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Instant Pot Korean Ground Beef is not only delicious, it is a quick meal This flavorful, versatileAsian ground beef recipe is made with ingredients you may already have! Cook your rice right along with this pressure cooker Korean Beef for a flavorful one-pot meal! One of my most popular Instant Pot ground beef recipes.
Originally published 5/8/18
Instant Pot Korean Ground Beef
When you get bored with what you have been making for dinner, and want something different to make with that ground beef you have, Instant Pot Korean Ground Beef is a great meal to make.
Do you want tacos? Make Asian tacos and wow the family! Want a rice bowl? The rice cooks at the same time as the beef, so there’s your one-pot-meal!
I love a fast and easy recipe that can be made into different tasty dishes. Any time you can cook more than one thing at a time in your pressure cooker, you save time.
I like to cook potatoes with my meatloaf and with chicken thighs. I cook rice with Mississippi Chicken, and rice with this Instant Pot Korean Ground Beef!
For this recipe I choose to use Jasmine rice as it has a faster cook time and works well with this fast cooking recipe. You can experiment with different varieties of rice, if you want, and see what works best for your taste.
Pressure Cooker Korean Ground Beef makes awesome tacos! Use flour tortillas and add a little rice and some of the beef mixture. A few veggies, cilantro, and some sour cream mixed with a little Gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste) will take this up a notch!
Typical Bulgogi is made with thinly sliced beef that you cook on a very hot grill, but ground beef is a fun shortcut, and it makes for an easy meal.
The other ingredient that sounds strange is an Asian Pear. Some call it an Apple Pear, or Nashi in Japan. We started getting these in Washington in the late 1970’s, in my neck of the woods. We love them. They are very crisp, yet not as dense as an apple. They have lots of juice.
Grate half of an Asian Pear into your sauce if you want to lean a little closer to the authentic Bulgogi. I didn’t use one for this recipe, but I wanted you to know that it’s really good with the Asian Pear.
That’s it! Cooking the rice with the beef makes it so easy! This pressure cooker Korean ground beef is ready to enjoy!
Maybe you want something lower carb, but still full of flavor. Try making this Korean Ground Beef into lettuce wraps. Satisfying and so tasty! You can probably tell I’m a big fan of Instant Pot Korean Ground Beef.
You can also make a Korean Rice Bowl. Add some veggies like radishes and cucumbers, for some crunch. Top with a soft fried egg for some creamy richness.
Instant Pot Korean Ground Beef
Equipment
- Electric Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons Vegetable Oil
- 1½ lbs Ground Beef or Ground Turkey, 90% lean is best
- 7 cloves Garlic (or 1 Tbsp pressed garlic)
- ⅓ cup Soy Sauce, low sodium
- ½ cup Water
- 3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
- 1 Tablespoon Fresh Ginger, grated (or 1 tsp powdered ginger)
- ½ Asian Pear, grated (optional)
- ¾ teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes (or more for some spice)
- ½ teaspoon White Pepper (or black)
For the Rice - I use a 7" x 2.5" pan
- 1½ cups Jasmine Rice, well rinsed
- 1½ cups Water
- 2 Tablespoons Butter
To Serve
- Tortillas (for tacos)
- Lettuce Leaves (for lettuce wraps)
Garnish
- 2 Green Onions, sliced
- Sesame Seeds
Instructions
- Get all of your ingredients together and measured out. This will make the process go smoother. Also have the rice in the pan and ready to go.
- Turn on the pot's Sauté setting. When it is hot, add the oil, and then the ground beef. Cook beef until it loses the pink color. I use 90% lean beef, so I don't drain, but drain the excess fat if there is more than a few teaspoons.
- Add garlic, soy sauce, water, brown sugar, sesame oil, ginger, Asian pear (if using), red pepper flakes, and white pepper. Mix well, scraping the bottom of the pot to get up any browned bits so you don't get the Burn error.
- Cancel the Sauté setting.
- Set the trivet in the pot over the beef.
- Put the rice, water, and butter in the pan and set on top of the trivet.
- Close the lid and set the steam release knob to the Sealing position.
- Press the Pressure Cook/Manual button or dial and the +/- button or dial to select 4 minutes. High Pressure.
- When the cook cycle is finished, let the pot sit undisturbed for 10 minutes (10 minute Natural Release). Then turn the steam release knob to the Venting position and release the remaining pressure/steam.
- When the pin in the lid drops down, open the lid and use silicone mitts, a pan gripper, or such to carefully remove the pan of rice. Then fluff the rice with a fork.
- Remove the trivet and stir the beef.
- Serve over rice, or on lettuce leaves, in taco shells/tortillas, garnish, and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Resources to Make Instant Pot Korean Ground Beef Recipe and More
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This was really good and crazy easy.
Yum! Turned out great! The next time I added a shredded carrot to sneak more vegetables into my family’s diet and it was good too! Thank-you 4sharing!
Can you use ground pork instead of ground beef?
Looks yummy?
Yes! Or any ground meat.
I’ve made this twice – delicious! I’m a vegetarian so used a meat crumble substitute instead!
Absolutely delicious! 100% husband approved. Would probably be delicious with ground chicken.
I made this and the rice didn’t cook.
I wonder what happened.
Did you cover the rice? Or use a thick ceramic pan? Those are two things that will slow down the cook time.
This came out *amazing* – I substituted a diced honeycrisp apple for the slight sweetness of the pear, and served it as a bowl topped with the Epicurious version of Kimchi-style sauteed cabbage (I added matchstick carrots there for color, but left the seasonings alone). My husband has requested I add this to our weekly meal plan until further notice, thanks!!
HI Sandy. My boyfriend is sensitive to ginger. What would make a tasty substitute for the ginger in this recipe?
Maybe a little lemon + 1/4 tsp of allspice.
Thanks for all your recipes and great cooking advice. I’m making this recipe tonight and thinking II could use a bagged coleslaw (undressed) but unsure if I should cook it in the instant pot or just leave it raw and serve all over rice — if raw it would give a crunchy aspect. I’m going to try the raw, chopping the bagged slaw a little finer than it comes and letting my family choose to add or not. Any suggestions?
That’s a great idea! I would add it right after pressure cooking the meat, stir it in, then put the lid on so it can soften and heat through a little before serving.
My family loved it over rice. Can I double it and make 3 pounds of meet. My trivet isn’t tall enough so the ceramic pot I put onto will
Actually be sitting on top of the meet too. Is that okay? I have a 6q instant pot. Thanks for your help.
You can double it. I think the pan you use can sit on the meat.
Delicious and super simple! What more can you ask for?