Ground Beef Bibimbap Bowl

This easy ground beef bibimbap is one of my favorite meal prep recipes because it checks all the boxes: high protein, loaded with vegetables, easy to customize, and still something I actually look forward to eating a few days in a row.

Traditional bibimbap is a Korean mixed rice dish topped with seasoned vegetables, protein, egg, and gochujang sauce. This version keeps that same mix of flavors and textures, but uses ground beef (or any type of ground meat) to make everything faster and more practical for a weeknight dinner or meal prep.

You get savory beef with onions, garlicky spinach, browned mushrooms, crunchy cucumber, carrots, bean sprouts, rice, and a spicy-sweet gochujang sauce. Add an egg on top and mix everything together before eating.

That combination is exactly why this works so well for meal prep. Every bite is a little different, and all those vegetables keep it from feeling like another container of ground beef and rice.

Ingredients

For the ground beef

1 lb lean ground beef

½ medium onion, finely diced

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp brown sugar or honey

½ tbsp sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp grated ginger

1 tbsp gochujang

½ tsp black pepper

For the bibimbap bowls

4 cups cooked rice

1 carrot, julienned or shredded

1 zucchini, thinly sliced

2 packed cups baby spinach

8 oz mushrooms, sliced

½ to 1 cucumber, thinly sliced or julienned

1 to 1½ cups bean sprouts

4 eggs

Kimchi

Sliced green onions

Sesame seeds

Neutral cooking oil

For the bibimbap sauce

3 tbsp gochujang

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 tsp honey or sugar

1 to 2 tbsp water

1. Mix the gochujang, rice vinegar, sesame oil, honey, and enough water to make it easily drizzleable.

2. Quickly sauté the carrot, zucchini, spinach, and bean sprouts separately with a little oil and a pinch of salt. Keep the cucumber raw for crunch.

3. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat with a small amount of oil. Add the diced onion and cook for 2–3 minutes, until it starts to soften.

4. Add the ground beef. Spread it out and let it sit for a minute before breaking it up so you get some good browning.

5. Add the soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, gochujang, and black pepper. Cook for another 2–3 minutes, until the sauce reduces and coats the beef.

6. Fry the eggs sunny-side up or however you like them.

7. Add rice to each bowl, then arrange the beef, vegetables, cucumber, kimchi, and egg on top. Finish with green onions, sesame seeds, and bibimbap sauce.

The egg yolk + gochujang sauce + seasoned beef coat your mixed rice