Say goodbye to boring beef mince recipes….. these Asian Beef Bowls are super tasty, super easy and SUPER fast! Made with just a handful of staple Asian condiments, the ground beef can be switched with chicken, pork or even turkey.
Also, don’t miss the popular noodle version of this recipe – Asian Beef Ramen Noodles!
Super quick beef mince recipe!
This one is for all those nights when you peer into your fridge, find a packet of beef mince and are completely uninspired to make Spag Bol – yet again.
This is also one for all those nights when you’ve been baking, filming and photographing recipes all day, and you swear you don’t have the energy to make anything for dinner but your mother brain washed you so well, you feel guilty for even thinking about picking up the phone to order home delivery.
Oh wait. Is that just me? 😂
This is not a traditional Chinese or other Asian recipe, hence the obscure name “Asian Beef Bowls”.
However, if you have ever made a Chinese stir fry – or in fact, any Chinese recipe – you will likely instantly recognise all the ingredients in the sauce. No Western ingredients. This is made with 100% authentic Asian ingredients. And when you take the first bite, it will be so familiar to you.
Because the sauce is so similar to many stir fries, yet an exact replica of none!
Here’s what you need
And here’s how easy it is to make:
What to serve on the side
Serve this over rice or, for a healthy low carb option, Cauliflower Rice (77% fewer calories and 87% less carbs than rice).
For a side salad, here are a few suggestions.
Side Salads to accompany this dish
I love this recipe because it’s made with beef mince (ground beef) i.e. no meat slicing. Asian recipes made with beef mince aren’t that common, but there are a handful of terrific ones and they are worth knowing for the convenience of being able to make a quick meal when you’ve got a packet of mince on hand. Here’s a handful of my favourites:
Japanese Pork and Green Bean Stir Fry <<– On my mother’s website, RecipeTin Japan
Larb Gai (Thai Lettuce Wraps) and San Choy Bau (Chinese Lettuce Wraps)
Unlike most stir fries, this one doesn’t come with a ton of sauce. But it’s juicy and the beef has a ton of flavour in it so when it’s all mixed up with the rice, you certainly won’t feel like you’re missing sauce. Promise! ~ Nagi x ❤️
Watch how to make it
“Wow! Can’t believe something that was so quick to do was also so tasty.”
– Jacqui, January 2019
“This would have to be the tastiest easiest mince dish I have ever cooked in 15 minutes.”
– Wendy, 10 May 2017
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Asian Beef Bowls
Ingredients
Sauce:
- 1 tbsp Hoisin Sauce (or sub with Oyster)
- 2 tbsp Oyster Sauce (or sub with 1 1/2 tbsp Hoisin)
- 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (or Mirin, dry sherry, sake or any rice wine) (Note 1)
- 2 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce (Note 2)
- 2 tsp white sugar
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 1/4 tsp white pepper (or sub with black)
Stir Fry:
- 1 tbsp oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 500 g /1 lb beef mince (ground beef) (lean is good)
- 1/2 cup shallots / scallions , sliced, plus more for garnish
Garnishes:
- Sesame seeds
Instructions
- Mix Sauce together in a bowl
- Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add garlic and onion, cook for 1 minute or until onion starts browning.
- Add beef and cook, breaking it up as you go.
- Once the beef has all changed from red to brown, add Sauce. Cook for a further 2 minutes, or until Sauce has evaporated and beef is cooked. If you want the beef cooked more, add a splash of water and keep cooking (I don’t do this).
- Stir through shallots, then serve over rice, garnished with more shallots and sesame seeds, if desired. Or for a low carb, low cal option, try Cauliflower Rice!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published May 2017, updated with new video, new photos, step photos, refreshed writing, and latest and greatest in Life of Dozer!
More quick 15 minute Asian meals
- Quick Asian Beef RAMEN Noodles and Chicken Vegetable Ramen Noodles – 15 minutes, made in one pot
- Chinese Chicken and Corn Soup with Egg Ribbons – so simple, this will blow your mind…
- Pork Stir Fry with Green Beans – flavour packed!
- Egg Fried Rice – it all comes down to the sauce…
- See 15 Minute Recipes
Life of Dozer
Project Manager Dozer, reporting for duty!!!
Very easy, and tasty! I served with rice and a fried egg on top and the family gobbled it up. Will be making this one again!
Yes, perfect Jools!!! N x
Needed a quick dinner for the night before last and I knew I could rely on you for that and the best thing is I had everything in for it apart from the spring onions (did nip out for them though ofcourse) just the two of us were eating it and the lot was gone in no time, so glad we wern´t sharing it with anyone else (had rice with it) been to the shop again today because I´m making your chicken enchiladas tomorrow, can´t wait to see what they will taste like, but I will let you know 🙂 x
Love the intention of this recipe – mince on hand (just defrosted!) and no plan how to use it without going to the obvious! This was so tasty – had with rice as suggested, but I can imagine this being great in lettuce leaves too. If I’m to use this as a “planned” dinner recipe, I’d add some finely chopped carrots and water chestnuts, but as a base recipe, it’s delicious! Thanks for another great mince meat go to Nagi!
how necessary is the sugar? I normally leave sugar out. And I only have brown sugar
Hi Sam, it balances the flavours and helps caramelise the beef. You can sub with brown sugar easily. N x
I seriously love this recipe.
I follow exactly as recommended & serve with rice. Although there’s quite a few ingredients, these ingredients are used for many other delicious recipes so it’s not a waste to have to buy them all at first. I have made this 3 times now.
Very quick and easy meal plus taste delicious.
Hi Nagi,
Another tasty meal enjoyed, thank you, Maybe a little on the salty side but I ate every last bit of mince and rice.
I only used 1.5 tsp of sugar though as I found in your apple crumble recipe that I made during the week (yum) I could’ve probably used less sugar for my taste.
Thank you for sharing all your recipes with us. Whatever I’ve needed be it an easy night dinner, a share plate, dessert or a salad your recipes call for something that is usually in my cupboard or fridge.
I enjoy you recipes and posts
So EASY and so DELICIOUS! Thanks for another great recipe Nagi. Hugs to Dozer!
This was so easy and very tasty…
Added some steamed broccolini as well.
Next time I will increase the sauce and add capsicum and carrots as well.
Winner winner
Thankyou so much. This recipe literally stopped me from resorting to takeaway. It was on the table in 20mins (the time the rice took) I added a handful of diced frozen veggies and it was a perfect mid week dinner.
Nagi, I am a big fan, but these google ads that have recently started popping up and obscuring the screen are so annoying! They make it difficult to read the recipe and it’s impossible to make them disappear.
Do you drain the fat before adding the sauce? Mine was a little dry when I added the sauce. Other than that , tasty!
We enjoyed this and so easy too.Only 3 minor altertions to suit taste,good pinch of chilli flakes along with the onion & garlic,turkey mince for beef and fesh corriander(cilantro) chucked in with the spring onions(scallions) and for the garnish.Leftovers will do for a double wrap packed lunch i.e. stuffed in a lettuce wrap topped with yoghurt and sweet chilli sauce any spare salad all wrapped again in a regular flour wrap.
P.S did the slow cooker herb & lemon chicken went down a storm,thank you.
Leftover night and had half an uncooked chicken breast, half a pound of cooked cold chicken thigh meat and not a lot of options. Decided to Nagi it up and used this recipe since I love it with beef as written. Followed directions except I used uncooked chicken breast cubes in place of beef and threw in the cold leftover cooked thigh meat towards the end with the sauce to warm it up. Turned out excellent just like original recipe! Added some leftover bean sprouts and served over last of my Asian lettuce mix. Happy to say very yummy the original way and with my wacky chicken substitution. Thanks, Nagi!
Thank you Nagi for this recipe.
I did an experiment this evening. I wanted to see if I could make this into a vegetarian dish. So I made it two ways: one with the beef, and one with pre-cooked lentils- just followed the recipe as is, both times. Both versions were super yum! I also added in some chinese cabbage, and green beans, to increase the veg. Definitely adding both versions to my quick and yummy dinner list.
This was easy and extremely delicious, thank you! I added some fresh vegetables (lettuce, radishes, carrots, celery) finely sliced on the side to make it like an Asian-style poke bowl.
Perfect Bronte!! N x
Tasty recipe and easy to make!
Super easy and tasty! Love your recipes 🙂
Thank you for sharing the joy of fast cooking. I tried it and it is good
Everyone fought over who was getting the leftovers for lunch! So simple yet so yummy! Definitely a new addition to the regular meal plan. Thanks Nagi!