This simple main dish is not only full of healthy protein and vegetables, but is also bursting with flavor! Even better, it is a fast main dish to make on busy nights and is incredibly frugal. We usually eat this once a week on a night when I have 30 minutes or less to make dinner.
With food costs where they are right now, I am loading our menu with meal options that fill us up for less, and this fits the bill. My kids and husband eat this over rice, and I usually eat a bowl of it plain or served over konjac noodles for a grain-free option.
One of the secrets of this meal is using the Korean spicy fermented red chili paste called gochujang. This spicy paste is the secret to many Korean dishes, and I always keep it on hand. (Many of them contain gluten, but this brand is what I use and is gluten-free. Unless you like things really spicy, I recommend buying mild or medium.) I even noticed that Trader Joe’s was carrying gochujang for a great price recently!
However, if you are not a K-drama junkie like we are (and don’t usually cook Korean-inspired meals), you can easily substitute red chili flakes or sriracha sauce instead. (I really love this organic sriracha sauce, and we use it to top this dish to add more flavor when serving!)
Note: While I am calling this recipe “Korean” because of the gochujang sauce, this is not a traditional Korean dish.
We do a lot of Asian-inspired meals in our family, as they are flavorful, protein and produce-rich, and are naturally gluten and dairy-free with just a few tweaks (like using tamari instead of soy sauce).
While I am avoiding grains most of the time right now, my family enjoys this meal with rice which is a very frugal carbohydrate. I also can get a 2 pound package of coleslaw mix at Sam’s Club right now for slightly over 2 dollars. Cabbage is on the Clean 15 list, a list of produce with the least amount of pesticide residue, making this a not only very frugal ingredient but also a safer one too!
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Spicy Korean Beef and Cabbage
Serves 4, Printable PDF
- 1 pound coleslaw mix (slightly more, or slightly less cabbage will work too!)
- ⅓-½ cup water
- 1 pound of lean ground meat (I usually use lean grassfed beef, but ground turkey is lovely too.)
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 3-6 garlic cloves minced (or 2-4 teaspoon garlic powder)
- 1-2 teaspoons of dried ginger powder (or 1 to 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger)
- 1 tablespoon gochujang (to add spice without gochujang paste, substitute 1 teaspoon or so of red chili flakes, or a tablespoon or two of sriracha sauce, to taste.)
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar (unflavored and unsweetened)
- 2 tablespoon tamari (GF soy sauce option)
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- Sesame seeds and/or chopped green onions, to finish (optional)
- In a large pot, add the coleslaw mix and the water. Cook for 3-5 minutes over medium high heat, until water is mostly gone, and cabbage is wilted, stirring to prevent any sticking. Start with ⅓ cup of water and add more if needed.
- Add ground beef, onion powder, garlic, gochujang, vinegar, and tamari. Stir, and break ground beef into small pieces, and cook until meat is cooked (no longer pink), and moisture is mostly gone again.
- Add 1 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil and stir to disperse. Now taste test, and add more tamari, vinegar, gochujang or sesame oil to desired taste.
- To serve, eat in bowls with or without rice, and sprinkle with chopped green onions and/or sesame seeds. We also like a drizzle of this sriracha sauce.