Korean-style Sauteed Beef with Bean Sprouts and Cabbage
So quick and easy to make this Korean-style Sauteed Beef with Bean Sprouts and Cabbage is perfect for busy weeknights! You’ll love the sweet and savory flavors which make this dish so pleasing to the palate!
Do you love bean sprouts? I really do! I have memories of having bean sprouts sauteed with ground meat every week when I was still living in Manila. And you know why? Not only was it cheap to make, but it was also easy and tasty, too. You can’t go wrong with it!
For this particular dish, I deviated a little from our simple saute back in Manila.
That was fine and tasted good but it was pretty much seasoned only by soy sauce and some pepper. Sort of one-dimensional and lacking some layer of flavors.
So when I got a packet of bean sprouts from Whole Foods, I decided I wish to make that simple meal we had in Manila but elevate it a bit by adding extra vegetables, more meat plus a more robust flavor profile!
I was actually reminded of the bean sprouts side dish which accompanied the Korean beef stew I ate at the food court in my favorite mall in Manila. It was about time, I replicate it! I know my family would love it because they love my Korean ground beef recipe over rice. That is one of the most popular recipes on our blog, in fact. People love it!
The result is one delicious meal! My hubby loved it and even my kids ate a lot of it, too! I call this a success.
Check out the recipe below and see for yourself. I am sure you would love it, too!
If you like what you see and would like to receive new recipe updates, we’d love you to subscribe to our posts or join our site. Needless to say, we’d love you to like us on Facebook and Instagram, too where you can get more recipes and updates. Thanks and happy browsing!
Korean-style Sauteed Beef with Bean Sprouts and Cabbage
Ingredients
- ¼ cup soy sauce, (if doing Paleo, replace with Coconut Aminos or wheat-free soy sauce for gluten-free diets)
- ¼ cup brown sugar (replace with raw Honey or other paleo-approved sweetener and adjust the amount to taste e.g. 2-3 tablespoons to begin with)
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 2-3 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 lb ground beef
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 1 cup carrots, julienned or shredded
- 2 cups cabbage, shredded or coarsely chopped
- 1 pack bean sprouts, (about 3 cups)
Instructions
- Combine the seasoning sauce (soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil and fresh ginger). We love ginger so we use the full 3 tablespoons but adjust it to your taste. Set aside.
- In medium heat, cook the ground beef in a skillet or wok until the meat changes its color. No need to add oil if your beef is 80/20 or has a little bit of fat. Add the minced garlic and continue to cook until the beef is deep-brown in color and crunchy.
- Increase the heat, add the carrots and saute for about 1 minute. Add the cabbage and bean sprouts and cook for another minute.
- Pour all the sauce into the beef and veggie mixture and mix well. Cook just until everything is heated through – another minute or so. Serve immediately on top of rice.
Notes
Nutrition
Last updated on May 19th, 2025 at 08:51 pm
What can I use instead of fresh ginger
To be honest, fresh ginger is what makes this fresh-tasting and vibrant so without it, it won’t have the same taste. You can try to sub with galangal but that’s more lemony and may even be harder to find. If you don’t like using fresh ginger you can try it with ground ginger too – simply adjust the amount to taste.
Most important – my wife loved this dish. Great recipe. We went with lettuce wraps so I lowered the brown sugar and used hoison sauce on the wrap. Wow! Deliciousness! Wonderful recipe and great instructions!
So glad you enjoyed this and for letting us know. Love the addition of hoisin!
This was delicious. Now that I discovered the fresh sprouts were in the produce section, can’t wait to try this again.
I made it! healthy & looks delicious. This recipe is for keeps. Thank you Manila Spoon for this recipe!
Yay! So glad you liked this. Thank you so much for letting us know!
Can use turkey instead of beef? This looks delicious. Thank you.
Yes you can use the meat that you want.
We just made it with ground turkey and it was amazing. This is definitely going into our meal rotation.
Fantastic recipe thanks for sharing. I used onions instead of cabbage and served with noodles yum yum!
I am so delighted to know this and thank you so much for letting us know! Love the idea of using onions, too!
I’ve made this Recipe 3 or 4 times already.. lots of Compliments from everyone I love that it is a quick and simple dish.. I went with the exact same Ingredients without changing anything. Love this on Noodles as well. Thank you for Sharing! ♥️
Aww! You made my day! Thank you for kindly letting us know.
No leftovers tonight because everyone liked it so much. Thanks.
So glad to know this! Thank you very much!
This is a fantastic recipe. I added a teaspoon of gochujang to the sauce. it was delicious
So glad you enjoyed this! I love the addition of gochujang and spicy kick it adds!
My boyfriend said “this is a 10 out of 10.” I added thai chiles because we like heat. Definite keeper!!!!
I love the heat that you added! So glad you enjoyed this! Thank you for letting me know.
This was delicious! My only issue is that it needed a little bit of heat (spice) in my opinion.
Other than that, it’s fantastic!
You can adapt it to your liking. I have kids who don’t fancy spice so I don’t add it.
I love this dish! I’ve made it with ground beef and with ground chicken. both are wonderful but the chicken I think is better because it’s not as dry. I buy my green sprouts in a bag and I also buy a bag of pre chopped up cabbage mix. I can whip this dish out and about 15 minutes. we love it! thank you for the recipe
Glad you enjoyed this and thank you for letting us know! It truly is an amazing dish!
Please don’t comment unless you’ve made the recipe! I made it and it was delicious. No changes and I thank you for a go to weeknight option.
So glad you enjoyed this. Thank you!
Super yummy dish! Added zucchini for extra veggies. Would double sauce and add lime juice and cilantro / peanuts next time for extra flavor. Was easy to throw together. Will definitely make again!
Made this for the first time tonight. It was excellent!! The sauce is delicious!
So glad to know that! Thank you so much for letting us know.
I tried this for dinner tonight and it was soooo good! I have two picky toddlers who DEVOURED this dish. Left half as is and added some chili oil and topped off with jalapeños for a kick! Love this recipe
Glad to know this! Thank you for letting us know.
This sounds delicious! By any chance do you know the nutrional value to this dish? Basically the Carbs & Protein?
Hi! I have updated the nutritional information. This is done via the recipe plugin so let it serve as a guide. Enjoy!
Good flavors and I loved the crunch of the carrots and cabbage.
Yay! So glad you enjoyed this! Thank you for letting us know.
It’s delicious. I never know what to do with the pre-made coleslaw pack that i buy (no seasoning) and now I’m glad I can use it for this dish. The only different thing I did was add 1 TBSP of Oyster sauce.
Glad you enjoyed this and thank you for the feedback!
I didn’t use as much sugar as the recipe called for and I used 7 cloves of garlic (we like garlic). I added about 3 tablespoons of siracha and 1/4 c of chicken broth and salt and pepper to taste. All in all it was a good recipe that I’ll make again, only I’ll add a 1/2 onion next time. Definitely need the 3 tablespoons of fresh ginger.
Made this as written. It was very tasty, easy to prepare and will definitely make the regular rotation.
Yay! So glad to know that. Thank you!
I made it today, wow so delicious! Just my taste. Thank you and this is going to be added to one of my favorites. The website didn’t allow 5 Stars, but you got 10 from me.
Yay! So happy to know you enjoyed this dish! I’ll take the 10 stars! Thank you so much!
Tasty , but is the soy sauce light or dark soy ?
Light soy sauce (the regular table soy sauce). Thank you! Glad you enjoyed this.
Hey there! Can I add an onion, or would this ruin the authenticity of the recipe? Thank you.
Yes, you can add onions if you like. That should be fine. Sorry, I have been on holiday so I wasn’t able to respond right away.