Korean BBQ Steak Rice Bowls
A soy and brown sugar marinade, a pan hot enough to caramelize it, and cold vegetables straight onto hot rice.
Total: 25 minYield: 4 servingsMethod: Skillet
Heat, and a dry surface
This is a fast recipe with one demanding step. The pan has to be genuinely hot and the steak has to go in relatively dry, or the marinade's sugar and water will pool and the beef will simmer instead of searing.
Letting the excess marinade drip off before the meat hits the pan takes a few seconds and is the difference between caramelized edges and grey meat in a sweet puddle. Cook in two batches rather than crowding — a crowded pan drops in temperature and does the same thing.
On the cut
- Flank or sirloinBoth take a marinade well and slice thin cleanly. Flank is the more assertive of the two and benefits most from being cut against the grain.
- Against the grain, alwaysFind the direction the muscle fibers run and cut across them. The same steak is tender or chewy depending on this one decision.
- Thin means fastSliced thin, the beef is done in 2 to 3 minutes total. Treat the time as the constraint, not a suggestion.
Building the bowl
The carrots and cucumber go in raw and cold on purpose. Against hot rice and seared beef they provide the crunch and the temperature contrast that make this a bowl rather than a plate of stir-fry.
A fried egg on top is listed as optional and behaves like a sauce — the yolk loosens into the rice. Kimchi adds the acidity that the marinade, being sweet and salty, does not.
Korean BBQ Steak Rice Bowls
Thinly sliced flank or sirloin in a soy, sesame and brown sugar marinade, seared fast over high heat and served over rice with cold, crisp vegetables.
- Beef
- Main Dish
- Skillet
Cook’s checkpoint
- Frying oil
- 350°F / 175°C
- Chicken, thickest part
- 165°F / 74°C
Use a food thermometer. Color and time alone don’t confirm poultry is done.
Ingredients
For the marinade
For the bowls
Optional garnish
Instructions
Notes
- Slice the steak against the grain. With flank in particular this is what separates tender from chewy.
- Two tablespoons of brown sugar is what makes the edges caramelize. Reduce it and you lose the char as well as the sweetness.
- The vegetables are meant to go on cold and raw — they are the contrast against hot rice and seared beef.
Cooking Mode
Questions
- How long can the steak marinate?
- At least 15 minutes, and up to about 4 hours refrigerated. The rice vinegar will start to affect the texture of the surface beyond that.
- Can I use a different cut?
- The recipe specifies flank or sirloin. Any cut that slices thin and cooks fast will behave similarly; slow-cooking cuts like chuck will not.
- Why is my steak grey rather than browned?
- Almost always a pan that was not hot enough, too much marinade carried into it, or too much meat in at once. All three cause the same thing.
