words, and I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe 🙂
Made this tonight. It was delicious. I doubled the amount of broccoli and sauce. Also added some green onion. I didn’t have the gochujang so I used thai sweet chile sauce. Thanks for sharing!
Yum! Your substitutions sound delicious! Thank you for sharing 🙂 Glad you liked the recipe!
I hate giving this a low rating since so many people seem to love it, but unfortunately, this turned out so bland! I’m not sure what went wrong since I followed the recipe exactly 🤔 The sauce seemed too watery as well and wasn’t clinging to the beef or veg very much, I’m sure that didn’t help.
I’m sorry to hear it wasn’t to your liking! To make the sauce thicker, consider adding more cornstarch so that it clings to the meat and veggies better. Another tip to up the flavor is to add 1-2 tsp of oyster sauce. Hope that helps! 🙂
Do easy abs don’t cost alot for this recipe. Kids love stir fry and burger better then steak (my opinion)
Thanks, Deb! Glad you enjoyed this budget friendly recipe!
I love this recipe! I always end up tweaking recipes because they’re bland. Not this one! I did add grated fresh ginger to the sauce, but otherwise followed as written. Next time I might cut back on the amount of water. On regular rotation!
Thanks for the kind words Megan and I appreciate you sharing how you made it! Appreciate you being here!
What is good substitute for rice vinegar?
White vinegar works as well!
Cook on a budget and first ever kitchen stove. I had a bunch of leftover veggies scraps, didn’t want another stock. My sauce was madeup to my limitations in my cabinet. I think got the flavor across similar.
I’m glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Flavour was great and easy to prepare , but the sauce never reduced down and I used half the amount of water suggested.
Make sure you are using lean ground beef, or add more cornstarch to reduce the amount of liquid in the sauce. Hope that helps!