Korean Beef with Brown Rice and Cucumber Salad

This recipe and photos were provided by Sally Roeckell of Table and Dish and were originally published at 365Barrington.com. 

Nothing makes weeknights easier than ready-made meals. Do you “Meal prep”? Preparing an extra meal or two on the weekend makes busy nights when work runs late and the kids’ schedules are full so much easier. This is a quicker, easier version of a traditional Korean BBQ beef. The flavors are so delicious, and the vegetables go equally good with ground turkey or chicken.

I’m using Pre Beef for this recipe (and most of my beef recipes). I love the packaging because it’s packaged in such a way that you can see all of it. You can tell the quality the first time you cook it. The flavor is amazing and it’s like beef should taste. All Pre Beef is grass-fed and grass-finished from Australia and New Zealand, where nutrient-rich grasses grow year-round, because of the region, soil, and climate matter. Plus, they have some of the strictest standards: All Pre Beef is cut, trimmed or ground in Chicago. There are no feedlots, no added hormones, no unnecessary antibiotics and certainly no corn-fed cattle. Sounds good to me, and it tastes great. This post is NOT sponsored by Pre Beef and my opinions are my own.

Korean Beef with Brown Rice and Cucumber Salad

Serves 4 

Ingredients:

• RICE
  • 4 cups cooked brown rice (white rice or cauliflower rice or even egg noodles work well too)
• KOREAN BEEF
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 2 teaspoons ginger, finely chopped
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil, divided
  • ⅓ cup soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1/2 onion, sliced
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 pound lean ground beef (ground turkey or chicken work too!
• CUCUMBERS
  • 1 cucumber, sliced into thin rounds
  • 3 tablespoon rice vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• OPTIONAL TOPPINGS:
  • Sesame seeds
  • Chopped green onion
  • Your favorite hot sauce.

Instructions:

For the rice: Cook your brown rice according to package directions. While the rice is cooking, prepare the beef.

For the beef: Whisk the garlic, ginger, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, soy sauce, and honey in a small bowl. Set aside. Heat the remaining teaspoon of sesame oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Once heated, add the onion and sprinkle with salt. Cook 4-5 minutes until softened. Add the ground meat to the pan. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to break up the meat into small chunks. Add the soy sauce mixture to the pan and stir to incorporate. Turn the heat up to medium-high. Cook for 5-7 minutes until the meat is cooked through.

For the cucumbers: In a bowl, whisk the rice vinegar, honey, and red pepper flakes. Add the cucumbers and toss until coated.

To prep: Add 1 cup brown rice, a heaping 1/2 cup of beef, and about 1/2 cup of cucumbers to each bowl. Drizzle hot sauce over everything. Finish with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and chopped green onion.

NOTES: I usually heat up the cucumbers in the bowl with the beef and rice, and they taste great. If you’d like your cucumbers cold, pack them separately from the beef and rice or remove them before heating.

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