Instant Pot Korean Beef Bowls (or Burritos!)

Instant Pot Korean Beef Bowls are the perfect thing to make when you’re looking for something quick and easy for dinner! Load everything into your favorite bowl or wrap it all up in a tortilla for Korean Beef tacos or burritos if that is more your thing!

What can I even say, I’m a foodie at heart.

We’re marking homemade Korean beef and adding it to our repertoire of instant pot recipes. This is my favorite kind of food. B-I-G in both the flavor and color department!

Guys, I’m comin’ at you today with a stupid simple Instant Pot Korean Beef recipe that’s great to use if you want to make BOWLS or load them into flour tortillas for BURRITOS or TACOS on weeknights! We’re talking about a recipe that has just a handful of ingredients. Then load the perfectly tender stew meat into bowl with fluffy white rice, store-bought or homemade kimchi and toss some chopped green onions, cilantro and peanuts and making a bowl that will make your mouth sing. 

When I say this is an easy dinner recipe, I mean, you’ll toss everything for the beef into the pressure cooker and then just sit back for 35 minutes while it all cooks up for you. Take the dog out, go for a run, read a book on the couch or just take a load off while dinner cooks itself for you. I’ve got to tell you. These instant pot Korean beef bowls are so easy to make that I’m willing to bet they’re going to become a regular staple around our little nest.

My hope is the same for you.

Ingredient for Korean Beef in the Instant Pot:

• Asian Pear: You can also use a bosc pear or even a bartlettt and if you can’t find either of those (which you should be able to very easily) you can even swap it for a soft apple, like Gala.
• Garlic: You’ll need tons of garlic cloves for this recipe. That’s what floors the meat in the first place.
• Ginger: Gran some ginger, give it a good peel and then toss it into the blender to blend with the garlic and pear.
• Yellow Onion: You’ll want to cut the onions into quarters. Sometimes I’ll even slice the onion and toss it in with the beef chuck cubes so that it cooks down. Other times, I’ll just blend it with the other ingredients. Both ways work for this recipe.
• Water: I typically like to add waters that there’s enough liquid in the instant pot to build pressure and so that nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot. But you can also swap it for beef broth. One thing to remember is that it’s essential to use low sodiumbeef broth. Between the soy sauce and the other fermented ingredients, there is a lot of sodium in this recipe already.
• Stew Meat: Feel free to use a tougher cut of beef for this recipe. They’re usually more economical and since we’re cooking the meat under high pressure, there’s no need to spring for something fancy. Lean stew meat, top sirloin cut into chunks, or chuck roast cut into cubes. All of these work for this recipe.
• Soy Sauce: I prefer to use low sodiumsoy sauce for this recipe to keep things lighter on the salt.If you happen to have regular soy sauce, swap some of it for water.
• Brown sugar: Feel free to use brown sugar or even honey if you’d like. These ingredients bring sweetness to the dish.
• Toasted sesame oil: Helps add a toasted flavor tot he dish. I also like to make a cucumber salad sometimes on the side, and I’ll always add some to that too.
• Gochujang: Depending on how hot your gochujang is, you might want to play around with this. Sometimes I use 2 teaspoons if you’re cooking for kids, but in recent years, I’ve added up to two tablespoons and love it that way. Gochujang is a fermented hot chili paste that’s commonly used in Korean cuisine. If you can’t find it in your grocery store, I suggest purchasing on Amazon. But if you’re can’t wait that long, you can swap it for sriracha. It’s not the same thing, but it’ll certainly work in a pinch!
• Black Pepper: Helps add another level of complexity to the dish.

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Instructions for making Instant Pot Korean Beef:

1. Blend it up. In a bullet blender, add the pears, garlic, ginger, and onions and give it a whiz until itturns into a paste.
2. Toss it all in. Once blended, pour the prepared mixture into the bowl of the instant pot. Then add the stew meat, water, soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, gochujang and black pepper. Stir to combine. Cover with the lid and turn to the sealing position. Pressure cook using the manual button just long enough for the meat to become cooked and tender.
3. Set it free. Once the time goes of, release the pressure valve. Shred the meatusing two forks for a meat masher. Then use it for bowls over cauliflower rice, coconut rice, jasmine rice, or in burritos or tacos topped with your favorite toppings.
4. Serving. I suggest kimchi, sriracha mayo, chopped scallions, sesame seeds, peanuts, and fresh cilantro leaves. You can wrap all of that along with cooked rice and beef in a tortilla to make a burrito. Toss it all in a bowlif you’re doing a desk lunch or something.You could even make instant pot Korean beef for meal prep! Just add the rice and beef to one side of the container, and you know these little condiment containers? They’d be perfect for storing the herbs, kimchi, and sriracha mayo. Not to mention you can just pop the containers into your meal prep box, so everything stays together. Then just pull them out before reheating. 

You could even make instant pot Korean beef for meal prep! Just add the rice and beef to one side of the container, and you know these little condiment containers? They’d be perfect for storing the herbs, kimchi, and sriracha mayo. Not to mention you can just pop the containers into your meal prep box, so everything stays together. Then just pull them out before reheating.

FAQs about this recipe

1. Can I make korean beef bowls with ground beef? You can! But I suggest following this recipe which has specifically been formulated for ground beef.
2. Can I marinate this overnight in the fridge? Yes, you can add everything into a ziptop bag and let it hang out for a bit or even overnight. You can also stick it in the freezer. Just let it defrost in the fridge overnight before adding it to the instant pot.
3. Why is my beef tough in the instant pot? Depending on the cut of meat you use and the size of the pieces, you might just need to cook it under pressure for a few more minutes to get it nice and tender.

I’m lovin’ all the possibilities with this one simple Instant Pot Korean Beef recipe!

If you like this recipe, you might also like

• Korean Bulgogi Beef Bowls
• Homemade Korean BBQ Sauce
• Sticky Garlic Gochujang Chicken
• Quick Sesame Gochujang Noodles
• Kimchi Fried Rice

Instant Pot Korean Beef Bowls

4.96 from 44 votes

Instant Pot Korean Beef Bowls are the perfect thing to make when you’re looking for something quick and easy for dinner! Load everything into your favorite bowl or wrap it all up in a tortilla if a burrito is more your thing!

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Prep Time: 5 minutes mins

Cook Time: 35 minutes mins

Total Time: 40 minutes mins

Servings: 8 -10 servings

Author: Marzia

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Ingredients 

1x2x3x

Blend:

• ▢ 1/2 an Asian pear or 1 bosc pear
• ▢ 8 cloves garlic
• ▢ 2- inch knob of ginger sliced
• ▢ 1/2 small yellow onion cut into quarters

Instant Pot:

• ▢ 2- 2 1/2 pounds lean stew meat cut into 1 ½ inch pieces
• ▢ 1/4 cup water
• ▢ 6 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• ▢ 1/4 cup brown sugar
• ▢ 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• ▢ 2 teaspoons gochujang or sriracha
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions 

• Blend: Combine the ingredients listed in the ‘blend’ section in a food processor or blender until a smooth paste forms. If you do this in a blender, use the 1/4 cup of water listed under ‘instant pot’ also.
• Instant Pot: Add the prepared mixture to the IP along with the all the remaining listed ingredients. Cover the IP make sure it is sealed. Cook the Korean Beef on manual,  high pressure for 35 minutes. When it’s done, do a quick pressure release. Shred the meat if desired to use in burritos, I leave it as is for bowls!
• Burrito: to make a burrito, spread sriracha mayo on a warm flour tortilla, top with cooked rice, shredded meat, lettuce leaves, kimchi, chopped peanuts, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime.
• Bowls: to make a bowl, add cooked rice to your bowl, along with the prepared meat, kimchi, chopped peanuts, cilantro, a fried or half boiled egg. Sprinkled with scallions or toasted sesame seeds!

Notes

• The stew meat can also be replaced with a trimmed chuck roast or top sirloin cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes. Keep in mind, using a different it of meat may change the cooking time slightly.
• To make your own sriracha mayo: combine 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 2-3 tablespoons sriracha sauce, 1 teaspoon sugar, and 1 teaspoon soy sauce in a bowl and stir until completely mixed. Use immediately or refrigerate until needed. Will last about 5 days in the refrigerator.

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